Reconstruction Acts

Reconstruction Acts, U.S. legislation enacted in 1867–68 that outlined the conditions under which the Southern states would be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War (1861–65). The bills were largely written by the Radical Republicans in the U.S. Congress.

After the war ended in 1865, the debate intensified over how the former Confederate states would rejoin the United States. Pres. Andrew Johnson indicated that he would pursue even more lenient Reconstruction policies than those of his predecessor, Abraham Lincoln. However, he faced opposition from the Radical Republicans, a powerful antislavery faction within Congress that was committed to enfranchisement and equal rights for freed blacks. These politicians favored more stringent measures, and they largely crafted the Reconstruction Acts. The first bill called for 10 of the “rebel States” to be divided into five districts under military control; only Tennessee was excluded because it had already been readmitted. The states were also required to craft new constitutions, which had to include universal male suffrage and needed approval by the U.S. Congress. In addition, they had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans and former slaves. After completing the requirements, the states would be readmitted to the Union.

Congress approved the bill in February 1867, and then on March 2 it overrode Johnson’s veto. Three more acts were later enacted (two in 1867 and one in 1868), which concerned how the constitutions would be created and passed at the state level. A legal case (Ex Parte McCardle) arose over the constitutionality of military occupation in the South—thereby bringing into question the legality of the Reconstruction measures. The suit was brought under the Habeas Corpus Act of 1867, and the Radical Republicans responded by stripping the Supreme Court of its power to hear appeals involving that act. Congress again overrode Johnson’s veto, and in 1869 the court dismissed the case, stating that it lacked jurisdiction.

Britannica Quiz

Reconstruction Era Quiz

The former Confederate states began rejoining the Union in 1868, with Georgia being the last state to be readmitted, on July 15, 1870; it had rejoined the Union two years earlier but had been expelled in 1869 after removing African Americans from the state legislature.