Following the end of theAmerican Civil War, fiveReconstruction Military Districts of theU.S. Army were established as temporaryadministrative units of theU.S. War Department in theAmerican South. The districts were stipulated by theReconstruction Acts during theReconstruction period following the American Civil War.[1]
In March 1867, Radical Republicans in Congress became frustrated with PresidentAndrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies, which, they believed, allowed too many former Confederate officials to hold public office in the South.[2] Politically empowered Democratic Party politicians who were former Confederates would obstruct the civil rights of newly freed African Americans. For Republicans these rights, which would allow the prewar ideology ofabolition to translate to real freedom, were critical.
In response, Congressional Republicans passed a multitude of bills furthering strict Reconstruction policies known as theReconstruction Acts, the most important of which being "An Act to provide for the more efficient Government of the Rebel States".[3] This act, passed on March 2, 1867, divided the formerConfederate States (except forTennessee, after it ratified the14th Amendment)[4] into five separate military districts.[5] The Reconstruction Acts required that each former Confederate state hold a Constitutional Convention, adopt a new State Constitution, and ratify the14th Amendment before rejoining the Union. The five districts and the states within them were:
Each of these districts fell under the command of formerUnion Army general officers to supervise the replacement of undesirable formerConfederate officials and use military force to guarantee the safety of liberated African Americans and maintain peace. However, it soon became apparent that the appointed army commanders could only act as peacekeepers until the president unveiled a proper Reconstruction policy.[6]
