The Project Gutenberg ebook of a brief History of the United States

THREE ISSUES.--After the collapse of the Confederacy, our countrymen were

called on to meet three issues arising directly from the war:--
1. The first was, What shall be done to destroy the institution of

slavery? [1]

[2]
3. The third had to do with the national debt and the currency.

in Maryland, Missouri, and West Virginia, by gradual or immediate

abolition acts, and in Tennessee by a special emancipation act. In order

that it might be done away with everywhere Congress (in January, 1865)

sent out to the states a Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution,

declaring slavery abolished throughout the United States. In December,

1865, three fourths of the states having ratified, it became part of the

Constitution, and slavery was no more.

was taken up by his successor, Johnson. [3] He recognized the governments

established by loyal persons in Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, and

Louisiana. For the other states he appointed provisional governors and

authorized conventions to be called. These conventions repudiated the

Confederate debt, repealed the ordinances of secession, and ratified the

Thirteenth Amendment.
This done, Johnson considered these states as reconstructed and entitled

to send senators and representatives to Congress. But Congress thought

otherwise and would not admit their senators and representatives. Johnson

then denied the right of Congress to legislate for the states not

represented in Congress. He vetoed many bills which chiefly affected the

South, and in the summer of 1866 made speeches denouncing Congress for its

action.
THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT.--One measure which President Johnson would have

vetoed if he could, was a Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution which

Congress proposed in 1866. Ten of the former Confederate states rejected

it, as did also four of the Union states. Congress, therefore, in March,

1867, passed over the veto a Reconstruction Act setting forth what the

states would have to do to get back into the Union. One condition was that

they must ratify the Fourteenth Amendment; when they had done so, and

_when the amendment had become a part of the Constitution_, they were

to be readmitted.
SOUTHERN STATES READMITTED.--Six states--North Carolina, South Carolina,

Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas--submitted, and the amendment

having become a part of the Constitution, they were (1868) declared again

in the Union. Tennessee had been readmitted in 1866. Virginia, Mississippi

and Texas were not readmitted till 1870, and Georgia not till 1871.
THE DEBT AND THE CURRENCY.--The financial question to be settled included

two parts: What shall be done with the bonds (p. 381)? and What shall be

done with the paper money? As to the first, it was decided to pay the

bonds as fast as possible, [4] and by 1873 some $500,000,000 were paid. As

to the second, it was at first decided to cancel (instead of reissuing)

the greenbacks as they came into the treasury in payment of taxes and

other debts to the government. But after the greenbacks in circulation had

been thus reduced (from $449,000,000) to $356,000,000, Congress ordered

that their cancellation should stop.
JOHNSON IMPEACHED.--The President meantime had been impeached. In March,

1867, Congress passed (over Johnson's veto) the Tenure of Office Act,

depriving him of power to remove certain officials. He might suspend them

till the Senate examined into the cause of suspension. If it approved, the

officer was removed. If it disapproved, he was reinstated. [5]
Johnson soon disobeyed the law. In August, 1867, he asked Secretary-of-War

Stanton to resign, and when Stanton refused, suspended him. The Senate

disapproved and reinstated Stanton. But Johnson then removed him and

appointed another man in his place. For this act, and for his speeches

against Congress, the House impeached the President, and the Senate tried

him, for "high crimes and misdemeanors." He was not found guilty. [6]

race for the presidential sweepstakes, between the Western War Horse U. S.

Grant and the Manhattan Donkey."]
GRANT ELECTED PRESIDENT, 1868.--In the midst of Johnson's quarrel with

Congress the time came to elect his successor. The Democratic party

nominated Horatio Seymour. The Republicans chose Ulysses S. Grant and

elected him.

Amendment; the restoration to the Union of the last four of the former

Confederate states, Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas; the

disorder in the South; and the character of our foreign relations.

Republicans went on with the work of reconstruction, and (in February,

1869) Congress sent out the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
By the Fourteenth Amendment the states were left (as before) to settle for

themselves who should and who should not vote. But if any state denied or

in any way abridged the right of any portion of its male citizens over

twenty-one years old to vote, Congress was to reduce the number of

representatives from that state in Congress in the same proportion. But

now by the Fifteenth Amendment each state was forbidden to deprive any man

of the right to vote because of his "race, color, or previous condition of

servitude." In March, 1870, the amendment went into force, having been

ratified by a sufficient number of states.
CARPETBAG RULE.--President Grant began his administration in troubled

times. The Reconstruction Act had secured the negro the right to vote.

Many Southern states were thereby given over to negro rule. Seeing this, a

swarm of Northern politicians called "carpetbaggers" went south, made

themselves political leaders of the ignorant freedmen, and plundered and

misgoverned the states. In this they were aided by a few Southerners who

supported the negro cause and were called "scalawags." But most of the

Southern whites were determined to stop the misgovernment; and, banded

together in secret societies, called by such names as Knights of the White

Camelia, and the Ku-Klux-Klan, they terrorized the negroes and kept them

from voting. [7]
FORCE ACT.--Such intimidation was in violation of the Fifteenth Amendment.

Congress therefore enacted the "Ku-Klux Act," or Force Act (1871), which

prescribed fine and imprisonment for any one convicted of hindering or

attempting to hinder a negro from voting, or his vote when cast from being

counted.
RISE OF THE LIBERAL REPUBLICANS.--The troubles which followed the

enforcement of this act led many to think that the government had gone too

far, and a more liberal treatment of the South was demanded. Many

complained that the civil service of the government was used to reward

party workers, and that fitness for office was not duly considered. There

was opposition to the high tariff. These and other causes now split the

Republican party in the West and led to the formation of the Liberal

Republican party.

gents 'ave come to nurse you a bit." [8]]

present many matters of importance. In 1867 Alaska [9] was purchased from

Russia for $7,200,000. At the opening of the war France sent troops to

Mexico, overthrew the government, and set up an empire with Maximilian,

Archduke of Austria, as emperor. This was a violation of the Monroe

Doctrine (p. 282). When the war was over, therefore, troops were sent to

the Rio Grande, and a demand was made on France to recall her troops. The

French army was withdrawn, and Maximilian was captured by the Mexicans and

shot. These things happened while Johnson was President.
SANTO DOMINGO.--In 1869 Grant negotiated a treaty for the annexation of

the negro republic of Santo Domingo, and urged the Senate to ratify it.

When the Senate failed to do so, he made a second appeal, with a like

result.
ALABAMA CLAIMS.--In 1871 the treaty of Washington was signed, by which

several outstanding subjects of dispute with Great Britain were submitted

to arbitration. (1) Chief of these were the Alabama claims for damage to

the property of our citizens by the Confederate cruisers built or

purchased in Great Britain. [10] The five [11] arbitrators met at Geneva

in 1872 and awarded us $15,500,000 in gold as indemnity. (2) A dispute

over the northeastern fisheries [12] was referred to a commission which

met at Halifax and awarded Great Britain $5,500,000. (3) The same treaty

provided that a dispute over a part of the northwest boundary should be

submitted to the emperor of Germany as arbitrator. He decided in favor of

our claim, thus confirming our possession of the small San Juan group of

islands, in the channel between Vancouver and the mainland.
CUBA.--In 1868 the people of Cuba rebelled against Spain, proclaimed a

republic, and began a war which lasted nearly ten years. American ships

were seized, our citizens arrested; American property in Cuba was

destroyed or confiscated; and our ports were used to fit out filibusters

to aid the Cubans. Because of these things and the sympathy felt in our

country for the Cubans, Grant made offers of mediation, which Spain

declined. As the war continued, the question of giving the Cubans rights

of belligerents, and recognizing their independence, was urged on

Congress.
While these issues were undecided, a vessel called the Virginius, flying

our flag, was seized by Spain as a filibuster, and fifty-three of her

passengers and crew were put to death (1873). War seemed likely to follow;

but Spain released the ship and survivors, and later paid $80,000 to the

families of the murdered men.

SUMMARY
1. The end of the Civil War brought up several issues for settlement.

amendments to the Constitution.

grew a serious quarrel with President Johnson.

by 1868 seven states were back in the Union.

led to his impeachment and trial. He was not convicted.

Southern states were readmitted to the Union; but the condition of the

South, under carpetbag government, became worse than ever, and led to the

passage of the Force Act.

purchase of Alaska, the withdrawal of the French from Mexico, the treaty

with Great Britain for the settlement of several old issues, the attempt

of Grant to purchase Santo Domingo, and the Virginius affair with Spain.

FOOTNOTES
[1] A closely related question was, What shall be done for the negroes set

free by the Emancipation Proclamation? During the war, as the Union armies

occupied more and more of Confederate territory, the number of freedmen

within the lines grew to hundreds of thousands. Many were enlisted as

soldiers, others were settled on abandoned or confiscated lands, and

societies were organized to aid them. In 1865, however, Congress

established the Freedmen's Bureau to care for them. Tracts of confiscated

land were set apart to be granted in forty-acre plots, and the bureau was

to find the negroes work, establish schools for them, and protect them

from injustice.

they claimed to be out of the Union. As to this there were in the North

three different views. (1) Lincoln held that no state could secede; that

the people of the seceding states were insurgents or persons engaged in

rebellion; that when the rebellion was crushed in any state, loyal persons

could again elect senators and representatives, and thus resume their old

relations to the Union. (2) Others held that these states had ceased to

exist; that nothing but their territory remained, and that Congress could

do what it pleased with this territory. (3) Between these extremes were

most of the Republican leaders, who held that these states had lost their

rights under the Constitution, and that only Congress could restore them

to the Union.

school, and when ten years old was apprenticed to a tailor. When eighteen,

he went to Tennessee, where he married and was taught to read and write by

his wife. He was a man of ability, was three years alderman and three

years mayor of Greenville, was three times elected a member of the

legislature, six times a member of Congress, and twice governor of

Tennessee. When the war opened, he was a Democratic senator from

Tennessee, and stoutly opposed secession. In 1862 Lincoln made him

military governor of Tennessee. In 1875 he was again elected United States

senator, but died the same year.

that they should be paid "in coin." But others (issued in 1862) merely

provided that the interest should be paid in coin. Now, greenbacks were

legal tender for all debts except duties on imports and interest on the

bonds. A demand was therefore made that the early bonds should be paid in

greenbacks; also that all government bonds (which had been exempted from

taxation) should be taxed like other property. This idea was so popular in

Ohio that it was called the "Ohio idea," and its supporters were nicknamed

"Greenbackers." To put an end to this question Congress (1869) provided

that all bonds should be paid in coin.

partly in 1887).

States. The House begins by sending a committee to the Senate to impeach,

or accuse, the officer in question. The Senate then organizes itself as a

court with the Vice President as the presiding officer, and fixes the time

for trial. The House presents articles of impeachment, or specific charges

of misconduct, and appoints a committee to take charge of its side of the

case. The accused is represented by lawyers, witnesses are examined,

arguments made, and the decision rendered by vote of the senators. When a

President is impeached, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides in

place of the Vice President.

Nelson Page--two interesting novels describing life in the South during

this period.
[8] When France first interfered in Mexican affairs, it was in conjunction

with Great Britain and Spain, on the pretext of aiding Mexico to provide

for her debts to these powers. But when France proceeded to overthrow the

Mexican government, Great Britain and Spain withdrew.

fur company for twenty years, and during that time nearly $7,000,000 was

paid into the United States treasury as rental and royalty. Besides seals

and fish, much gold has been obtained in Alaska.

and others (p. 378). We claimed that Great Britain had not done her duty

as a neutral; that she ought to have prevented their building, arming, or

equipping in her ports and sailing to destroy the commerce of a friendly

nation, and that, not having done so, she was responsible for the damage

they did. We claimed damages for (1) private losses by destruction of

ships and cargoes; (2) high rates of insurance paid by citizens; (3) cost

of pursuing the cruisers; (4) transfer of American merchant ships to the

British flag; (5) prolongation of the war because of recognition of the

Confederate States as belligerents, and the resulting cost to us. Great

Britain denied that 2, 3, 4, and 5 were subject to arbitration, and it

looked for a while as if the arbitration would come to naught. The

tribunal decided against 2, 4, and 5 on principles of international law,

and made no award for 3.

King of Italy, one by the President of the Swiss Confederation, and one by

the Emperor of Brazil. In 1794-1904 there were fifty-seven cases submitted

to arbitration, of which twenty were with Great Britain.

United States to catch fish in the harbors, bays, creeks, and shores of

the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward

Island was more valuable than the privilege granted British subjects to

catch fish in harbors, bays, creeks, and off the coast of the United

States north of 39°. The commission decided that it was.

CHAPTER XXXII
GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY FROM 1860 TO 1880

THE WEST.--In 1860 the great West bore little resemblance to its present

appearance. The only states wholly or partly west of the Mississippi River

were Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas. Louisiana, Texas, California,

and Oregon. Kansas territory extended from Missouri to the Rocky

Mountains. Nebraska territory included the region from Kansas to the

British possessions, and from Minnesota and Iowa to the Rocky Mountains.

New Mexico territory stretched from Texas to California, Utah territory

from the Rocky Mountains to California, and Washington territory from the

mountains to the Pacific.

In 1858 gold was discovered on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains,

near Pikes Peak; gold hunters rushed thither, Denver was founded, and in

1861 Colorado was made a territory. Kansas, reduced to its present limits,

was admitted as a state the same year, and the northern part of Nebraska

territory was cut off and called Dakota territory (map, p. 352).

and population poured thither. Virginia City sprang into existence, and in

1861 Nevada was made a territory and in 1864, with enlarged boundaries,

was admitted into the Union as a state.

the old Fort Boise of the Hudson's Bay Company became a thriving town,

other settlements were made, and in 1863 the territory of Idaho was

organized. In the same year Arizona was cut off from New Mexico.

Missouri River. Bannack City, Virginia City, and Helena were founded, and

in 1864 Montana was made a territory. [1]
In 1867 Nebraska became a state, and the next year Wyoming territory was

formed.
OVERLAND TRAILS.--When Lincoln was inaugurated in 1861, no railroad

crossed the plains. The horse, the stagecoach, the pack train, the prairie

schooner, [2] were the means of transportation, and but few routes of

travel were well defined. The Great Salt Lake and California trail,

starting in Kansas, followed the north branch of the Platte River to the

mountains, crossed the South Pass, and went on by way of Salt Lake City to

Sacramento. Over this line, once each week, a four-horse Concord coach [3]

started from each end of the route.
From Independence in Missouri another line of coaches carried the mail

over the old Santa Fe trail to New Mexico.

Arkansas, curved southward to El Paso in Texas, and then by way of the

Gila River to Los Angeles and San Francisco; the distance of 2729 miles

was covered in twenty-four days. [4]

EAST IN 1858. Contemporary drawing.]

company started the Pony Express to carry letters on horseback from St.

Joseph to San Francisco. Mounted on a swift pony, the rider, a brave,

cool-headed, picked man, would gallop at breakneck speed to the first

relay station, jump on the back of another pony and speed away to the

second, mount a fresh horse and be off for a third. At the third station

he would find a fresh rider mounted, who, the moment the mail bags had

been fastened to his horse, would ride off to cover his three stations in

as short a time as possible. The riders left each end of the route twice a

week or oftener. The total distance, about two thousand miles, was passed

over in ten days. [5]
In the large cities of the East free delivery of letters by carriers was

introduced (1863), the postal money order system was adopted (1864), and

trials were made with postal cars in which the mail was sorted while _en

route_.
THE TELEGRAPH.--Meanwhile Congress (in June, 1860) incorporated the

Pacific Telegraph Company to build a line across the continent. By

November the line reached Fort Kearny, where an operator was installed in

a little sod hut. By October, 1861, the two lines, one building eastward

from California, and the other westward from Omaha, reached Salt Lake

City. The charge for a ten-word message from New York to Salt Lake City

was 87.50.

and all letters went by the overland stage line, whose coaches entered

every large mining center, carrying passengers, express matter, and the

mail. [6]

the founding of Denver, led to a great freight business across the plains.

Flour, bacon, sugar, coffee, dry goods, hardware, furniture, clothing,

came in immense quantities to Omaha, St. Joseph, Atchison, Leavenworth,

there to be hauled to the "diggings." Atchison became a trade center.