What was the reason behind the initial approach of allowing southern states the autonomy to handle reconstruction

answer:

Lincoln’s reconstructive policy toward the South was lenient because he wanted to popularize his Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln feared that compelling enforcement of the proclamation could lead to the defeat of the Republican Party in the election of 1864, and that popular Democrats could overturn his proclamation.

Explanation:

increase in population

the deaths of over a million communist soldiers

post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans