Verja the Lost Jungle Bunny

It is only at these times that I get to 'sort of ' take a break from school. My mother doesn't believe in a 25 minute break...So...Here goes. (The letters are simply for organization, ex.A, B, C, are sections, that way I know what to write about in each section.)



WARNING: LONG REPORT! DO NOT READ IF YOU FALL ASLEEP EASILY, ARE PRONE TO HEADACHES, OR HAVE JUST TAKEN ANY TYPE OF SLEEP MEDICATION. THIS BLOG AND IT'S OWNER ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OVER-SLEEPING, OR DESTROYED COMPUTERS DUE TO DROOLING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.

In October 1864, President Lincoln paced nervously around the room. "If George McClellan wins the election, he will make peace with the Confederacy and permanently divide our Nation. I believe that the only way to preserve our Nation is to keep fighting until we win."
"Surely the people will re-elect you." Said Mary, President Lincoln's wife.
"I am not so sure. What I say doesn't matter. What matters is what the soldiers do. If they win on Election Day, I'll win. If they can't win, I can't win, and the United States can't win."
Before Election day, stories of the Generals William Sherman, Philip Sheridan and Admiral David Farragut and their victories all around the nation were spreading quickly.
On Election day, November 8, 1864, President Lincoln made his way to the telegraph office at the War Department where he could get the election returns. The battlefield victories were only part of the reason for President Lincoln's re-election. Many voters trusted his leadership and believed he should continue working to win the war.


I.RECONSTRUCTION

On April 9th, 1865, the Civil War ended. Many American's wanted the peace and harmony back, and the restoring of the nation to return.
In his second inaugural address, the President spoke long to the North and South. Here is a bit of what he said to them: ". . .The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. 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. . ."
Although the war and the recovery were painful to both sides, the nation became even stronger after Reconstruction than it had been before the war.

A. Abraham Lincoln's Plan

After the war, there were two very different opinions about what was to be done to bring the Confederate states back to the Union. The opposing views didn't help at all.
President Lincoln believed that the Confederate states had not really left the Union because the Constitution does not allow any secession of states. He also believed that the President (himself) should decide how the Confederate states were taken back into the Union. He soon designed a simple plan for readmitting the South. Except for high government and military officers, he planned to pardon any Southerners who would take an oath to obey the laws of the United States. A state could rejoin the Union when 10% of its 1860 voters had taken this oath. Then, the state could form a legal state government and elect congressmen.

B. Congressional Opposition (sounds familiar...hmm...Venezuela? nah..:)

Although the majority of the Republican Party members supported the President and his plan for the Reconstruction, a small, but powerful group of Republican congressmen did not. They were called Radicals. The Radical movements of the 1800s were not like those of today. Today the term 'radical' refers to 'liberal'. The Radicals of 1865 believed that the confederate states had left the Union in rebellion and were no longer states, but federal territories. They advocated forcing the Southern states to recognize the civil rights of Blacks before they were readmitted. In 1864 they had introduced the Wade-Davis Bill which included three requirements for readmitting states:
1. 51 % of the state's white 1860 voters must take an oath to obey the laws of the United States before that state could be readmitted.
2. The only Whites allowed to vote would be those who had volunteered to fight against the Union.
3. The states must outlaw slavery and give Blacks the right to vote.
The Radicals believed the Confederate soldiers should not be allowed to vote or hold political office. That caused a battle between two branches of government.
In January 1865, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It was ratified by the states in December 1865, and abolished slavery in the United States. YAY! :)

C. Abraham Lincoln's Assassination

It was the spring of 1865, and it was beautiful in Washington D.C. The war was over, and everything was calm and peaceful. On the afternoon of Good Friday, April 14th, 1865, President Lincoln was tired and spoke to his friend. "It has been advertised that we will be attending Ford's Theater tonight, to see a performance of 'Our American Cousin'. I cannot disappoint the people. Otherwise, I wouldn't go. I don't wish to go."
When they reached the Theater at about nine that evening, the Lincolns, with an army officer and the girl he was going to marry, were taken to a box draped with flags. The President and his wife smiled and bowed to the people, then sat down in the comfortable chairs, and waited for the show to begin. About a half hour into the show, a man with dark hair approached the theater. His name was John Wilkes Booth, and he was a popular actor, as were his father and brother, and knew his way around the theater. He thought that what he was about to do was going to help the South to gain revenge. He had hatched a plan to kill President Lincoln, General Grant, Vice-President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward. But he was going to start with the head-honcho, the alpha-dog, the President.
He slipped through a hallway as the third act of the play was finishing. The hallway was empty, as everyone (including the careless bodyguard) was concentrating on the play. He peered through the hole he had drilled through the door earlier, and spotted the President. He then quietly entered the presidential box, pulled out a small pistol, cocked it, aimed at the President's head, and. . .pulled the trigger.
The army officer with the Lincolns got up and tried to stop the assassin, but Mr. Booth jumped over the railing of the box and onto the stage below. His leg broke as he landed on the wooden stage, shouting, "Sic Semper tyrannis!-- (which translated from Latin, for those of you who are gringos, means 'Thus ever to the tyrants!) The South is avenged!" He then rushed out through the wings and escaped on horseback.
President Lincoln was rushed to a friend's house, and worked on all night by doctors who tried their best. But, at 7:22 the next morning, April 15, 1865, the President died.
On April 26, federal troops cornered a man they believed to be John W. Booth in a barn on Garett's farm near Bowling Green, Virginia. They set it on fire to force the man out of hiding. There was an exchange of gunfire, and the man in the barn was killed by Sgt. Boston Corbett. :D
Even though the man in the barn was officially identified as Mr. Booth, there has always been a doubt that he actually WAS Mr. Booth. Many Historians believe that Mr. Booth escaped.

The other part comes tomorrow.

Hey....HEY! WAKE UP!!! *smashes pillow* WAKE UP! I KNOW IT'S BORING!! *ring!*
IT'S OVER NOW!! WAKE UP!! GO TO BED!!!!! WAKE UP! I'M FINISHED!!! WAKE UP!!

***Fifteen snores later...***

-Grabs horn and presses button as loud as possible- WAKE UP!!!!!!!

Till next time,

jayde