Now That We Are Free: Reconstruction and the New South, 1863-1890 Chapter 14
The Struggle to Define Reconstruction Chapter 14.3
Presidential Reconstruction President Andrew Johnson who became president after Lincoln s assassination took a very conservative view of Reconstruction. Johnson disliked the planter class, but was also a bitter racist committed to maintaining white supremacy. Johnson took a very lenient policy toward confederates, offering pardons, amnesty, and the return of confiscated lands with an oath of allegiance. Wealthy planters, however, would have to appeal directly to Johnson for pardons. Johnson was also lenient in his policy toward readmitting seceded states. As soon as Johnson appointed a temporary governor, a constitutional convention could be called. If the convention ratified the 13 th Amendment, renounced secession, repudiated Confederate debts, and held elections for state office and Congress, they would be readmitted as states into the Union. Johnson s reconstruction plan angered many Republicans even moderates. Many southern state conventions failed to explicitly ratify the 13 th Amendment, dozens of ex-confederate officials and army officers were elected back into government, and many southern state governments had enacted Black Codes to limit the rights of freedmen.
Congressional Reconstruction Republicans in Congress sought to block Johnson s reconstruction program feeling it undermined many of the goals for changing Southern society. Congress refused to seat the elected members of newly admitted states Johnson had declared reconstructed. Congress established the Joint Committee on Reconstruction Congress expanded the powers of the Freedmen s Bureau Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 granting African Americans full citizenship. Johnson responded by vetoing both bills - Congress overrode both vetoes. Afraid a new Congress might simply overturn the Civil Rights Act of 1866 Congress drafted the Fourteenth Amendment. 1 All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. are citizens 2 All citizens ere entitled to equal protection of the laws 3 states refusing to guarantee voting rights could lose their Congressional delegation 4 all high-ranking Confederates were prohibited from holding office unless pardoned by Congress 5 repudiated Confederate debt and prohibited compensation to ex-slave owners.
Radical Reconstruction After the mid-term elections, congressional Republicans began to take control of reconstruction passing a series of Reconstruction Acts. In March 1867 Congress divided the South into five military districts, each governed by a military commander empowered to restore peace and protect individuals. Once order was established, southern states would have to meet new, stricter readmission requirements: Elections would take place for delegates to state constitutional conventions that included the votes of African American men and barred southerners who had participated in the Confederate government and army. New state constitutions had to allow universal male suffrage, regardless of race. Once state s voters approved the constitution, the state could finally hold elections for government offices. If Congress approved the state s constitution and the state legislature ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, the state could be readmitted. Johnson attempted to veto the Reconstruction acts, but Congress passed them over his veto. Congress, grown frustrated with Johnson, began impeachment proceedings. Johnson was spared removal by a single vote.
Questions: What was Andrew Johnson s primary motivation in devising his lenient Reconstruction policy? Why were Congressional republicans angered by Johnson s plan for reconstruction and what alternatives did they support?