Reconstruction and the Constitution, 1866-1876

by John William Burgess

The issue of the campaign of 1866 was thus made up. It was simply whether Congress should reconstruct the President's reconstructed

The issue of
Reconstruction
in the campaign
of 1866.

Although it was not a Presidential year, the election of the members of the House of Representatives with such a problem to deal with, and the election of "State" legislatures which would consider the question of adopting the proposed Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, made the canvass of 1866 a truly national one. Four National Conventions were held during the summer and early autumn, two of each party.

The Administration party led off with their great meeting in Philadelphia on the 14th of August. There were a few prominent

The National
Conventions
of the summer
of 1866.

Inasmuch as there had been a great display of harmony between the leading men of the South and the Northern delegates in the convention of the 14th of August, making it appear that the Democrats were the party of peace and reunion, while the Republicans were in favor of a continuation of the hostile status, the Southern Republicans, or as they called themselves the loyal Union men of the South, assembled in considerable numbers in Philadelphia on the 3d of September, for the purpose of conferring with the leading Republicans of the North in regard to the condition of things in the South. Such men as John Minor Botts, William G. Brownlow, George W. Paschal, Thomas J. Durant, M. J. Safford, Thomas H. Benton, Lewis M. Kenzie, G. W. Ashburn, and many more of almost equal reputation came to counsel with the leaders of the Republican party. Many of the most important of these were there, Trumbull, Greeley, Morton, Chandler, Schenck, Schurz, Matthews, Curtin, Cameron, Gerry, Speed, the ex-Attorney-General, and Creswell. These are only a few names of the eminent men who were present.

The delegates separated into two bodies, one body comprehending the representatives from the South, and the other those from the North. This was done in order to leave the Southerners free from undue Northern influence. Mr. Speed presided over the Southern assembly, and in his opening words declared the purpose of the convention to be to determine and proclaim whether the assertion of the late Confederates that their constitutional rights were being denied them in not admitting their Representatives- and Senators-elect to seats in Congress was true, or whether, on the other hand, the claim of the emancipated that their civil and natural rights were being denied them was true. He soon left no doubt upon the minds of his hearers as to his own view and belief, and he denounced the President's reconstruction work, both in principle and results, most roundly. On account of the intimate relation in which he had stood to the President as his legal adviser, and on account of the fact that he was a citizen of one of the old slave-holding "States," his words had tremendous effect in steeling the purpose of the Republicans of the North.

Under the inspiration of Mr. Speed's speech, the Southern convention framed and fulminated an address which arraigned the President as almost a traitor to his party and the Union, and as a friend of rebels and of sympathizers with rebels, described the results of his Reconstruction policy and acts as most deplorable, and urged the speedy adoption of the proposed Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution as the only possible cure for the evils which were afflicting the country. This address made up the issues of the campaign. The dividing line of the parties now separated those who favored the adoption of the proposed Fourteenth Amendment from those who did not. The issue was simple, and the vote upon it was decisive, as we shall see.

The Administration party now attempted to divide the late soldiers, as it had attempted to divide the Republicans, with but little better effect. They got together a convention of the veterans at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 17th of September, and had the venerable General Wool preside over it. There were many good men and true present, among them Gordon Granger, Rousseau, Custer, McClernand, and Thomas Ewing; and they accused the Republicans of attempting to stir up another civil war over the question of negro suffrage, and urged their old comrades to insist that the status of peace, and all the consequences thereof, existed and must be preserved.