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Lincoln sets forth 10 percent Reconstruction plan
The Ten Percent Plan said once ten percent or more of the voting population (males) of any state had taken the oath, they were authorized to set up a government. http://www.csupomona.edu/~rljohnson/Professional/lincoln.html -
Wade-Davis Bill
The Wade-Davis Bill required that 50 percent of a state’s white males take a loyalty oath to be readmitted to the Union. In addition, states were required to give blacks the right to vote. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/documents/docpages/document_page37.htm -
Johnson moves to reconstruct the South
1865 Johnson moves to Reconstruct the South on his own initiative - He prefers to call
the process "restoration", emphasizing his leniency towards the rebelling Southern states. http://www.oursocialstudiesclassroom.com/AH Page/Civil War/Documents/Regents Civil War Timeline-Reconstruction.pdf -
Congress refuses to seat elected state representatives and senators under the presidential plan
Congress refused to seat these representatives and senators because of their disagreement on the reconstruction. Congress refused the seats to the newly elected southern delegation from Johnson. http://www.clipproject.info/Clipart_Buero_Seite_5.html -
Johnson vetos Freedmen's Bureau Bill
Johnson vetoed the Freedmen's Bureau Bill against the Republican support. Freedmen's Bureau would aid the former slaves and help them start a new life. Johnson did not agree and later revealed his intention to abandon the Republican party to start his own. This was just one disagreement between Johnson and Congress. www.picturehistory.com/product/id/17447 -
Johnson vetoes Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act was the first major piece of legislation to
become law over a president’s veto. Johnson’s veto message
helped make the estrangement between Congress and the
President irreparable. Johnson’s constitutional arguments
induced Congress to enact the Fourteenth Amendment, which
forbade individual states to deprive citizens of the “equal
protection of the laws.” http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/107/109768/ch16_a2_d1.pdf -
Congress Passes 14th Amendment
Following the Civil War, Congress submitted to the states three amendments as part of its Reconstruction program to guarantee equal civil and legal rights to black citizens. The major provision of the 14th amendment was to grant citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,” thereby granting citizenship to former slaves. http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=43 -
Republicans increase their congressional majority in the fall elections
Johnson retaliated by dismissing officers who believed in Radical Reconstruction and some Radical generals were transferred and replaced by conservative Democrats. http://explorepahistory.com/images/ExplorePAHistory-a0l9i5-a_349.jpg -
First Reconstruction Act is passed over Johnsons Veto
The South was now divided into five military districts, each under a major general. New elections were to be held in each state with freed male slaves being allowed to vote. The act also included an amendment that offered readmission to the Southern states after they had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and guaranteed adult male suffrage. President Andrew Johnson immediately vetoed the bill but Congress re-passed the bill the same day. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASreconstruction.h -
Johnson is impeached; he advoids conviction by one vote
Congressed tried to remove Johnson from office. Although Johnson was not removed, Congress knew they could now finish their Reconstruction plan without problems from the President. http://www.pcs.org/nixonquiztt/ -
Southern blacks vote and serve in constitutional conventions
Sixteen African Americans served in Congress at this time. http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/grandfather-clause-1898-1915 -
Grant wins presidential election, defeating Horatio Seymour
Grant wins in both popular and electoral votes www.historycentral.com/elections/1868.html -
Congress passes 15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html -
Congress passes Ku Klux Klan Acts to protect black voting rights in the South
The federal government tried to maintain the rights of African Americans. In 1870 and 1871, Congress passed laws authorizing the use of federal troops to enforce the voting rights of blacks. These laws were known as the Enforcement Acts or the Ku Klux Klan Acts. In addition, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation demanding respect for the civil rights of all Americans. http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?content_spotlight/aajourney/freedom -
Grant re-elected president
Grant reelected with an electoral college majority of 286 to 66, and popular majority of 763,000 over Horace Greeley. http://www.galenahistorymuseum.org/granttimeline.htm -
Financial panic plunges nation into depression
The public tended to blame President Grant and Congress for mishandling the economy. The causes were much broader, however. The postwar period was one of frenetic, unregulated growth with the government playing no role in curbing abuses. More than any other single event, the extreme overbuilding of the nation’s railroad system laid the groundwork of the Panic and the depression that followed. Recovery was not realized until 1878. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h213.html -
Congress passes Specie Resumption Act
The Specie Resumption Act was a triumph for the "hard money" forces over the "soft money" advocates during the second Grant administration.The United States government had issued $450 million in greenbacks during the Civil War. These paper notes were not backed by specie (gold or silver) and maintained value only through trust in the government.
After the war the debtor elements, desiring inflation, wanted the greenbacks to remain in circulation and for new notes to be issued. u-s-history.com -
"Whiskey Ring" Scandal exposed
In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Ring -
Disputed presidential election resolved in favor of Republican Hayes over Democrat Tilden
In the election of 1876, the Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, the governor of Ohio, while the Democrats, out of power since 1861, selected Samuel J. Tilden, the governor of New York. The initial returns pointed to a Tilden victory, as the Democrats captured the swing states of Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, and New York. By midnight on Election Day, Tilden had 184 of the 185 electoral votes needed to win. He led the popular vote by 250,000. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/databas -
Compromise of 1877
Ends military intervention in the South and causes fall of the last Radical governments
