Congress, now in harmony with the executive, responded by placing the reconstruction of the three states in the hands of the President, but with the proviso that each state must ratify the Fifteenth Amendment.

Grant thereupon fixed a time for voting in each state and directed that in Virginia and Mississippi the disfranchising clauses be submitted separately.

As a result, the constitutions were ratified but proscription was voted down.

The radicals secured control of Mississippi and Texas, but a conservative combination carried Virginia and thus came near keeping the state out of the Union.

Finally, during the early months of 1870 the three states were readmitted.
With respect to Georgia a peculiar condition of affairs existed.