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This just in! Congress rejects Johnson's Program!

Reconstruction

 

Last month (December), Congress convened and rejected Johnson's actions.  It refused to seat the newly elected Southern members of Congress, and declared invalid the newly formed state governments in the South.  There are many reasons Congress rejected this plan.  Some of them include:  Congress is dominated by a group of Radical Republicans lead by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner--who think Confederate states should be punished for their "disloyalty"; Congress wishes to curb the powers of the President because the legislative branch claims only they have the authority to readmit the seceded states; Congress views the newly enacted "Black Codes" in the South to be proof that Southerners want to reenslave the freedmen; and under Johnson's plan, most Souther white males have the right to vote, but no provision has been made to enfranchise freedmen.  Congress obviously does not think too highly of Mr. Johnson!