Question

Why did Congress pass the Reconstruction Acts of 1867?

a. It did not believe that the federal government should be in charge of elections in the South.
b. It did not trust the Southern states to enforce laws passed to protect African Americans' rights.
c.It wanted to provide African Americans in the South with voting rights equal to white Southerners.
d.It wanted to grant readmission to the rest of the Confederate states that were still occupied by the Union army.

Answer 1

Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 because they did not trust the Southern states to protect the rights of African Americans, and wanted to ensure that African Americans had equal voting rights.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 were passed by Congress because they did not trust the Southern states to enforce laws that protected the rights of African Americans. These acts were a response to the ongoing disorder in the South and aimed to bring order and protection to freed people.

Under the Reconstruction Acts, the Southern states that had not ratified the Fourteenth Amendment were divided into military districts. Martial law was imposed, and federal troops were stationed in these districts to oversee elections and protect the rights of African Americans. The ultimate goal was to readmit these states to the Union once they had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and written new state constitutions.

The Reconstruction Acts were viewed as necessary by Congress to ensure that African Americans in the South had voting rights equal to white Southerners and to prevent the Southern states from reverting to their former ways.