On March 27, 1866, President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act, a piece of legislation that moderates in Congress had drafted to combat the notorious Black Codes. Johnson also rejected Congress’s new definition of freedom. Eleven states, he warned, had no representation at the time, and therefore could not weigh in on the matter of whether the freed people should become citizens at all.
Beyond that, he expressed grave concerns for the rights of white people. Johnson, in other words, got way ahead of the current debate on affirmative action. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to note that the certain elements of the right today reach back to the postbellum era for their arguments against affirmative action. Nobody ever said that Andrew Johnson wasn’t a visionary reactionary.
In the end, Congress overrode Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights Act (perhaps the third veto override to that point in the nation’s history?). And because of Johnson’s ongoing intransigence in the face of Reconstruction, Congress ultimately impeached him, another case of federal authorities keeping the white man down.
Full article at: http://chronicle.com/
Beyond that, he expressed grave concerns for the rights of white people. Johnson, in other words, got way ahead of the current debate on affirmative action. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to note that the certain elements of the right today reach back to the postbellum era for their arguments against affirmative action. Nobody ever said that Andrew Johnson wasn’t a visionary reactionary.
In the end, Congress overrode Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights Act (perhaps the third veto override to that point in the nation’s history?). And because of Johnson’s ongoing intransigence in the face of Reconstruction, Congress ultimately impeached him, another case of federal authorities keeping the white man down.
Full article at: http://chronicle.com/
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