These actions by Congress didn't sit to well with the South. The South particularly resented the actions of the newly established Freedmen's Bureau, which Congress established to feed, protect, and help educate the freed slaves. .
With the exception of Tennessee, all Southern states refused to follow the 14th Amendment. To counteract the South's actions, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This was a strong blow to the South. The act: put the South under military rule, dividing it into five military districts, each governed by a northern general; forced southern states to create a new constitution; allowed all qualified male voters to vote, including Blacks; banned southerners who supported the confederacy to vote; required equal rights for all citizens; and required states to accept the 14th Amendment. The Act was met with much opposition. Even under military rule, Whites killed, beat, and burned any blacks they could find. Blacks were lynched by the hundreds. .
Along with the South, Andrew Johnson resented the actions of the Radicals. In response to the newly passed Tenure of Office Act passed in 1867 (which required Senate approval for the removal of a government official), Johnson fired Edwin Stanton (a friend of the Radicals) without Senate's approval. The showdown between Johnson and the Radicals heated up. Led by Stevens and Sumner, Johnson was the first president to be impeached. Johnson was tried for "high crimes and misdemeanors." Johnson was one vote from being removed from office when the Senate voted. .
By June 1868, under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress had readmitted Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Florida, to the Union. In many of these seven states, most of the governors, representatives and senators were northern men called "carpetbaggers" who had gone South after the war to make their political fortunes, often teaming up with newly freed Blacks.
