"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle." — Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, March 1865
Lincoln's tone in this passage most directly anticipates which Reconstruction approach?
- Acheck_circle
A lenient policy of swift restoration over harsh punishment of the South
- B
Permanent military occupation of all former Confederate states
- C
Mass executions of Confederate political and military leaders
- D
Constitutional disenfranchisement of all white Southerners
Explanation
Lincoln's "malice toward none" rhetoric foreshadowed his preference for a moderate, reconciliation-focused Reconstruction—an approach Andrew Johnson would attempt before clashing with Radical Republicans.