The victorious north passed four laws to promote peaceful cohabitation between the Blacks and the Southern Whites. The first law was the 13th Amendment in 1865, which abolished slavery. According to lecture 14, “Congress also sought to define the rules of cohabitation between whites and Blacks in a non-slave society.” The second was the Civil Rights Act in 1866, which instituted equal protection rights under the law, and “this was the beginning of the legal reconstruction” (Lecture 14). McKenna’s post reveals that after President Grant was elected as the President of the United States, his first step of conflict resolution was the “readmission of Georgian politicians of color” (Moffett, 2016).
The third law was the 14th Amendment in 1868, which granted the blacks citizenship, and, according to lecture 14, it was “a reversal of the order before the civil war.” This made the blacks feel a part of the country but not foreigners or exceptions anymore. Moreover, binding up the wounds of the nation would have been my primary goal. Besides, I would have passed the above three laws to ensure a unified country since slavery was a major dividing factor.
References
Moffett, I. (2016). Reconstruction Part 2 of 2[Video]. YouTube. Web.
Lecture 14: Civil War and Reconstruction Lectures (Impact Of The Market Economy Continued).