A History of the United States

by Charles Kendall Adams; William P. Trent

593. Indian Troubles.—During both of Grant’s administrations Indian troubles were serious, partly in consequence of the political corruption of the period (§ [590]). In the course of the Civil War, the Sioux in Minnesota, taking advantage of the absence of the United States troops, had risen in rebellion and massacred a considerable number of the inhabitants. With some difficulty the agitators were captured, and thirty-four of them were simultaneously hanged on a single gallows at Mankato. This striking exhibition of energy on the part of the government put an end to revolts for a time, but relief was only temporary. The Modocs, in southern Oregon, when ordered to another reservation in 1873, refused to go, and even put to death the peace commissioner sent to deal with them. They were finally subdued, after nearly a year of fighting. In 1875 the Sioux again arose, under the leadership of Sitting Bull; but they were gradually driven west as far as the Little Big Horn River in southern Montana. Here they were imprudently attacked by General George A. Custer,[^[272]] who, with his regiment, was surrounded and every member of the force with one exception was killed (June 25, 1876). Fresh troops finally repulsed the Indians and they withdrew into British America.

594. The Virginius Affair.—Good sense on both sides averted hostilities in another quarter. In October, 1873, an American merchant vessel, the Virginius, was captured on the high seas, near Jamaica, by a Spanish man-of-war, on the ground that it intended to land men to assist in the Cuban insurrection then in progress. Several Cubans, with Captain Fry and a number of other persons found among the passengers, were seized and executed. The event caused not a little excitement in the United States. Spain made immediate and ample reparation; but the incident served to increase the filibustering spirit toward Cuba that had long been prevalent, especially in the South.

595. The Centennial. Exposition.—In the last year of Grant’s second administration,[^[273]] the fact that “peace hath her victories no less renowned than war” was strikingly proved. The centennial of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence was celebrated by a great International Industrial Exposition at Philadelphia. It was also, as an undertaking of all the states, a sign of real national unity after years of strife. The exposition was opened in May, 1876, and was visited by millions of people, drawn from all parts of the country and from Europe. The superiority of the United States in various kinds of labor-saving machines and inventions, among them telephones and appliances for electric lighting, was a source of national pride; and the cause of popular education was served by the exhibition of the mechanical and artistic achievements of foreign nations.

PARTY POLITICS.

596. The Greenback Party.—As early as 1863 the principal and interest of the national bonds had been made payable in coin. But as the price of gold rose,—or, more properly speaking, the price of paper notes fell,—it was possible to sell bonds and with the gold and silver thus received to purchase greenbacks, and thus apparently to double the rate of interest. As the bonds were largely held by rich men, an outcry rose that the law should be changed, and that all bonds should be made payable, principal and interest, in greenbacks. Public feeling culminated in a political convention at Indianapolis, November 25, 1874, in which a demand was made for a general substitution of a paper currency in place of coin. The Greenback Party, as it was called, nominated Peter Cooper of New York for President in 1876, and he received eighty-one thousand seven hundred and forty votes, mostly in the Central and Western states. During the same period organizations of farmers, known as Granges, demanded, and in some states secured, the moderation of railroad rates.

Rutherford B. Hayes.

597. The Campaign of 1876.—As the election of 1876 approached, it became evident that the people were growing more and more to distrust the policy of keeping the reconstructed governments in place by military force, and that the question of interfering in local affairs in the South would play a large part in the campaign. The Democrats were growing in strength, while the Republicans were weakening. At their party convention, the Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden of New York for President, and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana for V%ice President; while the Republicans placed in the field Rutherford B. Hayes[^[274]] of Ohio, and William A. Wheeler of New York. It was evident from the first that the contest would be a very close one. The election revealed that the decision of the Electoral College, as the Presidential electors in their collective capacity are called, would turn upon the manner in which certain disputed returns in Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina were decided. If these states should all be represented in the College by Republican electors, Hayes would have a majority of one. If from a single one of those states a Democratic elector should obtain a vote, the election would go to Tilden.

598. The Question in Dispute.—From each of the states in dispute, two sets of returns were presented to Congress, one certifying that Republican, the other that Democratic, electors had been chosen. In each of the Southern states there was a returning board that was recognized by the government at Washington, to which the results of the elections from various precincts were to be reported, and whose duty it was to declare the result, which was to be certified, by the governor, to Congress. These boards, therefore, had almost unlimited authority. In making up the returns in Florida and Louisiana, they cast out the vote of certain precincts, declaring that the election had been tainted with fraud and violence. This the Democrats denied, and made out returns of their own, certifying that the Democratic electors had been chosen. In South Carolina there were two sets of returns emanating from two contending state governments. The Democrats claimed that Federal troops had interfered with the results of the election. In Oregon the question as to whether there should be three Republican electors or two Republican and one Democratic, hinged on the validity of a protest that a postmaster could not under the Constitution be an elector. As the Republicans had a majority in the Senate and the Democrats in the House, it was evident there could be no agreement on a count of the votes.