-
People had to build a new society not based on slavery.
-
The southern states passed laws, known as black codes, which limited the freedom of former slaves.
-
Congress passed a bill promoting civil rights those rights granted to all citizens,. The act declared that all persons born in the United States (except Native American) were citizens.
-
Republicans were not satisfied with passing laws that ensured equal rights. They wanted equality to be protected by the Constitution itself. So congress proposed the Fourteenth Amendment. It stated that all people born in the United States were citizens and had the same rights.
-
President Johnson fought against many of Congress's reform efforts during Radical Reconstruction. President Johnson was impeached by one single vote.
-
Southern voters chose delegates to draft their new state constitutions. Three fourths of the delegates were Republicans.
-
The final blow to Reconstruction came with the 1876 presidential election, and Hayes became president.
