Final answer:
Abraham Lincoln had the power to offer southern states incentives to re-join the Union based on his plan for reconstruction, known as the Ten Percent Plan.
Step-by-step explanation:
Abraham Lincoln had the power to offer southern states incentives to re-join the Union based on his plan for reconstruction, known as the Ten Percent Plan.
According to this plan, when 10 percent of a state's voting population took an oath of allegiance to the United States and agreed to emancipate the enslaved people, a loyal state government could be established. Lincoln believed that this lenient approach would help bring the South back into the Union and restore the country.
Although some Radical Republicans in Congress found the Ten Percent Plan too lenient and proposed the Wade-Davis Bill, Lincoln pocket vetoed it and continued to implement his own plan. In the end, it was the President's power as the Head of State and his interpretation of the Constitution that allowed him to offer incentives for Southern states to re-join the Union.