Question

Why did Congress divide the South into military districts?

A. Republicans in Congress wanted to redraw state borders to prevent future attempts at secession.
B. Republicans in Congress did not trust white southerners to adopt reforms giving rights to freed slaves.
C. Both parties in Congress believed districts would make it easier to return escaped slaves to their owners.
D. Both parties in Congress wanted a reason to increase the federal military budget.

Answer 1

The correct answer is B, Republicans in Congress did not trust white southerners to adopt reforms giving rights to freed slaves.

Step-by-step explanation:

During this period Congress passed laws in order to reintegrate the country and to enforce what had been fought for in the Civil War, that is, the end of slavery.

After seeing that white southerners were getting their lands back and they were reorganizing their government without making it very differently from before the war, Republicans in Congress decided to enforce the Civil Rights Bill.

For the Bill to be put into practice in the south, Congress divided the South into military districts whose governments would be under martial law until black people's civil liberties were ensured. That meant that black people should be present in the government to ensure African-Americans wouldn't have basic rights denied.