“President Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction was similar to that of Lincoln’s, but the new president decided that wealthy southerners and former Confederate officials would have to have a presidential pardon in order to receive amnesty. Much to the shock of Radical Republicans, by 1866 President Johnson had pardoned more than 7,000 people. From the state of Tennessee, Johnson had remained loyal to the Union during the war, even though he was greatly in favor of states’ rights. Although President Johnson was a Democrat, and President Lincoln had been a Republican, it was his belief that state governments should have as much control as possible over political matters, that inspired him to offer up a mild program for establishing new southern state governments. By the end of 1865, all of the southern states with the exception of Texas had created new governments and had been readmitted to the Union. But when newly elected officials came to Washington from each reconstructed southern state, Congress refused to readmit them. President Johnson’s work toward reuniting a nation was just beginning."

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