After Lincoln's assassination, Andrew Johnson became president and pursued a moderate reconstruction plan to quickly reintegrate the southern states. However, Radical Republicans opposed this plan and gained control of Congress. They passed laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Amendment to protect the rights of freed slaves. Over Johnson's veto, they established a military occupation of the South under the 1867 Reconstruction Act to enforce new state constitutions protecting civil rights. This led to the impeachment of Johnson. Freed slaves largely worked as sharecroppers, though the system often resulted in poverty.