congressional reconstruction

Congress and President Andrew Johnson fought bitterly over the Reconstruction of the South after the Civil War. Johnson believed he was following the wishes of the assassinated Abraham Lincoln by pursuing a quick and lenient return of the South into the Union. Radical Republicans, led by Representative Thaddeus Stevens, argued that these former Confederate states had committed “state suicide” and reverted to the status of territories. Radicals wanted to readmit the Southern states only if they ensured the civil rights and liberties of the freedmen (the term used for former slaves). Moderates in Congress hoped to work with Johnson but were dismayed when he vetoed the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, which provided funds to build and run schools for the freedmen. The bill's sponsor, Senator William Fessenden (Republican—Maine) declared that Johnson had “broken the faith, betrayed his trust, and must sink from detestation to contempt.” Johnson's veto drove moderate and radical Republicans together in support of tough Reconstruction measures, and it eventually led to the failed effort to impeach and remove the President.

Congress took control of Reconstruction policies away from the President, drafting the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution to protect the civil liberties and voting rights of African Americans. In 1866 and 1875 Congress also enacted civil rights bills to guarantee all citizens equal rights in hotels, restaurants, trains, and other public accommodations and transportation facilities. Federal troops occupied many Southern states during Reconstruction, enabling the freedmen to vote and to elect Republican candidates—both black and white—-to Congress. When these federal troops left, following the election of 1876, Congressional Reconstruction collapsed. The Supreme Court later ruled the civil rights acts unconstitutional. In the following decades African Americans lost the right to vote, and racial segregation became the law throughout the South.

See also African Americans in government; Civil rights; Stevens, Thaddeus

Sources

• Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 (New York: Harper & Row, 1988)