Appalled by mass killing of ex-slaves and adoption of restrictive black codes, Congressional Republicans seized control of Reconstruction from President Johnson in early 1866. Although the law empowered him to remove recalcitrant southern officeholders, President Johnson refused to take action. He also forbade the Army from trying violations of federal law in its courts or to prohibit activities that were not in specific violation of federal or local statutes. Many Republicans regarded the president’s actions as a systematic effort to...

Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to African Americans and reduced representation in Congress of any southern state that deprived African Americans of the vote.

Tennessee became the first rebel state re-admitted to Union.

President Andrew Johnson was impeached. Johnson had vetoed twenty Reconstruction bills and urged southern legislatures to reject the Fourteenth Amendment. He ordered African American families evicted from land on which they had been settled by the U.S. Army. His opponents insisted that he had abused his powers and flouted the will of Congress. The House voted 126-47 to impeach Johnson on eleven separate articles. Johnson’s attorneys argued that the Tenure of Office Act applied to officials appointed by the president, and since Secretary of...