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Presidential Reconstruction
President Johnson announces his plan of Presidential Reconstruction. -
Lincoln Conspirators
Four people are hanged in Washington, D.C., after being convicted of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. -
Pardons Issued
Johnson's strict pardon policy has been abandoned; wealthy planters are quickly brought back into the union. By September, hundreds of pardons were being issued in a single day—some 13,000 in all. -
Southerners Slow
Southern states elect former Confederates to public office at the state and national levels, drag their feet in ratifying the Thirteenth Amendment, and refuse to extend the vote to black men. -
Black Codes
Southern legislatures begin drafting "Black Codes" to re-establish white supremacy. -
Johnson Declares to end Reconstruction
President Johnson declares the reconstruction process complete. Outraged, Radical Republicans in Congress refuse to recognize new governments in southern states. -
Union Demobilized
The Union Army is quickly demobilized. From a troop strength of one million on May 1, only 152,000 Union soldiers remain in the South by the end of 1865. -
South Grows
Southern towns and cities start to experience a large influx of freedmen. Over the next five years, the black populations of the South's ten largest cities will double. -
13th Admendment Ratified
Ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or ... -
KKK Begins
An organization primarily composed of Confederate Army veterans founds the Ku Klux Klan, a terrorist group formed to intimidate blacks and other ethnic and religious minorities. It first meets in Pulaski, Tennessee. The Klan is the first of many secret terrorist organizations organized in the South for the purpose of reestablishing white authority. -
Douglass meets Johnson
A black delegation led by Frederick Douglass meets with President Andrew Johnson at the White House to advocate black suffrage. The president expresses his opposition, and the meeting ends in controversy. -
Civil Rights Bill
Congress passes the Civil Rights Bill over Johnson's veto. Johnson objects to the Bill on the grounds that blacks did not deserve to become citizens, and that doing so would discriminate against the white race. He also thought that both the Civil Rights Bill and the Freedmen's Bureau Bill would centralize power at the federal level, thus depriving states of the authority to govern their own affairs. -
Racial Violence
Racial violence rages in Memphis, Tennessee for three days as whites assault blacks on the streets. In the aftermath, 48 people, nearly all black, are dead, and hundreds of black homes, churches, and schools have been pillaged or burned. Many more are injured. -
Tennesse Returns to the Union
Tennessee is the first former Confederate state readmitted to the Union. -
Opelousas Massacre
The Opelousas Massacre in Louisiana. An estimated 200 to 300 black Americans are killed. -
Texas vs. White
In its 5-3 Texas v. White decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declares Radical Reconstruction constitutional, stating that secession from the Union is illegal. -
Southern Schools
By year's end, the Freedmen's Bureau tallies nearly 3,000 schools, serving over 150,000 students, in the South; the first public school system in the South outside of North Carolina. -
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Congress passes the ku klux klan act
Congress passes the Ku Klux Klan Act, a more far-reaching reform than the Enforcement Acts. This is the first time that specific crimes committed by individuals are deemed punishable by federal law. -
First Black Governer
P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first black man to serve as an acting state governor in Louisiana, for one month (until 13 January 1873). He assumes the office upon the impeachment and removal of predecessor Henry Clay Warmouth, for corruption. Due to white resistance, his tenure is extremely short. -
Panic of 1870
Financial panic and depression follow the failure of the Philadelphia investment house owned by Jay Cooke, who had helped finance the Union war effort by selling federal bonds to farmers and workers. Of the country's 364 railroads, 89 will go bankrupt. Some 18,000 businesses will fail in the next two years. -
Freedom Bank Fails
The Freedmen's Savings Bank fails, with only $31,000 to reimburse its 61,000 remaining depositors. The average loss is $20 per customer. -
United States vs. Cruikshank
In the United States v. Cruikshank: the Supreme Court asserts that, Fifteenth Amendment notwithstanding, the Constitution "has not conferred the right of suffrage upon anyone." The decision emphasizes that the right to vote in the U.S. comes from the states, though "the right of exemption from the prohibited discrimination" comes from the federal government. This decision echoes Minor v. Happersett, which is passed the same year. -
High Unemployment
Unemployment had reached to over 14%, and people were in desperate need to get jobs. They had a family to take care of. -
Hayes Wins Election but Loses Popular Vote
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes is declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden won the popular vote. -
Reconstruction Ends, 'Redemption' Begins
Almost immediately after taking office, Hayes withdraws the federal troops from the South (the last states remaining under Reconstruction are Louisiana and South Carolina). The last Radical state governments collapse and the Redemption Period begins.
