During the years following the presidential reconstruction of the Southern states (1865-1867), a demanding Northern population called for harsher repercussions to the civil war's losing side. The standards that were Laissez-faire set, or stuck down rather, by President Andrew Johnson, were unsatisfactory to the Northerners causing them to vote into congress many radical republicans. These Senators and representatives would bring about new laws that would change how the South was rehabilitated, and how the black population would be treated during the following years. The five years Following 1865 would become known as the period of Radical, or Congressional Reconstruction. .
After witnessing Johnson's "Swing around the Circle Tour" and the previous race riots, it was felt by Northerners that the South was not learning its lesson from the war. It didn't help that President Johnson was giving presidential pardons to numerous plantation owners, and shared their same sentiment toward blacks. Congress passed the First and Second Reconstruction Acts by overriding vetoes. The first of these, also known as Military Reconstruction, divided the rebel Southern states into five territories, declared martial law in them which allowed for dispatch union troops in order to keep the peace, and had each governed by a union general. .
The Second Reconstruction Act Places Union troops in charge of voters registration on the South. Congress also declared that for states to seek remittance into the South, they needed to ratify the fourteenth Amendment in their state constitutions, and give suffrage to blacks. These were two laws that were successful in reconstructing the South for two reasons. One because the first act provided a means of enforcing the new laws, something clearly needed after the 1866 Memphis and New Orleans race riots; and two placing the union troops in charge of votes registration gave a platform for a Republican political base to be established.
