Chapter 12: Section 1- The Politics of Reconstruction
I. Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction
Presidential Reconstruction Comes to a Standstill
When the 39th Congress convened in December 1865, the Radical Republican legislators disputed Johnson’s claim that Reconstruction was complete. As a result, Congress refused to admit the newly elected Southern legislators.
In February 1866 Congress voted to continue and enlarge the Freedman’s Bureau. It set up 40 hospitals, 4,000 schools, 61 industrial institutes, and 74 teacher-training centers.
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Two months later, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which gave African Americans citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory laws- black codes- that severely restricted African American’s lives. Johnson vetoed both the Freedman’s Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Acts of 1866, shocking everyone, he alienated the modern Republicans who were trying to improve his Reconstruction plan by doing this.
II. Congressional Reconstruction
Moderates and Radicals Join Forces
Moderate Republicans joined with Radicals to override the president’s vetoes; The Civil Rights Act of 1866 became the first major legislation ever enacted over a presidential veto. Congress enacted the Fourteenth Amendment, which provided a constitutional basis for the Civil Rights Act.
President Johnson advised the Southern states to reject the amendment, thus all but Tennessee rejected it and the amendment was not ratified until 1868.
1866 Congressional Elections
The question of who should control Reconstruction became one of the central issues in the bitter 1866 congressional elections. Johnson went on urging voters to elect Representatives who agreed with his Reconstruction policy. Johnson offended many voters with his rough language and behavior. At the election of 1866, moderate and Radical Republicans won by a landslide over the Democrats; and by March 1867, the 40th Congress was