ore being readmitted. High Confederate government officials and military officers were disenfranchised like felons are today; that is they were denied the future right to vote or be elected to political office. Disenfranchised Confederates, however, could apply for presidential pardons (this had the potential to make Lincoln a very powerful man indeed- those seeking pardons would have to promise to support the President and his
             Republican party... massive patronage!). Lincoln's plan provided a path
             for rapid reunification and the extension of the Republican party into the
             former Confederacy. Lincoln believed that rapid reunification would set
             the nation on a good path quickly. Lincoln's plan did not require Southern
             states to provide suffrage to African Americans before being readmitted.
             Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is a famous speech which explains the
             PResident's argument. Lincoln said, "With malice toward none, with charity
             for all... let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the
             nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for
             ...