10 Percent Plan

     The Ten Percent Plan was written by Abraham Lincoln stated that the voting population of any occupied state would be authorized to set up a loyal government, provided that at least ten percent of them had taken the oath of allegiance to the Union and acknowledged the legality of the emancipation. This oath was available to be taken by any former Confederate Southerner (excepting Confederate leaders of certain ranks) and would grant them full pardons. This was know as the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, issued in December of 1863. And by 1864, Arkansas and Louisiana had established Unionist governments. This plan was created by Lincoln with intentions to shorten the war as the pardons would win conflicted Confederates onto the side of the Union. Also, he would improve upon his abolitionist intentions by demanding that the new government abolish slavery.