When Congress convened in December 1865, Clerk of the House Edward McPherson omitted the names of representatives of former Confederate states from the roll call and refused to recognize them, citing an 1862 law requiring Southerners to swear past and future loyalty to the United States. The House supported his action.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Southern Congressman Elect to Clerk of the House. “I should like very much to secure my Old Seat. Governor Perry says I’m entitled to it.”
Clerk of the House. “I’m very sorry, Sir, but we can not accommodate you. All the Old Seats were broken up, and are now being thoroughly Reconstructed.”
“No Accommodations!” wood engraving, Harper’s Weekly, December 9, 1865
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
When Congress convened in December 1865, Clerk of the House Edward McPherson omitted the names of representatives of former Confederate states from the roll call and refused to recognize them, citing an 1862 law requiring Southerners to swear past and future loyalty to the United States. The House supported his action.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Southern Congressman Elect to Clerk of the House. “I should like very much to secure my Old Seat. Governor Perry says I’m entitled to it.”
Clerk of the House. “I’m very sorry, Sir, but we can not accommodate you. All the Old Seats were broken up, and are now being thoroughly Reconstructed.”
