The Wade–Davis Bill of 1864 () was a
bill "to guarantee to certain States whose governments have been usurped or overthrown a republican form of government," proposed for the
Reconstruction of the South. In opposition to President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
's more lenient
ten percent plan
The Ten Percent Plan, formally the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (), was a United States presidential proclamation issued on December 8, 1863, by United States President Abraham Lincoln, during the American Civil War. By this point ...
, the bill made re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate states contingent on a majority in each ex-Confederate state to take the
Ironclad Oath to the effect they had never in the past supported the Confederacy. The bill passed both houses of Congress on July 2, 1864, but was
pocket veto
A pocket veto is a legislative maneuver that allows a president or other official with veto power to exercise that power over a bill by taking no action ("keeping it in their pocket"), thus effectively killing the bill without affirmatively vetoin ...
ed by Lincoln and never took effect. The
Radical Republicans
The Radical Republicans were a political faction within the Republican Party originating from the party's founding in 1854—some six years before the Civil War—until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reconstruction. They ca ...
were outraged that Lincoln did not sign the bill. Lincoln wanted to mend the Union by carrying out the ten percent plan. He believed it would be too difficult to repair all of the ties within the Union if the Wade–Davis bill passed.
Background
The Wade–Davis Bill emerged from a plan introduced in the Senate by
Ira Harris
Ira Harris (May 31, 1802December 2, 1875) was an American jurist and senator from New York. He was also a friend of Abraham Lincoln.
Life
Ira Harris was born in Charleston, New York on May 31, 1802. He grew up on a farm, and graduated from Unio ...
of New York in February, 1863.
It was written by two
Radical Republicans
The Radical Republicans were a political faction within the Republican Party originating from the party's founding in 1854—some six years before the Civil War—until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reconstruction. They ca ...
, Senator
Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative
Henry Winter Davis of Maryland, and proposed to base the
Reconstruction of the South on the federal government's power to
guarantee a republican form of government. The Bill was also important for national and congressional power. Although federally imposed conditions of reconstruction retrospectively seem logical, there was a widespread belief that southern Unionism would return the
seceded states to the Union after the Confederacy's military power was broken. This belief was not fully abandoned until later in 1863. The provisions, critics complained, were virtually impossible to meet, thus making it likely there would be permanent national control over the states formerly in rebellion.
Legislative history
House of Representatives
The bill was formally introduced February 15, 1864, as . The final vote of the house was 73–59.
Senate voting
Lincoln's veto
One of Lincoln's objections was to the idea that seceded states needed to "re-join" the Union (an idea that permeated the whole bill). From Lincoln's point of view, states were not constitutionally allowed to secede in the first place, so the ordinances of secession were null and void from the moment they passed. Thus the war was being fought to "compel the obedience of rebellious individuals,” not of rebellious states per se. The language of the bill undermined this argument, as the possibility of Confederate states being “readmitted” implied those states in rebellion were not part of the Union anymore. Moreover, the bill compelled those states to draft new Constitutions banning slavery, which was arguably unconstitutional at the time (as Congress had no power to deal with slavery within individual states).
On a more pragmatic level, Lincoln also feared the bill would sabotage his own reconstruction activities in states like
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
,
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
, and
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
, all of which had passed ordinances of secession but were under Federal occupation and controlled by pro-Union governments. He believed that Wade–Davis would jeopardize state-level emancipation movements in loyal border states like
Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
and, especially,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
. The bill threatened to destroy the delicate political coalitions which Lincoln had begun to construct between Northern and Southern moderates. More broadly, it underscored how differently Lincoln and Radical Republicans viewed Confederates: Lincoln believed they could be coaxed back into peaceful coexistence, while Radical Republicans believed the Confederates were traitors and therefore could not be trusted. Lincoln ended up killing the bill with a
pocket veto
A pocket veto is a legislative maneuver that allows a president or other official with veto power to exercise that power over a bill by taking no action ("keeping it in their pocket"), thus effectively killing the bill without affirmatively vetoin ...
, and it was not resurrected.
The aftermath
Davis was a bitter enemy of Lincoln because he believed that the President was too lenient in his policies for the South. Davis and Wade issued a manifesto "To the Supporters of the Government" on August 4, 1864, accusing Lincoln of using reconstruction to secure electors in the South who would "be at the dictation of his personal ambition," and condemning what they saw as his efforts to usurp power from Congress ("the authority of Congress is ''paramount'' and must be respected"). The Manifesto backfired, however, and while it initially caused much debate on the nature of the Reconstruction to come, Winter Davis was not renominated for his Congressional seat in Maryland. Its ideas, particularly that Congress should be the main driver of the post-war process and that the Presidency should be a weaker office (the President "must confine himself to his executive duties – ''to obey and execute'', not to make the laws –, to suppress by arms armed rebellion, and leave political reorganization to Congress"), did influence Congressional Republicans during the following years, however, eventually leading to
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...
's impeachment trial.
Lincoln survived their attacks and greatly strengthened his position with a landslide victory in the 1864 election, and national passage of the
Thirteenth Amendment in February, 1865. He momentarily marginalized the Radicals in terms of shaping
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
policy. After Lincoln's death, Radical Republicans battled President Andrew Johnson, who tried to implement a version of Lincoln's plan. The midterm elections of 1866 turned into a referendum on the
Fourteenth amendment and the trajectory of Reconstruction policy. With the Republicans' victory, Congress took control of Reconstruction. The radicals wanted a much harsher plan, but they did not try to reimpose the terms of Wade-Davis. Instead they implemented the
Reconstruction Acts
The Reconstruction Acts, or the Military Reconstruction Acts, sometimes referred to collectively as the Reconstruction Act of 1867, were four landmark U.S. federal statutes enacted by the 39th and 40th United States Congresses over the veto ...
and took control of the former rebel states with the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
, which registered black men as voters and barred some former Confederate leaders from running for office.
Notes
References
* Belz, Herman. ''Reconstructing the Union: Theory and Policy during the Civil War'' (1969)
* Benedict, Michael Les. ''A Compromise of Principle: Congressional Republicans and Reconstruction, 1863–1869'' (1974)
*
External links
Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: Wade-Davis Bill*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wade-Davis Bill
Reconstruction Era legislation
38th United States Congress
United States proposed federal government administration legislation