Editing Reconstruction era (section)

=== 1867 ===
In 1867, Congress passed the [[Reconstruction Acts]] of 1867 which outlined the terms in which the rebel states would be readmitted to the Union. Under these acts Republican Congress established [[Reconstruction military districts|military districts]] in the South and used [[United States Army|Army]] personnel to administer the region until new governments loyal to the Union—that accepted the Fourteenth Amendment and the right of freedmen to vote—could be established. Congress temporarily suspended the ability to vote of approximately 10,000 to 15,000 former Confederate officials and senior officers, while constitutional amendments gave full citizenship to all African Americans, and suffrage to the adult men.{{sfnp|Donald |Baker |Holt |2001|loc=ch. 29}} With the power to vote, freedmen began participating in politics. While many enslaved people were illiterate, educated Blacks (including [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|fugitive slaves]]) moved down from the North to aid them, and natural leaders also stepped forward. They elected White and Black men to represent them in constitutional conventions. A Republican coalition of freedmen, Southerners supportive of the Union (derisively called "[[scalawag]]s" by White Democrats), and Northerners who had migrated to the South (derisively called "[[carpetbagger]]s")—some of whom were returning natives, but were mostly Union veterans—organized to create constitutional conventions. They created new state constitutions to set new directions for Southern states.{{sfnp|Donald |Baker |Holt |2001|loc=ch. 30}}