THE WAR UPON THE PRESIDENT.; Manifesto of Ben. Wade and H. Winter Davis against the President's Proclamation.

http://www.nytimes.com/1864/08/09/news/war-upon-president-manifesto-ben-wade-h-winter-davis-against-president-s.html?pagewanted=2

Senator Benjamin Wade was a radical Republican who served from 1851-1869. Wade was known for his extreme views on reconstruction of the South. He is of special importance to the Battle of Fort Pillow because he was a man who co-authored.

 One example of the type of reconstruction measures that Wade was in favor of was a bill that passed both the House and the Senate that would require state governments to return to a republican form of government. The bill's timeline goes as follows "The bill had been discussed and considered for more than a month in the House of Representatives, which it passed on the 4th of May; it was reported to the Senate on the 27th of May without material amendment, and passed the Senate absolutely as it came from the House on the 2d of July" (Wade, 1864). This means that deliberation on the Bill started in late March or early April, the same month of the Battle of Fort Pillow. In between the time the House passed and the Senate deliberated the bill, Wade had produced his report on the Battle of Fort Pillow. This could explain why the bill passed through the Senate in a matter of 5 days.

            As stated earlier, President Lincoln took a much more moderate stance on the Reconstruction than some of his fellow party members which is why he did not sign the bill and sent back a proclamation. Based on the letter Wade sent it would make it seem like the House either did extreme due diligence on the bill or that the Senate rushed through the bill after Fort Pillow. The bill passed in the House in over a month where as the Senate passed the bill with no amendments in 5 days. While many other correlations may exist between the report and the passing of a bill that supported radical reconstruction was simply ignore by Lincoln until he sent the memo. One might say that the quick reaction and rush to pass this bill could not have happened without the Battle of Fort Pillow. This finding does not fit the hypothesis I made about Wade hurting his political agenda, however, it does fit the idea that the Battle of Fort Pillow was used as an event to rally political support for radical reconstruction.  

This specific manifesto against Lincoln shows the divide between the two . It also incorporates evidence about other political policies that may not directly impact the aftermath of Fort Pillow.