The Joint Committee on Reconstruction, also known as the Joint Committee of Fifteen, was a
joint committee of the
39th United States Congress
The 39th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1865, ...
that played a major role in
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
in the wake of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. It was created to "inquire into the condition of the States which formed the so-called
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
, and report whether they, or any of them, are entitled to be represented in either house of Congress.”
This committee also drafted the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Often considered as one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses citizenship rights and ...
, though the full Congress later made some changes. The committee successfully recommended that Congress refuse to readmit
southern states to representation in Congress until they ratified the Fourteenth Amendment.
A similar
House Select Committee on Reconstruction
The House Select Committee on Reconstruction was a select committee which existed the United States House of Representatives during the 40th and 41st Congresses with a focus related to the Reconstruction Acts. The 39th Congress had had a simi ...
existed in the House during the
40th and
41st Congresses.
A similar Senate committee, the
United States Senate Select Committee on the Removal of Political Disabilities, was created during the 41st Congress.
Establishment and composition
![US map 1864 Civil War divisions](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/US_map_1864_Civil_War_divisions.svg)
The committee was established on December 13, 1865, after both houses reached agreement on an amended version of a House
concurrent resolution
A concurrent resolution is a resolution (a legislative measure) adopted by both houses of a bicameral legislature that lacks the force of law (is non-binding) and does not require the approval of the chief executive (president). Concurrent resoluti ...
introduced by
Representative
Representative may refer to:
Politics
* Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people
* House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities
* Legislator, som ...
Thaddeus Stevens
Thaddeus Stevens (April 4, 1792August 11, 1868) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of sla ...
of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
to establish a joint committee of 15 members. Stevens and
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
William P. Fessenden of
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
served as
co-chairmen. The joint committee divided into four subcommittees to hear testimony and gather evidence. The first subcommittee handled Tennessee, the second Virginia and the Carolinas, the third Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas, and the fourth Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. In all, 144 witnesses were called to testify.
The joint committee included nine members from the House, and six from the Senate. The House members were Stevens,
Elihu Washburne
Elihu Benjamin Washburne (September 23, 1816 – October 22, 1887) was an American politician and diplomat. A member of the Washburn family, which played a prominent role in the early formation of the United States Republican Party, he served as ...
,
Justin Morrill
Justin Smith Morrill (April 14, 1810December 28, 1898) was an American politician and entrepreneur who represented Vermont in the United States House of Representatives (1855–1867) and United States Senate (1867–1898). He is most widely remem ...
,
John A. Bingham
John Armor Bingham (January 21, 1815 – March 19, 1900) was an American politician who served as a Republican representative from Ohio and as the United States ambassador to Japan. In his time as a congressman, Bingham served as both assist ...
,
Roscoe Conkling
Roscoe Conkling (October 30, 1829April 18, 1888) was an American lawyer and Republican Party (United States), Republican politician who represented New York (state), New York in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Se ...
,
George Boutwell
George Sewall Boutwell (January 28, 1818 – February 27, 1905) was an American politician, lawyer, and statesman from Massachusetts. He served as Secretary of the Treasury under U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, the 20th Governor of Massachuse ...
,
Henry Blow
Henry Taylor Blow (July 15, 1817 – September 11, 1875) was a two-term U.S. Representative from Missouri and an ambassador to both Venezuela and Brazil.
Early life
Henry was born in Southampton County, Virginia, to Captain Peter and Elizabeth ...
,
Henry Grider
Henry Grider (July 16, 1796 – September 7, 1866) was a United States representative from Kentucky. He was born in Garrard County, Kentucky. He pursued an academic course, studied law, and was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Bowling ...
, and
Andrew Jackson Rogers
Andrew Jackson Rogers (July 1, 1828 – May 22, 1900) was an American lawyer, teacher, clerk, police commissioner and Democratic Party politician who represented in the United States House of Representatives for two terms from 1863 to 1867. ...
. The Senate members were Fessenden,
James W. Grimes,
Jacob Howard
Jacob Merritt Howard (July 10, 1805 – April 2, 1871) was an American attorney and politician. He was most notable for his service as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan, and his political career spanned the Ameri ...
,
George Henry Williams
George Henry Williams (March 26, 1823April 4, 1910) was an American judge and politician. He served as chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, was the 32nd Attorney General of the United States, and was elected Oregon's U.S. senator, and serve ...
,
Ira Harris
Ira Harris (May 31, 1802December 2, 1875) was an American jurist and senator from New York. He was also a friend of Abraham Lincoln.
Life
Ira Harris was born in Charleston, New York on May 31, 1802. He grew up on a farm, and graduated from Unio ...
, and
Reverdy Johnson
Reverdy Johnson (May 21, 1796February 10, 1876) was a statesman and jurist from Maryland. He gained fame as a defense attorney, defending notables such as Sandford of the Dred Scott case, Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter at his court-martial, and Mary S ...
.
Journal and report
The committee's decisions were recorded in its journal, but the journal did not reveal the committee's debates or discussions, which were deliberately kept secret. Once the committee had completed work on the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, several of its members spoke out, including Senator Howard, who gave a long speech to the full Senate in which he presented "in a very succinct way, the views and the motives which influenced that committee, so far as I understand those views and motives."
The joint committee also produced a report after Congress had already given final approval to send the draft Fourteenth Amendment to the states for ratification, and the report was widely disseminated.
The report was signed by 12 of the committee's members, and a minority report was signed by the other three: Johnson, Rogers, and Grider. The Joint Committee on Reconstruction was not revived at the next Congress.
Bibliography
* Belz, Herman. ''A New Birth of Freedom: The Republican Party and Freedman's Rights, 1861-1866'' (2000).
* Blaine, James G. ''Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield. With a review of the events which led to the political revolution of 1860'' (1893)
* Donald, David. ''Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man'' (1970), critical analysis, balanced perspective.
* Donald, David. ''Lincoln'' (1996).
* Dunning, William Archibald. ''Reconstruction: Political & Economic, 1865-1877'' (1905)
Dunning School
The Dunning School was a historiographical school of thought regarding the Reconstruction period of American history (1865–1877), supporting conservative elements against the Radical Republicans who introduced civil rights in the South. It was na ...
.
* Foner, Eric. ''
Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877'' (1988).
* Goodwin, Doris Kearns. ''Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln'' (2005).
* Harris, William C. ''With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union'' (1997).
* Jellison, Charles A. ''Fessenden of Maine, Civil War Senator'' (1962), the Committee's chairman
* Mantell, Martin E. ''Johnson, Grant, and the Politics of Reconstruction'' (1973)
National Archives Records of Congress Existing records in the
National Archives contain part of the committee report, as well as a few
petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.
In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...
s concerning restoration of the former Confederate states to representation in Congress. The petitions are from
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
,
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. There is also a resolution of the
New York Legislature
The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official t ...
regarding this issue and advocating
equality of suffrage in the
District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
for all adult males. National Archives records also include information about a
United States House Select Committee on Reconstruction
The House Select Committee on Reconstruction was a select committee which existed the United States House of Representatives during the 40th and 41st Congresses with a focus related to the Reconstruction Acts. The 39th Congress had had a simi ...
established in July 1867, but that was an entirely separate committee from the Joint Committee on Reconstruction which by that time no longer existed.
* Perman, Michael ''Emancipation and reconstruction'' (2003), a synthesis of recent historical literature on emancipation and reconstruction.
* Randall, James G. ''Lincoln the President: Last Full Measure'' (1955).
* Rhodes, James G. ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 6.'' (1920) 1865-72, detailed narrative. Vol 7, 1872-77.
* Stampp, Kenneth M. ''The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877'' (1967).
* Simpson. Brooks D. ''Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868'' (1991).
* Trefousse, Hans L. ''Thaddeus Stevens: Nineteenth-Century Egalitarian'' (2001).
* Trefousse, Hans L. ''Andrew Johnson: A Biography'' (1989).
References
{{Reconstruction Era
Congress Joint Committee on Reconstruction
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
39th United States Congress