A Brief History of the United States

by Joel Dorman Steele

[Footnote: A grand review of the armies of Grant and Sherman, two hundred thousand strong, took place in the presence of the President and his Cabinet. For twelve hours this triumphal procession, thirty miles long, massed in solid column twenty men deep, rolled through the broad avenues of the Capital.]

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.—Reconstruction Policy of the President. —Johnson recognized the State governments that had been formed in Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana during the war, under the protection of the Union army. In the other States, he appointed provisional governors, and authorized the calling of conventions to form loyal governments. These conventions accordingly met, repealed the ordinances of secession, repudiated the Confederate war debt, and ratified the amendment which Congress had offered abolishing slavery. On these conditions, Johnson claimed that the States, having never been legally out of the Union, should be restored to all their rights in the Union. All restrictions on commerce with the South had been previously removed (April 29, 1865). A month later, Johnson issued a proclamation of amnesty and pardon to all engaged in secession, except certain classes, on condition of taking the oath of allegiance to the United States. In 1868 (July 4) full pardon was granted to all not under indictment for treason, and afterward this was extended to all without exception.

[Footnote: Many of the persons thus excluded obtained pardons from the President by personal application. One complaint against him was the readiness with which he granted such pardons.]

The Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, having been ratified by the States, was declared (December 18, 1865) duly adopted as a part of the Constitution of the United States.

Public Debt.—The annual interest on the war debt was now over one hundred and thirty millions of dollars. The revenue from duties on imported goods, taxes on manufactures, incomes, etc., and from the sale of revenue stamps, was over three hundred millions of dollars. This provided not only for the current expenses of the government and the payment of interest, but also for the gradual extinguishment of the debt. It is a striking evidence of the abundant resources of the country that, in 1866, "before all the extra troops called out by the war had been discharged, the debt had been diminished more than thirty-one millions of dollars."

Reconstruction Policy of Congress.—On the assembling of Congress, decided grounds were taken against the policy of the President. It was claimed that Congress alone had power to prescribe the conditions for the re-admission of the seceded States. His proclamation and orders were treated as of no value. The Freedmen's Bureau, the Civil Rights, and the Tenure-of-Office bills were passed over the President's veto.

[Footnote: The first provided for the establishment of a department of the national government for the care and protection of the freedmen, i. e., the emancipated slaves, and also of the destitute whites at the South. The second bill guaranteed to the negroes the rights of citizenship. The third made the consent of the Senate necessary to the removal by the President of any person from a civil office.]

The Seceded States Admitted.—Tennessee promptly ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and was restored to her former position in the Union. The other provisional governments having refused to do so, a bill was passed (March 2, 1867) placing those States under military rule. The generals in command caused a registry of voters to be made, and elections to be held for conventions to remodel the State constitutions. After a bitter and protracted struggle, governments were established in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, and their representatives admitted (June 24, 1868) over the President's veto, to Congress, after an unrepresented period of seven years.

[Footnote: As a requisite demanded by Congress for holding office, every candidate was obliged to swear that he had not participated in the secession movement Since few Southerners could take this "iron-clad oath," as it was termed, most of the representatives were Northern men who had gone South after the war, and were, therefore, called "carpet-baggers.">[

Impeachment of the President.—The constantly-increasing hostility between the President and Congress came to an issue when the former attempted to remove Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. This being considered a violation of the Tenure-of-Office bill, the impeachment of the President was at last ordered (February 24, 1868). After a long and tedious trial he was acquitted, the two-thirds majority necessary for conviction lacking one vote.