After the last shot was fired and the last body was buried, the post-Civil War American South was in chaos and the new president (via assassination) was placed in office, and it was his job to rebuild the South in a way that reflected its tragic past. An important part of his work was what he would do with the newly freed slave population, the slaves who had once worked on the cotton plantations were now free to do as they pleased and it was Johnson's job to rebuild the south around this fact. Andrew Johnson's Presidential Reconstruction was an important part of the post-Civil War era, but his actions, beliefs, and circumstances directly and intentionally repressed the development of civil rights for newly freed African Americans! Andrew Johnson's desire for a quick and easy restoration of the union for his Southern counterparts further damaged the chances of civil rights for African Americans. It was 1865 and these African Americans had just been freed and the thought of saying that they were equal to whites horrified and made many whites argue. And Johnson's reluctance to slow the Reconstruction process was a determining factor in African Americans wanting and deserving civil rights. In the PBS video “American experience-reconstruction” historian Blight refers to this by saying: “There was good evidence in 1865 that many white Southerners, even the leadership of the Confederacy, would have accepted relatively harsh policies at that time. But it soon became clear that Andrew Johnson wanted a speedy and lenient restoration of the Union with as little alteration as possible to the Constitution and the creation of civil and political rights for blacks.” This shows us that black civil rights were at the heart of the charter…it sums up Johnson perfectly and his presidency, given the circumstances in which he could have been a hero to millions of African Americans and a pioneer for whites everywhere, chose a path in which looking back shows all these characteristics that Johnson displayed during the different circumstances that arose during his presidency. Andrew Johnson, through his beliefs, actions, and circumstances, stubbornly held back the development of African American civil rights in the United States. His fight against civil rights or any restrictions in favor of free men was extensive and continued throughout his presidency and I see it as one of the main reasons why civil rights were not introduced much earlier in the United States. Thousands of people killed and thousands of homes destroyed in the South after the Civil War got the angel they prayed for Andrew Johnson to become president!