U.S. Congress. Senate. Testimony Taken by the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States. Mississippi, Vol. II. 42nd cong., 2nd sess., 1872. S.Rpt. 41, pt. 12, serial 1495, illustration following p. 1158. Via HathiTrust.
"Over the course of seven months in 1871, Congress did something extraordinary for the time: It listened to Black people."
Tiffany R. Wright, Ciarra N. Carr, and Jade W.P. Gasek. "Truth and Reconciliation: The Ku Klux Klan Hearings of 1871 and the Genesis of Section 1983." Dickinson Law Review 126, no. 3 (Spring 2022): 685.
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| Date | Selected events | Selected references to the event |
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| 31 May 1870 | The Enforcement Act of 1870 (a.k.a. Civil Rights Act of 1870, a.k.a. First Ku Klux Klan Act, a.k.a. Force Act) was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant. This was a law to enforce the right of citizens of the United States to vote. |
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| 28 February 1871 | The Second Enforcement Act of 1871 (a.k.a. Civil Rights Act of 1871, a.k.a. Second Ku Klux Klan Act) was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant. This law amended the Enforcement Act of 1870. |
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| 10 March 1871 | "A select committee of the Senate [...] made a report of the result of their investigation into the security of person and property in the State of North Carolina." |
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| 15 March 1871 | A resolution establishing a select committee to inquire into the condition of the late insurrectionary states passed the House of Representatives.
The following members were appointed to the committee: Benjamin F. Butler (R-Massachusetts), Samuel Shellabarger (R-Ohio), William Darrah Kelley (R-Pennsylvania), Horace Maynard (R-Tennessee), John Coburn (R-Indiana), Charles Waldron Buckley (R-Alabama), Job E. Stevenson (R-Ohio), Samuel Swinfin Burdett (R-Missouri), Samuel S. Cox (D-New York), James B. Beck (D-Kentucky), Stevenson Archer (D-Maryland), Alfred M. Waddell (D-North Carolina), James C. Robinson (D-Illinois).
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| 16 March 1871 | In the House, members Kelley, Shellabarger, Burdett, Butler, and Coburn were excused from service on the committee appointed on 15 March 1871. |
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| 17 March 1871 |
A concurrent resolution establishing a joint committee to inquire into the condition of the late insurrectionary states passed the Senate.
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| 20 March 1871 |
The House considered, amended, and passed as amended the Senate concurrent resolution passed 17 March 1871 establishing a joint committee to inquire into the condition of the late insurrectionary states passed the Senate. The House amendment:
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| 23 March 1871 | President Ulysses S. Grant sent a message to Congress about the condition of affairs in some of the States of the Union. "I urgently recommend such legislation as in the judgment of Congress shall effectually secure life, liberty, and property, and the enforcement of law in all parts of the United States. [...] There is no other subject on which I would recommend legislation during the present session." |
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| 7 April 1871 | A concurrent resolution establishing the joint committee to inquire into the condition of the late insurrectionary states passed the Senate after having already passed the House. Senate members appointed: John Scott (chairman, R-Pennsylvania), Henry Wilson (R-Massachusetts), Zachariah Chandler (R-Michigan), Benjamin Franklin Rice (R-Arkansas), James Warren Nye (R-Nevada), Thomas Francis Bayard, Sr. (D-Delaware), Francis Preston Blair, Jr. (D-Missouri).
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| 13 April 1871 | In the Senate, Henry Wilson (R-Massachusetts) withdrew from the committee. The chair will fill the vacancy. |
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| 14 April 1871 | In the Senate, John Pool (R-North Carolina) was appointed to the committee, replacing Henry Wilson (R-Massachusetts). James Warren Nye (R-Nevada) resigned and Daniel Darwin Pratt (R-Indiana) was appointed in his place. |
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| 18 April 1871 | Committee members from the House appointed: Luke P. Poland (R-Vermont), Horace Maynard (R-Tennessee), Glenni W. Scofield (R-Pennsylvania), Burton C. Cook (R-Illinois), John Coburn (R-Indiana), Job E. Stevenson (R-Ohio), Charles W. Buckley (R-Alabama), William E. Lansing (R-New York), Samuel S. Cox (D-New York), James B. Beck (D-Kentucky), Daniel W. Voorhees (D-Indiana), Philadelph Van Trump (D-Ohio), Alfred M. Waddell (D-North Carolina), James C. Robinson (D-Illinois). |
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| 20 April 1871 | The Enforcement Act of 1871 (a.k.a. Ku Klux Klan Act, a.k.a. Third Enforcement Act, a.k.a. Third Ku Klux Klan Act, a.k.a. Civil Rights Act of 1871, a.k.a. Force Act of 1871) signed into law by Ulysses S. Grant. This was a law designed to enforce the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. |
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| 20 April 1871 | The Joint Select Committee on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States was organized: decided on the chair (John Scott), temporary secretary (Charles W. Buckley), clerk (Thomas A. Maguire), stenographer (William Blair Lord), and a sub-committee to develop a plan for how to proceed: John Scott (R-Pennsylvania), John Pool (R-North Carolina), Thomas Francis Bayard, Sr. (D-Delaware), Horace Maynard (R-Tennessee), Glenni W. Scofield (R-Pennsylvania), Daniel W. Voorhees (D-Indiana), Alfred M. Waddell (D-North Carolina). |
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| 4 May 1871 | President Ulysses S. Grant issued a proclamation informing the public that he "will not hesitate to exhaust the powers thus vested in the Executive, whenever and wherever it shall become necessary to do so for the purpose of securing to all citizens of the United States the peaceful enjoyment of the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution and laws". |
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| 17-19 May 1871 |
The Joint Select Committee on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States met in Washington. John Scott, chair of the sub-committee, presented a report. The committee decided how to proceed. A sub-committee of 8 members (John Scott (R-Pennsylvania), Luke P. Poland (R-Vermont), John Pool (R-North Carolina), Francis Preston Blair, Jr. (D-Missouri), John Coburn (R-Indiana), Job E. Stevenson (R-Ohio), James B. Beck (D-Kentucky), Philadelph Van Trump (D-Ohio)) was appointed to proceed immediately with the investigation, to take testimony, to request information about debt and taxes from the executive officers of the states, and to report back by 20 September 1871.
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| 2 June - 8 December 1871 | Testimony was taken. |
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| 19 February 1872 | The Joint Select Committee issued the first volumes of its report. It met for the last time in Washington, D.C. |
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Source: Journal of the House, 69.
Source: Journal of the Senate, 56.
Source: Report of the Joint Select Committee, 1-2.