Radical Congressional
Reconstruction
Radical Republican beliefs
• Radical Republicans believed blacks were entitled to
the same political rights and opportunities as whites.
• They also believed that Confederate leaders should
be punished for what they did during the Civil war.
Beliefs continued
• They believed that the Federal government
should have direct intervention in state affairs
and that laws should be designed to protected
emancipated blacks.
• At the heart of their beliefs was the notion that
blacks should be given a free-labor economy.
How the Republicans came into
power
• The Republicans came into power when the
Democrats sided with the Confederacy.
• Republicans dominated in the elections of
November 1866.
Freedmen's bureau
• The Freedmen's Bureau provided food,
housing, and medical aid, established schools
and offered legal assistance for blacks.
• It also attempted to settle former slaves on
Confederate lands confiscated or abandoned
during the war.
Congress introduces bills
• In 1866, Congress introduced a bill to extend
the life of the Freedmen's Bureau and began
work on a Civil Rights Bill.
Johnson's response
• Johnson vetoed both of the bills, rejecting that
blacks have the "same rights of property and
person" as whites.
Republican reactions
• Moderate Republicans were appalled at
Johnson's racism.
• Moderates decided to join the Radicals to
overturn Johnson's Civil Rights Act veto.
• This was the first time in history that a major
piece of legislation was overturned.
Tension between presidency
and Congress
• Andrew Johnson was a
southern democrat who
had owned slaves.
• The mainly Republican
congress thought he was
too soft toward the South
• Tensions grew
Thaddeus Stevens
• Important republican leader
in Congress.
• Staunchly believed in full
equality
• Took lead in excluding
Southern representatives
when Congress first met
after the Civil War
• Disliked Andrew Jackson
Congress vs. Johnson
• Passed laws to restrict power of presidency. One was
the Tenure of Office Act, which said Senate approval
was needed to remove cabinet members.
• Johnson defied this.
Johnson Impeached
• Thaddeus Stevens proposed
impeachment of Johnson.
• In the spring of 1868,
Johnson became the first
president to be impeached.
• He was impeached by the
House of Representatives,
but acquitted by the Senate.
14th Amendment
• "All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of
the United States and of the State wherein they
reside."
• This made African Americans citizens, and should give
them the rights of citizens of the United States.
• Passed by Congress June 13, 1866.
The reconstruction Acts of 1867
• First Reconstruction Act- This act divided the
South into five military districts and established
martial law, also listed the requirements a
state must meet to be readmitted into the
Union.
• Second Reconstruction Act- Put the military in
charge of protecting voter registration efforts to
make sure that no one was refused his right to
vote.
New State Constitutions
• Congress made Southern states adopt new state
constitutions before rejoining the Union, with several
requirements.
• African Americans must be equal before the law.
• States had to provide certain services, such as
hospitals and orphanages.
• Established free statewide public schools for whites
and blacks
• In June of 1868, Arkansas, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama
and Florida readmitted to the Union.
• Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia were the only
states that remained, and they faced and an
additional requirement...
15th Amendment
• "The right of citizens of the United States to
vote shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States or by any state on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
• Allowed African Americans to vote.
• By the beginning of 1868, about 700,000
African Americans were registered voters.
Force Acts
• Four acts passed from 1870-1875
• Allowed federal authorities to penalize people
attempting to stop African Americans from
exercising the rights given to them by the 14th
and 15th Amendments
The Black Codes
• Black Codes- Laws that restricted freemen's
right. They established virtual slavery. The
codes where state laws, and Republicans
opposed them.
• Curfew
• Vagrancy Laws
• Labor Contracts
• Land Restriction
The Republican south
• The Republican Party consisted of people who
had little in common, but had a desire to
prosper in the postwar South.
• The Northern Republicans who moved to the
South where known as Carpetbaggers.
• In the postwar South, people who were white,
southern republicans were seen as traitors.
Other southerners called these people
Scalawags.
African Americans join
Congress
• Eventually, due to changes in the voting
population after the ratification of the 14th
amendment, radical Republicans in Congress
were joined by African Americans.
• Hiram Rhodes Revels was
the first African America to
serve, he was elected by the
Mississippi State Senate to
succeed Albert G. Brown.
• Joseph Rainey from South
Carolina was elected to the
House of Representatives. He
was the first directly elected
black member of Congress to
be seated.
Why Did The Reconstruction Era
End?
• The decline of the Reconstruction Era started when
the power in the House shifted from Republican to
Democrat.
• Also, an economical depression was raging throughout
the country in 1873, and northern voters became less
interested in the Reconstruction in the south and more
focused on the economy in the north.
• Additionally, the scare tactics of the KKK and other
southern white groups drove many Republicans out
office, giving Democrats a majority in every southern
state by 1877.
Why Did The Reconstruction Era
End? Continued...
• In addition, the conservative Supreme Court
repeatedly struck down Radical Republican
legislation, issuing rulings that had a
devastating effect on blacks' civil liberties.
• The breaking point of the reconstruction was
The Compromise of 1877 and the removal of
the remaining federal troops from the South.
This signaled the end of the Reconstruction
era.
Sources
• The History Text Book
• History. house.gov
• digitalhistory.uh.edu
• westga.edu
• The Constitution
• www.apstudynotes.org/us-history/