Johnson´s Reconstruction Plan
By: Kennedy Knight
Overview
In 1865 President Andrew Johnson created a plan of Reconstruction that gave the South a free hand in regulating the transition from slavery to freedom and offered no role to blacks in the politics of the South. The control of the governments he established turned many Northerners against the president's policies.
Freemen´s Bureau (Johnson´s Response)
Civil Rights Act 1866 (Johnson´s Response)
Black Codes
These were laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866, after the Civil War. These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans' freedom, and holding them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt.
Examples from SC:
- "No person of color shall migrate into and reside in this state, unless, within twenty days after his arrival within the same, he shall enter into a bond with two freeholders as sureties"
- "Servants shall not be absent from the premises without the permission of the master"
Servants must assist their masters "in the defense of his own person, family, premises, or property"
"No person of color could become an artisan, mechanic, or shopkeeper unless he obtained a license from the judge of the district court – a license that could cost $100 or more."