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.(They were also mortified by Johnson s intemperate campaignspeeches.) In the elections, voters backed Congress s plan to use the govern-ment to establish free labor in the South and gave Republicans more than "+" 1865 1867two-thirds of the seats in Congress to make sure it happened.These electionresults meant that Republicans in the next Congress could pass legislationwith or without Johnson s approval.Convening in December 1866, the secondsession of the Thirty-ninth Congress quickly pressed forward its own visionof reconstruction.In January, House radicals charged the Judiciary Com-mittee with determining whether to start impeachment proceedings againstJohnson, who might not have broken laws but who had undoubtedly used hispublic oH"ce to harm the nation.(Among other things, on his 1866 campaigntour Johnson had called for the hanging of several Republican congressmen.)The committee declined to charge him, but Congress had made it clear hewas on notice.It agreed to convene the Fortieth Congress immediately afterthe adjournment of the Thirty-ninth so that Johnson would not have anotherfree field for action during its usual recess.Then, on March 2, 1867, at the endof the final session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, members of the Senatereplaced the conservative president pro tem with Benjamin F.Wade, a lead-ing radical from Ohio.e" "Overshadowing these important challenges to Johnson and the Demo-crats was the breathtaking new centerpiece of congressional reconstruction:the Military Reconstruction Act, a law designed to broaden the southernvoting base and keep white southerners from reestablishing their antebellumworld.Passed on March 2, 1867, this landmark piece of legislation placed thefederal government firmly in control of southern reconstruction and formallychanged the definition of who would have a say in American government.Itgave African American men the right to vote so that they might help toestablish a free labor society in the South.It divided the ten unreconstructedstates into five military districts overseen by military commanders and de-manded that the southern states write new constitutions.All men black aswell as white could vote for delegates to the constitutional conventions,except for any Confederates who were prohibited from holding oH"ce underthe terms of the Fourteenth Amendment.Once elected, the new constitu-tional conventions were required to establish new state governments thatguaranteed black su"rage and ratified the Fourteenth Amendment.Whenthese requirements were met, southern states could apply to Congress forreadmission to the Union.To guarantee that Johnson could not underminethe Military Reconstruction Act in his role as the commander in chief of thearmy, Congress passed the Command of the Army Act, which required thatJohnson issue all military orders through the general of the army, U.S.Grant,who had sided with Congress against Johnson.To keep the president from The Future of Free Labor "©purging his cabinet of Republicans appointed by Lincoln, Congress alsopassed the Tenure of OH"ce Act, a piece of legislation of highly questionablelegality requiring Senate approval for the removal of any government oH"cialwho had been appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate.Withthese steps, a staunchly Republican Congress put the national government incharge of protecting free labor.Determined that white southern elites wouldnot determine the nation s future, Congress had decided that for a voter,education, property, and even race mattered less than a belief in free labor andsupport for the government.e"d"Congress s plan didn t rebuild a harmonious South, for most white south-erners wanted less government interference in the region and most blacksoutherners wanted more.Fully recognizing that the Military ReconstructionAct was designed to destroy traditional southern society, state oH"cials in theSouth simply refused to start enrolling voters.Congress had to pass threemore reconstruction acts to get the process of framing new southern stategovernments under way, and ultimately it had to put the army in charge ofvoter registration.Once registration began, many white voters refused to signup for what they considered an illegal, rigged election overseen by a militarydictatorship.Taking another approach, Wade Hampton resolved to directAfrican Americans to support small government.In a speech shortly after thepassage of the Military Reconstruction Act, he encouraged blacks to votewith southern whites.Hampton wrote privately to John Mullaly, editor ofNew York Metropolitan Record, It seems to me that but one hope is left to usand that is to direct the Negro vote.We are appealing to the enlightenedsense and the justice of mankind.We come forward and say, we accept thedecision rendered against us, we acknowledge the freedom of the negro andwe are willing to have one law for him and for us. e"e"The attempts of a few white southerners like Hampton to court blackvoters made northern Republicans rejoice that their plan of reconstructionwas working, for once whites were competing for black votes, the safety ofblack southerners seemed assured.Politicians anxious for votes would guar-antee black su"rage while defending black rights, and African Americanswould insist on education so they could adequately understand their interests.The flip side of this, however, was that Republicans quickly began to worrythat the Democrats would attract black voters.In summer 1867, Republicanpoliticians set out to gather southern freedpeople into Republican organiza-tions.They established Union League clubs, which were intended to channel "`" 1865 1867existing black political activism into support for free labor ideals and thus togarner votes for the Republican Party
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