Ch. 17 2 pp

Why It MattersWe had survived our worst war, but the end of the Civil War left Americans to deal with a set of pressing issues. The status of some 3.5 million former enslaved people had yet to be decided. Nor had the terms by which the former Confederate states would rejoin the Union been decided. How Americans would handle these issues would shape the future of our country.

The Impact TodayDebate over the rightful power of the federal government and the states continues to this day. Americans continue to wrestle with the problem of providing civil rights and equal opportunity to all citizens.

Chapter Objectives

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• Identify what some Southerners did to deprive freed people of their rights, and explain how Congress responded.

• Cite the main features of Radical Reconstruction.

Section 2: Radicals in Control

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Guide to Reading

Radical Republicans were able to put their version of Reconstruction into action.

• black codes

Main Idea

Key Terms

• override

• impeach

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African Americans’ Rights• The new Southern states passed a series of laws

in 1865 and early 1866 called black codes.

(pages 504–506)(pages 504–506)

• These laws reestablished slavery in disguise.

• They deprived freed people of their rights and enabled plantation owners to exploit African American workers.

- Some laws allowed local officials to arrest and fine unemployed African Americans and make them work for white employers to pay off their fines.

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• Congress challenged the black codes.

• It extended the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1866 and granted it the power to set up special courts to prosecute people charged with violating the rights of African Americans.

African Americans’ Rights (cont.)

(pages 504–506)(pages 504–506)

- Other laws banned African Americans from owning or renting farms.

- One law allowed whites to take orphaned African American children as unpaid apprentices.

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• It also passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, giving full citizenship to African Americans, and gave the federal government the right to intervene in state affairs to protect them.

• It overturned black codes and contradicted the 1857 Supreme Court Dred Scott decision saying that African Americans were not citizens.

African Americans’ Rights (cont.)

(pages 504–506)(pages 504–506)

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• Johnson vetoed both bills.

• However, Republicans were able to override both vetoes and the bills became law.

• This split between the president and the Radical Republicans led Congress to draft a new Reconstruction plan.

African Americans’ Rights (cont.)

(pages 504–506)(pages 504–506)

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• In June 1866 Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution granting full citizenship to all individuals born in the United States.

• The amendment also says that no state can take away a citizen’s life, liberty, and property “without due process of law.” Every citizen was also entitled to “equal protection of the laws.”

African Americans’ Rights (cont.)

(pages 504–506)(pages 504–506)

- It did not include voting rights for African Americans.

- It also barred certain former Confederates from holding national or state office unless pardoned by a two-thirds vote of Congress.

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• Congress declared that Southern states must ratify the amendment in order to be readmitted to the Union.

• Because Tennessee was the only stateto ratify early, adoption of the amendment was delayed until 1868 when the other ten states finally ratified it.

African Americans’ Rights (cont.)

(pages 504–506)(pages 504–506)

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• Republicans won victories in the congressional elections of 1866.

• They increased their majorities in both houses and gained control of every Northern state government.

African Americans’ Rights (cont.)

(pages 504–506)(pages 504–506)

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Radical Reconstruction• Radical Reconstruction was the period

that began when Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts.

(pages 506–508)(pages 506–508)

• The First Reconstruction Act, passed on March 2, 1867, called for the creation of new governments in the ten Southern states that had not ratified the Fourteenth Amendment.

• Tennessee was quickly readmitted to the Union because it had ratified the amendment.

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Radical Reconstruction (cont.)

(pages 506–508)(pages 506–508)

- The ten states were divided into five military districts under the command of military officers.

- African American males were guaranteed the right to vote in state elections.

- Former Confederate leaders could not hold political office.

- To be readmitted, each state had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and submit its new state constitution to Congress.

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• The Second Reconstruction Act was passed a few weeks later.

• It required military commanders to begin registering voters and to prepare for new state constitutional conventions.

Radical Reconstruction (cont.)

(pages 506–508)(pages 506–508)

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• By 1868 seven Southern states had established new governments and met the conditions for readmission.

• They were Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

• By 1870 the final three states restored to the Union were Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas.

Radical Reconstruction (cont.)

(pages 506–508)(pages 506–508)

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• The rift between Congress and President Johnson grew wider.

• Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in March 1867 to limit the president’s power.

• It prohibited him from removing government officials without the Senate’s approval.

Radical Reconstruction (cont.)

(pages 506–508)(pages 506–508)

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• When Congress was not in session in August 1867, Johnson suspended his secretary of war, Edwin Stanton.

• When the Senate met again and refused to approve this act, Johnson fired Stanton.

• Johnson also appointed as commanders of Southern military districts some generals whom the Radicals opposed.

Radical Reconstruction (cont.)

(pages 506–508)(pages 506–508)

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• Because of Johnson’s actions, the House voted to impeach him.

• The case went to the Senate for a trial that lasted almost three months.

Radical Reconstruction (cont.)

(pages 506–508)(pages 506–508)

- His defenders said he was exercising his right to challenge laws he thought unconstitutional.

- They said the impeachment was politically motivated and that Congress was trying to remove him from office without accusinghim of a crime.

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Radical Reconstruction (cont.)

(pages 506–508)(pages 506–508)

- His accusers argued that Congress should retain the power to make laws.

- A senator from Massachusetts said that Johnson had turned “the veto power into a remedy for ill-considered legislation . . . into a weapon of offense against Congress.”

- The Senate vote was one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict, so Johnson remained in office until March 1869.

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• The 1868 presidential election was a vote on Reconstruction.

• Most states had rejoined the Union by the election.

• Americans chose Republican and former Northern general Ulysses S. Grant as their new president.

Radical Reconstruction (cont.)

(pages 506–508)(pages 506–508)

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• Another major piece of Reconstruction legislation was the Fifteenth Amendment.

• It prohibited the state and federal governments from denying the right to vote to any male citizen because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

• It became law in February 1870.

• The Republicans thought that the power of the vote would allow African Americans to protect themselves.

Radical Reconstruction (cont.)

(pages 506–508)(pages 506–508)