===Reconstruction===
Slavery ended and [[Reconstruction]] began in Texas on June 19, 1865, celebrated by the Freedmen as "Juneteenth". Andrew J. Hamilton, a staunch Unionist before the war, was named provisional governor by President [[Andrew Johnson]], but distruptions and violence were endemic throughout the state. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 shut down the incumbent government, put the state under control of the U.S. Army, and restructured politics.
: <blockquote>The first critical step...was the registration of voters according to guidelines established by Congress and interpreted by Generals Sheridan and Griffin. The Reconstruction Acts called for registering all adult males, white and black, except those who had ever sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and then engaged in rebellion.… Sheridan interpreted these restrictions stringently, barring from registration not only all pre-1861 officials of state and local governments who had supported the Confederacy but also all city officeholders and even minor functionaries such as sextons of cemeteries. In May Griffin...appointed a three-man board of registrars for each county, making his choices on the advice of known Unionists and local Freedman's Bureau agents. In every county where practicable a freedman served as one of the three registrars.... Final registration amounted to approximately 59,633 whites and 49,479 blacks. It is impossible to say how many whites were rejected or refused to register (estimates vary from 7,500 to 12,000), but blacks, who constituted only about 30 percent of the state's population, were significantly overrepresented at 45 percent of all voters.<ref> Randolph Campbell, ''Gone to Texas'' 2003 p. 276.</ref> </blockquote>
The [[Republican Party]] won the elections of 1869, issued a new state constitution, and elected E. J. Davis as governor. The Republicans were led by native Texans ("[[Scalawags]]"), with few Carpetbaggers (northerners); the Freedmen (newly freed slaves) provided the bulk of the vote. Legislative inexperience was primarily responsible for the passage of many questionable statutes, particularly concerning taxation. Financial irregularities increased; in their spleen at "bottom rail on top" (a reference to the improved status of blacks) some Texans embraced the [[Ku Klux Klan]] and other violent informal groups seeking to impede legitimate political gains of Freedmen. By 1874 the conservative Democrats, or [[Redeemers]], took power as Richard Coke, was elected governor. Shortly thereafter the last federal troops were withdrawn from military occupation duty.