Presidential Reconstruction
- Johnson used the congressional recess to implement his version of Reconstruction
- Pardon and property to Confederate citizens that took an oath of loyalty to the union
- Super important and rich people had to request a pardon directly from president
- Southenrners elected former confederates to office, Congress refused to seat them
- Black codes passed
- Limited the rights of the African Americans
- Designed to force former slaves into plantation labor to protect the planter’s economic interests
- Required to sign yearly labor contracts
- 14th amendment passed
- Citizenship clause
- Privilege and Immunities and Due Process
- Everyone is entitled to the same legal procedures to assure that people are not deprived of their life liberty or property
- Confederate debt is voided
- Equal protection: all citizens are equal under the law
- 14th amendment takes the bill of rights and applies it to the states and individuals
- States cannot infringe upon the rights of the people and southern states cannot remove the rights of freed slaves
- Andrew Johnson opposed ratification but the Republicans won a 3-1 majority in the House and Senate and could now go around Johnson
- Amendment ended up being ratified
Radical Reconstruction
- Military Reconsturction Act of 1867
- Divides the entire south into 5 military discricts
- Tasked to register all males to vote
- Supervise state constitutional conventions
- Ensure states have black suffrage
- Tenure of Office Act
- Senate is required to ask for consent of any federal official who is confirmed by senate
- Protects Edwin Stanton
- Bill passed through overridden veto
- Johnson suspends Edwin Stanton and replaces him with Ulysses S Grant
- Grant resigns so Edwin can keep his position
- Johnson fired Stanton
Johnson’s Impeachment
- House voted to impeach Andrew Johnson on 11 counts of misconduct with the main charge being his refusal to uphold the Tenure of Office Act
- Congress fell 1 vote short after 11 weeks in order to remove Johnson
- Dissenting Republicans felt the precedent woul.d be too dangerous abnd would be damaging to checks and balances
- Ulysses S Grant beats Johnson in the 1868 election
- 15th amendment allowed all males to vote no matter what
- Made slaves full citizens
- African Americans voted in large numbers in 1870, aligning themselves with the Republican Party
- Civil Rights Act of 1875: Full and equal access to jury service and to transportation and public accomodations regardless of race
- Womens rights were not yet considered as much as men.