After the end of the Civil War, as part of the on-going process of Reconstruction, the United States Congress passed four statutes known as Reconstruction Acts (March 2, 1867 (39 Cong. Ch. 153; 14 Stat. 428), March 23, 1867 (40 Cong. Ch. 6; 15 Stat. 2), July 19, 1867 (40 Cong. Ch. 30; 15 Stat. 14), March 11, 1868 (ch. 25, 15 Stat. 25)). The acts' main points included:

• Creation of five military districts in the seceded states not including Tennessee, which had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and was readmitted to the Union
• Required congressional approval for new state constitutions (which were required for Confederate states to rejoin the Union)
• Confederate states gave voting rights to all men.
• All states must ratify the 14th Amendment.

Andrew Johnson?s vetoes of these measures were overridden by Congress, repeating a familiar pattern.