The Joint Committee

President Andrew Johnson appointed the Joint Committee on Reconstruction on December 4th 1865, to determine which of the Southern states were entitled to Congressional representation.


The Joint Committee on Reconstruction 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 was the committee which drafted the 14th Amendment, and required the southern states to approve it before having a representative admitted to Congress. The committee of fifteen members divided into four subcommittees to gather evidence and hear testimony of the four military districts in the south. Before they finished the Committe heard from 144 witnesses. They produced a report and its proceedings were recorded in its journal.

The fifteen members of the committee were made up of nine members from the House of Representatives, Thaddeus Stevens, Elihu Washburne, Justin Morrill, John A Bingham, Roscoe Conkling, George Boutwell, Henry Blow, Henry Grider, Andrew Jackson Rogers, and six from the Senate, Reverdy Johnson, William Fessenden, Ira Harris, James W Grimes, George Henry Williams, and Jacob Howard.

Another web site to look at on this subject is Report of the Committee Joint Committee on Reconstruction

The Judge-Advocate

John Bingham who presented the Government’s side in the trial of the assassins of President Abraham Lincoln died March 19th 1900.

John Bingham the son of a carpenter was born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, January 21st 1815. After working for a few years as a printer, he decide to study the law at Franklin College. After being admitted to the bar he opened a practice in Cadiz, Ohio in 1840. He served as a Republican Representative from Ohio from 1855 to 1863. He advocated for emancipation, and in January 1864 was appointed judge-advocate. It was in that position that he presided over the trial of Abraham Lincoln’s assassins.

Bingham returned to Congress in 1866 and was one of the leaders in trying to impeach President Andrew Johnson. He drafted the first section of the 14th Amendment during reconstruction, extending constitutional protection of due process. In 1873 he was appointed United States Minister to Japan, a position he held for twelve years. He died March 19th 1900 in Cadiz, Ohio.