Events
1867
Congress passes First and Second Reconstruction Acts
Congress passes Tenure of Office Act
1868
House of Representatives impeaches Andrew Johnson
Senate acquits JohnsonFourteenth Amendment is ratifiedUlysses S. Grant is elected president
1870
Fifteenth Amendment is ratified
Key People
-
Andrew Johnson
17th
U.S. president; impeached by the House of Representatives in 1868 but
later acquitted by the Senate
-
Edwin M. Stanton
Secretary of War under Lincoln and Johnson; was dismissed
by Johnson, prompting House Republicans to impeach Johnson
-
Ulysses S. Grant
18th
U.S. president; formerly a Union general and, briefly, secretary
of war under Johnson
Radical Reconstruction
After sweeping the elections of 1866,
the Radical Republicans gained almost complete control
over policymaking in Congress. Along with their more moderate Republican
allies, they gained control of the House of Representatives and
the Senate and thus gained sufficient power to override any potential
vetoes by President Andrew Johnson. This political
ascension, which occurred in early 1867, marked
the beginning of Radical Reconstruction (also known
as Congressional Reconstruction).
The First and Second Reconstruction Acts
Congress began the task of Reconstruction by passing the First Reconstruction
Act in March 1867.
Also known as the Military Reconstruction Act or simply
the Reconstruction Act, the bill reduced the secessionist
states to little more than conquered territory, dividing them into
five military districts, each governed by a Union general.
Congress declared martial law in the territories, dispatching troops
to keep the peace and protect former slaves.
Congress also declared that southern states needed to
redraft their constitutions, ratify the Fourteenth Amendment,
and provide suffrage to blacks in order to seek readmission into
the Union. To further safeguard voting rights for former slaves,
Republicans passed the Second Reconstruction Act, placing
Union troops in charge of voter registration. Congress overrode
two presidential vetoes from Johnson to pass the bills.
Reestablishing Order in the South
The murderous Memphis and New Orleans race riots of 1866 proved that
Reconstruction needed to be declared and enforced,
and the Military Reconstruction Act jump-started this process. Congress chose
to send the military, creating “radical regimes” throughout the
secessionist states. Radical Republicans hoped that by declaring martial
law in the South and passing the Second Reconstruction Act, they
would be able to create a Republican political base in the seceded
states to facilitate their plans for Radical Reconstruction. Though
most southern whites hated the “regimes” that Congress established,
they proved successful in speeding up Reconstruction. Indeed, by 1870 all
of the southern states had been readmitted to the Union.
Radical Reconstruction’s Effect on Blacks
Though Radical Reconstruction was an improvement on President Johnson’s laissez-faire Reconstructionism,
it had its ups and downs. The daily lives of blacks and poor whites
changed little. While Radicals in Congress successfully passed rights
legislation, southerners all but ignored these laws. The newly formed
southern governments established public schools, but they were still
segregated and did not receive enough funding. Black literacy rates
did improve, but marginally at best.
The Tenure of Office Act
In addition to the Reconstruction Acts, Congress also
passed a series of bills in 1867 to
limit President Johnson’s power, one of which was the Tenure
of Office Act. The bill sought to protect prominent
Republicans in the Johnson administration by forbidding
their removal without congressional consent. Although the act applied
to all officeholders whose appointment required congressional approval, Republicans
were specifically aiming to keep Secretary of War Edwin M.
Stanton in office, because Stanton was the Republicans’ conduit
for controlling the U.S. military. Defiantly, Johnson ignored the
act, fired Stanton in the summer of 1867 (while
Congress was in recess), and replaced him with Union general Ulysses
S. Grant. Afraid that Johnson would end Military Reconstruction
in the South, Congress ordered him to reinstate Stanton when it
reconvened in 1868.
Johnson refused, but Grant resigned, and Congress put Edwin M. Stanton
back in office over the president’s objections.
