Reconstruction

Response to Johnson’s Plan

• Most Southern states quickly met Johnson’s demands and

ratified 13th Amendment--
•Then passed Black Codes, which limited the rights
of African Americans.

• Republicans in Congress were outraged because African-

Americans were not allowed to vote & former Confederate
Leaders were elected to Congress

• Congress refused to seat the new Congressmen and

Senators elected from the Southern states.

Administering the Oath of Allegiance to Confederate soldiers

Radical
Reconstruction

• Radical Republicans in

Congress decide to take
over Reconstruction

• They want to break

the power of the
southern planters
and to make sure
African- Americans
had the right to vote.

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/sespics/34004.jpg

Civil Rights Act of 1866

• The Civil Rights Act of 1866was the first U.S. federal law to

define citizenship and affirm that all citizens are equally
protected by the law.

•It was mainly intended to protect thecivil rightsof former

slaves.

• Enacted by Congress in 1865, but vetoed by President Johnson.

In 1866, Congress again passed the bill and Johnson again
vetoed it, but a two-thirds majority in each chamber overrode the
vetoThe Civil Rights Act became the first major piece of
legislation in American history to become law over a president's
veto.

Military Reconstruction Acts of 1867

•Divided the south into five military districts.

•Each district was placed under military leadership and
new elections were held with voting only allowed by
Congress' approved voters, mostly former slaves.

•Each state was also required to ratify the 13th and
14th Amendments after drafting new state constitutions.

•Essentially nullified Johnson’s programs for Reconstruction

Radical Reconstruction

• 14th Amendment, 1868 – All people born in the U.S.

are citizens. No state may take away rights of citizens.

• Reconstruction Act– Southern states had to ratify the

14th Amendment, African American men must be allowed
to vote,…

• 15th Amendment, 1870 – The right to vote cannot be

denied to citizens because of their race or color or
because they were once enslaved.

Reconstruction Governments

• African-Americans were overwhelming majority of Southern

Republican voters.

• l6 African-Americans served in Congress during

Reconstruction, over 600 in state legislatures, and hundreds
more in local offices, from sheriffs to justices of the peace.

• Reconstruction governments established the South's first

state-funded public school systems, adopted measures to
strengthen the bargaining power of farm laborers, made
taxation more fair, and outlawed racial discrimination in public
transportation and accommodations.

Reconstruction Governments (cont.)

• Ambitious programs of economic development intended to

create a New South whose economic expansion would benefit
black and white alike.

• But a program of railroad aid spawned corruption and rising

taxes, alienating increasing numbers of white voters.

Graft- gaining money illegally through politics in order to

maximize the benefits to private interests.

Johnson’s Troubled Presidency

• Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to challenge

the Tenure of Office Act

• The House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson

• He was tried in the Senate and vote was 35 to 19 (one vote

short of the 2/3 majority needed to remove him from office)

• Johnson stays in office till the Election of 1868

Sharecropping

Although it allowed freedmen to control their work for the first time in their lives,
they rarely had enough crops left over to sell to allow them to buy their own land

Sharecropping

Johnson’s Troubled Presidency

• The Radical Republicans wanted Johnson out Office, so

they sought to impeach him.

• Impeach: To formally charge with misconduct in office. If

the House of Representatives impeaches a President, the
Senate holds a trial to determine if he/she will be
removed.

• The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides over the

President’s trial.

Johnson’s Troubled Presidency

• Congress passed 2 new laws to avoid any Presidential

vetoes or refusal to enforce the laws they passed

•1.) Command of the Army Act-- all orders from the President
to go through the headquarters of the general of the Army
(Grant’s headquarters)

•2.) Tenure of the Office Act-- cabinet members could not be
removed “during the term of the president by whom they may
have been appointed”

Johnson’s Troubled Presidency

• Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to challenge

the Tenure of Office Act

• The House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson

• He was tried in the Senate and vote was 35 to 19 (one vote

short of the 2/3 majority needed to remove him from office)

• Johnson stays in office till the Election of 1868