If Lincoln hadn't died, a question every student has encountered when studying the Civil War, but what if he hadn't died would Reconstruction have been better? Did former slaves obtain better civil rights? Although these questions have no real answers and we can only speculate, in his essay Eric Foner appears to address these questions with acceptable reasons which led me to conclude that if Lincoln had not been assassinated, the Reconstruction period would President Andrew Jackson opposed Lincoln's Reconstruction plan. Instead of forgiving the South as Lincoln wanted, Jackson wanted the South to suffer and pay for what it had caused, thus making the South a victim of Northern policies. the ambition of the Carpetbaggers to make easy money by risking the horrible conditions the South imposed on them, and of the Scalawags, white Southerners who gave their backs to the South to join the Republicans (the hypocrites probably did this to save oneself). Although there is a good chance that the upholsterers would have found a way to make money in the South if Lincoln had lived, but with Lincoln alive, his 10% plan would have been used, thus allowing the North and South to reconcile easily. . Lincoln's Reconstruction plan was really easy to implement: All that was required was for 10 percent of the white male population of any southern state to sign an oath stating that they were loyal to the Union and that the southern state was abolishing slavery, after which the state was allowed to create a new government and begin sending its new representatives to Congress. Even though Lincoln was not popular in the South; the south had to handle middle of paper......more easily, because Lincoln was moderate and liked to make things right with his political party, no matter their moderate or radical views. Nevertheless, we can say that Lincoln was already willing to take the first step toward equality between whites and African Americans, since he had already declared himself in favor of limited black suffrage, perhaps with the combined forces of the President and Congress; people would have seen that black people were equal, in doing so they could have taken the first steps towards interracial government and perhaps bought time instead of leaving this civil rights movement for later. Overall, if Lincoln hadn't died, Reconstruction would have been better. , perhaps the United States would be a little more open-minded and democratic than it currently is, since it accepted its differences earlier, thus learning to live better with each other..