US History

U.S. History Study Guide

14.8 Black Codes These Southern states with the Confederate minded men again running the state governments refused to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment and then enforced Black codes in an attempt to persecute these newly freed slaves. Most states outlawed interracial marriage and jury service by African Americans, and banned African Americans from the right to testify against whites. Most codes imposed a curfew on African Americans and limited their access to public institutions. South Carolina further required licenses for African Americans wishing to enter nonagricultural employment. When Radical Republicans attacked the Black codes, Johnson defended the codes along with his overall plan for reconstruction. Significance • Andrew Johnson created a poor plan for Reconstruction, generously pardoning ex- Confederates and allowing reconstructed governments to be dominated by pro-slavery forces, which passed black codes to keep the freed African Americans subject to prejudice and discrimination 14.9 Congressional Reconstruction Congress came back from recess in December 1865 and immediately fought Johnson’s Reconstruction plan. Radical Republicans, led by Senator Charles Sumner and Representative Thaddeus Stevens, tried to take apart Johnson’s Reconstruction plan and order Reconstruction on Congress’s terms. Congress called for African American voting rights, confiscation of Confederate estates, and military occupation of the South. Congress then passed two bills by overriding Johnson’s veto: the Civil Rights Act, which granted blacks full citizenship and civil rights, and an act to extend the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Johnson’s attempt to veto these two bills making many moderates side with the Republican's plan. 14.10 The Fourteenth Amendment Passed To make sure the Civil Rights Act was constitutional, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866, which declared all persons born or naturalized in the United States to be citizens of their states and of the nation, and prohibited states from denying citizens equal protection and due process of the law. Congress then reversed the Dred Scott decision, which had denied blacks citizenship. Johnson opposed the amendment and every Southern state except Tennessee rejected it, leaving the Radical Republicans without enough support to ratify the amendment.

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