The Committee of Nine was a group of state leaders in Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, following the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, who engineered the political machinery so that the Old Dominion might be readmitted into the Union

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Led by Alexander H. H. Stuart, a former U.S. Presidential Cabinet officer, the group of moderate Conservatives convinced the federal government to allow Virginians to vote on an alternative draft of a new state constitution

Constitution of Virginia

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the document that defines and limits the powers of the state government and the basic rights of the citizens of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. Like all other state constitutions, it is supreme over Virginia's laws and acts of government,...

 which did not disenfranchise many white Virginians under the Reconstruction Act

Reconstruction Act

After the end of the Civil War, as part of the on-going process of Reconstruction, the United States Congress passed four statutes known as Reconstruction Acts...

s. Once this constitution was passed, the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 permitted the readmission of that state into the Union as of January 26, 1870.

Committee members

• Alexander H. H. Stuart, chairman
• John Brown Baldwin
  John Brown Baldwin
  John Brown Baldwin was a politician in Virginia during the American Civil War, when he served in the Confederate Congress.-Biography:...
  
  , of Staunton
  Staunton, Virginia
  Staunton is an independent city within the confines of Augusta County in the commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 23,746 as of 2010. It is the county seat of Augusta County....
  
  
• James F. Johnston, of Bedford County
  Bedford County, Virginia
  As of the census of 2000, there were 60,371 people, 23,838 households, and 18,164 families residing in the county. The population density was 80 people per square mile . There were 26,841 housing units at an average density of 36 per square mile...
  
  
• John L. Marye, of Fredericksburg
  Fredericksburg, Virginia
  Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
  
  
• James Neeson, of Richmond
  Richmond, Virginia
  Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
  
  
• William L. Owen, of Halifax County
• Wyndham Robertson
  Wyndham Robertson
  Wyndham Robertson was the Acting Governor of the U.S. state of Virginia from 1836 to 1837. He also served twice in the Virginia House of Delegates, the second time during the American Civil War....
  
  , of Washington County
  Washington County, Virginia
  As of the census of 2000, there were 51,103 people, 21,056 households, and 14,949 families residing in the county. The population density was 91 people per square mile . There were 22,985 housing units at an average density of 41 per square mile...
  
  
• J. F. Slaughter, of Lynchburg
  Lynchburg, Virginia
  Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
  
  
• W. T. Sutherlin, of Danville
  Danville, Virginia
  Danville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...
  
  

Though not a member of the committee who traveled to Washington to conduct the negotiations, former Confederate general John Echols

John Echols

John Echols was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Biography:Echols was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, and was educated at the Virginia Military Institute, Washington College and Harvard College. A tall imposing man, standing 6 feet 4 inches tall, Echols...

worked closely with Stuart to set up the compromise.

Further reading

• Stuart, Alex. H. H., A Narrative of the Leading Incidents of the Organization of the First Popular Movement in Virginia in 1865 to Re-Establish Peaceful Relations Between the Northern and Southern States, and of the Subsequent Efforts of the "Committee of Nine" to Secure the Restoration of Virginia to the Union, Richmond, Va.: Wm. Ellis Jones, Book and Job Printer, 1888.