all right this is openstax us history chapter 16 section two congress and the remaking of the south so let us recall that the differing views on reconstruction pretty much lie in the president who is andrew johnson at the time drew johnson and congress on the other hand right and this really is kind of the battleground the political battleground of reconstruction congress is made up mostly of those radical republicans and under johnson's reconstruction there were lots of former confederates being admitted to the union this was seen as unacceptable to congress and they're going to take action one way that congress took action was by passing the freedmen's bureau the freedmen's bureau is a bureau we'll call it we'll just say and we'll call an institution oops uh an institution designed to assist former slaves right so there are many enslaved people in the south who now find themselves emancipated have really only the clothes on their back and that transition into emancipation could be very difficult and so the freedmen's bureau was designed in order to assist those people providing immediate assistance like food and shelter but also providing kind of more long-term assistance in the form of things like job training and education really where the freedmen's bureau succeeded was in establishing public schools recall that in pretty much most former confederate states it was illegal for enslaved people to read and write and illegal to teach an enslaved person to read and write so public schools in the south which there were already not very many public schools in the south before the civil war to begin with for you know white or whites as well but many public schools were built in the south we'll say public schools in the south we'll say helped reduce illiteracy and you know within a few generations uh the literacy rate in the south uh increases significantly um so the freedmen's bureau was you know a government action and there were a lot of people from the north specifically teachers men and women in this case that moved to the south to assist in you know the creation of public schools and other sort of institutions that can help former enslaved people but there were also other organizations that were non-governmental one example was the american missionary association a christian organization that also helped a former enslaved people uh and this was one way that uh you know popular action could be um could take place after the civil war right many people moving into some of these former confederate states and assisting with that transition however the political battle continued the free men's bureau initially was on slate to um to expire after one year congress wanted to renew the bureau's charter and that was responded to with you know by the president with a veto so once again we have the president in this case who vetoed the rechartering of the freedmen's bureau versus congress on the other hand which wants to continue the work that the freedmen's bureau has has essentially been doing and that battle will continue throughout reconstruction between president johnson and the congress so on one level there's sort of the political battle taking place and in some respects northerners are not satisfied on that level because you have former uh confederate leaders re-entering into the union on another level you have reconstruction on the ground that is what is going on in those former confederate states as they're being readmitted to the union and in those former confederate states with the abolition of slavery with the 13th amendment comes the black codes now the black codes are a series of state laws again this is on a state-by-state basis so they're a little bit different depending on what you know what state you're talking about but a series of state laws that seek to legislate uh we'll say the series of law series of state laws that seek to legislate the we'll call it the black white just say relationship so these black codes have sort of two kind of two different elements to it you can see it as kind of one in the same but on the one hand there is the economic problem of the south and that is with emancipation there are no workers to provide or no work or no slaves to work on former cotton plantations and so one way that planters are one thing that planters need is you know someone to perform that labor so what the black codes do is they create a set of laws that require specifically black americans to be signed to a labor contract so we might just say of labor contracts we'll say that the black code's required black americans to be signed to a labor contract and the punishment for not being signed to a labor contract would essentially be physical labor so it was you know a catch-22 in in many sorts and these laws were passed in order to solve you might say the economic problem of the south now that slavery is abolished you can see that in many ways this is pretty much you know it's not exactly the same but you know it's sort of a neo-slavery uh it's slavery by another name it performs pretty much the same function than it did before and again this is happening on a state by state basis so the black codes create sort of this system of a new slavery in the south whereby black americans are required to be signed to labor contracts if they're not they're arrested and then forced to perform labor anyways on the other hand the black codes are also meant to create or legislate a sort of social and cultural system and that is of white supremacy and what the black codes do is they create two different law codes one one you know one set of laws for whites to follow one set of laws for blacks to follow so we might say that laws discriminated against blacks in the south so again there is a little bit of difference depending on what state we're talking about but there are you know some similarities for example every single former confederate state denied black men the right to vote whereas white men did have the right to vote other laws also prohibited you know the ownership of certain uh property um being able to serve in juries being able to testify in court right so essentially here's a law that whites follow here's a law that blacks follow and this was meant to uphold the social and cultural system of white supremacy in the south now congress northerners in congress looking at the black codes happening on the ground looking at former confederates uh rejoining in the us government say you know something has to be done and so they act with the civil rights act right again when we think about congress what does congress do well congress passes laws right that's really one of the only tools that congress has so they pass the civil rights act right as a law the civil rights act essentially overturns the dred scott decision right so we might say uh overturned by civil rights act and i think i want to say this is 1866 i want to say that date may be a little bit off um but essentially it makes african americans citizens what the civil rights act does and being citizens means that you know african-americans former slaves blacks in the south are entitled to all the same rights as their right as their um as their white counterparts so and essentially what this seeks to do right this law is to overturn the black coats all right to say that this is not this is not acceptable president johnson as we know we may be able to guess what his reaction is going to be he vetoes that civil rights act however and this is written into the constitution as a part of the checks and balances if congress has two-thirds i believe two-thirds of members who approve a law after the presidential override it still becomes a law and with that the civil rights act of 1866 was passed um the black codes were overturned as a result of that right however we do have to question and this is the true with uh you know this is true with um all sort of laws uh you know what's enforcement gonna look like right you know a law is really only words on paper until it's enforced congress knowing really what bow lies ahead of them wants to make this change even more concrete and you know what's more concrete than a law well it's an amendment right and so the second reconstruction amendment begins to be drafted by congress again with the idea of overturning the black codes in mind the 14th amendment really explicitly states two very important things one is birthright citizenship it says that if somebody is born in the u.s that makes you a citizen right it doesn't matter if you're white if you're black whatever it is right you are guaranteed to those rights and it states that there is equal protection under the law right and in many ways this overrules the black codes but really has you know ever you know in in pretty much in american history any single law that relates to discrimination can in some sense be cited back to the 14th amendment you know stating that everybody has to be subject to the same law the 14th amendment was made a requirement we might say made a requirement by congress now here's maybe one of the issues and that is the amendment process requires two-thirds of congress to vote yes on it well we know that congress will probably pass it because there are enough people in congress from the north that agree with it but then it requires three-fourths of the states and president johnson in response to the 14th amendment actually goes on a public tour encouraging states to reject it right and so the status of the 14th amendment will ultimately lie on what the states decide to do with it northern states probably you know good to go ahead and vote yes on it but congress is going to have to find some sort of way to make those former confederate states get on board with the 14th amendment and make that you know make it a reality