Wade-Davis Manifesto

August 5, 1864 Wade and Davis issued a manifesto on President Abraham Lincolns decision to veto the Wade-Davis reconstruction bill. The purpose of the manifesto, was to give the public a view of what Wade and Davis believed to be the reason the president issued a veto for their bill. Written out of pure anger towards the president, in hopes it would persuade him to reverse his decision. In the manifesto, they are describing reasons why President Lincoln vetoed the bill, they believed he did this for his personal gain and used parts of the bill in his own reconstruction proposal. Was there a difference between Lincolns reconstruction plan and, Wade and Davis reconstruction proposal.
Wade and Davis were radical republicans from the north, they created a bill called the Wade-Davis reconstruction bill. This bill was created to combat Lincolns reconstruction plans, “The bill was drafted to propose a reconstruction plan that was stricter than Lincoln's 10% plan, which many Radical Republicans …show more content…
In the manifesto, they pointed out the president vetoed the bill for his own personal gain, also it mentions Lincoln disregarded the actions of congress “That judgment of Congress which the President defies was the exercise of an authority exclusively vested in Congress by the Constitution to determine….” ("The Wade-Davis Manifesto August 5 1864"). They also stated, Lincoln vetoed the bill so he could implement parts of it in his own reconstruction plan, “the President refused to approve it, and then by proclamation puts as much of it in force as he sees fit” ("The Wade-Davis Manifesto August 5 1864"). Their view of President Lincoln was very harsh, they made it their mission to inform the public of what they believed to be the reason he made the decision to not forgo with their reconstruction