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America is another word for Opportunity."--R. W. EMERSON'S Essay on American Civilization.
(1865 TO THE PRESENT TIME)
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN POWER
361. Difficulty of President Johnson's
Task; the Grand Review; disbanding the Armies. The untimely
death of President Lincoln (§ 358) made Andrew Johnson
2 the head of the nation.3 The position to which
the new President was thus suddenly called, was peculiarly hard
and trying; for if the great heart of Lincoln had to bear the sad
burden of four years of civil war, his successor had to undertake
the delicate and difficult work of reconstruction, -- that is, of
restoring the seceded states to their former places in the
Union.
Now that the war was over, the first thing to be
done was to disband the Union army, numbering more than a million
soldiers.
1
Reference Books. W. Wilson's "Division and Reunion," ch.
11-13; W. C. Bryant and Gay's "United States" (revised edition),
V, ch. 21-31; A. B. Hart's "American History by Contemporaries,"
IV, Ch. 23-34; A. B. Hart's "Source Book," ch. 19-21; W. A.
Dunning's "Reconstruction E. E. Sparks' National Development"; D.
R. Dewey's "National Problems J. H. Latané's "America the
World Power"; A. B. Hari's "Ideals of American Government"; J. W.
Garner's and Lodge's "United States," III, ch. 35, and IV, ch.
36-45; E. B. Andrews' "The United States in Our Time." See also
the classified List of Books in the Appendix.
2 Andrew Johnson was born at Raleigh,
North Carolina, in 1808; died, 1875. He learned the tailor's trade
and moved to Greenville, Tennessee. He never attended school, but
was entirely self-educated. He was elected to Congress in 1843 by
the Democrats, and to the United States Senate in 1857. When the
Civil War broke out he took a decided stand against secession. In
1862 President Lincoln appointed him military governor of
Tennessee. On Lincoln's second election to the presidency by the
Republicans, Johnson was elected Vice President.
3 See the Constitution, Article II,
Section I, Paragraph 6.
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But multitudes wished to see the brave men who had fought to
save the nation; and late in May a grand review of Grant's and of
Sherman's troops took place in Washington.
For the first time since the beginning of the
war the triumphant armies of the east and of the west were united.
During the greater part of two days (May 23, 24, 1865) the broad
avenue from the Capitol to the White House resounded with martial
music, and with the strong, steady tread of a column of men over
thirty miles long. The march of these seemingly endless regiments
of sunburnt veterans, bearing their glittering muskets and
THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON
their tattered, smoke-stained battle flags, festooned with
flowers, was a magnificent sight. No such spectacle had ever been
seen before in America; as one enthusiastic officer declared, "It
was worth ten years of a man's life for him to be able to say, 'I
was there.'"
But grand as the display was, something grander
was to come; that was the fact that in the course of a few weeks
all these men, with many hundreds of thousands more,1
laid down their arms and went quietly to their homes. Neither on
the Northern nor on the Southern side was there a single act of
lawlessness to stain their proud record as soldiers and
Americans.
1 About 50,000 men
were kept as a standing army, to preserve order; all the other
Union troops were disbanded. The number of Confederates disbanded
was about 75,000.
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362. What the War Settled. The war
settled three things:
1. It "extinguished secession" as completely as
water extinguishes a flame of fire. Henceforth it was understood
that the Union could not be broken. On this point the Constitution
received a final and unmistakable interpretation. In the words of
the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
(1868), the American Republic is "an indestructible Union composed
of indestructible states." The war established the supremacy of
the national government beyond all question; but more than this,
it made every heart feel that we are one nation and have a common
destiny. It fixed in the minds of the people the great thought
expressed by Daniel Webster: "Liberty and Union, now and forever,
one and inseparable" (§ 268).
2. The war made the negro free -- that was an
advantage to every one, white or black, North or South; for free
labor only is intelligent and profitable.
3. The manner in which the result was accepted
on both sides was itself a benefit. General Grant showed a
magnanimity that has had no parallel. General Lee had fought with
all his might; he was in the wrong; he applied to the government
for a pardon, as an example to his men. He said: "Remember that we
are one country now. Do not bring up your children in hostility to
the government of the United States. Bring them up to be
Americans."
363. The President's Proclamation of Pardon;
the Contest between Congress and the President. President
Johnson issued a proclamation of pardon (May 29, 1865) to the
greater part of the people of the seceded states on condition that
they would swear to "faithfully support, protect, and defend the
Constitution and the Union." A majority of the inhabitants of
those states took the oath. They furthermore bound themselves to
accept the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which
prohibited slavery (§ 340), and they agreed never to demand
payment of any part of the Southern war debt.
Now came the question whether these states
should be at once permitted to send representatives to Congress.
The President said, Yes; but a majority in Congress said, No. The
reason for this
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denial was that the greater part of Congress believed that it
would not be safe to restore the southern states to their full
political rights until more was done to protect the negroes, or
"freedmen," as they were now called, in the enjoyment of their new
liberty.
From this time forward the President and
Congress were engaged in bitter strife with each other. Congress
refused to readmit the southern states, and passed several
bills1 in favor of the "freedmen," one of which made
them citizens,2 another gave them military protection,
while a third granted them power to vote in the District of
Columbia. The President believed that the South would deal fairly
by the "freedmen," and he therefore vetoed these bills; Congress
then passed them over his veto.3
364. Congress puts the Southern States under
Military Government; the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution. In the spring (1867) Congress passed another
bill over the President's veto. This was the First Reconstruction
Act.4 The new law divided the South into districts,
each of which was to be governed by a military governor. The
"freedmen" were given the right to vote, but that right was denied
to all those white inhabitants who had taken a prominent part in
the war against the Union. Each state was to continue under this
form of government until the people of the states -- black as well
as white -- should form a government accepting the Fourteenth
Amendment to the Constitution.
That amendment, enacted by Congress in 1866, to
supplement the Thirteenth Amendment (§ 340), declared the
negro a citizen; it made it a great disadvantage to a state to
deny him the right to vote or to hold office; finally it shut out
the chief white men of the South, who had taken part in the war,
from holding any high
1 Namely the Civil
Rights Bill, the Supplementary Freedmen's Bureau Bill, and the
District of Columbia Franchise Bill. See W. Macdonald's "Select
Statutes" (1861-1898), pp. 141, 147, 154.
2 By making the "freedmen" citizens,
Congress (by the Civil Rights Bill, March, 1866) gave them the
right to protection under the laws of the United States, with
power to use the courts to sue for the payment of debts and the
like.
3 In case the President vetoes a bill
(that is, refuses to sign it, and returns it to Congress),
Congress may pass the bill without the President's signature,
providing two thirds of the members vote for it. See the
Constitution, Article 1, Section 7, Paragraph 2.
4 See W. Macdonald's "Select
Statutes" (1861-1898), p. 156. 5 Ratified in
1868.
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office.1 When these conditions should he accepted,
but not before, the southern states might send representatives to
Congress.
Tennessee, President Johnson's state, having
fulfilled all the conditions required, had been readmitted
(1866).
365. Six States readmitted; Negro Legislators
and "Carpetbaggers."2 Six states accepted these
conditions;3 four refused but accepted them later
(1870). In some of the restored states, especially in South
Carolina, there were more negroes than white men. The negroes got
control of these states. They had been slaves all their lives, and
were so ignorant that they did not even know the letters of the
alphabet. Yet they now sat in the state legislatures and made the
laws. After the war many industrious Northern men settled in the
South, but, besides these, certain greedy adventurers, nicknamed
"Carpetbaggers," went there eager to get political office and
political spoils. These "Carpetbaggers" used the ignorant
"freedmen" as tools to carry out their own selfish purposes.
Working with the negro legislators, they plundered the states that
had the misfortune to be subject to their rule.4
After a time the white population throughout the
South resolved that they would no longer endure this state of
things. Partly by peaceable and partly by violent means they
succeeded in getting the political power into their own hands, and
the reign of the "Carpetbagger" and the negro came to an end.
366. Congress impeaches the President;
Proclamation of Full and Unconditional Pardon; the Fifteenth
Amendment. Meanwhile, the quarrel between Congress and the
President (§ 363) was growing
1 See the
Constitution Amendments, Article XIV. The Fourteenth Amendment
furthermore required the South to repudiate its war debt and to
agree to the payment of the Union war debt.
2 "Carpetbaggers": a nickname given
by Southerners to Northern adventurers who went South after the
war (with no baggage or property except a carpetbag) for the
purpose of getting office and plunder. Those Southerners who
joined the "Carpetbaggers" in their schemes were nicknamed
"Scalawags."
3 The six states which accepted (and
were readmitted June, 1868) were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,
Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Georgia,
Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia remained out until 1870.
4 In 1868 the total debt of South
Carolina was about $5,000,000. Under four years of "Carpetbag"
government, or rather misgovernment, the debt was increased to no
less than $30,000,000. Much of the debt represented simply what
was stolen from the people of the state.
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more and more serious. The President was not only determined to
have his own way, but also to remove from office those who did not
agree with him. Congress now passed the Tenure of Office Act
(1867).1 It forbade his dismissing even the members of
his own cabinet or private council without the consent of the
Senate.
The President denied the power of Congress to
make such a law, and he removed Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of
War, who had been appointed by President Lincoln. For this refusal
to obey the Tenure of Office Act Congress proceeded (1868) to
impeach2 the President. On his trial thirty-five
senators voted "guilty" and nineteen "not guilty"; as this was one
less than the two-thirds' vote required to convict him, President
Johnson was acquitted. A single vote more against him would have
removed him from the presidency.
On the Christmas following (1868) the President
issued a proclamation of full and unconditional pardon to all
persons who had taken part in the war against the Union.
Early in the year following (1869) Congress
passed the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It was
ratified by the states in 1870.3 The Thirteenth
Amendment (passed 1865) made the negro free (§ 340), the
Fourteenth Amendment (passed 1866) made him a citizen (§
364), the Fifteenth finished the work and made him a voter. All
these great changes had taken place within the short space of four
years!
But since then (1890-1908) the greater part of
the southern states have passed laws which practically take away
the negro's power to vote in those states. For this reason the
Fifteenth Amendment has at present no real force at the South
(§ 409).
1 See W. Macdonald's
"Select Statutes" (1861-1898), p. 160. The principal features of
the act were repealed in 1869, and the remainder of it in
1887.
2 Impeach the President: to bring him
to trial. The House of Representatives makes the charges and the
Senate tries the case-the Chief justice presiding. See the
Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 5; and Section 3,
Paragraph 6. As only part of the southern states had been
readmitted, the number of senators was then but 54.
3 See the Constitution Amendments,
Article XV. The Thirteenth Amendment was passed by Congress under
Lincoln in 1965, it was ratified by the required number of three
fourths of the states in December of that year, after Johnson had
become President.
The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were
passed by Congress during Johnson's presidency, but the last was
not ratified until 1870, after Grant had become
President.
