The United States Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act, on March 2, 1867, over President Andrew Johnson’s veto, targeting the South for reconstruction after the Civil War. and setting conditions for readmission into the Union. Congress went on to pass additional Reconstruction Acts in 1867, and 1868, to implement more efficient government in the Southern states following the Civil War.
The First Reconstruction Act (or Military Reconstruction Act) placed the south under martial law to ensure order and enforce new civil rights dividing the ten former Confederate states into five military districts governed by Union generals. It mandated new state constitutions, ratification of the 14th Amendment, and voting rights for African American men to rejoin the Union. More
