Map of Union and Confederate states
*On this date in 1865, The Joint Committee on Reconstruction was established. Also known as the Joint Committee of Fifteen, this committee of the 39th United States Congress 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.” This committee also drafted the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, though some changes were later made by the full Congress. The committee successfully recommended that Congress refuse to readmit southern states to representation in Congress until they ratified the Fourteenth Amendment.
