Congress and Civil Rights
Reconstructing the South became a divisive issue in national politics, pitting President Johnson against the Republican majority in Congress. Eventually, Congress implemented its own plan of Reconstruction, based on federal action protecting the rights of the former slaves.
Federal laws and two further Constitutional Amendments established the principle of equal rights for all citizens, regardless of race.
Previous Next 
When Congress assembled in December 1865, Radical Republicans called for the overthrow of the governments established under President Johnson's Reconstruction policy and the establishment of new ones with black men as well as white allowed to vote. Moderate Republicans, still hoping to work with the president, rejected this plan.
Following their lead, Congress adopted two bills, one extending the life of the Freedmen's Bureau, the second, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, guaranteeing blacks' equality before the law, short of the suffrage.
