From Moses to Joshua

The fourth chapter surveys the generally positive reception northern evangelicals gave Andrew Johnson following Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865 and through the remainder of the year. Flowing from their desire to see one whole, Christian America realized, northern evangelicals explicitly encouraged Johnson to follow in Lincoln’s steps and act as a willing vehicle of providence to speedily restore the Union. With Congress in recess until December, Johnson had a relatively free hand to direct Reconstruction and produce sectional reconciliation, and his initial Reconstruction policy generally met with northern evangelical approval. Rather than advocating for racial justice, non-radical northern evangelicals remained animated by a vision of national Christian oneness and were ready with Andrew Johnson to declare the Union restored by December 1865.