Tinged by the president’s innate racism and intense belief i…
Tinged by the president’s innate racism and intense belief in states’ rights, ran afoul of Radical Republicans in congress. While the president had favored emancipation during the Civil War, he did not support increased rights for newly freed African Americans. He vetoed the extension of the Freedmen’s Bureau, the Civil Rights Act, and the Reconstruction Act of 1867 (which congress passed over his veto). He supported state-issued Black Codes and granted new state governments a free hand in managing local affairs. By December, 1865 (just 8 months after the end of the war), he declared Reconstruction over and the nation successfully united. Congress disagreed and fought the president on the issue of Reconstruction and civil rights for African Americans.