Donte Jackson
AMH2020
Course # 188730
Week 1
Andrew Johnson’s Horrible Decision of a Veto for the South
The Reconstruction Act of 1867 basically explains the development for readmitting all
the rebel states of Virginia, Florida, Arkansas, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana,
South Carolina, Texas, and Georgia; so, it can be connected by one union. The act clarifies all
the necessary commands within each state and creates some kind of law for each one. It starts off
with the first regulation of each state having a military district and pairing some southern states
up, so that its five districts in total. The second regulation states that the president has to give
each district a certified officer from the army and have the authority to preform his or her action
with a military force. The third regulation reads that the officer from each district has to perform
their assigned duty to protect and guard the citizens that they swore to do, while protecting the
district from violence, disorder, and punishing all criminals that do just that. The fourth
regulation goes on to say that all the people that’s place under military custody will be tried
without pointless suspension, and that no sentence of any military command will be legal,
affecting everyone’s given rights. The fifth and sixth regulation dives into the voting privileges
for anyone in the district no matter your race, color, or disability, and also if the people believed
in anything they had right to speak on it and act on it with approval. The Union triumph in the
Civil War during the 1865’s may have assumed millions of slaves for their freedom, but the
development of reconstructing the South during the Reconstruction time period introduced a
whole new set of noteworthy encounters.
The president during this time Andrew Johnson after the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln, he tries to veto the reconstruction act and provides reasons for this action. It was
believed that the act was unconstitutional and not fair for some people. In Johnson’s eyes, the act
deprived the districts a lawful government, and therefore it didn’t give the people their earned
rights. Johnson saw the military act as being a way to launch peace between the South and North,
and continue their regular relations. Nevertheless, like similar people in the South, Johnson
noticed that the reconstruction as being aggressive toward the people. He saw the injustice of all
the citizens, because the military commanders basically had the say so of if someone dies or not.
For some people it seemed as if Congress was creating this system of a military monarchy in the
area of the South. Commanders had the authority to sentence a citizen to death without any trial,
control people’s land, and the person itself. In the article, Andrew Johnson Veto for the first
Reconstruction Act March 2, 1867 it states, “It is plain that the authority here given to the
military officer amounts to absolute despotism. But to make it still more unendurable, the bill
provides that it may be delegated to as many subordinates as he chooses to appoint, for it
declares that he shall punish or cause to be punished.” Which goes to show that the military has
to much power of the people and their personal things. During the process of overriding the veto
by Andrew Johnson, the law’s main shove was to protect all the slaves that are free now, because
of the of the Civil War. It wanted to disprove the awful names for all black in the South, which
destabilized the end of slavery, as instructed by the thirteenth Amendment in the Constitution.
Johnson thought that all blacks were not well fit to become a U.S. citizen and that the idea of
doing this will work in courtesy of the colored rather than the white race. This new regulation
acknowledged that all humans born in the United States were citizens, and without judging their
appearance or physical condition.
In my opinion I feel like Andrew Johnson was wrong to veto the reconstruction act,
because I believe in equal and staying as one unit, and him doing this is only causing problems
for the nation as whole. Getting rid of the military assistance for the people will only cause a
disorderly nation with a blind way to seek freedom. Although he pointed out some good
arguments about the reasons why not to have the reconstruction act, but in order for the people
especially the blacks to feel safe and protected in the South was through this amazing act.