The Character of Mr. Johnson--The Radical Nature of Johnson's First Views on Reconstruction--The Retention of Lincoln's Cabinet by Mr. Johnson and the Modification of Johnson's Views by Mr. Seward's Arguments--Johnson's Amnesty Proclamation of May 29th, 1865--The Excepted Classes--The Effect of these Exceptions--The President's Plan--The Realization of it--The Administering of the Oath--Reconstruction in North Carolina--The Identity of Johnson's Plan with that of Lincoln--Reconstruction in Mississippi--Reconstruction in Georgia--Reconstruction in Alabama, South Carolina and Florida--Reconstruction in Virginia--Reconstruction in Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee--The Constitutional Conventions of 1865--The Form of the Work Done in these Conventions, and its Substance--The Erection of "State" Governments and the Election of Members of Congress--The Orders of the President Putting the Civil Government of the United States into Operation Everywhere--The President's First Annual Message. [Sidenote: The character of Mr. Johnson.] Mr. Johnson was a man who rose from very low estate through his own efforts. He was a man of considerable intellectual power and of great will power. He was somewhat vain of his success and somewhat piqued by the social neglect which he had suffered at the hands of the "old families." He was intensely loyal to the Union, and could regard secession and rebellion only as treason. Having suffered so much for his loyalty, he was somewhat moved by considerations of revenge. He was profoundly stirred by {32} the assassination of Lincoln, and apparently believed it to have been planned by those high in authority in the Confederacy; and he was possessed with an intense desire to re-establish the Union on an enduring foundation. [Sidenote: The radical nature of Johnson's first views on Reconstruction.] With such a history behind him, and such a disposition impelling him, it is not to be wondered at that his policy in regard to Reconstruction should have been more stringent than that of Mr. Lincoln. In fact it was feared, even by the more radical Republicans, such, for instance, as Mr. Wade, that he would be bloody minded in the treatment of the rebel chiefs. He had, before his accession to the Presidency, declared so often, and so vehemently, that "traitors should be arrested, tried, convicted and hanged," that most men were expecting the strict application of the criminal law to the Confederate leaders. [Sidenote: The retention of Lincoln's Cabinet by Mr. Johnson, and the modification of Johnson's views by Mr. Seward's arguments.]