After Lincoln's death in 1865, America was faced the problem of what to do with freed slaves and how to go about reincorporating the south into the Union. In 1865, the slaves were officially freed but did not have many equal rights. Slaves could not vote, could not testify against a white man in a court of law, and had no access to free public education.

A "Freedman's Bureau" was set up temporarily to facilitate slave issues in the south. Unfortunately, this bureaucracy had goals too lofty to achieve and had limited resources. It made some headway in helping facilitate public education for blacks, but it was weak in helping reintegrate blacks into the labor force or in aiding with legal arbitration. Most blacks would be asked to go back into plantation labor, something they clearly did not want to do. Few blacks could stand the thought of working in the cotton fields again under white supervision, regardless of pay.

Originally, some political thought was being given to the reissue of some southern land for freed slaves. Several thousand acres had been acquired by the Union as plantations and other land holdings were abandoned during the Civil War. Many blacks were offered this land before it's legal status was fully established in 1865. In certain areas of the south, blacks had already established homesteads, grown crops, and assumed general ownership on specific sectors of abandoned land - usually encouraged by local governments or Union troops who may have been maintaining some civil administration over the property.

In a reversal of policy, this abandoned property would be legally given back to the owners or relatives of the owners by proclamation in August of 1865. Any homesteaders would be asked to get off the property. All blacks residing there were forced to leave.

Throughout the next few years, states would struggle with applying local laws to things like public education for freedmen, black suffrage, and legislative issues on the subject of labor and race. Emboldened by then president Andrew Johnson, who was advocate for state's rights after the Civil War, southern states sought to enact laws that would continue to maintain control over freed blacks.

President Andrew Johnson

Vice-President Johnson came to the presidency after Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. Johnson was raised poor in Tennessee. He worked to raise himself financially and set out on a long political career. He would be associated in pre-Civil War Congress as a pro-union southerner and against the "slaveocracy" of the south. Because of these traits, he was tapped by Lincoln to be his running mate in the 1864 election.

Johnson's belief system, however, was largely misinterpreted by those in Congress as well as the public at large when he became president. Johnson had always been a proponent for the white working poor and against the plantation system but showed no inclination for allowing blacks the same legal status as whites. It became apparent from some his public statements in Congress that he held many of the same racial prejudices as his plantation-owning enemies held.

In mid-1865, Johnson began giving out questionable political appointments in southern states. He also began giving pardons to many who were part of the original southern state legislatures that were in power before the war. Then came his policy on public land holdings in the south returning to their original owners. In short, his actions became more and more friendly to those seeking a white supremacy in the southern states. Although many of Johnson's ideas would independently pass through congress, they would collectively begin to unnerve the ruling Republican majority in Washington.

Johnson was also lacking in several important areas as presidential material. He generally refused counsel and rarely asked the advice of his cabinet. Unlike Lincoln, he was stubborn and uncompromising and rarely had his finger on the pulse of public perception. He isolated the large group of Radicals in Congress and made no attempt at creating political coalitions.

By the fall of 1865, news began to trickle northward that southern states were enacting "black codes" or laws that would keep freed blacks as second class citizens. Johnson's advocacy of leaving all the social issues to the power of the states was working so well that northern legislatures began to sense a return to "business as usual" in southern politics. The general attitude of the south was not contrition or remorse, but disdain for anything that would dramatically change the prevailing plantation labor system. This return to pre-war cultural norms in the south brought a sense of alarm both to the north as victors in a war against slavery and the federal government as a whole.

Republicans soon formed coalitions as backlash to an unrepentant south and to a president seemingly dedicated to white supremacy. Within this context, the first civil rights bill was drafted and brought to the floor of congress. Although it said nothing about black suffrage, this bill was the first bill to aim directly and precisely at what rights a citizen of the United States should have. To the surprise of many, the bill was vetoed by President Johnson, and from that point forward the split between the president and a Republican Congress was nearly complete.

Congressional Reconstruction

The gulf between congress and the president soon reached an impasse. Johnson was clearly against the 14 Amendment (concerning the rights of natural born citizens), but over a period of two years beginning in 1866 the amendment was finally ratified. Beginning around 1867, it was clear black suffrage was now gaining strength and might possibly win approval in Congress. Enough Republicans had won seats in southern state legislatures to bring about profound changes in southern congressional sentiment if not southern public sentiment. A second phase of reconstruction was beginning.