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Civil War Interactive Discussion Board > Civil War Talk > General Civil War Talk > Lincolns assassination |
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Civil War Interactive Discussion Board > Civil War Talk > General Civil War Talk > Lincolns assassination |
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| Lincolns assassination | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14th, 2012 01:37 pm |
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1st Post |
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Gettysburger Member
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I know there are plenty of unreconstructed southerns on this board. How do you or anyone else feel about today, the anniversary of Lincolns assassination? Things would have been a bit different for the South had Lincoln not been shot on this date in '65. Hard to say if the radicals would have swept into power in 1866 if Johnston had not take over the presidency after lincolns death.
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14th, 2012 02:18 pm |
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2nd Post |
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Texas Defender Member 
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Gettyburger- The assasination of Mr. Lincoln was a great disaster for the south, as Mr. Davis noted when he learned of it. There was already opposition to Mr. Lincoln's policy of: "Let 'em up easy" that he stated near the end of the war. Some of the radicals were already denouncing it, but Mr. Lincoln was assuming God-like status when the war was coming to an end. He was looked upon as the savior of the nation by the northern people. I cannot imagine the radicals having any success against the wildly popular Mr. Lincoln if they had the nerve to pass harsh reconstruction laws, or if they did to override Mr. Lincoln's possible vetoes of them. Mr. Johnson was a democrat and a southerner. He was an unpopular president and a much easier target for radical opposition. Last edited on Sat Apr 14th, 2012 02:20 pm by Texas Defender |
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14th, 2012 02:38 pm |
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3rd Post |
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Gettysburger Member
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Texas, you are right once again. It was a sad day for the south when lincoln was killed. I hardly think that was immediately evident when the news was broadcast in most parts of the South! But as the Radicals plans to change what Lincoln had wanted, which was "quick, easy and fair", southern sensibilities had to mourn the loss of the president that would have tried to reunify the south without making it suffer more than it already had. A. Johnson was only on the ticket in '64 as an attempt to make Lincolns election a bit easier than it was in '60. He wasn't quite the politician Lincoln was and was immediately and deeply disliked as his successor. But you can't really know what Congress would have done had Lincoln lived? The Radicals were swept into power in 1866 and they would have blocked most of Lincoln's attempts to bring prosperity back to the south. Like you said, the Radicals had a lot of enmity towards the southern leaders and politicians and I'm still surprised that Jeff Davis was allowed to live a long post war life. I am pretty certain the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments would have been passed even more quickly with Lincoln as president during Reconstruction. dr. t.
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16th, 2012 04:49 am |
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4th Post |
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Hellcat Person 
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Texas Defender wrote:Gettyburger- I certainly have no special regard for Mr. Lincoln, but there are a great many men of whose end I would much rather heard than his. I fear it will be disastrous for our people, and I regret it deeply. Two of my favorite quotes from Randall Bedwell's War is All Hell. The reason being their showing that there were those in the South who feared what Lincoln's death would do for the South. Like you said, TD, Davis noted the assassination wouldn't do the South any good. Makes you think that at least two people in the South at the time might have been rather upset with Booth.
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16th, 2012 07:58 am |
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5th Post |
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Texas Defender Member
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Hellcat- Mr. Booth lived long enough to learn that he wasn't regarded as a hero by most of the people in the north or the south. He was quite dismayed about that. In his view, he had avenged the south and delivered the country from a great tyrant. Now, he noted in his diary, he was being regarded as a : "Common cutthroat." While hatred for Mr. Lincoln was deep in some areas in the south, and some people rejoiced at the news, most did not. The majority of southerners recognized that Booth's act would also be a disaster for the south. Some prominent Confederates expressed their disgust over it. CSA General Joseph E. Johnston called it: "A disgrace to the age." Last edited on Mon Apr 16th, 2012 08:18 am by Texas Defender |
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17th, 2012 01:57 am |
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6th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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Thanks TD. I can only quote Davis and Chestnut as their the only Southern POVs I've found thus far in the book on Lincoln's assassination. But I find the Southern POV on the assassination more interesting because of what was to come. Reconstruction would have happened whether Lincoln was alive or not, it was pretty much revenge for the war as I look at it today. It may have been less severe had Lincoln lived, yet it was still going to happen. But you have to figure that a part of Reconstruction had to do with Lincoln's assassination. Last edited on Tue Apr 17th, 2012 02:01 am by Hellcat |
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17th, 2012 05:12 pm |
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7th Post |
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BHR62 Member 
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The successful conclusion of the war was bound to give Lincoln a lot of political capital. But there was already a showdon brewing between him and congress over the post war plans. They were already doing combat over the percentages of the 1860 voter rolls swearing allegiance to the US. Lincoln had tried to get Louisiana back into the Union before the war even ended. They had fulfilled a 10% of 1860 voter roll swearing allegiance to the US. If I remember right the radicals killed it by demanding 50%. Lincoln basically just wanted the southerners to come home to the Union. But with the successful conclusion of the war....I think Lincoln would have had a huge impact on the severity of the coming reconstruction. The fact that he had stood strong through even the darkest days of the Civil War was recognized by the northern populace. He had created a lot of enemies in the prosecution of the war. But the 1864 election showed the people of the North still were with him. The war's successful conclusion was only going to solidify that support. Unfortunately his plans were still being hashed out when he was assasinated.
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18th, 2012 03:01 am |
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8th Post |
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Hellcat Person
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The people of the North weren't that strongly with Lincoln until pretty much the end of the summer of 1864. His campaign was stalling going into late August and it was events then and in early Septmeber that helped his campaign.
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18th, 2012 09:19 am |
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9th Post |
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BHR62 Member
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The summer of 1864 was a roller coaster for Lincoln thats agreed. But Grant pinning Lee down at Petersburg and Sherman capturing Atlanta gave a lot of hope to those wanting to see the war through to victory. I think his reelection showed that the people of the North were now firmly on his side in all this. Five months after his reelection Lee surrenders. It gave him a tremendous boost. One he could have used to fight for his post war plans.
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