Editing Reconstruction era (section)

===Moderate responses===
During fall 1865, out of response to the Black Codes and worrisome signs of Southern recalcitrance, the Radical Republicans blocked the readmission of the former rebellious states to the Congress. Johnson, however, was content with allowing former Confederate states into the Union as long as their state governments adopted the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. By December 6, 1865, the amendment was ratified and Johnson considered Reconstruction over. According to [[James Schouler]] writing in 1913, Johnson was following the moderate Lincoln presidential Reconstruction policy to get the states readmitted as soon as possible.<ref name="Schouler 1913 43–57" />

Congress, however, controlled by the Radicals, had other plans. The Radicals were led by [[Charles Sumner]] in the Senate and [[Thaddeus Stevens]] in the House of Representatives. Congress, on December 4, 1865, rejected Johnson's moderate presidential Reconstruction, and organized the [[Joint Committee on Reconstruction]], a 15-member panel to devise Reconstruction requirements for the Southern states to be restored to the Union.<ref name="Schouler 1913 43–57">{{Cite book |last=Schouler |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/historyunitedst12schogoog |title=History of the United States of America under the Constitution |publisher=Kraus Reprints |year=1913 |edition=Revised |volume=7: The Reconstruction Period |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyunitedst12schogoog/page/n69 43]–57 |oclc=1540160 |access-date=July 3, 2010 |via=Archive.org}}</ref>

In January 1866, Congress renewed the Freedmen's Bureau; however, Johnson vetoed the Freedmen's Bureau Bill in February 1866. Although Johnson had sympathy for the plight of the freedmen,{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} he was against federal assistance. An attempt to override the veto failed on February 20, 1866. This veto shocked the congressional Radicals. In response, both the Senate and House passed a joint resolution not to allow any senator or representative seat admittance until Congress decided when Reconstruction was finished.<ref name="Schouler 1913 43–57" />

Senator [[Lyman Trumbull]] of [[Illinois]], leader of the moderate Republicans, took affront to the Black Codes. He proposed the first [[Civil Rights Act of 1866|Civil Rights Act]], because the abolition of slavery was empty if:{{sfnp|Rhodes|1920|loc=v. 6: pp. 65–66}}
{{blockquote|1=laws are to be enacted and enforced depriving persons of African descent of privileges which are essential to freemen.... A law that does not allow a colored person to go from one county to another, and one that does not allow him to hold property, to teach, to preach, are certainly laws in violation of the rights of a freeman... The purpose of this bill is to destroy all these discriminations.}}

The key to the bill was the opening section:{{quote without source|date=October 2020}}
{{blockquote|1=All persons born in the United States&nbsp;... are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens of every race and color, without regard to any previous condition of slavery&nbsp;... shall have the same right in every State&nbsp;... to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to the Contrary notwithstanding.}}

The bill did not give freedmen the right to vote. Congress quickly passed the Civil Rights Bill; the Senate on February 2 voted 33–12; the House on March 13 voted 111–38.