As the Civil War came to an end, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and replaced by Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat who lacked the fundamental political skills and the ability to influence public opinion. He implemented his plan of Reconstruction which allowed the Whites to handle the transition from slavery to freedom without offering Blacks a role to play in the reconstruction. His plan for reconstruction was an epic fail because many believed that he was rebuilding the nation how it was before the war. The behavior of the government under President Johnson turned many Northerners against his polices. In May 1865, he also offered immediate pardon to all white Southerners except to those who held a position in the Confederacy and
