The newly reconvened Congress has delivered a dramatic rebuke to President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction plans, with Republican leaders excluding all representatives from the former Confederate states from taking their seats. House Clerk Edward McPherson completed the official roll of members but deliberately omitted the names of all Southern representatives, citing lack of proper notification from provisional governors. The Republican caucus, numbering 123 members, unanimously chose Schuyler Colfax of Indiana as their Speaker candidate and passed a resolution creating a joint committee to investigate whether Southern states deserve representation at all. The move sets up an explosive confrontation between Congress and Johnson over how to rebuild the nation. Radical Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, are pushing to treat the former Confederate states as conquered territories rather than wayward states returning to the Union. Meanwhile, Democratic representatives—numbering only about 25—held their own caucus but postponed nominating opposition candidates until Monday morning, highlighting their dramatically weakened position in the post-war political landscape.

This December 1865 front page captures the opening salvo of one of the most consequential political battles in American history. Just eight months after Lincoln's assassination and Lee's surrender, the nation faced a fundamental question: would Reconstruction be a process of reconciliation or transformation? Johnson favored quickly readmitting Southern states with minimal changes, while Radical Republicans demanded guarantees for freed slaves' rights and punishment for Confederate leaders. The exclusion of Southern representatives wasn't just parliamentary maneuvering—it was a constitutional crisis that would define the next decade. This conflict would ultimately lead to Johnson's impeachment, the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments, and the federal occupation of the South during Radical Reconstruction.

• The paper cost five cents in 1865—equivalent to about $1.50 today, making it quite expensive for daily reading
• Messrs. Sainton and Peyton from Alabama, and Messrs. Ramsden and Turner from North Carolina actually showed up in Washington with their credentials, only to be turned away
• The Democratic caucus could only muster about 25 members compared to 123 Republicans, showing how thoroughly the war had devastated the Democratic Party's power
• Edward McPherson, the House Clerk, developed a clever bureaucratic trick to exclude Southerners—he claimed he only followed governors' proclamations announcing elections, and no provisional Southern governors had sent such notifications
• Colonel Ingham withdrew as a candidate for Sergeant-at-Arms, leaving the field to others in what seemed like minor housekeeping but reflected the careful political calculations of the era

• Schuyler Colfax, chosen as Speaker candidate, would become Ulysses S. Grant's Vice President in 1869, but his career would end in scandal when he was implicated in the Crédit Mobilier corruption scheme
• Thaddeus Stevens, the radical leader mentioned as driving the exclusion policy, was so committed to racial equality that he chose to be buried in a racially integrated cemetery, with his tombstone reading 'I repose in this quiet and secluded spot... that I might illustrate in my death the principles which I advocated through a long life, equality of man before his Creator'
• This whole drama played out in the old House chamber in the Capitol—the same room where the Senate meets today, as the current House chamber wasn't built until 1950
• The joint committee resolution mentioned would create the famous Joint Committee on Reconstruction, nicknamed the 'Committee of Fifteen,' which essentially became a shadow government directing Reconstruction policy
• Pennsylvania's Republican delegation backing Colfax was significant—the state had just contributed over 350,000 soldiers to the Union cause, more than any other state except New York