A Short History of the United States Part 54

[Sidenote: The Reconstruction Acts, 1867.]

[Sidenote: Process of reconstruction. _Source-Book_, 344-346.]

442. The Reconstruction Acts, 1867.--The Congressional elections of November, 1866, were greatly in favor of the Republicans. The Republican members of Congress felt that this showed that the North was with them in their policy as to reconstruction. Congress met in December, 1866, and at once set to work to carry out this policy. First of all it pa.s.sed the Tenure of Office Act to prevent Johnson dismissing Republicans from office. Then it pa.s.sed the Reconstruction Act. Johnson vetoed both of these measures, and Congress pa.s.sed them both over his veto. The Reconstruction Act was later amended and strengthened. It will be well to describe here the process of reconstruction in its final form. First of all the seceded states, with the exception of Tennessee, were formed into military districts. Each district was ruled by a military officer who had soldiers to carry out his directions. Tennessee was not included in this arrangement, because it had accepted the Fourteenth Amendment.

But all the other states, which had been reconstructed by Lincoln or by Johnson, were to be reconstructed over again. The franchise was given to all men, white or black, who had lived in any state for one year--excepting criminals and persons who had taken part in rebellion.

This exception took the franchise away from the old rulers of the South.

These new voters could form a state const.i.tution and elect a legislature which should ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. When all this had been done, Senators and Representatives from the reconstructed state might be admitted to Congress.

[Sidenote: Charges against Johnson.]

[Sidenote: He is impeached.]

[Sidenote: But not convicted.]

443. Impeachment of Johnson, 1868.--President Johnson had vetoed all these bills. He had declared that the Congress was a Congress of only a part of the states, because Representatives from the states reconstructed according to his ideas were not admitted. He had used language toward his opponents that was fairly described as indecent and unbecoming the chief officer of a great nation. Especially he had refused to be bound by the Tenure of Office Act. Ever since the formation of the government the Presidents had removed officers when they saw fit. The Tenure of Office Act required the consent of the Senate to removals as well as to appointments. Among the members of Lincoln's cabinet who were still in office was Edwin M. Stanton. Johnson removed him, and this brought on the crisis. The House impeached the President. The Senate, presided over by Chief Justice Chase, heard the impeachment. The Const.i.tution requires the votes of two-thirds of the Senators to convict. Seven Republicans voted with the Democrats against conviction, and the President was acquitted by one vote.

[Sidenote: Napoleon's plans.]

[Sidenote: Action of the United States.]

[Sidenote: Withdrawal of the French, 1868.]

444. The French in Mexico.--Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, seized the occasion of the Civil War to set the Monroe Doctrine at defiance and to refound a French colonial empire in America. At one time, indeed, he seemed to be on the point of interfering, to compel the Union government to withdraw its armies from the Confederate states.

Then Napoleon had an idea that perhaps Texas might secede from the Confederacy and set up for itself under French protection. This failing, he began the establishment of an empire in Mexico with the Austrian prince, Maximilian, as Emperor. The ending of the Civil War made it possible for the United States to interfere. Grant and Sheridan would gladly have marched troops into Mexico and turned out the French, but Seward said that the French would have to leave before long anyway. He hastened their going by telling the French government that the sooner they left the better. They were withdrawn in 1868. Maximilian insisted on staying. He was captured by the Mexicans and shot. The Mexican Republic was reestablished.

[Sidenote: Purchase of Alaska, 1867.]

[Sidenote: The fur seals.]

[Sidenote: Boundary controversy.]

445. The Purchase of Alaska, 1867.--In 1867 President Johnson sent to the Senate, for ratification, a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Russia's American possessions. These were called Alaska, and included an immense tract of land in the extreme Northwest. The price to be paid was seven million dollars. The history of this purchase is still little known. The Senate was completely taken by surprise, but it ratified the treaty. Until recent years the only important product of Alaska has been the skins of the fur seals. To preserve the seal herds from extinction, the United States made rules limiting the number of seals to be killed in any one year. The Canadians were not bound by these rules, and the herds have been nearly destroyed. In recent years large deposits of gold have been found in Alaska and in neighboring portions of Canada. But the Canadian deposits are hard to reach without first going through Alaska. This fact has made it more difficult to agree with Great Britain as to the boundary between Alaska and Canada.

[Sidenote: Grant nominated for the presidency.]

[Sidenote: The Democrats.]

[Sidenote: Grant elected, 1868.]

446. Grant elected President, 1868.--The excitement over reconstruction and the bitter contest between the Republicans in Congress and the President had brought about great confusion in politics. The Democrats nominated General F. P. Blair, a gallant soldier, for Vice-President. For President they nominated Horatio Seymour of New York. He was a Peace Democrat. As governor of New York during the war he had refused to support the national government. The Republicans nominated General Grant.

He received three hundred thousand more votes than Seymour. Of the two hundred and ninety-four electoral votes, Grant received two hundred and fifteen.

CHAPTER 43

FROM GRANT TO CLEVELAND, 1869-1889

[Sidenote: The Fifteenth Amendment, 1870.]

447. The Fifteenth Amendment.--In February, 1869, just before Grant's inauguration, Congress proposed still another amendment, providing that neither the United States nor any state could abridge the rights of citizens of the United States on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The state legislatures hastened to accept this amendment, and it was declared in force in March, 1870.

[Sidenote: Progress of reconstruction.]

[Sidenote: Reunion, 1870.]

448. End of Reconstruction.--Three states only were still unreconstructed. These were Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi. In 1869 Congress added to the conditions on which they could be readmitted to the Union the acceptance of the Fifteenth Amendment. Early in 1870 they all complied with the conditions and were readmitted. The Union was now again complete. Since 1860 four states had been added to the Union.

These were Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, and Nebraska. There were now thirty-seven states in all.

[Sidenote: The carpetbaggers. _McMaster_, 439-414.]

[Sidenote: The Ku-Klux-Klan.]

[Sidenote: The Force Acts.]

449. The Southerners and the Negroes.--The first result of the Congressional plan of reconstruction was to give the control of the Southern states to the freedmen and their white allies. Some of these white friends of the freedmen were men of character and ability, but most of them were adventurers who came from the North to make their fortunes. They were called the "carpetbaggers," because they usually carried their luggage in their hands. The few Southern whites who befriended the negroes were called "scalawags" by their white neighbors.

Secret societies sprang into being. The most famous was the Ku-Klux-Klan. The object of these societies was to terrorize the freedmen and their white friends and to prevent their voting. This led to the pa.s.sage of the Force Acts. These laws provided severe penalties for crimes of intimidation. They also provided that these cases should be tried in United States courts. Federal soldiers, stationed in the South, could be used to compel obedience to the law.

[Sidenote: Relations with Great Britain.]

[Sidenote: Treaty of Was.h.i.+ngton, 1871. _Source-Book_, 355-358.]

[Sidenote: The Geneva Award.]

450. The Alabama Claims.--During the Civil War vessels built in British s.h.i.+pyards, or refitted and supplied with coal at British ports, had preyed upon American commerce. The most famous of these vessels was the _Alabama_. The claims for losses caused by these vessels which the United States presented to Great Britain were therefore called the "Alabama Claims." There also were disputes with Great Britain over the fisheries and over the western end of the Oregon boundary. In 1871 the United States and Great Britain made an arrangement called the Treaty of Was.h.i.+ngton. By this treaty all these points of dispute were referred to arbitration. The Oregon boundary was decided in favor of the United States, but the fishery dispute was decided in favor of Great Britain.

The "Alabama Claims" were settled by five arbitrators who sat at Geneva in Switzerland. They decided that Great Britain had not used "due diligence" to prevent the abuse of her ports by the Confederates. They condemned her to pay fifteen and one-half million dollars damages to the United States.

[Sidenote: The Chicago fire, 1871.]

451. The Chicago Fire, 1871.--Early one morning in October, 1871, a Chicago woman went to the barn to milk her cow. She carried a lighted kerosene lamp, for it was still dark. The cow kicked over the lamp. The barn was soon ablaze. A furious gale carried the burning sparks from one house to another. And so the fire went on spreading all that day and night and the next day. Nearly two hundred million dollars' worth of property was destroyed. The homes of nearly one hundred thousand persons were burned down. In a surprisingly short time the burnt district was rebuilt, and Chicago grew more rapidly than ever before.

[Sidenote: Rings. _Source-Book_, 352-355.]

[Sidenote: Bribery.]

452. Corruption in Politics.--New York City had no two hundred million dollar fire. But a "ring" of city officers stole more than one hundred and fifty million dollars of the city's money. In other cities also there was great corruption. Nor were the state governments free from bribery and thieving. Many officers in the national government were believed to be mixed up in schemes to defraud the people. The truth of the matter was that the Civil War had left behind it the habit of spending money freely. A desire to grow suddenly rich possessed the people. Men did not look closely to see where their money came from.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHICAGO IN 1832.]

[Sidenote: Objections to Grant.]

[Sidenote: Liberal Republicans.]

[Sidenote: Horace Greeley.]

[Sidenote: Grant reelected, 1872.]