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3. Discuss Radical Reconstruction – what was it and how was it to be implemented. Explain the mechanics of the program, and evaluate its success in “reconstructing” the South as Northerners wanted it to be

The reconstruction that was processed under Johnson’s plan continued until Congress reconvened in December 1865. The Congress refused to seat the representatives of the “restored” states and created a new Joint Committee on Reconstruction to frame a Reconstruction policy of its own. The radicals came out from the split Republicans led by Thaddeus Stevens urging harsh punishment for Southern leaders while on the debate over how the South should be handled.

Radicals Reconstruction started with the formation of the Black Codes. State legislatures throughout the South began to pass Black Codes that were designed to give blacks an inferior position in Southern society. Unemployed blacks could be arrested, fined for vagrancy and hired out to private employers to pay the fine. Also, blacks were not allowed to own or leas land and they could only have jobs as plantation workers or domestic servants. However, Congress responded by extending the life of the Freedman’s Bureau and its powers. It also passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which would have made blacks US citizens and given the federal government the power to intervene in state affairs to protect the rights of citizens.

Also, the Fourteenth Amendment was proposed by the Joint Committee on Reconstruction; Congress approved the amendment and sent it to the states for approval. According to the Amendment, everyone born in the United States and everyone naturalized was a US citizen. Also, all citizens were guaranteed the privileges and immunities in the Constitution, including equal protection and due process of the law. It also incorporated the Bill of Rights against the states and imposed penalties on states that denied suffrage to citizens in the form...