By 1866 most Republicans in Congress had turned against Johnson's plan. The most determined of them, the Radical Republicans such as Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, wanted to protect freedpeople's rights and remake Southern politics. Moderates joined them when Johnson vetoed even modest bills.
Key idea
Congress extended the Freedmen's Bureau (created 1865), passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 over Johnson's veto, and proposed the Fourteenth Amendment. The Reconstruction Acts (1867) put most of the South under five military districts and required new state constitutions with voting by Black men. The House impeached Johnson in 1868; the Senate acquitted him by one vote. Black men voted and held office, including Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi (1870).
Why it works
The Constitution's checks and balances were at the center of the fight. A President can veto a bill; Congress can override with two-thirds of each house; the House can impeach and the Senate can remove an official with two-thirds. With large majorities after the 1866 elections, Republicans overrode Johnson again and again. Then they passed the Tenure of Office Act, barring him from firing Cabinet officers without the Senate's consent. When he fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, the House impeached him.
Worked example: One vote short
In May 1868 the Senate voted 35 to 19 to convict Johnson. There were 54 senators. Why was he acquitted?
- Removal requires two-thirds of the senators present.
- Two-thirds of 54 is 36.
- 35 voted guilty, one short of 36.
- Seven Republicans voted to acquit, some because they thought the charges did not reach "high crimes and misdemeanors." Johnson finished his term.
Answer: 35 is one vote short of the 36 needed for two-thirds.
Common mistake
Some think Black officeholders controlled Southern governments. About 1,500 to 2,000 Black men held office during Reconstruction, from sheriff to state legislator to member of Congress, and more than a dozen served in Congress. But white Republicans held most offices, and only in South Carolina's lower house were Black members a majority. Check: "took part in government for the first time" is accurate; "controlled it" is not.
Hiram Revels took the Senate seat of Mississippi once held by Jefferson Davis. Blanche K. Bruce, also of Mississippi, became the first Black senator elected to a full term (1875). Schools for freedpeople, opened by the Freedmen's Bureau, churches and freedpeople themselves, were among Reconstruction's lasting results.