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Congressional Reconstruction ends as Texas readmitted to Union

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/daybyday/03-30-004.html

On this day in 1870, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the act
that ended Congressional Reconstruction and readmitted Texas to the
Union.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, Texas had been in turmoil, first
under Presidential Reconstruction and then, beginning in 1867 with the
passage of the First Reconstruction Act, under Congressional
Reconstruction. The latter required that Texas have a constitutional
convention, with delegates elected by all male citizens over the age of
twenty-one, regardless of race, color, or "previous condition of
servitude."

The convention was to write a new state constitution that would provide
for universal adult male suffrage. When the constitution had been
written and the state had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment of the
United States Constitution, Congress would consider the case for
readmission to the Union.

The convention met at Austin in June 1868 and did not adjourn until
February 1869. The constitution it produced differed significantly from
previous constitutions by authorizing a more centralized and
bureaucratized system of government, with greater power in the hands of
the governor.

In February 1870 the Twelfth Legislature assembled at Austin to adopt
the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments and select United States
senators in preparation for readmission to the Union. They quickly
approved the amendments and selected Morgan C. Hamilton for a six-year
term and James W. Flanagan for a four-year term.

This completed the requirements set by Congress for readmission.