The Southerners, Unionists as well as Confederates, had their views
as well, but at Washington these carried little influence. The former
Confederates would naturally favor the plan which promised best for the
white South, and their views were most nearly met by those of President
Lincoln. Although he held that in principle a new Union had arisen
out of the war, as a matter of immediate political expediency he was
prepared to build on the assumption that the old Union still existed.
The Southern Unionists cared little for theories; they wanted the
Confederates punished, themselves promoted to high offices, and the
Negro kept from the ballot box.

Even at the beginning of 1866, it was not too much to hope that the
majority of former Republicans would accept conservative methods,
provided the so-called "fruits of the war" were assured--that is,
equality of civil rights, the guarantee of the United States war debt,
the repudiation of the Confederate debt, the temporary disfranchisement
of the leading Confederates, and some arrangement which would keep the
South from profiting by representation based on the non-voting Negro
population. But amid many conflicting policies, none attained to
continuous and compelling authority.

The plan first put to trial was that of President Lincoln. It was a
definite plan designed to meet actual conditions and, had he lived, he
might have been able to carry it through successfully. Not a
theorist, but an opportunist of the highest type, sobered by years
of responsibility in war time, and fully understanding the precarious
situation in 1865, Lincoln was most anxious to secure an early
restoration of solidarity with as little friction as possible. Better
than most Union leaders he appreciated conditions in the South, the
problem of the races, the weakness of the Southern Unionists, and the
advantage of calling in the old Southern leaders. He was generous and
considerate; he wanted no executions or imprisonments; he wished the
leaders to escape; and he was anxious that the mass of Southerners be
welcomed back without loss of rights. "There is," he declared, "too
little respect for their rights," an unwillingness, in short, to treat
them as fellow citizens.

This executive policy had been applied from the beginning of the war
as opportunity offered. The President used the army to hold the Border
States in the Union, to aid in "reorganizing" Unionist Virginia and in
establishing West Virgin