[3] Horace Greeley was born in New Hampshire in 1811, and while still a lad learned the trade of printer. When he went to New York in 1831, he was so poor that he walked the streets in search of work. During the Harrison campaign in 1840 he edited the Log Cabin, a Whig newspaper, and soon after the election founded the New York Tribune. In 1848 he was elected a member of Congress. He was one of the signers of the bond which released Jefferson Davis from imprisonment after the Civil War. Greeley overexerted himself in the campaign of 1872, and died a few weeks after the election.
[4] The fire is said to have been started by a cow kicking over a lamp in a small barn. Nearly 2200 acres were burned over, some 17,450 buildings consumed, 200 lives were lost, and 98,000 people made homeless.
[5] The close of the first century of our national independence was the occasion of a great exposition in Philadelphia—the first of many that have been held in our country on centennial anniversaries of great events in our history. The Philadelphia exposition was first planned as a mammoth fair for the display of the industries and arts of the United States; but Congress having approved the idea, all foreign nations were invited to take part, and thirty-three did so. The main building covered some twenty acres and was devoted to the display of manufactures. The exposition occupied also four other large buildings devoted to machinery, agriculture, etc., of which Horticultural Hall and Memorial Hall are still standing.
[6] Rutherford B. Hayes was born in Ohio in 1822, and after graduating from Kenyon College and the Harvard Law School settled at Fremont, Ohio, but soon moved to Cincinnati. At the opening of the war he joined the Union army and by 1865 had risen to the rank of brevet major general. While still in the army, he was elected to Congress, served two terms, and was then twice elected governor of Ohio. In 1875 he was elected for a third term. He died in 1893.
[7] The commission consisted of five senators, five representatives, and five justices of the Supreme Court; eight were Republicans, and seven Democrats.
[8] By 185 electoral votes against 184 for Tilden. The popular vote at the election of 1876 was (according to the Republican claim): for Hayes, 4,033,768; for Tilden, 4,285,992; for Peter Cooper (Greenback-Labor or "Independent"), 81,737; for Green Clay Smith (Prohibition), 9522.
[9] The strikers' grievances were reduction of wages, irregular employment, irregular payment of wages, and forced patronage of company hotels. There were riots at Baltimore, Chicago, Reading, and other places besides Pittsburg; state militia was called out to quell the disorder; and at the request of the state governors, United States troops were sent to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia.
[10] Specie payment was accordingly begun on January 1, 1879, and then for the first time since greenbacks were made legal tender they were accepted everywhere at par with coin. By the provisions of other laws, the amount of greenbacks kept in circulation was fixed at $346,681,000.
[11] The price of silver in 1872 was such that the 412-1/2 grains in the dollar were worth $1.02 in gold money. The silver dollar was worth more as silver bullion than as money, and was therefore little used as money. This dropping of the silver dollar from the list of coins, or ceasing to coin it, was called the "demonetization of silver."
[12] To carry any number of these "cart-wheel dollars" in the pocket would have been inconvenient, because of their size and weight. Provision was therefore made that the dollars might be deposited in the United States treasury and paper "silver certificates" issued against them. Get specimens of different kinds of paper money, read the words printed on a silver certificate, and compare with the wording on a greenback (United States note) and on a national bank note.