Beginning in 1867, the Republican-controlled Congress passed a series of four Reconstruction Acts. These acts were in response to the Black Codes and President Andrew Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction. The Black Codes limited the civil rights of African Americans in the South. For example, African Americans were not allowed to bear arms, some African Americans were forced to sign yearly labor contracts, and those without jobs were considered vagrants. Congress passed the first act in March 1867 over Johnson’s veto. It established the principle of congressional Reconstruction and divided the South into five military districts subject to martial law. The act required new state governments to be established by constitutional conventions in each state. The delegates to these conventions were required to be elected through “universal manhood suffrage.” The new governments had to guarantee the right to vote to all men and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, which defined national citizenship to include African Americans. The act also prohibited former Confederates from holding federal or state office. When the southern states failed to hold constitutional conventions required by the Reconstruction Act, Congress passed the second and third Reconstruction Acts in March and July 1867. These acts gave the military more power to initiate the process. The final act, passed in March 1868, allowed states to re-enter the Union if a majority of voters approved the new constitutions. This changed the previous requirement that a majority of registered voters participate in the vote for ratification. By July 1870 each of the southern states complied with the plan and was readmitted to the Union.
