Reconstruction Era
Raina White
Andrew Johnson
- December 29, 1808- July 31 1875
- Born into poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina
- Was Abraham Lincoln's vice president for his second term.
- Became the 17th president of the United States(Democrat) after Lincoln's assassination. When he came into office the Civil War had ended.
- First president to be impeached.
- He became mayor in Greenville, Tennessee after moving there.
- elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1835.
- Had a brief service in the Tennessee Senate then elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1843(served five two-year terms)
- Became Governor of Tennessee for four years; elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857.
Thaddeus Stevens
- April 4, 1792- August 11, 1868
- Member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania; and also one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party in the 1860s.
- A fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African Americans.
- Stevens sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, in opposition to President Andrew Johnson. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee during the American Civil War, he played a major part in the war's financing.
- Born in rural Vermont-in poverty-with a club foot giving him a limp he had his entire life.
- Successful lawyer in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
- Elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
- Moved to Lancaster and joined the Whig Party;elected into Congress in 1848.
Civil Rights Act of 1866
- Enacted April 9, 1866.
- Was the first United States federal law to define US citizenship and affirmed that all citizens were equally protected by the law
- Mainly intended to protect the civil rights of African Americans, during the American Civil War.
- This legislation was enacted by Congress in 1865 but vetoed by President Andrew Johnson. In April 1866 Congress again passed the bill. Although Johnson again vetoed it, a two-thirds majority in each house overcame the veto and the bill ostensibly became law.
- Senator Lyman Trumbull was the author and who introduced the bill into the Senate.
14th Amendment
- Ratified on July 9, 1868 during the Reconstruction era. It, along with the 13th and 15th amendments are collectively known as the Reconstruction amendments.
- Its broad goal was to ensure that the Civil Rights Act passed in 1866 would remain valid ensuring that "all persons born in the United States...excluding Indians not taxed...." were citizens and were to be given "full and equal benefit of all laws."