Radical Reconstruction
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Radical Reconstruction
United States history
Alternate titles: Congressional Reconstruction
BY The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica | View Edit History
Radical Reconstruction, also called Congressional Reconstruction, process and period of Reconstruction during which the Radical Republicans in the U.S. Congress seized control of Reconstruction from Pres. Andrew Johnson and passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867–68, which sent federal troops to the South to oversee the establishment of state governments that were more democratic. Congress also enacted legislation and amended the Constitution to guarantee the civil rights of freedmen and African Americans in general.
Thomas Nast: “Patience on a Monument”
Thomas Nast: “Patience on a Monument”
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Location: United States
Context: Reconstruction Acts
In the 1866 mid-term congressional elections, voters in the North resoundingly rejected Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction policies, and Congress, dominated by Radical Republicans, decided to restart Reconstruction. The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 split the states of the former Confederacy into five military districts and specified how new governments—based on manhood suffrage without regard to race—were to be constituted. Thus began Radical Reconstruction, which lasted until the demise of the last Republican-led Southern governments in 1877.
Thomas Nast: “The Man with the (Carpet) Bags”
Thomas Nast: “The Man with the (Carpet) Bags”
“The Man with the (Carpet) Bags,” cartoon by Thomas Nast depicting a common Southern attitude toward Northerners during Reconstruction, 1872.
The Granger Collection, New York
African American political leaders (including individuals who had been free before the Civil War, artisans, Civil War veterans, and formerly enslaved ministers) advocated for the elimination of the racial caste system and the economic uplift of the formerly enslaved individuals. Throughout the South, more than 600 African Americans served in state legislatures, and hundreds more held local offices from sheriff to justice of the peace. Moreover, 16 African Americans served in Congress during Reconstruction, including two U.S. senators, Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce. Although the ascension of African Americans to positions of political power marked a dramatic break with the country’s traditions and aroused deep-seated hostility from the opponents of Reconstruction, so-called “black supremacy” never existed.
Blanche K. Bruce, Frederick Douglass, Hiram Revels
Blanche K. Bruce, Frederick Douglass, Hiram Revels
Heroes of the Colored Race, lithograph featuring (from centre left) Blanche K. Bruce, Frederick Douglass, and Hiram Revels, c. 1881.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Reconstruction governments served the expanding citizenry by establishing the South’s first state-funded public school systems, seeking to strengthen the bargaining power of plantation labourers, making taxation more equitable, and outlawing racial discrimination in public transportation and accommodations. In the hope of creating a “New South” whose economic growth would benefit both blacks and whites, the governments also made available considerable funding for railroads and other enterprises. However, those economic programs spawned corruption and rising taxes, which alienated more and more white voters.