ACT IV: Congress Impeaches JohnsonAct IV:

Congress lays down the smack.

Gone

Impeachin’• Congress thought Johnson was not

doing his job, because he was not enforcing the Reconstruction Laws.

• They wanted him out of office!

But how?

Tenure of Office Act

• They also wanted to make sure Edwin Stanton stayed in the Cabinet.

• Created the Tenure of Office Act– Prevented the President from

firing Cabinet members without the consent of Congress.

• Johnson fired Stanton.• House of Reps impeached him

(1868).

Johnson is found not guilty by one vote!

Why?

• Some moderates feared Wade becoming president, because he was so into equal rights.

• Others felt the trial was too biased.

• Some said the Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional.

• 7 Republicans voted “not guilty”… and Lyman Trumbull was one of them!

Ulysses S. Grant as President

• Johnson is not nominated to run in next election.

• Ulysses S. Grant becomes President.– Majority of African-Americans

vote for him.• 15th Amendment is

ratified, giving all men the right to vote (ratified 1870).

ACT IV: Congress Impeaches Johnson

I can describe the sequence of events that led to Andrew

Johnson’s impeachment

trial.

Duh. Who can’t? I can explain why

Andrew Johnson was acquitted.

Jerk. I know, he was, wasn’t he?

No, I mean you.

ACT V: Changes in society“I think a change

(a change, a change)

will do you good.”

–Sheryl Crow

Race Relations: 1865-1877

• This was the BEST TIME EVER for race relations in the United States (pre-1960s Civil Rights Movement).

• Civil rights laws were passed and enforced.

• African-Americans were elected to Congress beginning in 1870!– Hiram Rhoades Revels was the first inCongress (a senator).– FYI…he is 1 of only 9 Black senators

in our history!!!(2 in this era, and 7 since 1960’s)

Black Congressmen 1870-1877

House of Representatives

• Jefferson Franklin Long (Republican, GA)

• Joseph Hayne Rainey (Republican, SC)

• Robert Carlos De Large (Republican, SC)

• Robert Brown Elliott (Republican, SC)• Benjamin Sterling Turner (Republican,

AL)• Josiah Thomas Walls (Republican, FL)• Richard Harvey Cain (Republican, SC)• John Roy Lynch (Republican, MS)• Alonzo Jacob Ransier (Republican, SC)• James Thomas Rapier (Republican,

AL)• Jeremiah Haralson (Republican, AL)• John Adams Hyman (Republican, NC)• Charles Edmund Nash (Republican,

LA)• Robert Smalls (Republican, SC)

Senate• Hiram Rhodes Revels (Republican,

MS)• Blanche Kelso Bruce (Republican,

MS)

Ku Klux Klan Is Formed• Terrorist group formed in Tennessee in

1866.• Targeted Blacks and Whites that supported

them.• Used violence—usually murder—to

terrorize their targets.– Burned churches, schools, etc.– Killed livestock that belonged to their targets.

• Congress passed laws against the KKK’s activities in order to protect people.– Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871

• KKK activity decreased but did not go away.

ACT IV: Congress Impeaches Johnson

I can compare and contrast the way in which the KKK was handled

during the Reconstruction

Era and the way in which it is

handled today.

I hate your show-offy attitude. I

can evaluate the effect that

enforcing laws had on improving

society during Reconstruction.