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After Johnson vetoed a bill extending the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau—a temporary agency that provided freed slaves with relief, legal help, and educational and employment assistance—Congress came out with the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which was intended to nullify the Black Codes and guarantee “equal benefit of all laws”. Johnson vetoed this legislation as well. Johnson contradicted public expectations by not accepting the moderate measures. Congress quickly passed the Civil Rights Act over Johnson’s veto, signifying that the president was now hopelessly at odds with most of the congressmen from what was supposed to be his own party.
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The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to color, race, or previous condition. As citizens they could make and enforce contracts, give evidence in court, sue or be sued, and inherit, lease, purchase, hold, sell, and convey real and personal property. Persons who denied these rights to former slaves were guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction faced a fine not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. The activities of organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan undermined the workings of this act and it failed to guarantee the civil rights of African Americans.
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT 1866
After Johnson vetoed a bill extending the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau—a temporary agency that provided freed slaves with relief, legal help, and educational and employment assistance—Congress came out with the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which was intended to nullify the Black Codes and guarantee “equal benefit of all laws”. Johnson vetoed this legislation as well. Johnson contradicted public expectations by not accepting the moderate measures. Congress quickly passed the Civil Rights Act over Johnson’s veto, signifying that the president was now hopelessly at odds with most of the congressmen from what was supposed to be his own party.
The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to color, race, or previous condition. As citizens they could make and enforce contracts, give evidence in court, sue or be sued, and inherit, lease, purchase, hold, sell, and convey real and personal property. Persons who denied these rights to former slaves were guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction faced a fine not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. The activities of organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan undermined the workings of this act and it failed to guarantee the civil rights of African Americans.
Primary Source:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/activism/ps_1866.html
Secondary Source:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcivil1866.htm