The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation

by Brenda Wineapple

The Reconstruction Act also outlined the qualifications for a state’s readmission to Congress. The five military commanders were to oversee elections in the several states they superintended. Any adult male citizen, regardless of race or color, who had resided in his state for at least one year and had not previously been disqualified by felony or because of his participation in the rebellion was eligible to vote for delegates to the state’s constitutional convention. These chosen delegates would then draft a new state constitution, to be ratified by the voters of that state, again regardless of his race or color; the new constitution was required to grant voting rights, in all future elections, to black men. Then, after ratification of the new constitution, the state could elect a governor and legislators to replace the governments Johnson had established.