An Act to provide for the more efficient Government of the Rebel States
Considering the fact that that a legal State government and the protection of life and property no longer exists in the Confederate States, the Congress have decided to pass the First Reconstruction Act to enforce “peace and good order”, until the republican State government can be established in the following States: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas. SECTION 1 The Southern rebel States shall be divided into five military districts under the military authority of the US: Virginia as a first district; North Carolina and South Carolina as the second district; Georgia, Alabama, and Florida as the third district; Mississippi and Arkansas as the fourth district; and Louisiana and Texas as the fifth district.
SECTION 2 The President shall assign an officer of the army, not below the rank of brigadier-general, to command in the five military districts and to enforce laws in the assigned district. SECTION 3 Each officer, assigned to a district shall be responsible for the protection of all persons “in their rights of person and property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals”. All interference under color of State authority shall be null and void. SECTION 4 Everyone who has been arrested shall be tried without any unnecessary delay, the punishment shall be just and commensurate, and the punishment, affecting the life or liberty of anyone, shall be first approved by the officer in command of the district. The President shall approve the sentence of death for it to be carried into effect. SECTION 5 When the rebel States have created a Constitution in compliance with the constitution of the US with a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of that State, over twenty-one and of any race, when the Constitution has been ratified by the majority of the voters and approved by the Congress, and when the State has adopted the fourteenth amendment, the State shall be readmitted to the Union and shall be entitled to representation in Congress. Also, anyone who has been excluded from the privilege of holding office, shall not be eligible to vote SECTION 6 People of the rebel States shall be by law admitted to representation in the Congress, and the US shall have the authority to abolish, modify, control, or supersede any civil government that may exist in the States. All men shall have the privilege of voting, excluding the people mentioned in section 5.
Significance: The Congress was full of Radical Republicans which was why they were able to override vetoes of Andrew Johnson and pass the Reconstruction Acts. Moreover, it the United States were getting one step closer to equality of Blacks and whites, however, the Democrats in the South would have been very angry about the situation that the President had very little power over the Congress. Furthermore, Lincoln's idea of Reconstruction were not being considered at all by suppressing the South brutally, which could possibly lead to many riots, or even another war.
FIRST RECONSTRUCTION ACT 1867
Hyuk Jin ChungAn Act to provide for the more efficient Government of the Rebel States
Considering the fact that that a legal State government and the protection of life and property no longer exists in the Confederate States, the Congress have decided to pass the First Reconstruction Act to enforce “peace and good order”, until the republican State government can be established in the following States: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas.
SECTION 1
The Southern rebel States shall be divided into five military districts under the military authority of the US: Virginia as a first district; North Carolina and South Carolina as the second district; Georgia, Alabama, and Florida as the third district; Mississippi and Arkansas as the fourth district; and Louisiana and Texas as the fifth district.
SECTION 2
The President shall assign an officer of the army, not below the rank of brigadier-general, to command in the five military districts and to enforce laws in the assigned district.
SECTION 3
Each officer, assigned to a district shall be responsible for the protection of all persons “in their rights of person and property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals”. All interference under color of State authority shall be null and void.
SECTION 4
Everyone who has been arrested shall be tried without any unnecessary delay, the punishment shall be just and commensurate, and the punishment, affecting the life or liberty of anyone, shall be first approved by the officer in command of the district. The President shall approve the sentence of death for it to be carried into effect.
SECTION 5
When the rebel States have created a Constitution in compliance with the constitution of the US with a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of that State, over twenty-one and of any race, when the Constitution has been ratified by the majority of the voters and approved by the Congress, and when the State has adopted the fourteenth amendment, the State shall be readmitted to the Union and shall be entitled to representation in Congress. Also, anyone who has been excluded from the privilege of holding office, shall not be eligible to vote
SECTION 6
People of the rebel States shall be by law admitted to representation in the Congress, and the US shall have the authority to abolish, modify, control, or supersede any civil government that may exist in the States. All men shall have the privilege of voting, excluding the people mentioned in section 5.
Significance:
The Congress was full of Radical Republicans which was why they were able to override vetoes of Andrew Johnson and pass the Reconstruction Acts. Moreover, it the United States were getting one step closer to equality of Blacks and whites, however, the Democrats in the South would have been very angry about the situation that the President had very little power over the Congress. Furthermore, Lincoln's idea of Reconstruction were not being considered at all by suppressing the South brutally, which could possibly lead to many riots, or even another war.
Primary Source:
http://ocw.nd.edu/history/african-american-history-ii/lecture-notes/reconstruction-act-of-1867
Secondary Source:
http://www.enotes.com/reconstruction-acts-reference/reconstruction-acts