Presidential (conservative) Reconstruction continues: Commander-in-Chief Abraham Lincoln, of the united States, issues Proclamation 108, setting forth his policy of “Amnesty and Reconstruction.” Any Confederate State Citizens who will take an oath of allegiance to the Constitution for the united States and the compulsory Union will be offered a pardon—with the exception of civilian and military leaders; when this number is equal to ten percent of the State’s popular vote in the presidential election of 1860, a new State Constitution could be drafted—on the condition that it prohibited slavery; with final ratification of the new Constitution by the Electorate, the State’s standing in the compulsory Union would be restored by executive order.

       NOTES:

• Lincoln’s motivations in this plan were to build a strong Republican Party base in the Confederate States (a voluntary union) by reaching out to supporters of the disbanded Whig Party (which supported protective tariffs, internal improvement (corporate welfare)—both opposed in the Confederacy), of which he had been a member.
• This left the restoration of South Carolina an open Question as up until the end of Reconstruction, its Presidential Electors were elected by the legislature.
• Although the Constitution is silent on the Question of secession, many States reserved for themselves the right of secession upon ratification.  Also the framer’s and ratifier’s concept of Union was based upon John Locke (who saw “union” as a contract that could be voided, and thus supported secession); whereas Lincoln’s concept of “union” was based upon Thomas Hobbes (who saw “union” as a marriage that could not be voided).  While the Constitution is silent on the re-admission of a State, it clearly states in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1, that “New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union.”  This was a clear usurpation of congressional authority.

       [added 4/9/2022]