Question

Which statement BEST describes Abraham Lincoln's "10 Percent Plan"? A) It was his plan for creating a national income tax. B) It was his plan to re-admit Southern states into the Union. C) It was his plan to invade only 10% of the South. D) It was his plan to free 10% of American slaves as an experiment.

Answer 1

Lincoln's "10 Percent Plan" was his plan to re-admit Southern states into the Union. He offered to pardon Confederates who would take an oath to support the Union. When ten percent of a state's citizens eligible to vote in 1860 swore an oath of allegiance to the U.S. that state had abolished slavery, he promised to readmit the state to the Union.

Answer 2

B is the correct answer.

The 10% plan refers to Abraham Lincoln's plan for reconstruction of the Union after the Civil War. Under the plan, a state that left the Union could be readmitted once 10% of the voting population from their succession vote swore an oath of loyalty to the United States.

The plan was largely unpopular with Radical Republicans as they believed it to be too lenient on the South.