 Johnson, the most prominent Southerner to oppose the Confederacy, followed a lenient policy toward ex-Confederates.Johnson's weak Reconstruction policies prevailed until the congressional elections of 1866, which followed outbreaks of violence against blacks in the former rebel states, including the Memphis riots of 1866 and the New Orleans massacre of 1866.The subsequent 1866 election gave Republicans a majority in Congress, enabling them to pass the , federalizing equal rights for freedmen, and dissolving rebel state legislatures until new state constitutions were passed in the South.