WADE-DAVIS BILL

WADE-DAVIS BILL, passed by Congress 2 July 1864, was a modification of Abraham Lincoln's plan of Reconstruction. It provided that the government of a seceded state could be reorganized only after a majority of the white male citizens had sworn allegiance to the United States and approved a new state constitution that contained specified provisions. Rep. Henry W. Davis of Maryland and Sen. Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio, sponsors of the bill, believed, along with other Radical Republicans, that Lincoln's policy was inadequate because it allowed white southern Unionists to determine the status, rights, and conditions for freed persons in their states. Abraham Lincoln's pocket veto of this bill on 4 July angered the radicals and presaged the contest over Reconstruction between President Andrew Johnson and Congress.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hyman, Harold H. A More Perfect Union: The Impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on the Constitution. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1975.

Willard H. Smith/C. P.

See also Radical Republicans; Reconstruction.