Congressional Reconstruction

702 Words3 Pages
After the Civil War, there were many questions that needed to be answered, from how to reunite the United States, to what to do for the newly freed slaves. Policy makers would certainly have their hands full trying to figure out how to reconstruct the United States, especially the south. After the war, life in the south had taken a dramatic turn. Property values collapsed, Confederate bonds and paper money were worthless, and railroads were either damaged or destroyed. The emancipation of slaves took out four billion dollars invested in slaves, and left the labor system in complete shambles. What cotton was not destroyed by the war, federal troops seized, and it would take many, many years for production of cotton, sugar, and tobacco to…show more content…
Many planters were destitute and homeless after the freeing of slaves, loss of property, and the collapse of land values. Southerners had a hatred for Union Soldiers, whom were often spat at and cursed at, and men and women of the south, implanted hatred and defiance of Union Soldiers and Northern rules. Many acts were imposed by Congress that were designed to prevent southerners from manipulating the Reconstruction process. In 1867, two acts were passed that gave African Americans the right to vote. Congress, who did not trust President Johnson, passed three key acts in March of 1867, despite Johnson’s vetoes, called “Congressional Reconstruction.” The Military Reconstruction Act, The Command of the Army Act, and The Tenure of Office Act. The Military Reconstruction Act, a triumphant victory for Radical Reconstruction, set a precedent among the south by giving voting rights to freed slaves, and was the nation’s first attempt in a military-enforced nation. The Military Reconstruction Act also declared, “No legal state governments or adequate protection for life and property now exists in the rebel states.” Tennessee, who already ratified the fourteenth amendment, was the only southern state exempt from the Act. The remaining southern states were divided into five military districts, in which the commanding officers were to keep order and protect people’s rights and…show more content…
If the states did not ratify the fourteenth amendment in their Constitutions, the state would not be entitled to representation in congress. African Americans in the south played a key role in the course of Reconstruction. During the Reconstruction era, whites in both the north and the south held racist views of the blacks. Whites did not seem to understand the concept of freedom for blacks meant the same as freedom for them. Whites often terrorized, intimidated, and used violence to squash the efforts of blacks to gain equality. While the Civil War gave African American’s freedom, it did not bring them any protection from abuse and exploitation. The Army and Navy gave many freed slaves training in leadership, an opportunity to learn to read and write, and gave them a sense of
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