How radical was congressional reconstruction?

> CHRONOLOGY

1866

  • Congress approves Fourteenth Amendment.

  • American Equal Rights Association founded.
1867

  • Military Reconstruction Act passes.

  • Tenure of Office Act passes.
1868

  • Impeachment trial of President Johnson held.
1869

  • Congress approves Fifteenth Amendment.

By the summer of 1866, President Andrew Johnson and Congress had dropped their gloves and stood toe-to-toe in a bare-knuckle contest unprecedented in American history. Johnson made it clear that he would not budge on either constitutional issues or policy. Moderate Republicans responded by amending the Constitution. But the obstinacy of Johnson and white Southerners pushed Republican moderates ever closer to the Radicals and to acceptance of additional federal intervention in the South. To end presidential interference, Congress voted to impeach the president for the first time since the nation was formed. Soon after, Congress also debated whether to make voting rights color-blind, while women sought to make voting sex-blind as well. [[LP Photo: P16.05 Reconstruction Cartoon – VISUAL ACTIVITY/ROA_04224_16_P05.JPG]]

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VISUAL ACTIVITY
Reconstruction Cartoon This 1865 cartoon pokes fun at two Richmond ladies as they pass by a Union officer on their way to receive free government rations. One says sourly to the other, “Don’t you think that Yankee must feel like shrinking into his boots before such high-toned Southern ladies as we?”
READING THE IMAGE: Just a step behind is a smiling black woman. What does her expression say about her impression of the scene taking place in front of her?
CONNECTIONS: What do these white women suggest about the white South’s attitude toward defeat and reconstruction?
The New York Public Library/Art Resource, NY.

Understanding the American Promise 3ePrinted Page 448