How Is Congress Responsible For Reconstruction

After the Civil War, the South was left in shambles and many cities completely destroyed and the task of rebuilding the South and reuniting the Nation began even before the war ended. In December 1863, President Lincoln issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction to help expedite united the Nation again. However, radical Congressional Republicans believed that Congress was responsible for setting the terms of unifying the nation. Radical Republicans thought the president’s plan was too lenient and did not include protection for former slaves. The reconstruction of the South would be a long and drawn out.

President Lincoln’s “Ten Percent Plan” allowed each state to rejoin the Union when 10 percent of its voters pledged allegiance to the Union and had established a new state government. On the other hand, Congress offered its own plan by passing the Wade-Davis Bill, which declared each Confederate state be governed by the military. It required half of the state’s voters to pledge allegiance to the Union, condemn secession and outlaw slavery. Neither agreed with the others’ plan giving rise to the
The first of those bills were the Civil Rights Act, which granted all blacks full citizenship and civil rights. Congress successfully passed the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866 that protected the Civil Rights Act under the Constitution. They also passed a bill to extend the Freedmen’s Bureau program. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 was also passed which nullified state governments formed under presidential reconstruction and imposed martial law on states that had not ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. Ten states were reorganized into five military districts run by Union generals and in June 1868, seven states voted to ratify the amendment and were allowed to rejoin the