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Analysis Of Andrew Johnson's Disagreement After The Civil War

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After the division of the states through the Civil War, people had different answers to the question of how to reunite the country. American politics now had to decide how to deal with racism, former enemy leaders and states, and the true definition of a citizen’s rights. This reconstructing process led to many disagreements. During this time, even congress and the president found themselves at odds.
After the Civil War, Congress and President Andrew Johnson had different tactics to reconstruct the states. While Andrew granted self-government back to the former confederate states quickly, Congress feared returning power to soon would result in confederate uprising and suppressed black freedom. Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment in order …show more content…

“Initially Johnson indicated that he intended to deal harshly with the South. He spoke of punishing ex-Confederate for their ‘treason.’ He also talked of the need to assist former slaves in their transition to freedom (Keene, 416).” Radical Republicans were in favor of such ideas and were pleased by Johnson’s plan. He later showed that his course of actions would look much different from what he originally suggested. Andrew Johnson instead was lenient toward the South. He set up a policy that would quickly reestablish the southern states. “It offered pardons, amnesty, and return of all confiscated property to the southerners who pledged allegiance to the Union (Keene, 416).” The only exception was former confederate leaders and wealthy planters would have to go to Johnson himself for a pardon. Johnson set up ways for the states to gain more self-government. He declared that the union was …show more content…

The Fourteenth Amendment declared all persons born or naturalized in the United states as citizens, that citizens were entitled to “equal protection of the laws” of the states where they lived, that high-ranking former Confederate officials could not hold office unless pardoned by congress, and that states that denied adult male citizens the right to vote would have less congressional representation. It also repudiated Confederate debt and prohibited financial compensation to ex-slave owners (Keene, 421).
When Radical republicans came to power in the South they helped many former slaves regain rights, but there was also tension and corruption. “Between 1869 and 1901, 22 African Americans would serve in congress (20 representatives and 2 senators) (Keene, 423).” Many white southerners became bitter at the “Negro rule” that the Republican government had established (Keene, 423). This bitterness caused the growth of white terrorist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan who often targeted Radical Republican officials and

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