President Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction plan, based in part on Abraham Lincoln’s Ten-Percent Plan and enacted during a congressional recess, angered the Radical Republicans who believed that the South should be punished for their treasonous actions in secession. Immediately upon their return to the U.S. capital, they created their own committee to oversee Reconstruction and, in effect, declared Johnson’s previous actions “null and void.”

It appeared that battle lines had once again been drawn — this time in Washington, DC, instead of along the Mason-Dixon line.

For the remainder of Johnson’s presidency, the sound of clashing arms echoed metaphorically across the nation. Not only did Congress find his readmission policies and restoration of citizenship and voting rights too lenient, but it stood firm on the platform of full citizenship and voting rights for all former enslaved people of color. To accomplish these congressional goals, the Freedmen’s Bureau was created in early 1866 to provide protection for former slaves and establish programs that would aid their transition to citizenship by providing housing and necessities for life.

Johnson recoiled. Refusing to sign the legislation, he attacked the concept as creating a “wasteful laziness” in Southern blacks. Congress simply overrode his veto — and the verbal attacks from both sides increased.

When the president vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 granting citizenship to all persons born in the United States, with the exception of native peoples, he justified his action based on the concept of states’ rights. He took exception to the extensive rights granted in the bill: the right to own property; the right to be protected by all civil laws including laws related to due process, habeas corpus, etc.; the right to testify in legal proceedings and make contracts by signature; and more. Johnson believed that the anti-abolitionists in the North and West would support his action, agreeing that the extension of full rights was too much, too soon.

Instead, Congress again overrode his veto and, for the first time in the history of the United States, exercised legislative authority in a way that had never occurred with a bill of major significance. And then, Congress took one step further — the Joint Committee on Reconstruction authored the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S Constitution. Fearful that a future Congress might repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1866, congressional leaders recognized that an amendment would be much more difficult to undo. The proposed Fourteenth Amendment defined citizenship and authorized the U.S. government to protect the rights of all citizens.

But Congress was not through legislating. The Three-Fifths Clause of the Constitution became irrelevant, and new laws regarding proportional representation included a counting of new citizens and authorized a proportional reduction in representation to any state that denied voting rights to all citizens, excepting those, of course, who had lost their rights by leadership in the recent attempt to overthrow the government of the United States — i.e., the Civil War. Finally, Congress declared that an acceptance of the Fourteenth Amendment was a condition of readmission to the Union.

Goodness gracious! Battle lines appeared even more visible to all observing, and the outcome would be determined by the off-year elections of 1866.

Johnson campaigned vigorously against congressional actions, but instead of swelling the voting pool for his policies, he actually pushed votes toward the Republicans by his blatantly racist comments and what appeared to be his overstep of authority. (Here’s a great time to review the U.S. Constitution and its organization…) The Republicans won control of both houses with a two-thirds-plus majority, and immediately upon being seated, they passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, dividing the Southern states into military districts (except Tennessee, which had “returned” earlier in full compliance) and setting new rules regarding the process for “full restoration” to the Union.

To ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and guarantee voting rights for black males, the Southern states were required to hold constitutional conventions whose delegates had been elected by full manhood suffrage. The military governor had the authority to use “military force” if necessary to comply with the requirements for readmission. Only then might a state be granted full status in the Union, with congressional approval required.

The Southern state seethed but Congress remained unbending — as did Andrew Johnson, who moved to regain control.

Oh my!