What did the Ten Percent Plan require to rejoin the Union?

What did the Ten Percent Plan require to rejoin the Union?

• A. Ten percent of the state's voting population sign a loyalty oath and end slavery.
• B. Fifty percent of voters sign a loyalty pledge.
• C. All former Confederates must be pardoned.
• D. Slavery must be reestablished in the South.

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is Lincoln’s lenient approach to bringing the Southern states back into the Union. It proposed that a state could rejoin once about a tenth of its voters swore loyalty to the United States and accepted emancipation of enslaved people. With that pledge in place, the state could set up a new government and send representatives to Congress. This is why the answer is that a tenth of voters needed to sign a loyalty oath and end slavery. The other options describe either a much larger threshold, blanket pardons for Confederates, or restoring slavery, none of which matched this plan.

The idea being tested is Lincoln’s lenient approach to bringing the Southern states back into the Union. It proposed that a state could rejoin once about a tenth of its voters swore loyalty to the United States and accepted emancipation of enslaved people. With that pledge in place, the state could set up a new government and send representatives to Congress. This is why the answer is that a tenth of voters needed to sign a loyalty oath and end slavery. The other options describe either a much larger threshold, blanket pardons for Confederates, or restoring slavery, none of which matched this plan.