Reconstruction and the Gilded Age 161rebuilding what they destroyed. We must remove the rubbish and build
from the bottom.” George Julian of Indiana agreed. The South does
not need oaths of loyalty that invite men to perjure themselves. What
they need is “government, the strong arm of power, outstretched from
the central authority here in Washington.”
And that arm of power struck with the return of Congress after the
election. On January 3 , 1867 , Thaddeus Stevens introduced the fi rst
Reconstruction Act, which after several amendments became known
as the Military Reconstruction Act. It divided the South into fi ve
military districts and gave the commander of each district the right to
declare martial law in order to preserve order, protect blacks, and begin
the process of restoring the former Confederate states to the Union.
The process involved calling new constitutional conventions, elected
by blacks and those whites who had not participated in the rebellion.
These conventions must guarantee black suffrage and ratify the Four-
teenth Amendment. Naturally, Johnson vetoed the bill, and Congress
overrode it on March 2 , 1867.
Congress then proceeded to add Supplementary Reconstruction
Acts, which directed the military commanders to begin the enrollment
of voters, and after a proper constitution had been written and ap-
proved by the reformed electorate, to put it into operation. Congress, of
course, reserved to itself the exclusive right to review each new consti-
tution, end military rule at the proper time, and accept states back into
the Union and seat their representatives. It also passed the Army Ap-
propriations Act, which directed that the President, in his capacity as
commander in chief, must issue all military orders through the General
of the Army, U. S. Grant, whose office could not be moved from
Washington without Senate approval. In the Tenure of Offi ce Act,
Congress further restricted presidential authority from removing offi -
cials approved by the Senate without first obtaining the consent of the
Senate. “Though the President is Commander-in- Chief,” ranted Ste-
vens, “Congress is his commander; and God willing, he shall obey. He
and his minions shall learn that this is not a Government of kings
and satraps, but a Government of the people, and that Congress is the
people.”
In the South the provisional governments established by Johnson
were swept away, and the registration of blacks and acceptable whites