Question

1.How did the Radical Republicans' aim for Reconstruction differ from President Johnson's? What two new laws passed by Congress helped them achieve this aim?
2.describe the relationship between Congress and President Johnson during presidential Reconstruction. give an example of this relationship.
3. Why did the House of Representatives impeach President Johnson? What was the outcome of the impeachment trial?
4. Why did many sharecroppers end up in poverty and debt?

Answer 1

1. 
A) Radical republicans wanted to punish the south much more severely and basically humiliate them in various ways. Johnson was different because he enabled the south to recover through some controversial means during the reconstruction period since he didn't want to put a lot of pressure on them and wanted them to prosper.

B) The first law that they got from the congress was the law that extended the life of the freedman's bureau which was an important organization for the emancipation of African American citizens at the time. The second law was the civil rights act of 1866 which was the first document that made people of all races equal.

2. Johnson had a lot of problems with the congress because they were always on different sides when it came to important legislation. An example of this was for example the 14th amendment that was passed by the congress and was disliked by Johnson, as well as the military reconstruction act which was passed even after Johnson vetoed it.

3.
A) Johnson fired his secretary of war which caused the congress to impeach him. This was because it was considered that he was just being corrupt and wanted to have all power to himself and it was also debated whether it was legal at all to fire someone from such an office if you are the president of the country.

B) The impeachment was unsuccessful because Johnson was acquitted of all charges, 11 of them. The senators who voted against impeachment later never served in an elected office again, but they got the support of the people anyway and there were also senators who voted to impeach him who later changed their mind

4. They had huge farms and plantations which were unsustainable because they now had to pay huge amounts to other people who provided seeds or to workers, who didn't get a lot of money at all but still it was problematic for sustaining such big farms, and they started indebting themselves more and more until they went bankrupt.