The actual title of the initial legislation was "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the Rebel States"[1] and was passed on March 4, 1867.
Fulfillment of the requirements of the Acts was necessary for the former Confederate States to be readmitted to the Union from military and Federal control imposed during and after the American Civil War.
The Military Reconstruction Acts served to greatly increase the power of the Federal government over that of the States, and were perceived by most Southerners as justifying antebellum worries about the potential of Northern sectional dominance leading into the Civil War.
Each Military Reconstruction Act had slightly different requirements for readmission to the Union, and were successively passed in response to various political developments in the Southern States.
Congressional actions like this served to drastically lower the trust of Southerners in the Federal Government.
To prevent this, Congress repealed the Habeas Corpus Act of 1867, eliminating the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over the case.