THE GREAT EXPERIMENT: RECONSTRUCTION
PART II OF IV — CONGRESS TAKES CONTROL
A Nation Redefines Citizenship, the Presidency Is Challenged, and a New Political Order Begins
1867–1868
The Union Was Restored. But What Kind of Union?
By the beginning of 1867, the American Civil War had been over for nearly two years.
The Confederate armies had surrendered.
Slavery had been abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment.
Southern communities were rebuilding their economies, homes, and transportation systems.
Millions of formerly enslaved Americans were establishing families, schools, churches, and new ways of life.
But the country remained deeply divided over what Reconstruction should accomplish.
President Andrew Johnson believed the former Confederate states should return to functioning civilian government relatively quickly, with substantial authority left to the states.
Many congressional Republicans disagreed.
They argued that the restoration of Southern governments could not be separated from the protection of freedom and civil rights.
The Black Codes enacted by Southern legislatures had demonstrated that abolishing slavery did not automatically prevent racial discrimination.
Violence against Black communities and supporters of Reconstruction had raised further concerns.
Congress had already passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 over Johnson's veto.
It had also proposed the Fourteenth Amendment, which would establish constitutional protections for citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the law.
But most former Confederate states had rejected the amendment.
The disagreement was no longer simply about how quickly the Southern states should return to full participation in the Union.
It concerned the fundamental structure of the reunited country.
Could the federal government require states to protect the rights of their residents? And who possessed the authority to determine the terms of Reconstruction?
The president and Congress were moving toward a direct confrontation.
Two Different Visions of Reconstruction
The dispute between Andrew Johnson and congressional Republicans reflected different interpretations of federal authority and the consequences of the Civil War.
Johnson favored restoring Southern governments with relatively limited federal intervention in their internal affairs.
He accepted the abolition of slavery but opposed federal measures that would establish broad political equality for formerly enslaved people.
He believed many decisions concerning voting and civil rights belonged to the states.
Congressional Republicans were not united on every issue.
Moderate Republicans often favored a less sweeping transformation than their more radical colleagues.
But many had concluded that Johnson's policies were insufficient.
They pointed to the return of former Confederate leaders to public office, the passage of discriminatory state laws, and the violence directed against Black Americans.
Some congressional leaders believed that meaningful freedom required national protection of civil rights.
Others argued that the former Confederate states should not regain full political representation until they accepted new constitutional requirements.
Radical Republicans, including Thaddeus Stevens in the House and Charles Sumner in the Senate, advocated stronger measures to reconstruct Southern political institutions and protect Black Americans.
These disagreements were not simply personal conflicts between political leaders.
They involved questions that had existed since the founding of the United States.
How should authority be divided between the federal government and the states?
What limits could the Constitution place on state governments?
What responsibilities did the national government have when individual rights were denied?
And could a republic remain faithful to its founding principles while excluding millions of people from political participation?
In 1867, Congress moved to answer those questions through legislation.
THE RECONSTRUCTION ACTS OF 1867
Congress Establishes a New Plan
On March 2, 1867, Congress enacted the first Reconstruction Act over President Johnson's veto.
The legislation established a new process for reorganizing the governments of ten former Confederate states.
Tennessee was excluded because it had already been readmitted to congressional representation.
The remaining ten states were divided into five military districts.
Federal military commanders were assigned responsibilities for maintaining order and overseeing the process of establishing new state governments.
The legislation required the states to create new constitutions through conventions elected by eligible male voters.
Black men were included among those eligible to participate.
Certain former Confederate officials were excluded from political participation under the law's provisions.
The states also had to ratify the proposed Fourteenth Amendment before they could regain congressional representation.
Additional Reconstruction legislation in 1867 clarified procedures for voter registration, elections, and military administration.
These laws marked the beginning of what historians commonly call Congressional Reconstruction.
Congress had rejected the idea that the governments organized under Johnson's earlier plan were sufficient.
It was now establishing new conditions for political restoration.
Five Military Districts
The Reconstruction Acts placed ten former Confederate states into five military districts.
DistrictStatesFirstVirginiaSecondNorth Carolina and South CarolinaThirdGeorgia, Alabama, and FloridaFourthMississippi and ArkansasFifthLouisiana and Texas
The military districts were not intended to replace all civilian institutions permanently.
Their purpose was to oversee the transition toward new state governments under congressional requirements.
Military commanders possessed authority to help maintain order and ensure that Reconstruction legislation was carried out.
But military administration created difficult questions.
How much authority should military officers exercise over civilian officials?
How should existing courts and local governments function?
What protections should be provided to residents?
And when should military supervision end?
Supporters of Congressional Reconstruction argued that federal oversight was necessary because existing Southern governments had failed to protect civil rights.
Opponents argued that Congress was imposing excessive federal control over states and local communities.
The debate reflected a continuing constitutional struggle.
The Civil War had preserved the Union.
Reconstruction was now testing the boundaries of federal authority within it.
A Political Transformation Begins
One of the most consequential provisions of the Reconstruction Acts involved voting.
For the first time, large numbers of Black men in the former Confederate states could participate in elections under federal Reconstruction law.
This was an extraordinary change.
Before the Civil War, most Black Americans had been excluded from voting, and enslaved people had been denied political rights altogether.
Now formerly enslaved men were registering to vote and helping choose delegates to constitutional conventions.
Black communities organized political meetings.
Speakers traveled between towns and rural areas to explain the new laws.
Churches and community organizations became important places for political discussion.
Newspapers helped circulate information.
Black men who had served in the Union military brought their experiences of service and organization into civilian life.
Others had been ministers, teachers, artisans, laborers, or community leaders.
Their participation challenged the political order that had existed before the war.
It also revealed the importance of citizenship as more than a legal designation.
Citizenship involved the ability to participate in decisions about government.
For many formerly enslaved Americans, voting represented a direct opportunity to influence the laws under which they would live.
The Meaning of the Ballot
The right to vote mattered for practical reasons.
State and local governments made decisions about schools, roads, taxes, courts, labor laws, and public services.
They also determined how many laws would be enforced and who would hold positions of authority.
For people emerging from slavery, those decisions could directly affect their freedom and security.
A government that denied legal protection could leave families vulnerable to violence or exploitation.
A government that supported public education could create opportunities for children who had previously been denied schooling.
A government that recognized fair labor contracts could help protect workers from coercion.
Political participation therefore became closely connected to everyday life.
Black voters and their allies sought greater influence over the institutions that shaped their communities.
But the expansion of voting rights also produced opposition.
Many white Southerners rejected Black political participation.
Some opposed Congressional Reconstruction because they believed it violated state authority.
Others resisted because they wanted to preserve the racial hierarchy that had existed under slavery.
Political disagreement increasingly combined with intimidation and violence.
The struggle over the ballot would become one of Reconstruction's defining conflicts.
New State Constitutional Conventions
During 1867 and 1868, constitutional conventions met across much of the former Confederacy.
Delegates were chosen through elections that included Black male voters.
These conventions represented a major departure from the political arrangements that had existed before the war.
Black delegates participated alongside white Republicans.
Some white delegates were Southern Unionists who had opposed secession.
Others had moved south from Northern states.
Their backgrounds, priorities, and political experiences varied considerably.
The conventions considered new state constitutions and the organization of state governments.
Many addressed public education, taxation, representation, and civil rights.
Several expanded the role of state government in establishing public school systems.
Some provided protections intended to prevent racial discrimination in particular public settings.
The new constitutions also reflected the interests of farmers, laborers, and communities seeking broader access to political institutions.
Not every convention adopted the same provisions.
And constitutional promises did not always translate into effective enforcement.
Nevertheless, the conventions represented a remarkable political experiment.
People who had recently been excluded from political life were participating in the creation of new state governments.
Public Education Becomes a Central Goal
Education was one of the most important priorities of formerly enslaved communities.
Under slavery, laws and practices in much of the South had restricted or prohibited teaching enslaved people to read and write.
After emancipation, Black families pursued education with determination.
Parents wanted their children to have opportunities they had been denied.
Adults attended classes when possible.
Churches and community organizations helped establish schools.
The Freedmen's Bureau, religious groups, and private organizations provided support.
During Congressional Reconstruction, new state constitutions and legislatures expanded public education.
Southern states began developing more extensive statewide public school systems.
These systems faced significant obstacles.
Funding was limited.
Buildings and supplies were inadequate.
Teachers faced difficult working conditions.
Racial segregation and discrimination remained serious problems.
Some schools were attacked or threatened.
But the expansion of public education was one of Reconstruction's lasting institutional developments.
It reflected a broader understanding of government responsibility.
The state was not simply an institution for maintaining order.
It could also provide services intended to benefit the public.
That idea would become increasingly important as the United States developed.
The Freedmen's Bureau Continues Its Work
As new political institutions developed, the Freedmen's Bureau continued operating across the South.
Its responsibilities remained enormous.
The bureau assisted formerly enslaved people and refugees.
It supported schools and hospitals.
It helped oversee labor agreements.
It intervened in certain disputes involving wages, property, and legal treatment.
But its effectiveness varied.
Federal officials were responsible for large territories.
Resources were limited.
Local resistance could make enforcement difficult.
Some Black communities viewed bureau agents as essential sources of protection.
Others experienced disappointment when federal authorities failed to secure land, enforce agreements, or prevent abuse.
The bureau's work revealed both the possibilities and limitations of federal intervention.
The national government could establish legal protections and provide assistance.
But translating those policies into everyday reality required personnel, resources, cooperation, and sustained political support.
Reconstruction was demonstrating that legislation alone could not guarantee equal treatment.
The Economic Reality of Freedom
Political rights were expanding for many Black men.
Economic independence remained much harder to achieve.
Formerly enslaved families had emerged from bondage with few financial resources.
Land ownership remained concentrated among established property holders.
Agriculture was still the foundation of much of the Southern economy.
Planters needed labor.
Workers needed income and access to land.
Sharecropping and tenant farming became increasingly common arrangements.
Under sharecropping, a family typically cultivated land owned by someone else and received a portion of the crop.
The precise terms varied.
Some arrangements offered workers greater independence than slavery had permitted.
But many families became dependent on landowners or merchants for credit, equipment, and supplies.
Debt could accumulate.
Crop failures could leave families with little income.
Unfair accounting practices and discriminatory enforcement could make it difficult to leave an arrangement.
Economic inequality therefore remained deeply connected to the struggle over freedom.
The law could recognize a person's liberty.
But financial dependence and unequal access to property could still limit practical choices.
These conditions would shape Southern life long after Reconstruction ended.
THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS COLLIDE
The Tenure of Office Act
While Southern states were reorganizing their governments, the conflict between President Johnson and Congress intensified.
Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in March 1867 over Johnson's veto.
The legislation restricted the president's ability to remove certain federal officials appointed with Senate approval without obtaining Senate consent.
Supporters argued that the law would protect federal officials from removal for political reasons.
The legislation was particularly important because Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton supported Congressional Reconstruction.
Johnson opposed the law.
He believed it improperly restricted the president's constitutional authority over executive officials.
The dispute raised a fundamental question about separation of powers.
The Constitution established the presidency, Congress, and the federal judiciary as distinct branches.
But it did not resolve every question concerning the appointment and removal of executive officials.
Congress sought to limit the president's power.
Johnson challenged that limitation.
The disagreement would soon produce the first presidential impeachment in American history.
Edwin Stanton and the War Department
Edwin M. Stanton had served as secretary of war under Abraham Lincoln.
He remained in office after Johnson became president.
Stanton supported the congressional approach to Reconstruction more strongly than Johnson did.
That disagreement became increasingly important because the War Department played a central role in administering the military districts.
Johnson wanted greater control over the officials carrying out Reconstruction.
In August 1867, he suspended Stanton and appointed Ulysses S. Grant as secretary of war on an interim basis.
The Senate later refused to approve Stanton's removal.
Grant relinquished the position, and Stanton returned to office.
Johnson remained determined to remove him.
In February 1868, the president attempted to dismiss Stanton and replace him with Lorenzo Thomas.
Stanton refused to leave his office.
Congress responded immediately.
The dispute over the War Department had become a constitutional confrontation.
February 24, 1868 — The House Impeaches Andrew Johnson
On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson.
The vote was 126 to 47.
It was the first time the House had impeached a president of the United States.
Impeachment did not automatically remove Johnson from office.
Under the Constitution, the House possesses the power of impeachment.
The Senate conducts the trial.
Conviction and removal require a two-thirds vote of senators present.
The House eventually approved eleven articles of impeachment.
Most centered on Johnson's actions involving Stanton and the Tenure of Office Act.
Other charges concerned his conduct toward Congress.
Supporters of impeachment argued that Johnson had violated federal law and obstructed the lawful implementation of Reconstruction.
Johnson's defenders argued that the Tenure of Office Act raised serious constitutional questions and that disagreements over policy did not justify removing a president.
The stakes were enormous.
The nation had recently survived a civil war.
Now its constitutional system was being tested by a confrontation between two branches of the federal government.
The Senate Trial
Johnson's impeachment trial began in March 1868.
Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presided.
Members of the House served as prosecutors.
The president was represented by attorneys.
The proceedings attracted national attention.
Americans followed reports from Washington as senators considered the charges.
The trial involved questions of law, constitutional authority, and political responsibility.
Had Johnson violated the Tenure of Office Act?
Did the act constitutionally apply to Stanton's position?
Could Congress restrict presidential removal authority in this way?
And did Johnson's actions constitute impeachable offenses?
The Senate was not simply deciding whether it approved of the president's policies.
It was determining whether the constitutional standard for conviction and removal had been met.
That distinction was central to the proceeding.
May 1868 — One Vote Short of Removal
On May 16, 1868, the Senate voted on one of the articles of impeachment.
Thirty-five senators voted to convict Johnson.
Nineteen voted to acquit.
Conviction required thirty-six votes.
The Senate therefore fell one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority.
Additional votes on May 26 produced the same result.
Johnson was acquitted.
He remained president.
The result did not mean Congress approved of his Reconstruction policies.
Nor did it resolve every constitutional dispute surrounding the Tenure of Office Act.
It meant that the Senate had not reached the constitutional threshold required to remove him from office.
Seven Republican senators joined Democrats in voting against conviction.
Their reasons varied, but concerns about the legal basis for removal and the independence of the presidency were important.
The impeachment trial demonstrated the operation of constitutional checks and balances during a period of extraordinary political conflict.
Congress had challenged the president.
The Senate had conducted a trial.
And the president remained in office because the votes required for removal had not been obtained.
The constitutional process continued.
THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT BECOMES LAW
July 1868 — A New Definition of Citizenship
While the impeachment proceedings dominated national attention, the proposed Fourteenth Amendment continued moving through the state ratification process.
Congress had approved the amendment in 1866.
Its ratification was a central requirement of Congressional Reconstruction.
On July 9, 1868, the amendment reached the required number of state ratifications.
It was formally certified later that month.
The Fourteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution.
Its first section established several fundamental protections.
It recognized national and state citizenship for people born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction.
It prohibited states from abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.
It prohibited states from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
And it prohibited states from denying any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
These provisions fundamentally changed the constitutional relationship between the states, the federal government, and individual rights.
Why the Fourteenth Amendment Mattered
The Fourteenth Amendment addressed a major problem exposed by slavery and Reconstruction.
Before the Civil War, states had possessed substantial authority over the legal status and rights of their residents.
The Supreme Court's 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford had denied national citizenship to people of African descent under its interpretation of the Constitution.
The Fourteenth Amendment established a new constitutional definition of citizenship.
It also placed explicit restrictions on state governments.
A state could no longer claim unlimited authority to deny the protections guaranteed by the amendment.
The equal protection and due process provisions would become central to later constitutional law.
Their full meaning would be debated in courts and legislatures for generations.
The amendment did not immediately eliminate racial discrimination.
Nor did it automatically guarantee voting rights to all Black Americans.
But it established constitutional principles that could be invoked against discriminatory state action.
Its importance extended far beyond the immediate circumstances of Reconstruction.
It would become one of the foundations of modern American civil-rights law.
Citizenship and Voting Were Not the Same
The Fourteenth Amendment established citizenship and important legal protections.
But citizenship did not automatically mean every citizen could vote.
Women remained excluded from voting in most elections.
The amendment's second section explicitly referred to male inhabitants when addressing reductions in representation for states that denied or abridged certain voting rights.
That language disappointed many women's rights advocates.
Leaders who had supported abolition disagreed over whether the Constitution should be amended to protect Black male voting rights before securing women's suffrage.
Some viewed the immediate protection of Black male voting as an urgent response to postwar violence and exclusion.
Others objected to establishing new constitutional language that distinguished political rights by sex.
These disagreements revealed the limits of the changes being made.
Reconstruction expanded constitutional protections.
But the meaning of political equality remained contested.
The next major constitutional amendment would address voting discrimination based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
That development would come in the next phase of Reconstruction.
Southern States Return to Congressional Representation
During 1868, several former Confederate states completed the requirements established by Congress.
They adopted new constitutions.
They ratified the Fourteenth Amendment.
And they regained representation in Congress.
The process varied by state.
Arkansas was readmitted to congressional representation in June.
Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina followed during the summer.
Other states remained under Reconstruction requirements.
The process was not uniform or free of conflict.
New governments faced resistance.
Elections were disputed.
Federal military authorities continued playing important roles in some areas.
But the political landscape was changing.
Black voters and their allies were helping establish governments in states where African Americans had previously been excluded from political participation.
For the first time, Black men began holding state legislative offices in substantial numbers.
These developments would expand during the following years.
The Rise of Black Political Leadership
Reconstruction created new opportunities for Black Americans to participate in government.
Black ministers, teachers, veterans, farmers, artisans, and community organizers became political leaders.
Some had been free before the Civil War.
Others had experienced slavery firsthand.
They brought different perspectives and priorities into public life.
Many emphasized education, civil rights, fair labor practices, and legal protection.
They also sought improvements in roads, transportation, public institutions, and local services.
Black political participation did not occur in isolation.
Southern Republican coalitions included Black voters, white Southern Unionists, and Northern migrants.
These groups did not always agree.
They had different economic interests and political priorities.
But they shared enough common objectives to establish new governments in several states.
The emergence of Black political leadership represented one of Reconstruction's most significant changes.
It demonstrated that formerly excluded Americans could participate directly in governing their communities and states.
Political Violence Threatens Reconstruction
The expansion of Black voting and Republican political power generated organized resistance.
White supremacist groups used intimidation and violence to undermine Reconstruction governments and suppress Black political participation.
The Ku Klux Klan had emerged in Tennessee in 1865–1866 and expanded into a network of violent activity.
Its members and other armed groups threatened voters, attacked political leaders, and targeted teachers, ministers, and community organizers.
Violence intensified during the 1868 election season.
In Louisiana, attacks around Opelousas left large numbers of Black residents dead.
In Georgia, violence at Camilla targeted a Republican political gathering.
The exact death tolls of some incidents remain uncertain because historical records are incomplete or conflicting.
But the larger pattern is clear.
Political violence was being used to prevent Black Americans and their allies from exercising newly established rights.
The conflict was no longer limited to whether Congress possessed authority to reconstruct Southern governments.
It also involved whether those governments could function when their supporters faced intimidation and attack.
Federal officials would increasingly confront demands for stronger enforcement.
THE ELECTION OF 1868
A New Presidential Contest
As Johnson's presidency approached its conclusion, Americans prepared for another national election.
The Republican Party nominated Ulysses S. Grant.
Grant had become a nationally recognized figure through his military leadership during the Civil War.
He had commanded Union forces during the final campaigns and accepted Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
His candidacy connected the Republican Party to the preservation of the Union.
The Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour, a former governor of New York.
The campaign focused heavily on Reconstruction, federal authority, political rights, and the future of the former Confederate states.
The parties presented competing approaches to postwar government.
Republicans generally supported Congressional Reconstruction and the constitutional changes associated with it.
Democrats criticized military Reconstruction and advocated greater restoration of state authority, although views within each party varied.
The election was also significant because Black men in several reconstructed Southern states participated in presidential voting.
The electorate itself was changing.
November 3, 1868 — Grant Wins
Ulysses S. Grant won the presidential election.
He received approximately 52.7 percent of the popular vote and 214 electoral votes.
Horatio Seymour received 80 electoral votes.
The result reflected the continuing national importance of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Grant's military reputation contributed to his public standing.
The Republican Party retained control of the presidency.
And Congressional Reconstruction would continue under a new administration.
Johnson would remain president until March 1869.
Grant's victory did not resolve the country's disagreements.
Violence continued in the South.
The future of Black voting rights remained uncertain.
Economic recovery was uneven.
And several former Confederate states had not yet completed Reconstruction.
But the election marked another transition.
The country was moving from the immediate postwar struggle between Johnson and Congress toward a new phase of federal enforcement and constitutional change.
WHAT 1867–1868 CHANGED
The years 1867 and 1868 transformed Reconstruction.
First, Congress established a new process for restoring Southern state governments.
The Reconstruction Acts created military districts and required new constitutions and political procedures.
Second, Black men gained unprecedented opportunities for political participation in the former Confederate states.
Voter registration, constitutional conventions, and elections opened institutions that had previously excluded them.
Third, the conflict between the president and Congress reached a constitutional crisis.
Andrew Johnson became the first president impeached by the House of Representatives.
He remained in office after the Senate failed to convict him by the required two-thirds majority.
Fourth, the Fourteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution.
Citizenship, due process, and equal protection gained new constitutional foundations.
Fifth, Reconstruction governments began reshaping Southern public institutions.
New state constitutions expanded public education and addressed political and civil rights.
Finally, organized violence threatened the changes being made.
Black communities and their political allies faced intimidation and attacks intended to undermine their participation in government.
Reconstruction had moved beyond the immediate task of restoring civilian authority.
It had become a national struggle over the meaning and enforcement of constitutional rights.
THE GREAT EXPERIMENT AND THE BALANCE OF POWER
The founders had established a constitutional system in which authority was divided among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
They had also divided power between the federal government and the states.
Those arrangements were intended to prevent the concentration of authority and provide mechanisms for resolving political disagreements.
But the Constitution did not answer every question that future generations would confront.
The Civil War had tested whether the Union could survive secession.
Reconstruction tested how the constitutional system would function after the rebellion had been defeated.
In 1867 and 1868, Congress asserted authority over the terms of Southern restoration.
The president challenged congressional restrictions on executive power.
The House exercised its impeachment authority.
The Senate conducted a trial and declined to remove the president.
The states participated in ratifying a constitutional amendment that would limit their own authority over individual rights.
And millions of Americans experienced changes in the practical meaning of political participation.
These events demonstrated that constitutional government was not static.
The Constitution provided a framework.
But its meaning and application continued to develop through legislation, amendments, elections, judicial interpretation, and political conflict.
The Fourteenth Amendment was especially consequential.
It established principles that would shape future debates over citizenship and the protection of individual rights.
Yet constitutional language alone could not ensure that those protections were respected.
The events of 1868 made that limitation painfully clear.
Black Americans were gaining political rights.
But many faced violence when attempting to exercise them.
The country had begun redefining citizenship.
It still had to determine how those rights would be enforced.
The great experiment in representative government was entering a new stage: one in which the protection of individual rights would become a central responsibility of the constitutional system.
THE STORY CONTINUES
PART III — THE PROMISE AND THE RESISTANCE (1869–1872)
The next chapter begins with the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant.
The country will continue restoring former Confederate states to congressional representation.
Congress will propose and ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, prohibiting denial of voting rights because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Black Americans will enter Congress and participate in state and local governments in unprecedented numbers.
New public institutions will develop.
But organized violence will continue threatening Reconstruction.
Congress will respond with Enforcement Acts intended to protect elections and suppress political terrorism.
Grant's administration will confront the Ku Klux Klan and the challenge of enforcing federal law.
The country has expanded the constitutional meaning of citizenship.
Now it must confront the question of whether those rights can be protected in practice.
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