Congress created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau) to provide relief and support for people displaced by the Civil War, including newly freed African Americans. The bureau became an early federal tool for managing labor, education, and basic assistance in the former Confederate states as slavery ended.
The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, ending slavery in the United States as a constitutional rule rather than a wartime measure. This created a new legal reality: millions of formerly enslaved people were free, and the country now had to decide what rights and protections freedom would include.
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 over President Andrew Johnson’s veto. The law declared that people born in the United States were citizens and aimed to protect basic civil rights like making contracts, owning property, and using the courts—key issues as Southern states adopted restrictive "Black Codes."
Congress approved the Fourteenth Amendment and sent it to the states for ratification. It aimed to secure national citizenship and equal legal protection, strengthening civil rights beyond what ordinary laws could guarantee.
Congress extended and expanded the Freedmen’s Bureau after President Johnson vetoed the bill. The override showed a growing shift toward Congressional Reconstruction—using federal power to protect freedpeople’s rights and to shape Southern governance.
Congress passed the first Reconstruction Act (often called the Military Reconstruction Act) over Johnson’s veto. It placed most former Confederate states under military administration and required new state constitutions with expanded male suffrage and ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment as conditions for readmission.
Congress enacted the Tenure of Office Act over Johnson’s veto, restricting the president’s ability to remove certain federal officials without Senate consent. The law was part of a broader struggle over who would control Reconstruction policy—Congress or the president.
Congress passed a supplementary Reconstruction Act to define how Southern states would register voters and hold elections for constitutional conventions under military supervision. This made the earlier Reconstruction framework more enforceable by spelling out the step-by-step process for creating new governments.
The House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson, largely over his efforts to block Congressional Reconstruction and disputes tied to the Tenure of Office Act. The impeachment highlighted how Reconstruction had become not only a Southern policy battle, but also a constitutional fight over executive power.
The Senate failed to convict Johnson, leaving him in office by a one-vote margin on the key articles considered. The result did not end Congressional Reconstruction, but it clarified that removing a president required an overwhelming Senate consensus, even during a major national crisis.
The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, making citizenship and equal protection central constitutional commitments in the postwar United States. It provided a major legal foundation for federal civil rights enforcement during Reconstruction and long after.
The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, prohibiting states from denying the right to vote based on race. It marked a high point for Reconstruction’s goal of political equality, even as violent intimidation and local restrictions continued in many areas.
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1870 (often called the Enforcement Act) to enforce new voting rights and punish attempts to block African Americans from voting through threats or violence. The law expanded federal criminal enforcement and federal court involvement in civil rights cases.
Congress passed the Enforcement Act of 1871 (commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act) to combat organized racial violence and conspiracies to deny constitutional rights. It authorized stronger federal responses, including the use of military force and certain suspensions of habeas corpus in targeted situations.
Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1875 to guarantee equal access to public accommodations and transportation and to protect jury service. It was the last major federal civil rights law of the Reconstruction era, passed as national political support for sustained enforcement was weakening.
After the disputed 1876 presidential election, political bargaining helped secure Rutherford B. Hayes’s presidency and led to the withdrawal of remaining federal troops from key Southern states. With that withdrawal, Congressional Reconstruction’s military-backed enforcement largely ended, and Southern state governments gained greater freedom to restrict Black political and civil rights.
Reconstruction Legislation and Congressional Reconstruction (1865–1877)