The Joint Committee on Reconstruction, also known as the Joint Committee of Fifteen, was a joint committee of the 39th United States Congress that played a major role in Reconstruction in the wake of the American Civil War. It was created to "inquire into the condition of the States which formed the so-called Confederate States of America, and report whether they, or any of them, are entitled to be represented in either house of Congress.”[1]
This committee also drafted the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, 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.[2]
A similar House Select Committee on Reconstruction existed in the House during the 40th and 41st Congresses.[3][4] A similar Senate committee, the United States Senate Select Committee on the Removal of Political Disabilities, was created during the 41st Congress.[4]
- ^ Stevens, Thaddeus. The Selected Papers of Thaddeus Stevens, Volume 2, p. 38 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998).
- ^ Buescher, John. "Gendering the Constitution." Teachinghistory.org. Accessed 30 June 2011.
- ^ Perros, George P. (1960). "PRELIMINARY INVENTORY OF THE R1OC:ORDS OF THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTIO~ 40TH AND 41ST CONGRESSES (1867-1871)". history.house.gov. The National Archives National Archives and Records Service General Services Administration. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ a b "U.S. House of Representatives. Select Committee on Reconstruction. 7/3/1867-3/2/1871 Organization Authority Record". catalog.archives.gov. National Archives Catelog. Retrieved 28 March 2022.