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Reconstruction and Its Aftermath:

Reconstruction and Its Aftermath:. Radicals in Control. A Major Disagreement. By the end of 1865, every Southern state had formed a new government. The 13 th Amendment, which abolished slavery, had been added to the Constitution. In President Andrew Johnson’s view, Reconstruction was over.

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Reconstruction and Its Aftermath:

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  1. Reconstruction and Its Aftermath: Radicals in Control

  2. A Major Disagreement • By the end of 1865, every Southern state had formed a new government. • The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, had been added to the Constitution. • In President Andrew Johnson’s view, Reconstruction was over. • When Congress met in December 1865, however, many lawmakers were of the opinion that Reconstruction had hardly begun.

  3. The Radical Republicans • By 1866, Republicans had won a strong majority in Congress, but some felt more strongly about the issue of equal rights for African-Americans than others. • A group in Congress led by Thaddeus Stevens, called the Radical Republicans, were especially critical of Johnson’s plan. • This group had been abolitionists before the war, and now they were determined to reconstruct the nation on the basis of equal rights for all. • They managed to convince the more moderate Republicans to pass 2 bills designed help former slaves. • One gave the Freedmen’s Bureau greater powers, and the other, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, aimed to overturn the black codes.

  4. Action, Reaction • To Congress’s surprise, Johnson vetoed both bills. • He said the Freedmen’s Bureau was too costly and led blacks to become lazy, and that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was a violation of states’ rights. • Republicans, however, gathered the 2/3 majority in each house needed to override Johnson’s vetoes, the first time in history this had ever happened! • Against Johnson’s wishes, Congress also passed the 14th Amendment, making it illegal for states to deny anyone the rights of citizenship.

  5. Congress Takes Control • In 1867, Congress laid out its plan for Reconstruction in a series of laws known as the Reconstruction Acts. • The South was to be divided into 5 districts, each controlled by federal troops. • Election boards in each state would register male voters, both black and white, who were loyal to the Union. • Southerners who had actively supported the Confederacy would not be allowed to vote. • The voters would elect conventions to write new state constitutions which had to grant African-Americans the right to vote. • The voters would then elect state legislatures which were required to ratify the 14th Amendment.

  6. A Trap For Johnson • In addition, Congress also enacted 2 laws designed to keep Johnson from interfering with its Reconstruction plan. • The Command of the Army Act limited the president’s power as commander in chief of the army. • The Tenure of Office Act barred the president from firing certain federal officials without Congress’s permission. • Johnson was furious, and to prove his point, he fired Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton.

  7. Johnson’s Impeachment • 2 days later, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson, or put him on trial for breaking the law. • Johnson faced trial in the Senate, and if 2/3 of the senators found him guilty, he would be removed from office. • Johnson’s lawyers made it clear that if he was allowed to stay in office, he would not oppose Congressional Reconstruction anymore. • When the votes were cast, he escaped removal by a vote of 36 to 25, just 1 vote short of the 2/3 majority required.

  8. The Election of 1868 • Johnson did not run for a 2nd term in the 1868 election. • Instead, the Republican party nominated war hero, Ulysses S. Grant, who supported Congressional Reconstruction and the rights of freedmen. • He said that the job of the president was to carry out the laws that Congress passed. • His Democratic opponent, Horatio Seymour, promised to end Reconstruction in the South and return it to its traditional leaders. • Nationwide, Seymour won a majority of white votes, but Grant, however, won the popular vote with the help of a half a million black voters.

  9. The 15th Amendment • Grant’s victory helped persuade Congress to pass the last of the Reconstruction amendments. • The 15th Amendment stated that citizens could not be denied the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” • About 1/5 of the new leaders elected in the South were black. • Even so, the goals of the Radical Republicans were to make sure former Confederates stayed out of office, black voting rights were protected, and the Republicans kept a majority. • It was not their idea, however, that blacks should obtain offices of great political power. • Although a few African-Americans were elected to Congress, there were no black governors.

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