The Wade-Davis bill was originally introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 15, 1864 and amended on May 4. The bill proposed conditions to be met by the former Confederate states prior to their return to the Union at the conclusion of the Civil War. It required that 50% of a state’s white males take a loyalty oath in order for the state to be readmitted to the Union. In addition, states were required to give blacks the right to vote. This bill passed both houses of Congress in July 1864. It was pocket vetoed by President Abraham Lincoln, and therefore never enacted into law. However, some of the policies included in this bill were later implemented in a series of four Reconstruction Acts (1867-1868), which were passed into law after Congress overrode the vetoes of President Andrew Johnson. Wade-Davis Bill as Amended, 5/4/1864, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives (ARC 5049648)
View Separately

The Wade-Davis bill was originally introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 15, 1864 and amended on May 4. The bill proposed conditions to be met by the former Confederate states prior to their return to the Union at the conclusion of the Civil War. It required that 50% of a state’s white males take a loyalty oath in order for the state to be readmitted to the Union. In addition, states were required to give blacks the right to vote. This bill passed both houses of Congress in July 1864. It was pocket vetoed by President Abraham Lincoln, and therefore never enacted into law. However, some of the policies included in this bill were later implemented in a series of four Reconstruction Acts (1867-1868), which were passed into law after Congress overrode the vetoes of President Andrew Johnson.

Wade-Davis Bill as Amended, 5/4/1864, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives (ARC 5049648)

Tensions between Congress and President Andrew Johnson reached a boiling point when the President fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, violating the Tenure of Office Act. On February 21, 1868, this resolution to impeach the President was written on a scrap of paper by Representative John Covode (R-PA) and dropped into the hopper. On February 24, 1868 the House voted in favor of impeachment. The subsequent Senate trial resulted with President Johnson escaping removal from office by one vote. Resolution of Impeachment of President Johnson, 2/21/1868, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives (ARC 2127356)
Pop-upView Separately

Tensions between Congress and President Andrew Johnson reached a boiling point when the President fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, violating the Tenure of Office Act. On February 21, 1868, this resolution to impeach the President was written on a scrap of paper by Representative John Covode (R-PA) and dropped into the hopper. On February 24, 1868 the House voted in favor of impeachment. The subsequent Senate trial resulted with President Johnson escaping removal from office by one vote.

Resolution of Impeachment of President Johnson, 2/21/1868, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives (ARC 2127356)