![]() ![]() ![]() Indeed, Southern states quickly sought to re-establish enslavement by constitutional means, including convict leasing and sharecropping. Stevens remarked, “we had better left them in bondage.” 8 Thaddeus Stevens, Speech, December 18, 1865. “If we leave to the legislation of their late masters,” Rep. 7 New York Times, “Thaddeus Stevens on the Great Topic of the Hour,” September 6, 1865. Progressive officials like Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts argued that lenient treatment of the former Confederate states would undermine abolition and Black citizenship. 6 Frederick Douglass, Reply of the Colored Delegation to the President, February 7, 1866. He also ignored the pleas of a delegation led by Frederick Douglass, who “took exception” to Johnson’s “entirely unsound and prejudicial” views on Black voting rights. Johnson explicitly refused to require voting rights for Black people and instead left states to decide their own electoral policies. In his first State of the Union Address later that year, Johnson announced that he would only require the former Confederate states to accept the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery in order to “resume their places in the two branches of the National Legislature” and “complete the work of restoration.” 4 Andrew Johnson, First Annual Message, December 4, 1865. Bowman III, High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019), 156. That same day, he formally recognized state governments in Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, and Louisiana, even though they remained largely controlled by former Confederate officials. Within one month of taking office, President Johnson-a former slave holder from Tennessee-issued an amnesty proclamation granting full pardons “to all white persons who have, directly or indirectly, participated in the existing rebellion.” 2 “Proclamation Pardoning Persons Who Participated in the Rebellion,” May 28, 1865. Norton & Company, Inc., 1989).but that hope was short-lived. Trefousse, Andrew Johnson: A Biography (New York: W.W. Progressive federal officials were initially optimistic that President Johnson would prioritize protecting the rights of emancipated Black people and hold Southern states accountable for secession, 1 Hans L. Vice President Andrew Johnson was elevated to the presidency in April 1865 after a Confederate sympathizer assassinated President Abraham Lincoln soon after the end of the Civil War. ![]()
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