Andrew Johnson’s Plan
• States could hold elections and create new
governments and write Constitutions( Johnson
appointed new governors to oversee this process)
• All pardoned that swore allegiance to U.S. except
Confederate government and military leaders
• States must abolish slavery and ratify the 13th
amendment
• If requirements were met, could resume full
participation to the Union
Southern Government
• State governments quickly met Johnson's
reconstruction demands
• Act quickly to restrict blacks rights and
freedoms
The Black Codes
• Series of laws that restricted
blacks freedoms
– Curfews- not out after
sunset
– Vagrancy- punished if
didn’t work
– Labor Contracts- signed
in January, quit, lose all
wages
– Land Restrictions- Could
rent or own in rural
areas only, forced many
to live on plantations
•
Congressional Reconstruction
Congress Takes Action
• Congress passes Civil Rights
Act of 1866
• Johnson vetoed the bill, but
Congress overrides the veto
• Congress feared courts
might rule unconstitutional,
so they passed the 14th
Amendment
14th Amendment
• All persons born or
naturalized in U.S.
• Can’t be denied civil
rights by states
without due process
of law
Radical Reconstruction
• South reluctant to grant
civil rights to blacks
• Violence against blacks
increases in many
southern cities
• Radical Republicans in
Congress draft a plan
•
Reconstruction Act of 1867
• South put under military
rule to enforce new laws
• Ordered new elections to
write new constitutions and
form state governments
• Must ratify 13th and 14th
amendments
• Barred supporters of
confederacy from voting
• Must let all black males to
vote
• No pardons for Confederate
government and military
leaders
Johnson and Congress Clash
• Johnson and the Radical
Republicans struggle for
control
• Charles Sumner and
Thaddeus Stevens lead
the charge to bring
down Johnson after he
fires Secretary of
Defense Edwin Stanton
Johnson Impeached
• Violated the Tenure
of Office Act of
1867- placed limits
on Presidents power
to hire and fire
government officials
• Disagreements on
reconstruction
• Disagreements on
blacks civil rights
Fifteenth Amendment
Across the South blacks
demanded rights of
citizenship: to vote, to hold
office, to serve on a jury
and testify in court
1869- 15th Amendment passed
gives all citizens the right to
vote
The Republican South
• Freedmen- voted, served in
state legislatures and as
governors
• Carpetbaggers – northern
Republicans that moved
south to get rich
• Scalawags- white
southerners who were
Republicans –considered
traitors in the South