After the civil war ended the differences between ex-confederates and Republicans were at an unstable high. While President Lincoln was in office during the war, he appointed Andrew Johnson to military governor of Tennessee because he was the only senator from a Confederate state who remained loyal to the Union throughout. Johnson was the first to initiate a reconstruction policy in May of 1865. This policy would see many different changes over nearly the next decade, but saw most during the earlier years. In 1868 under Republican Ulysses S. Grant, the Fourteenth Amendment was passed in order to help deal with the many problems during the reconstruction era; such as the readmission of states into the Union, slavery and the many injustices to the black population, and instituting a stable government that would represent the people correctly. .
The civil war created incredibly high tensions and an extreme dichotomy in beliefs between the 10 or so ex-confederate southern states and the victorious states of the north. Reconstruction of the south was now going to be based on what the north wanted, since they had won the war. Political figures of the south and wealthy plantation owners were in an uproar when hearing of what was going to happen to their state. In order for any of the southern states to regain admission into the Union they had to meet certain requirements. States must abide by the Fourteenth Amendment, meaning each state would no longer have the right to legalize slavery or to secede from the Union. Republicans feared the old southern ruling class would regain regional power and national influence by devising new ways to subjugate blacks (AP&P 460). Tennessee was the first state to gain readmission to the Union in 1866, with the appointment of Andrew Johnson as military governor. Johnson went touring around the southern states promoting his plan to readmit the southern states to the union without further qualifications.