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In order to encourage white Unionism, Lincoln exempted southern Louisiana from the Emancipation Proclamation. But in August 1863, as he was promoting abolition in the border and Upper South, Lincoln instructed General Nathaniel P. Banks to organize a constitutional convention that would abolish slavery in Louisiana. Lincoln reiterated his preference for “gradual, and not sudden emancipation,” and his promise that the state could adopt “some practical system by which the two races could gradually live themselves out of their old relation to each other.” Nothing, however, transpired. On November 5, Lincoln again wrote to Banks, expressing frustration at the lack of progress and urging him to “waste no more time” in establishing a loyal government. Lincoln made it clear that abolition was the sine qua non of Reconstruction—he would not cooperate with “professedly loyal men” who did not accept the end of slavery.69

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan was motivated, in considerable measure, by a desire to speed up Reconstruction in Louisiana by attracting as many whites as possible to the process. He implored Louisiana Unionists, to no avail, to “stoutly eschew cliquism” and cooperate toward the common goals of reunion and emancipation. Unfortunately, as in other states, Lincoln soon had to deal with an acrimonious division within Unionist ranks. The split began in a dispute over whether a constitutional convention should precede or follow the creation of a civilian government. It was exacerbated by Secretary of the Treasury Chase’s use of patronage appointments to build support for his unannounced bid for the presidency in 1864. But increasingly, it came to focus on what rights blacks would enjoy in a free Louisiana.70

The contentious issue of black suffrage first came to national attention via Louisiana. The free black community demanded the right to vote in elections to create a new state government. Lincoln, who up to this point had never supported black suffrage, did not object. In August 1863, Secretary of War Stanton, with Lincoln’s approval, sent instructions to Louisiana authorizing the registration of “all the loyal citizens” as voters, with no mention of race. Even though the Ten Percent Plan, announced in December, ruled out black suffrage, Stanton sent another such authorization in January 1864. General Banks, however, feared that allowing free blacks to vote would alienate the vast majority of white residents, including most Unionists. “Legislation in regard to the negro, beyond emancipation,” he informed Lincoln, would be “unacceptable to moderate men,” whose support he considered indispensable. In February 1864, Banks organized an election for a new state government under the prewar constitution, which recognized slavery and severely restricted the rights of blacks. Hahn and Flanders presented themselves as candidates for governor. Hahn’s campaign freely used racist language, calling his opponent’s supporters “Negro-heads” and “Negro-Equality men,” thus exacerbating the split among Unionists and alarming Radicals in the North. In fact, at this point, only a handful of white Radicals in Louisiana supported black voting rights. (“I am only sorry that the epithets were not better deserved,” Chase remarked.) Hahn was elected governor, and Banks pressed ahead with plans for a constitutional convention.71

Meanwhile, two representatives of the free black community of New Orleans, Arnold Bertonneau, a wealthy wine dealer, and Jean Baptiste Roudanez, a plantation engineer, traveled to Washington to present a petition with more than 1,000 signatures advocating suffrage for free-born blacks like themselves. Once in the capital, the two came into contact with Charles Sumner, at whose behest they added a request that “those born slaves,” especially black soldiers, should also be enfranchised. On March 12, 1864, Lincoln met with the two men at the White House. According to newspaper reports, he told them that he had no objection to intelligent black men voting but that to impose this requirement on Louisiana