The Civil Rights Movement: Andrew Johnson And The Radical Republicans

Abraham Lincoln once said, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” Though he never lived to see the changing of the social structure in the South, his idea was taken as a vital element in the Reconstruction and caused differences between Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republicans with regard to fixing the South. Even though the Reconstruction ended tragically with African Americans becoming second class citizens, it became an inspiration for the Civil Rights Movement that emphasized on asserting the political, social, and economic rights of African Americans using nonviolent strategies a century later. As mentioned, there were major differences of the Reconstruction plans between President Andrew Johnson and the Congress. Johnson’s plan

As mentioned in the book, “A fervent believer in states’ rights, Johnson insisted that since secession was illegal, the southern states had never actually left the Union or surrendered the right to govern their own affairs” (Foner, 579). This means that Johnson deeply resented the abuse of federal power that forced Reconstruction in the South. Furthermore, Johnson, unlike Lincoln, was from Tennessee, a state that seceded from the Union during the Civil War. Therefore, he held discriminatory beliefs about the freedmen and felt sympathy for the former Confederates who failed to protect their way of life. “The white race and the black race of the South have hitherto lived together under the relation of master and slave – capital owning labor. Now, suddenly, that relation is changed, and as to the ownership, capital and labor are divorced. They stand now each master of itself. … Capital, it is true, has more

Though some Radical Republicans like Thaddeus Stevens wanted to take land from the former slave owners and give it to the freedmen as a foundation for economic equality, many Moderate Republicans argued that the federal government had no right in taking property from any American. Nevertheless, most Republicans agreed to change Johnson’s Reconstruction plan by taking this major task into their own hands. “The Radicals fully embraced the expanded powers of the federal government born during the Civil War. Traditions of federalism and states’ rights, they insisted, must not obstruct a sweeping national effort to protect the rights of all Americans” (Foner, 581). Most Republicans in Congress wanted African Americans to be treated as equals even if that meant undermining the traditional Southern society. As a result, this formed the basis of Radical Reconstruction, where the South was divided into five military districts and the Congress passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment despite President Johnson’s veto. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery while the 14th Amendment guaranteed African Americans civil rights as citizens along with the 15th Amendment giving them the vote. In the end, even though the Northerners eventually grew tired of Reconstruction and tolerated segregation in the South that recognized African