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Ten Percent Plan
This plan said that each secessionist state, such as Texas, had to redraft its constitution and reenter the Union after 10 percent of its eligible voters pledged an oath of allegiance to the U.S. -
Reconstuction
Texans confronted a situation in which new directions could be taken in economic development, political alignments, and social order. The period of Reconstruction presented the old order with a critical challenge. -
Assasination
April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth Assassinated President Lincoln. Vice President Andrew Johnson then became president. -
Federal Troops
Federal troops began entering the state in late May 1865. -
Formation of Feedmen Bureau
The formation of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen's Bureau) presented a further threat to prewar society. This agency began its operations in the state in September 1865 under the command of Maj. Gen. Edgar M. Gregory. -
Constutional Convention and Election of James Throckmorton
When the delegates assembled at Austin in February 1866 they included a large number of prominent prewar and Confederate leaders, including H. R. Runnels, O. M. Roberts, R. S. Walker, and T. N. Waul. They made some concessions to the Reconstruction situation, however, and in the Constitutional Convention of 1866 they shared power with moderate Unionists, those who were willing to make concessions to the Democrats. They elected James Throckmorton, -
Constitution passed
The Convention set an election of ratification, at which officials were also elected, for June 25, 1866, and the proposed constitution passed. -
Throckmorton took office
The Eleventh Legislature met on August 6, 1866, and Throckmorton took office six days later. The governor's efforts at securing recognition were hindered by the many former secessionists who dominated the legislature. -
First Reconstruction Act
Congress brought the course of Throckmorton, the legislature, and Presidential Reconstruction to an end on March 2, 1867, with its First Reconstruction Act. -
Removal of Throckmorton
From the beginning General Griffin, commander in Texas, differed from Throckmorton on policy, and on July 30, 1867, at the request of Griffin, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, commander of the district, removed Throckmorton from office as an "impediment to Reconstruction -
Death of Charles Griffen
Charles Griffin was the most active politically, but his career ended with his death in September 1867. -
Removal of county officials
November 1, 1867, removed more than 400 county officials in fifty-seven counties across the state. Four days later Reynolds removed the elected city officials of San Antonio, and the day after that, their terms having expired, he replaced the officials of Austin. -
"Africanization"
On January 20, 1868, conservatives met at Houston and concluded that their supporters should vote against a convention and for conservative delegates, stating that they preferred military rule to the "Africanization" that would result from a convention. -
Convention
The convention met at Austin on June 1, 1868, and did not adjourn until February 1869. Though the delegates devoted as much time to special-interest legislation as to drafting the basic document, the constitution they wrote differed significantly from previous constitutions. -
Constitution Ratified
On January 11, 1870, General Reynolds declared that the new constitution had been ratified and that Edmund J. Davis had received an 800-vote majority -
Readmitted Texas to the Union
On March 30, 1870, President Grant signed the act that readmitted Texas to the Union and ended Congressional Reconstruction.