Final answer:
During Reconstruction, Georgia Democrats expelled African American legislators primarily to oppose black suffrage and maintain white dominance, also aiming to prevent the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. Despite initial inaction, President Grant later supported African American rights, re-seating expelled members and enforcing the Fifteenth Amendment, but these advances faced subsequent setbacks.
Step-by-step explanation:
During Reconstruction, Democrats in the Georgia General Assembly expelled the recently elected African American members mainly because they opposed black suffrage and wanted to preserve white conservative control over the state legislature. The expulsions were part of a broader effort to prevent the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which aimed to guarantee African Americans the right to vote.
Initially, the Johnson administration failed to address this issue, even though a significant number of white members who voted for the expulsions were ex-Confederates barred from office by the Fourteenth Amendment.
Eventually, in 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant adopted a stronger stance to protect the rights of African Americans in Georgia. With military support, Republicans ousted the conservative ex-Confederates, re-seated the black legislators, ratified the Fifteenth Amendment, and readmitted Georgia to the Union. However, these Republican gains were short-lived, as Democrats regained control in 1871 and began eroding the progress made for freedpeople's rights.