Obviously some in the South were concerned that outlawing slavery would damage their economy. Was their any attempts by Northern abolitionists to make a detailed and studied plan for a possible economic transition for the South if they agreed to end slavery?
In 1865, the North was in a position where they had to reorganize the country. They were facing two major problems:
What to do with newly freed slaves?
What to do about the south?
Lincoln wanted to bring the South back as quickly as possible and move forward. His only one requirement for southerners to be accepted back into the fold was for 10% of them to take a loyalty oath.
Lincoln's party (the Republican Party) wanted harsher terms for the South. They wanted them to pay damages to the North and recognize the 13th amendment (which abolished slavery). Here is born the misconception that Lincoln wanted to pass the 13th amendment, he actually opposed it and other people in congress supported. He is finally forced into accepting it.
Lincoln can never implement this plan because he is killed. It never materializes.
Andrew Johnson, his successor, is a democrat from Tennessee. He is now in charge of shaping reconstruction. Johnson, who grew up a poor dirt farmer, really hated the planter aristocracy. He also thought that black people were "beast-like" and wild. He dislikes them.
Johnson's plan is essentially the same as Lincoln's with one added addition: the planters must beg for a pardon.
Because of southern attempts to reinstate slavery after this, Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner (two "Radical Republicans") spearhead two major bills and get them through congress:
The Freedman's Bureau which was designed to help former slaves find their family members who may have relocated all over the country. It would also provide them with a basic education
A Civil Rights Bill which was designed to end the "black codes" and stop states from making laws that would violate civil rights.
Johnson vetoes both of them. But because of the momentum of the bills and the backlash against the south, the veto is overwritten as both become laws.
Radical Republicans then propose a "14th amendment" which would grant citizenship to all former slaves. Johnson vetoes this, causing the bill to fall short.
Following this, race riots occur and because of it being an election year, Radical Republicans win massively. Which gives them control of reconstruction. They have a short term plan and a long term plan:
**Short term:
Revert the southern states back to territories so that they have to abide by federal law and cannot make laws that run contrary to it
Send troops into the south to establish and maintain order
Because of this, stability occurs in the short term.
The long term plan is as follows:
Disenfranchise all white ex-confederates. Their ultimate goal is to take away the political power of the rich planters, thus allowing ex-slaves and poor whites to construct their own government.
Confiscate and redistribute land from slave owners to ex-slaves and poor whites (40 acres and a mule)
Massive education aid for southern schools
Everything in the long term passes but the land redistribution. One of the many roots of black disenfranchisement can be traced to here. It is also one of the primary failures of reconstruction.**