Because of the
Black Codes, election of former Confederates to public office,
and other problems existing with the state governments organized
under Presidential Reconstruction, Republicans decided that
Congress should take charge of the Reconstruction process and
that the federal government should safeguard at least some
rights for black Americans. Nevertheless, that decision did not
mark a complete break with the president. The Republican Party
was divided into two main factions. Moderate Republicans did
not want to dictate to the South measures that were too drastic
(such as property confiscation and land redistribution), and
they still believed that President Johnson would cooperate with
them. Radical Republicans wanted Congress to impose on the
South a sweeping agenda of political and legal equality between
the races, and they were already skeptical of President
Johnson’s intentions. The Fourteenth Amendment and other
aspects of Congressional Reconstruction would be a compromise
between the two wings of the Republican Party.
On Saturday, December 2, 1865, the House Republican Caucus
approved without objection three resolutions by Congressman
Thaddeus Stevens, declaring Reconstruction to be “the exclusive
business of Congress,” judging President Andrew Johnson’s
policies to be provisional and subject to congressional
oversight, and suspending the seating of members from the
South. At the opening of the 39th Congress on
December 4, Stevens introduced, as previously agreed by the
House Republican Caucus, a
resolution to establish
a joint congressional committee on Reconstruction composed of 15
members, six from the Senate and nine from the House. The
resolution also stipulated that no federal representatives
elected in former Confederate states could be seated in Congress
until the committee reported. The proposal was approved on
December 13.
With Republicans having large majorities in both houses, they
gave themselves a 12-3 majority on the Joint Committee on
Reconstruction (also called the Committee of Fifteen). The
Senate Republican members were: Chairman William Fessenden of
Maine, James Grimes of Iowa, Ira Harris of New York, Jacob
Howard of Michigan, and George H. Williams of Oregon. The sole
Democratic senator on the committee was Reverdy Johnson of
Maryland. The House Republican members were: Thaddeus Stevens
of Pennsylvania (head of the House delegation), John Bingham of
Ohio, Henry Blow of Missouri, George Boutwell of Massachusetts,
Roscoe Conkling of New York, Justin Morrill of Vermont, and
Elihu Washburn of Illinois. The two House Democrats on the
committee were Henry Grider of Kentucky and Andrew Jackson
Rogers of New Jersey. |