American History

             considered it to soft. They also felt that the role of Commander-in-Chief ended .
             with the wars close. The Republicans were worried that the South and the .
             Democrats would regain the power that they had before the Civil War. Congress .
             formed the Joint Committee on Reconstruction to investigate the conditions in .
             the South. Congress established the Freedman Bureau (1865) and the Civil Rights .
             Act (1866) to protect the newly freed African-Americans. The Congress passed .
             three Reconstruction Acts in 1867 and one in 1868. The three acts established .
             military control over the former Confederate States by dividing them into five .
             military districts, established who could run for office and who could vote, and .
             how to regulate the ratification of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments and .
             the Constitution. .
             According to President Johnson's plan, the Southern States completed .
             Reconstruction and sent representatives to Congress by December 1865. The .
             elected officials were the same leaders that lead the Southern states into the .
             Civil War and for the duration of the war. President Johnson approved almost .
             every individual request for pardon, thus effectively ensuring a "status quo" of .
             the aristocratic planters. The African-American ex-slaves were back working for .
             their former masters. The postwar Southern government did not ratify the .
             Thirteenth Amendment, and wanted compensation for lost slave property. The "New" .
             Southern government did not guarantee civil rights, schools, or economic .
             protection for the newly freed slaves. Presidential Reconstruction ends .
             effectively when Congress simply refuses to seat representatives from Southern .
             states. .
             The Congressional Reconstruction Plan would last from 1865 to 1877. The Congress .
             divided the Southern states into five military districts and asked President .
             Johnson to appoint a General to each district to enforce martial law. The .
             military commanders removed non-compliant elected officials, judges, governors, .