| Another example of the exercise of
power by Congress was the action it took during the Reconstruction Period after
the Civil War. It has already been noted that President Johnson favored a
lenient policy toward the South and attempted to carry out Lincoln's "10 percent
plan". He pardoned most of the Southern leaders and permitted them to restore
their state governments. They were permitted to elect Senators and
Representatives. Congress, however, led by the Radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens, had other ideas about the handing of the defeated Confederacy. Congress favored punitive policies. The South should be treated as conquered territory, and its readmission should be handled by Congress rather than the President. Congress opposed the "Johnson Governments" and the "Black Codes" passed by Southern states which virtually restored former slaves to their masters. Accordingly, it passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This measure divided the South into five military districts and provided that a seceded state would be readmitted in the Union only after it had ratified the 14th Amendment which provided that all persons born or naturalized in the United States should be citizens of the United States and of the state in which they resided, granted equality before the law to all persons, and prohibited a state from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Congress also barred rebel leaders from federal office, repudiated the Confederate debt, and reduced the representation of states which barred qualified persons from voting. Later it adopted the 15th Amendement guaranteeing the Negroes the right to vote. Johnson vigorously opposed these measures. He vetoed the Reconstruction Act and others, only to see Congress repass them over his veto. After such passage of the Tenure of Office Act, Johnson, believing it unconstitutional, violated it and removed a member of his Cabinet without consulting Congress. The House of Representatives proceeded to impeach Johnson. The Senate, however, failed, by one vote, to reach the two-thirds majority necessary for his removal. |