Reconstruction: Presidential vs. Congressional Approaches (1866 & 1869)

Reconstruction: Addressing Post-Civil War Challenges

Core Questions of Reconstruction

• The Status of Free People: What provisions and rights would be extended to the millions of formerly enslaved individuals?
• The Fate of Former Confederates: How would individuals who supported slavery and the Confederacy be reintegrated into the Union, and what consequences would they face?
• Responsibility for Reconstruction: Whose role was it to oversee this process—the President, Congress, the Federal government, or individual state and local authorities?

The Constitution of $1866$: Presidential Reconstruction

Overview and Leadership

• Term: This period is known as Presidential Reconstruction by scholars, indicating the President's assumption of primary responsibility for the Union's rebuilding.
• Presidential Transition: Following Abraham Lincoln's assassination in April $1865$, Vice President Andrew Johnson became President and thus oversaw Reconstruction efforts.
• Andrew Johnson's Background:
  • A Southerner from Tennessee and a moderate Democrat.
  • Notably, he was the only Southern Senator who did not leave the Union when his state seceded in $1861$.
  • Lincoln chose Johnson as his running mate in $1864$ (on a