Existing comment:
December 1863:
The Completed Capitol:
Confined to his sickbed by a strain of smallpox, Lincoln was not present early in December 1863, when thousands gathered in Washington. Less than a month after his proclamation at Gettysburg, a 19-foot-tall Statue of Freedom was hoisted over 300 feet to the top of the newly completed Capitol dome.
The cheers of the crowd drowned out those who had opposed the expensive construction project as the nation tore itself apart. But that, said Lincoln, was precisely why the dome must be completed. "If people see the Capitol going on, it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on."
1864:
Reconstruction: First Draft:
By the first part of 1864, Lincoln was in the thick of a heated debate over Reconstruction of the South -- assuming the North eventually prevailed on the battlefield.
On December 8, 1863, Lincoln has issued his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. The proclamation pardoned all Confederates who took an oath of loyalty to the Union. The president had already implemented a plan in Louisiana and Tennessee that allowed a new government to be constituted once 10% of each state's inhabitants pledged allegiance to the Union. |