The impeachment of andrew johnson
Congress Fights Back
Both Radical Republicans and moderate Republicans were infuriated by the South’s disregard for the spirit of Reconstruction. The Republicans were disgusted with the South’s Black Codes – laws that sought to limit the rights of African Americans and keep them as landless workers. These codes limited African Americans to only a few jobs, most often as servants or farm laborers. Some Southern states prohibited African Americans from owning land. Congress soon created a committee to investigate the treatment of former slaves.
Through the spring of 1866, the political situation got worse. While the radicals claimed that federal intervention was needed to advance African American political and civil rights, President Johnson accused them of trying to “Africanize the southern half of our country.” Congress passed a bill to allow the Freedmen’s Bureau to punish those who failed to extend civil rights to African Americans and Johnson vetoed it. Congress then sought to overturn the Black Codes by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This measure created federal guarantees of civil rights and superseded state laws that limited them. But once again, Johnson tried to use his veto power to block the law. Johnson was now openly defying Congress.
Congressional Reconstruction
As violence against African Americans in the South increase, moderate and radical republicans blamed Johnson’s lenient policies. Congress then did something unprecedented. With the required two-thirds majority, for the first time in American history, Congress overrode a president’s veto. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 became law.
Radical Reconstruction Begins
Feeling their strength in Congress, moderate and radical republicans spent a year designing a reconstruction overhaul. To protect freedmen’s rights from presidential vetoes, southern state legislatures, and federal court decisions, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It guaranteed citizenship to African Americans and equal protection for all citizens. It guaranteed due process for all citizens.
Congress again overrode President Johnson’s veto when they passed the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867. Most of the South was now under martial law. The act divided the 10 southern states that had yet to be readmitted into the Union into five military districts governed by former Union generals. The act also outlined how each state could create their new state government and receive congressional recognition. In each state, voters were to elect delegates to write a new constitution that guaranteed suffrage for African American men. Then, once the state ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, it could reenter the Union.
Congress Impeaches the President
The power struggle between Congress and President Johnson reached a crisis in 1867. To limit the President’s power, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act. Under its terms, the President needed Senate approval to remove certain officials from office. When Johnson tried to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, the last Radical Republican in his Cabinet, Stanton barricaded himself in his office for about two months. Angrily, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson, that is, to charge him with wrongdoing in office, for trying to fire Stanton. The trial in the Senate lasted through the spring of 1868. In the end, the radicals failed – by only one vote – to win the two-thirds majority necessary in the Senate to remove Johnson from office. Several moderate Republicans backed away from conviction. They felt that using impeachment to get rid of a president who disagreed with Congress would upset the balance of power in the government. During his impeachment trial, Johnson had promised to enforce Reconstruction Acts. In his remaining time in office, he kept that promise.
The Fifteenth Amendment Extends Suffrage
In 1868, Republican candidate, former Union general, Ulysses S. Grant was elected president. Although he won the electoral vote by a huge margin and had a significant lead in the popular vote, his opponent, Horatio Seymour, a Democrat from New York, received a majority of the white vote. Republicans leaders now had another reason for securing a constitutional amendment that would guarantee black suffrage throughout the nation.
In 1869, Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment forbidding any state from denying suffrage on the grounds of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Unlike previous measures, this guarantee applied to northern states as well as southern states. Both the 14th and 15th amendments were ratified by 1870, but both contained loopholes that left room for evasion. States could still pass voting restrictions based on literacy or property qualifications, which in effect would exclude most African Americans (poll taxes, grandfather clause, and literacy tests).
Both Radical Republicans and moderate Republicans were infuriated by the South’s disregard for the spirit of Reconstruction. The Republicans were disgusted with the South’s Black Codes – laws that sought to limit the rights of African Americans and keep them as landless workers. These codes limited African Americans to only a few jobs, most often as servants or farm laborers. Some Southern states prohibited African Americans from owning land. Congress soon created a committee to investigate the treatment of former slaves.
Through the spring of 1866, the political situation got worse. While the radicals claimed that federal intervention was needed to advance African American political and civil rights, President Johnson accused them of trying to “Africanize the southern half of our country.” Congress passed a bill to allow the Freedmen’s Bureau to punish those who failed to extend civil rights to African Americans and Johnson vetoed it. Congress then sought to overturn the Black Codes by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This measure created federal guarantees of civil rights and superseded state laws that limited them. But once again, Johnson tried to use his veto power to block the law. Johnson was now openly defying Congress.
Congressional Reconstruction
As violence against African Americans in the South increase, moderate and radical republicans blamed Johnson’s lenient policies. Congress then did something unprecedented. With the required two-thirds majority, for the first time in American history, Congress overrode a president’s veto. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 became law.
Radical Reconstruction Begins
Feeling their strength in Congress, moderate and radical republicans spent a year designing a reconstruction overhaul. To protect freedmen’s rights from presidential vetoes, southern state legislatures, and federal court decisions, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It guaranteed citizenship to African Americans and equal protection for all citizens. It guaranteed due process for all citizens.
Congress again overrode President Johnson’s veto when they passed the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867. Most of the South was now under martial law. The act divided the 10 southern states that had yet to be readmitted into the Union into five military districts governed by former Union generals. The act also outlined how each state could create their new state government and receive congressional recognition. In each state, voters were to elect delegates to write a new constitution that guaranteed suffrage for African American men. Then, once the state ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, it could reenter the Union.
Congress Impeaches the President
The power struggle between Congress and President Johnson reached a crisis in 1867. To limit the President’s power, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act. Under its terms, the President needed Senate approval to remove certain officials from office. When Johnson tried to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, the last Radical Republican in his Cabinet, Stanton barricaded himself in his office for about two months. Angrily, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson, that is, to charge him with wrongdoing in office, for trying to fire Stanton. The trial in the Senate lasted through the spring of 1868. In the end, the radicals failed – by only one vote – to win the two-thirds majority necessary in the Senate to remove Johnson from office. Several moderate Republicans backed away from conviction. They felt that using impeachment to get rid of a president who disagreed with Congress would upset the balance of power in the government. During his impeachment trial, Johnson had promised to enforce Reconstruction Acts. In his remaining time in office, he kept that promise.
The Fifteenth Amendment Extends Suffrage
In 1868, Republican candidate, former Union general, Ulysses S. Grant was elected president. Although he won the electoral vote by a huge margin and had a significant lead in the popular vote, his opponent, Horatio Seymour, a Democrat from New York, received a majority of the white vote. Republicans leaders now had another reason for securing a constitutional amendment that would guarantee black suffrage throughout the nation.
In 1869, Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment forbidding any state from denying suffrage on the grounds of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Unlike previous measures, this guarantee applied to northern states as well as southern states. Both the 14th and 15th amendments were ratified by 1870, but both contained loopholes that left room for evasion. States could still pass voting restrictions based on literacy or property qualifications, which in effect would exclude most African Americans (poll taxes, grandfather clause, and literacy tests).
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