United States Congressional Joint Committee on Reconstruction

[4] The committee was established on December 13, 1865, after both houses reached agreement on an amended version of a House concurrent resolution introduced by Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania to establish a joint committee of 15 members.

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.

The House members were Stevens, Elihu Washburne, Justin Morrill, John A. Bingham, Roscoe Conkling, George Boutwell, Henry Blow, Henry Grider, and Andrew Jackson Rogers.

The Senate members were Fessenden, James W. Grimes, Jacob Howard, George Henry Williams, Ira Harris, and Reverdy Johnson.

[7] 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.

Map of the division of the states toward the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Blue indicates the Union states, including five border states in light blue. Red represents the Confederate States of America . Uncolored areas were territories.