If the colored men were not enfranchised then the Johnson plan might as well be accepted.

The Republican or Union white men at the South were not sufficient in numbers to make their power or influence felt.

The necessities of the situation, therefore, left no alternative but the enfranchisement of the blacks.

It was ascertained and acknowledged that to make possible the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion, in accordance with the plan which had met with the emphatic approval of the North, the enfranchisement of the blacks in the States to be reconstructed was an absolute necessity.
The first election held in Mississippi under the Reconstruction Acts took place in 1867, when delegates to a Constitutional Convention were elected to frame a new Constitution.

The Democrats decided to adopt what they declared to be a policy of "Masterly Inactivity," that is, to refrain from taking any part in the election and to allow it to go by default.