These Black Codes aimed to limit the newfound freedoms of African Americans, effectively maintaining a system of subjugation that mirrored the conditions of slavery. Laws required Black individuals to sign labor contracts, often under conditions that were exploitative, while vagrancy laws allowed for the arrest of those who could not prove employment, forcing them into labor on plantations.
The reaction to these codes sparked significant pushback from both Northern Republicans and civil rights advocates. The Radical Republicans, a faction within the party, saw the Black Codes as a violation of the civil rights of freedmen and pushed for stronger federal intervention. This led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which aimed to grant citizenship and protect the legal rights of African Americans, as well as the Fourteenth Amendment, which defined citizenship and guaranteed due process.
Further tensions arose when President Johnson's leniency towards Southern states and his opposition to the Radical Republicans' agenda created a political rift. The struggle for reconstruction led to his impeachment in 1868, although he was narrowly acquitted.
In response to the continuing resistance to racial equality and the rise of white supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, Congress enacted the Reconstruction Acts in 1867, which divided the South into military districts and required states to draft new constitutions guaranteeing African American men the right to vote.
The culmination of Reconstruction saw the establishment of schools, the election of Black officials, and some progress in civil rights. However, as Northern commitment waned in the 1870s, the removal of federal troops from the South in 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction. This abandonment set in motion a series of Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation and disenfranchisement for African Americans, leading to a long struggle for civil rights that would continue for decades to come.