After extensive inquiry in former Confederate states, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction recommended that Congress set conditions for readmission of those states to representation in the Union. Concerned about violence against African Americans in the South, the committee sought to guarantee them legal protection through a constitutional amendment. Ratification of the amendment would be a requirement for readmission of the Southern states.
General Collection, Library of Congress
Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, 1866
Reconstruction of the Union
After the Civil War, Congress and the executive branch struggled over when and how to bring the former Confederate states back into the Union. The Joint Committee on Reconstruction—established by Congress in December 1865 to investigate under what terms the seceded states should regain their congressional representation—strongly disagreed with President Andrew Johnson’s efforts toward quick readmission. After a yearlong study, the fifteen-member committee outlined qualifications for readmission, including ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
The whole fabric of Southern society must be changed and never can it be done if this opportunity is lost. . . . If the South is ever to be made a safe republic, let her lands be cultivated by the toil of the owners, or the free labor of intelligent citizens.
Thaddeus Stevens, “Reconstruction” Speech, September 6, 1865
After extensive inquiry in former Confederate states, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction recommended that Congress set conditions for readmission of those states to representation in the Union. Concerned about violence against African Americans in the South, the committee sought to guarantee them legal protection through a constitutional amendment. Ratification of the amendment would be a requirement for readmission of the Southern states.
General Collection, Library of Congress
