jan 5, 1867 - Radical Reconstruction
Description:
When Andrew Johnson became president, he aimed to get the Southern States back into the Union as quickly as possible, even if it meant compromising rules regarding the rights of African Americans. Congress, consisting of Radical Republicans whose main goals were to disenfranchise large numbers of Southern whites, protect black civil rights, confiscate the property of wealthy whites who aided the confederacy, and distribute the land among the freedmen, disagreed and outnumbered Johnson. During Radical Reconstruction, the Radical Republicans controlled the government, and consequently newly enfranchised African Americans got a stronger voice in government for the first time in American history, which was very significant. However Radical Reconstruction influenced the Ku Klux Klan. In less than a decade, reactionary forces–including the Ku Klux Klan reversed the changes instituted by Radical Reconstruction in a violent backlash that restored white supremacy in the South.
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Izzie
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