The American Civil War and Reconstruction Era have caused a general and social change, most particularly for the African Americans in the South. During the American Civil War and Reconstruction period, continuity and change are constantly occurring through the legislations that the President and government pass, the impact it had on the African Americans, and the southerners reaction to the new legislations.
One of the legislations that were passed by Congress that had impacted the African Americans and white southerners were the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 purpose was to protect the Freedmen from the Black Codes and sharecropping system that had developed in the South, and it also had given additional rights to the slaves whom were free. This new law however was passed in a two-thirds majority vote, reason being, President Andrew Johnson had vetoed the bill. He had strongly felt that African Americans were not entitled to any citizenship in the United States. Therefore, his refusal of the bill had angered the Congress and many anti-slavery citizens. The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, had angered many of the southern states, many southerners had involved themselves in secret white supremacist groups such as the infamous Ku Klux Klan or the KKK. The impact