Focus Notes NAME:

Chapter 16-Lesson 2
THE RADICAL PERIOD: SEAT #
RADICAL REPUBLICANS GC-14

W I C O R TAKE CONTROL ASSIGNED: DUE DATE:

5/08/2023 5/10/2023

HOW DID THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS

DISAGREE OVER PLANS FOR RECONSTRUCTION?

In 1865 former Confederate states began creating new governments based on President
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan. These former Confederate states elected former Confederate
leaders to again represent them in Congress. When the new senators and representatives arrived in
Washington, D.C., however, Congress would not seat them. The Radical Republicans were not
willing to readmit the Southern states on Johnson’s easy terms. Radical Republicans were
determined to make the former Confederacy’s return to the Union difficult for the white South.
Events in the South strengthened the Radical Republicans’ determination. By early 1866,
governments in the Southern states had passed laws called black codes. These laws were designed
to help control the newly freed African Americans. Some black codes made it illegal for African
Americans to own or rent farms. The laws also made it easy for white employers to take advantage
of African American workers. Some black codes allowed officials to fine or even arrest African
Americans who did not have jobs. To freedmen and women and their supporters, life under the
black codes was little better than slavery.
At the same time, Congress tried to protect the rights of the South’s African Americans. In 1866
it passed a bill that gave the Freedmen’s Bureau new powers. The Freedmen’s Bureau could now
setup special courts to try persons charged with violating African Americans’ rights. African
Americans could sit on the juries in these courts and judge accused white Southerners.
To combat the black codes, Radical Republicans pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 through
Congress. This law gave the federal government power to get involved in state affairs to protect
African Americans’ rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 also granted citizenship to African
Americans. This act was meant to counter the Supreme Court decision in the 1857 case Dred Scott
v. Sandford. The Supreme Court had ruled that African Americans were not citizens.
President Johnson vetoed both bills. President Johnson claimed that the federal government
was exceeding its authority. Johnson also argued that both bills were unconstitutional. Johnson
reasoned that they had been passed by a Congress that did not include representatives from all the
states. By raising this issue, Johnson was warning that he would veto any law passed by a Congress
in which the South was not represented.
Republicans in Congress were able to override, or defeat, both vetoes, and the bills became
law. Radical Republicans began to see that Congress and Johnson would not be able to work
together on Reconstruction. The Radical Republicans gave up hope of compromising with the
president and began to create their own plan for dealing with the South.

GGUSD/CALIFORNIA STANDARD:
8.11-1.LIST THE ORIGINAL AIMS OF RECONSTRUCTION and describe its effects on the political and social
structures of different regions.
 WORD BANK:
DEFINE or find a SYNONYM
black codes- 1. DESCRIBE THE SOUTHERN ELECTED OFFICIALS UNDER JOHNSON:

2. EXAMPLES OF BLACK CODES:

veto-

3. DESCRIBE POWERS GIVEN TO THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU:

unconstitutional-

4. DESCRIBE THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866:

override- HOW DID CONGRESS REACT TO JOHNSON’S

CHECK
FOR
VETOES OF THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU & CIVIL
UNDERSTANDING RIGHTS BILLS?

REPUBLICANS PROTECT RIGHTS:- SYNTHESIS STATEMENT:

THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT:

Congress did worry that the courts might overturn the Civil Rights Act. Congress proposed
another amendment to the Constitution, which the states ratified in 1868. The Thirteenth
Amendment had ended slavery.
The Fourteenth Amendment made citizens of anyone born in the United States making the
former slaves U.S. citizens. The Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed that citizenship could not later
be taken away by passing another law. The amendment made it clear that if a state barred any adult
male citizen from voting, that state could lose some representation in Congress. Another part of the
Fourteenth Amendment said that no state could take a person’s life, liberty, or property “without
due process of law.” The Fourteenth Amendment stated that every person was entitled to “equal
protection of the laws.” The Fourteenth Amendment also excluded former Confederate leaders
from holding any national or state office unless Congress had pardoned them.
Some people considered that amending the Constitution in this way to protect African
Americans was an extreme measure. Yet the increasing violence toward African Americans across
the South convinced moderate Republicans that an amendment was necessary. Congress
required the Southern states to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment as another condition of
rejoining the Union. Because most Southern States refused to do so at first, this delayed the
amendment’s ratification until 1868.

GGUSD/CALIFORNIA STANDARD:
8.11-1.LIST THE ORIGINAL AIMS OF RECONSTRUCTION and describe its effects on the political and social
structures of different regions.
 WORD BANK: DETAILS OF THE FOURTEENTH
DEFINE or find a SYNONYM AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION:
amendment- 1. CITIZENSHIP

2. STATE PUNISHMENT FOR NOT ALLOWING MALE CITIZENS TO VOTE:

exclude-

3. EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW:

pardon-
4. FORMER CONFEDERATE LEADERS:

require-
CHECK HOW DID THE 14TH AMENDMENT CHANGE
FOR THE UNITED STATES?
UNDERSTANDING
ratify

PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S FORMER

RECONSTRUCTION CONFEDERATES
PLAN EASILY FORGAVE REGAIN CONTROL
FORMER OF SOUTHERN GOVERNMENTS
CONFEDERATES & AND PASSED BLACK CODES
RESTORED THEIR ACROSS THE SOUTHERN
RIGHTS AS CITIZENS STATES

BLACK CODES REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS

LIMITED THE PASSED THE 14TH
FREEDOMS OF THE AMENDMENT TO GRANT
FORMER SLAVES CITIZENSHIP TO THE FORMER
AND WERE SLAVES (MAKING BLACK
ALLOWED AS AFRICAN CODES ILLEGAL) & TO KEEP
AMERICANS WERE NOT OF THE FORMER CONFEDERATE BLACK
UNITED STATES CITIZENS LEADERS OUT OF THE CODES
(DRED SCOTT DECISION-1857). GOVERNMENT.

14TH AMENDMENT:- SYNTHESIS STATEMENT:

GGUSD/CALIFORNIA STANDARD:
8.11-1.LIST THE ORIGINAL AIMS OF RECONSTRUCTION and describe its effects on the political and social
structures of different regions.