[2] All Southerners except for high-ranking Confederate army officers and government officials would be granted a full pardon.
The policy also made it so the South had to provide education for formerly enslaved people, who were no longer considered private property.
[1] Radical Republicans believed that Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction was not harsh enough because, from their point of view, the South was guilty of starting the war and deserved to be punished as such.
Radical Republicans hoped to control the Reconstruction process, transform Southern society, disband the planter aristocracy, redistribute land, develop industry, and guarantee civil liberties for former slaves.
These radicals believed that Lincoln's plan was too lenient, and this new bill would make readmission into the Union more difficult.