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After the Civil War, the South faced a diffcult period of rebuilding its government and economy and dealing with the
newly freed African Americans. A minimal Reconstruction policy was favored by President Lincoln. Feminists was disappointed
by the Fifteenth Amendment. The legacy of Reconstruction for most African Americans was poverty and discrimination. The small
number of African Americans elected to state or national office during Reconstruction demmonstrated on the average more integrity
and competence than their white counterparts. Andrew Johnson was indicted by the House for his violation of the Tenure of
Office Act. The South's refusal to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment forced the Republicans to abolish the existing Southern
governments and give the vote to African Americans. The organization that symbolized most vividly the "white backlash" of
the Reconstruction era was the Ku Klux Klan. Black codes showed that Southerners were interested in improving the education
of the freedmen. Credit Mobilier, Whiskey Ring, Indian Trading Posts, and Belknap "cover-up" were scandals during the Grant
administration.
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