Despite claims that the president should not make his own laws but to obey and execute them, Lincoln signed his 10% plan. As compared to Wade-Davis Bill which was far stricter, Lincoln's plan required only fifty percent of the state's voters to take the loyalty oath. This permitted non-confederates only to vote for a new state constitution.
Radical Republicans who backed Lincoln's 10% plan thought it would allow southern aristocrats assume power again hence denying equality to black people living in the south. Lincoln, in the Wade-Davis bill accused him of being very gentle with the rebel states so as to win votes in the south. It also questioned Lincoln's ideas that the southern states was required to return to the union.