geeky
The Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 was a bill that was written by two Radical Republicans, Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry Winter Davis of Maryland that proposed plans for Reconstruction. Lincoln had proposed his Ten Percent Plan in December of 1863, in which Southern states could be reintegrated back into the Union when 10% of the 1860 vote count from that state had taken an oath of allegiance to the U.S. and pledged to abide by Emancipation. This was far too low a margin for the authors of the Wade-Davis Bill. Their bill made re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate states contingent on a majority in each Southern state taking what was called an "Ironclad oath" which went as follows:
"I, _______, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God."
The Wade-Davis Bill came from a plan introduced in the Senate by Ira Harris of New York in February, 1863. There had been the hope that southern Unionism would return to the seceded states after the South's military power was broken. But when the war lasted longer than expected, this hope was abandoned. Radical Republicans felt that strong measures were required to prevent the south from resurrecting its secessionist plans in future.
The bill passed both houses of Congress on July 2, 1864, during the first anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. It was a close vote in the senate with 18 Republicans voting for it, and 4 Republicans, 6 Democrats and 3 Unionists (for a total of 13) voting against it.
Lincoln objected to the bill, among other reasons, because he did not agree with the notion that Southern states needed to "re-join" the Union, something that a consistent theme of the bill. Lincoln believed the Southern states were not constitutionally allowed to secede in the first place and therefore they were still a part of the Union, even though their return to a full participation in the Union would require the fulfillment of some conditions. He didn't view the war as being waged against "treasonous" States, but rather against "rebellious individuals". The language of the bill asserted that the Southern states were not part of the Union anymore. This idea went against Lincoln's rationale for the war in the first place.
Lincoln also disliked the fact that the bill compelled those states to draft new Constitutions banning slavery. Such a measure was plainly unconstitutional at the time. Before the passage of a Constitutional amendment on the issue (which would soon come to pass, but had not yet), Congress had no power to deal with slavery within each state.
Practically, Lincoln also worried that the bill would undermine his own reconstruction activities in states like Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee, all of which had seceded but were under Federal occupation and control of Union governments. He believed that Wade–Davis would jeopardize state-level emancipation movements in loyal border states like Missouri and, especially, Maryland. The bill threatened to destroy the delicate political coalitions which Lincoln had begun to construct between northern and southern moderates.
The Wade-Davis Bill demonstrated how different Lincoln and Radical Republicans viewed the southern states. Lincoln thought that they needed to be coaxed back into peaceful coexistence with the Union. Wade–Davis saw the southern states as as traitors that needed to be punished.
Lincoln ended up killing the bill with a "pocket veto". He did not sign the bill and when the house session adjourned, the bill died. It was never resurrected. The issue of Reconstruction did not arise until after Lincoln's assassination in April of 1865, after which the Radical Republicans had to deal with a President who was even more sympathetic to southerners.
Davis became an enemy of Lincoln's. He believed that Lincoln was too lenient in terms of his policies for the South. Davis and Wade issued a manifesto "To the Supporters of the Government" on August 4, 1864, that accused Lincoln of using reconstruction to secure electors in the South who would "be at the dictation of his personal ambition". They criticized what they saw as Lincoln's efforts to usurp power from Congress. The Manifesto backfired. Davis was not renominated for his Congressional seat. But they did spur debate on the question of whether Congress or the President should be the main driver of the post-war process
Lincoln survived these attacks and greatly strengthened his position with a strong victory in the 1864 election. He was also able to secure national passage of the 13th Amendment in February, 1865. For the time being he had marginalized the Radicals in terms of shaping Reconstruction policy. Bit after Lincoln's death, the Radical Republicans battled President Andrew Johnson, who tried to continue a version of Lincoln's plan. The midterm elections of 1866 returned control of Congress to the Radicals who wanted a much harsher plan. But they did not try to pass a version of Wade-Davis again. Instead they took control of the southern states with the Army, which registered African-American men as voters and refused to allow former Confederates to run for office.