Reconciliation or Punishment? Please help. Since the beginning of the Civil War, President Lincoln knew he needed a plan for putting the nation back together. Lincoln's plans ended with his death.

President Johnson wanted to let former Confederate states back into the Union almost immediately, but Radical Republicans in Congress opposed him. Over Johnson's vetoes, they placed states under martial law, expanded suffrage to former slaves, and prevented former Confederate officials from voting.

Who was really right? This journal activity asks you to think and write about what you believe was the most effective Reconstruction plan.

Though you have revisited the steps of paragraph writing in the earlier units of this course, you know that good writing goes beyond a topic sentence, a few arguments, and a conclusion.