Johnson's Reconstruction Proclamations And The End Of Slavery

By Johnson’s Reconstruction Proclamations, most Southerners were offered full restoration of rights as long as they took an oath to support the government. Furthermore, these Proclamations appointed provincial governors to reestablish governments in seceded states, required returning states to proclaim the illegality of succession, and declared slavery illegal. However, although the South was prepared to accept both these proclamations and the end of slavery, they were not prepared to accept the slaves which had been freed. A group named the Ku Klux Klan was founded, intending to frighten the Negroes away from voting. In addition, the Black Codes were enacted by Southern state legislatures, binding the Negroes to their previous jobs.