what was the federal occupation of the south called after the civil war

The Lodge Bill had a simple purpose: It authorized the federal government to ensure that all elections were fair, and would have empowered federal courts to appoint supervisors. In fact, in 1890 there was one final chance to preserve at least some of the progress associated with Reconstruction in the form of the Federal Elections Act, often called the Lodge Bill after its author, Henry Cabot Lodge. More importantly, the Republicans retained significant power even after losing control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. For the next 13 years, Blacks voted in large numbers across the South and remained a potent political force. The reason Reconstruction was undermined and resisted at every turn by a desperate group of racists was because it was working.īut as The Washington Post notes, it's not like Reconstruction ended immediately in 1877. Within a few years more than 600 Black Americans were elected to state legislatures, 16 were elected to Congress, hundreds held local offices, and in 1870 Hiram Revels became the first Black Senator in U.S. As History notes, Blacks moved quickly to get organized, holding meetings, staging parades, and creating Equal Rights Leagues to push for legal rights and the vote. The Black community in the South was thriving as well.

Republicans got as much as 40 percent of the white vote, and nearly 100 percent of the Black vote-making the old guard extremely nervous. In fact, the reason the Southern power brokers began to work so hard to undermine it was precisely because the Republican governments elected immediately after the war ended moved quickly to pass popular laws.

As The Washington Post writes, Reconstruction was working very well, at least at first.

What was the federal occupation of the south called after the civil war