Question

President Lincoln's ideas about Reconstruction were based on the theory that the Confederate states ____________________.

• A. should be treated as conquered territories.
• B. could be admitted to the Union only by Congress.
• C. had never actually left the Union.
• D. must grant full equality to all people.
• E. should be barred indefinitely from being part of the United States.

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

had never actually left the Union.

President Lincoln's ideas about Reconstruction were based on the theory that the Confederate states had never actually left the Union. Lincoln believed that the South had never legally seceded from the Union, his plan for Reconstruction was based on forgiveness. He thus issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863 to announce his intention to reunite the once-united states.