Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Lesson at a Glance Outline

Chapter 13, Lesson 2, Radical Reconstruction (pp. 385-390)

I. Congress Challenges Johnson

II. Johnson Stands Trial

    A. Congress and President Johnson continued to clash over Reconstruction policies and his attempt to fire the Secretary of War.

    B. In February, 1868, Congress impeached Johnson, which meant they charged him with misconduct and attempted to remove him from office.

    C. When the Senate voted, Johnson was acquitted and allowed to stay in office by one vote.

III. African Americans Enter Politics

    A. Blacks were elected to many state offices such as lieutenant governor, treasurer, secretary of state, and other legislative positions.

    B. At the national level, sixteen blacks were elected to the House of Representatives and two were elected to the Senate.

IV. Reshaping the South

    A. Many Northerners, known as carpetbaggers, went to the South for political or financial gain, to help freedmen, or to make the South more like the North.

    B . Some white Southerners, called scalawags, supported Reconstruction and cooperated with the Republicans.

V. Rebuilding the South

    A. Political corruption existed in both Southern and Northern governments, but in the South, whites blamed the corruption on Republican policies.

    B. Radical Republicans pushed the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed black men the right to vote, but it did not set up standard voting requirements for all states.

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