ADMINISTRATIONS OF JOHNSON AND GRANT 1865-1877.
Andrew Johnson--Reconstruction--Quarrel Between the President and
Congress--The Fenians--Execution of Maximilian--Admission of
Nebraska--Laying of the Atlantic Cable--Purchase of Alaska--Impeachment
and Acquittal of the President--Carpet-bag Rule in the South--Presidential
Election of 1868--U.S. Grant--Settlement of the _Alabama_
Claims--Completion of the Overland Railway--The Chicago Fire--Settlement
of the Northwestern Boundary--Presidential Election of 1872--The Modoc
Troubles--Civil War in Louisiana--Admission of Colorado--Panic of
1873--Notable Deaths--Custer's Massacre--The Centennial--The Presidential
Election of 1876 the Most Perilous in the History of the Country.
THE SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT.
As provided by the Constitution, Andrew Johnson, Vice-President, took
the oath of office as President on the day that Abraham Lincoln died. He
was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, December 29, 1808, and his parents
were so poor that they did not send him to school at all. When only ten
years old, he was apprenticed to a tailor, and anyone who at that time
had prophesied that he would some day become President of the United
States would have been set down as an idiot or a lunatic.
[Illustration: ANDREW JOHNSON.
(1808-1875.) One partial term, 1865-1869.]
Among the visitors to the tailor shop was a kind-hearted old gentleman
who was in the habit of reading to the boys and men. Andrew became
interested in what he heard, and, seeing how much better it would be for
him to be able to read for himself, set to work and learned. He removed
to Greenville, Tennessee, in 1826, and there married a noble woman, who
encouraged his ambition and helped him in his studies. Nature had given
him marked ability, and he became interested in local politics. The
citizens had confidence in him, for he was twice elected alderman, twice
mayor, was sent three times to the State Legislature, and in 1843 was
elected to Congress. He remained there for ten years, when he was chosen
governor of Tennessee, and, in 1857, became United States senator.
Johnson had always been a Democrat, and, when the political upheaval
came in 1860, he supported Breckinridge. While he favored slavery, he
was a Unionist in every fibre of his being, and declared that every man
who raised his hand against the flag should be hanged as a traitor.
Tennessee was torn by the savage quarrel, and for a time the
secessionists were rampant. When Johnson returned to his home in May,
1861, his train was stopped by a mob who were determined to lynch him,
but he met the angered men at the door with a loaded revolver and cowed
them.
It was such men as Johnson that President Lincoln appreciated and
determined to keep bound to him. He appointed him military governor of
Tennessee in 1862, and it need hardly be said that Johnson made things
lively for the secessionists, and did not forget to give attention to
those who had persecuted him. His personal courage and honesty won the
admiration of the North, and, as we have shown, led to his being placed
on the ticket with President Lincoln, when he was renominated in 1864.
The reader will not forget that the surrender of Johnson and the
capture, imprisonment, and release of Jefferson Davis occurred while
Johnson was President.
THE PROBLEM OF RECONSTRUCTION.
Reconstruction was the grave problem that confronted the country at the
close of the war. The question was as to the status of the States lately
in rebellion. It would not do to restore them to their full rights, with
the same old governments, for they might make better preparations and
secede again. Nothing was clearer than that slavery was the real cause
of the war, and the safety of the nation demanded that it should be
extirpated forever. The Emancipation Proclamation was a war measure and
simply freed the slaves, but did not prevent the re-establishment of
slavery. In December, 1865, therefore, the Thirteenth Amendment, having
been adopted by three-fourths of the States, was declared a part of the
Constitution. By it slavery was forever abolished, and one of the
gravest of all perils was removed.
President Johnson was a man of strong passions and prejudices. He had
been a "poor white" in the South, whose condition in some respect was
worse than that of slaves. He held a bitter personal hatred of the
aristocratic Southerners, who had brought on the war. His disposition at
first was to hang the leaders, but after awhile he swung almost as far
in the opposite direction. At the same time, he was not particularly
concerned for the welfare of the freed slaves, who were called
"freedmen."
THE PRESIDENT'S POLICY.
President Johnson termed his plan "my policy," and briefly it was: To
appoint provisional or temporary governors for each of the States lately
in rebellion. These governors called conventions of delegates, who were
elected by the former white voters of the respective States. When the
conventions met they declared all the ordinances of secession void,
pledged themselves never to pay any debt of the Southern Confederacy,
and ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, as proposed by Congress early in
1865, and which abolished slavery. Before the close of the year named,
each of the excluded States had been reorganized in accordance with this
plan. Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas took the step while Lincoln was
President.
The vexatious question was as to the treatment of the freedmen. The
South had no faith that they would work, except when compelled to do so
by slave-overseers. The new governments passed laws, therefore, to
compel them to work, under the penalty of being declared vagrants and
sent to jail, where they would be forced to hard labor. This method was
denounced in the North as a re-establishment of slavery under a new
name. The Republican majority in December, 1865, refused for a time to
admit any members from the States that had been in rebellion.
QUARREL BETWEEN CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT.
Thus a quarrel arose between the President and Congress. The latter
proposed to keep the States on probation for a time, before giving them
their full rights, while the President strenuously insisted that they
should be admitted at once on the same status as those that had not been
engaged in secession. To keep out the eighty-five members who had been
refused admission, Congress imposed a test oath, which excluded all who
had been connected in any way with the Confederate government. The
Republicans had a two-thirds vote in Congress which enabled them to pass
any bill they chose over the President's veto. While they had not
formulated any clear policy, they were resolved to protect the freedmen
in all their rights. The reorganization of Tennessee being satisfactory,
her members were received by Congress in 1866.
The congressional elections of this year intrenched the Republicans in
Congress, and they were sure of the power for the next two years to
carry through any policy upon which they might agree. By that time, too,
they had fixed upon their plan of reconstruction and prepared to enforce
it.
This policy was to allow the freedmen to vote and to deprive the
Confederate leaders of the right to do so. To accomplish this, the plan
was to place all the seceding States under military governors, who
should call new conventions to form State governments. The negroes and
not the leading Confederates had the power to vote for these delegates.
Provided the new governments allowed the freedmen the right of suffrage,
and ratified the Fourteenth Amendment (which excluded the leading
Confederates from office), then the Southern senators and
representatives would be admitted to Congress.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.
The "civil rights" bill, which placed the blacks and whites on the same
footing, was vetoed by the President, March 27th. He pointed out the
danger of giving suffrage to 4,000,000 ignorant people, lately slaves,
and said unscrupulous men in the North would hasten South and take
advantage of their ignorance. This was precisely what took place. The
South was overrun by a set of scoundrels known as "carpet-baggers"
(because they were supposed to carry all their worldly possessions when
they reached the South in a carpet bag; in many instances a score of
trunks would not have sufficed to hold what they took back), whose rule
was worse than a pestilence, and forms one of the most shameful episodes
in our history. According to the old system, the negroes were counted in
making up the congressional representation of the South, and the
Republicans insisted that they were, therefore, entitled to vote. The
bill was passed April 9th, over the President's veto.
The story of the bitter quarrel between the President and Congress is an
unpleasant one. Words were uttered by him and by leading members of
Congress which it would be well to forget. The President became angrier
as the wrangle progressed, for, in the face of the hostile majority, he
was powerless. The fight continued through the years 1867 and 1868. In
June of the latter year, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, North
Carolina, and South Carolina were re-admitted to Congress. The States
that had seceded were divided into five military districts, and
President Johnson, much against his will, was obliged to appoint the
governors. As a result of all this, the negroes were largely in the
majority in the South, and the Republican vote in Congress was greatly
increased. But in the North, the fall elections went mostly Democratic,
though not enough so to overcome the opposing majority in Congress.
During these exciting times there were several occurrences of a
different nature which require notice. The Fenians are men of Irish
birth who favor the independence of their country from Great Britain.
One of their favorite methods is by the invasion of Canada. In 1866,
about 1,500 of them entered Canada from Buffalo, and some skirmishing
occurred, but the movement was so clearly a violation of law that the
President sent a military force to the frontier and promptly stopped it.
[Illustration: LOG-CABIN CHURCH AT JUNEAU, ALASKA.]
EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN.
France had taken advantage of our Civil War to make an attempt to
establish a monarchy in Mexico. French troops were landed, an empire
proclaimed, and Maximilian, an Austrian archduke, declared emperor. He
went to Mexico in 1864, where he was compelled to fight the Mexicans who
had risen against his rule. With the help of the strong military force
which Louis Napoleon placed at his disposal, he was able to maintain
himself for a time. With the conclusion of the war, our government
intimated to Emperor Napoleon that it would be politic for him to
withdraw from Mexico, although we were quite willing to allow Maximilian
to remain emperor if it was the wish of the Mexicans. Napoleon acted on
the warning, but the misguided victim chose to stay, and was captured by
the Mexicans in 1867 and shot. That was the end of the attempt to
establish an empire in Mexico, which has long been a prosperous and
well-governed republic.
ADMISSION OF NEBRASKA.
Nebraska was admitted to the Union in 1867. It was a part of the
Louisiana purchase and was made a Territory in 1854, by the
Kansas-Nebraska act. Being located much further north than Kansas, it
escaped the strife and civil war which desolated that Territory. It has
proven to be a rich agricultural region, though it suffers at times from
grasshoppers, drought, and storms.
The attempts to lay an Atlantic telegraph cable resulted in failures
until 1866, when a cable was laid from Ireland to Newfoundland. Since
then other cables have been successfully stretched beneath the ocean
until it may be said the world is girdled by them.
PURCHASE OF ALASKA.
In 1867 our country purchased from Russia the large tract in the
northwest known as Russian America. The sum paid was $7,200,000, a price
which many deemed so exorbitant that it was considered a mere pretext of
Secretary Seward, who strongly urged the measure, in order to give
Russia a bonus for her valuable friendship during the Civil War.
Inclusive of the islands, the area of Alaska is 577,390 square miles.
The country was looked upon as a cold, dismal land of fogs and storms,
without any appreciable value, but its seal fisheries and timber have
been so productive of late years that it has repaid its original cost
tenfold and more.
WIDENING OF THE BREACH BETWEEN CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT.
One of the acts passed by Congress in March, 1867, forbade the President
to dismiss any members of his cabinet without the consent of the Senate.
The President insisted that the Constitution gave him the right to do
this. Secretary of War Stanton, who had resigned by his request, was
succeeded by General Grant, who gave way to Stanton, when the latter was
replaced by the Senate, in January, 1868. On the 21st of February the
President dismissed him and appointed Adjutant-General Thomas secretary
_ad interim_. Stanton refused to yield, and remained at his office night
and day, with a company of friends and a military guard. Several demands
for the office were made by General Thomas, but all were refused. It was
believed the President would send troops to enforce his order, but he
did not proceed to that extremity.
IMPEACHMENT AND ACQUITTAL OF THE PRESIDENT.
On the 24th of February the House of Representatives passed a resolution
to impeach the President. This was simply to accuse or charge him with
the commission of high crimes and misdemeanors. In such cases the trial
must be conducted by the Senate. A committee was appointed to prepare
the articles of impeachment, which, in the main, accused the executive
of violating the civil tenure act in his removal of Secretary Stanton,
though other charges were added.
When the President is impeached, the Constitution provides that his
trial shall take place before the Senate, sitting as a court. The trial
occupied thirty-two days, lasting until May 26th, with Chief Justice
Chase presiding, on which day a vote was taken on the eleventh article
of impeachment. Thirty-five senators voted for acquittal and nineteen
for conviction. One more vote--making the necessary two-thirds--would
have convicted. Ten days later the same vote was given on the other
charges, whereupon a verdict of acquittal was ordered.
[Illustration: A SOUTHERN LEGISLATURE UNDER CARPET-BAG RULE.
The carpet-baggers debauched the negroes, sending some of the most
ignorant of them to the Legislature, where their personal conduct was a
disgrace and they voted away vast sums of money for adventurers who
bribed them with a pittance.]
SAD CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY.
The country was in a lamentable condition. Congress censured the
President, who expressed his contempt for that body. General Sheridan,
whom the President had removed from the governorship of Louisiana, was
complimented for his administration, and Congress declared that there
was no valid government in the South, the jurisdiction of which was
transferred to General Grant, the head of the army.
By this time the carpet-baggers had swarmed into the sorely harried
region like so many locusts. They secured the support of the ignorant
blacks, by falsehood and misrepresentations, controlled the State
Legislatures, and had themselves elected to Congress. Enormous debts
were piled up, and negroes, who could not write their names, exultingly
made laws for their former masters, who remained in sullen silence at
their homes and wondered what affliction was coming next. The colored
legislators adjourned pell-mell to attend the circus; hundreds of
thousands of dollars were stolen, and extravagance, corruption, and
debauchery ran riot. As a public man remarked, one general
conflagration, sweeping from the Potomac to the Gulf of Mexico, could
not have wrought more devastation in the South than the few years of
carpet-bag governments.
Yet all such evils are sure to right themselves, sooner or later. The
means are apt to be violent and revolutionary, and sometimes breed crime
of itself. It was not in the nature of things that the whites should
remain passive and meek under this unspeakable misrule. They united for
self-protection. One of the bands thus formed was the Ku-Klux, which in
time committed so many crimes in terrorizing the negroes that they were
suppressed by the stern arm of the military; a revolt of the best people
took place, and soon after 1870 the blight of carpet-bag government
disappeared from the South.
TRUE RECONCILIATION.
Despite the turbulence and angry feeling, the work of reconciliation
went on of itself. Northern capital entered the promising fields of the
South; former Union and Confederate leaders, as well as privates,
respected one another, as brave men always do, and became warm friends.
While many of the former went South, hundreds of the latter made their
homes in the North, where they were welcomed and assisted in the
struggle to "get upon their feet." This fraternal mingling of former
soldiers and the friendly exchange of visits between Union and
Confederate posts brought about true reconciliation, despite the
wrangles of politicians.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1868.
Before, however, this was fully accomplished, the presidential election
of 1868 took place. The most popular hero in this country, as in others,
is the military one, and the great value of General Grant's services in
the war for the Union made it clear, long before the assembling of the
nominating convention, that he would be the candidate of the Republican
party. He was unanimously named, with Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the nominee for
Vice-President. The Democrats placed in nomination Horatio Seymour, of
New York, and General Francis P. Blair, of Missouri. The result in
November was as follows: Republican ticket, 214 electoral votes;
Democratic, 80. The election was a striking proof of the popularity of
the great soldier.
Andrew Johnson was hopeful of a nomination from the Democrats, but his
name was scarcely mentioned. He lived in retirement for a number of
years, but was elected United States senator in 1875, and he died at his
home July 31st of that year.
THE EIGHTEENTH PRESIDENT.
Ulysses S. Grant had already become so identified with the history of
our country that little remains to be added to that which has been
recorded. He was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822. Appointed
to West Point, he gave no evidence of special brilliancy, and was
graduated in 1843 with only a fair standing. He did good service in the
war with Mexico and was brevetted captain, but resigned his commission
in 1854 and went into business, where he attained only moderate success.
He was among the first to volunteer when the Civil War broke out. The
opportunity thus presented for the full display of his military genius
rapidly brought him to the front, the culmination of his career being
reached when he compelled the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox
Court-House in April, 1865, thereby bringing the long and terrible war
to a triumphant conclusion. He was a man of simple tastes, modest, but
with an unerring knowledge of his own abilities, thoroughly patriotic,
honest, chivalrous, devoted to his friends, and so trustful of them that
he remained their supporters sometimes after receiving proof of their
unworthiness. The mistakes of his administration were due mainly to this
trait of his character, which it is hard to condemn without reservation.
[Illustration: ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT.
(1822-1885.) Two terms, 1869-1877.]
The country being fairly launched once more on its career of progress
and prosperity, the government gained the opportunity to give attention
to matters which it was compelled to pass by while the war was in
progress. The first most important step was to call England to account
for her help in fitting out Confederate privateers, when we were in
extremity. It required considerable tact and delicacy to get the
"Alabama Claims," as they were termed, in proper form before the British
authorities, for they felt sensitive, but it was finally accomplished.
The arbitration tribunal which sat at Geneva, Switzerland, in June,
1872, decreed that England should pay the United States the sum of
$15,500,000 because of the damage inflicted by Confederate cruisers upon
Northern commerce. The amount was paid, and friendly relations between
the two countries were fully restored.
[Illustration: MRS. JULIA DENT GRANT.]
Our rapid growth had long since made the building of a railroad from the
East to the Pacific a necessity that continually grew more urgent.
Construction was begun as early as 1863, but the Civil War caused the
work to lag, and at the end of two years only one hundred miles had been
graded and forty laid. The progress then became more vigorous.
The road consisted of two divisions. The first was from Omaha, Nebraska,
to Ogden, Utah, a distance of 1,032 miles, while the western division,
known as the Central Pacific, covered the distance of 885 miles between
Ogden and San Francisco. Steadily approaching each other, these long
lines of railway met on the 10th of May, 1869, when the last spike, made
of solid gold, was driven, and the two locomotives, standing with their
pilots almost touching, joined in a joyous screech of their whistles.
The important event was celebrated with much ceremony, for it was worthy
of being commemorated.
RECONSTRUCTION COMPLETED.
The vexatious work of reconstruction was completed during the early
months of 1870. Virginia had held out against the terms prescribed by
Congress, but her senators and representatives were admitted to their
seats in the latter part of January; those of Mississippi in the
following month, and those of Texas in March, at which time the
secretary of State issued a proclamation declaring the adoption of the
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees negro
suffrage. For the first time in almost twenty years, all the States were
fully represented in Congress.
THE CHICAGO FIRE.
On the 8th of October, 1871, Chicago was visited by the greatest
conflagration of modern times, with the single exception of that of
Moscow. Like many events, fraught with momentous consequences, it had a
trifling cause. A cow kicked over a lamp in a stable on De Koven Street,
which set fire to the straw. A gale swiftly carried the flames into some
adjoining lumber yards and frame houses. All the conditions were
favorable for a tremendous conflagration. The fire swept over the south
branch of the Chicago River, and raged furiously in the business
portion of the city. The main channel of the river was leaped as if it
were a narrow alley, and there were anxious hours when thousands
believed the whole city was doomed. As it was, the fire-swept district
covered four or five miles, and fully 20,000 buildings were burned. It
is believed that 250 lives were lost, about 100,000 people made
homeless, and $192,000,000 worth of property destroyed.
[Illustration: THE BURNING OF CHICAGO IN 1871.]
Chicago's affliction stirred the sympathy of the whole country.
Contributions were sent thither from every State, and everything was
done to aid the sufferers who had lost their all. With true American
pluck, the afflicted people bent to the work before them. Night and day
thousands toiled, and within the space of a year a newer and more
magnificent city rose like a Phoenix from its ashes. Chicago to-day is
one of the grandest and most enterprising cities in the world.
SETTLEMENT OF THE NORTHWESTERN BOUNDARY.
We had made a treaty with England in 1846 which located the line of our
northwestern boundary along the 49th parallel westward to the middle of
"the channel" separating the continent from Vancouver's Island, and
then southward through the middle of the channel and of Fuca's Strait to
the Pacific Ocean. It was found, however, there were several channels,
and it was impossible to decide which was meant in the treaty. The claim
of England included the island of San Juan, she insisting that the
designated channel ran to the south of that island. Naturally, we took
the opposite view and were equally insistent that the channel ran to the
north, and that San Juan, therefore, belonged to us. The two nations
displayed their good sense by referring the dispute to arbitration and
selected the Emperor of Germany as the arbitrator. He decided in 1872 in
our favor.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1872.
It was a curious presidential election that took place in 1872. The
South was bitterly opposed to the Republican plan of reconstruction and
a good many in the North sympathized with them. One of the strongest
opponents of Grant's renomination was the _New York Tribune_, of which
Horace Greeley was editor. The Republicans who agreed with him were
called "Liberal Republicans," while the Straight-out Democrats retained
their organization. Naturally, the regular Republicans renominated
Grant, but Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, took the place of Schuyler
Colfax as the nominee for the Vice-Presidency. Horace Greeley, who had
spent his life in vigorously fighting the principles of the Democratic
party, was now endorsed by that organization after his nomination by the
Liberal Republicans, with B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, as his running
partner.
[Illustration: SECTION OF CHICAGO STOCK-YARDS, THE LARGEST IN THE
WORLD.]
The election was a perfect jumble. Eight candidates were voted for as
President and eleven for Vice-President. Grant received 286 electoral
votes and carried thirty-one States. Greeley was so crushed by his
defeat that he lost his reason and died within a month after election.
His electors scattered their votes, so that Thomas A. Hendricks, the
regular Democratic candidate, received 42; B. Gratz Brown, 16; Charles
J. Jenkins, 2; and David Davis, 1.
THE INDIAN QUESTION.
The second term of Grant was more troublous than the first. The
difficulties with the Indians, dating from the first settlement in the
country, were still with us. At the suggestion of the President, a grand
council of delegates of the civilized tribes met in December, 1870, in
the Choctaw division of the Indian Territory. The subject brought before
them was the organization of a republican form of government, to be
under the general rule of the United States. A second convention was
held in the following July and a provisional government organized. A
proposal was adopted that the United States should set aside large
tracts of land for the exclusive occupancy and use of the Indians. These
areas were to be known as "reservations," and so long as the Indians
remained upon them they were to be protected from molestation.
This scheme seemed to promise a settlement of the vexed question, but it
failed to accomplish what was expected. In the first place, most of the
Indians were unfriendly to it. No matter how large a part of country you
may give to a red man as his own, he will not be satisfied without
permission to roam and hunt over _all_ of it.
A more potent cause of trouble was the origin of all the Indian
troubles, from the colonial times to the present: the dishonesty and
rascality of the white men brought officially in contact with the red
men. Not only did these miscreants pursue their evil ways among the
Indians themselves, but there was an "Indian ring" in Washington, whose
members spent vast sums of money to secure the legislation that enabled
them to cheat the savages out of millions of dollars. This wholesale
plundering of the different tribes caused Indian wars and massacres,
while the evil men at the seat of the government grew wealthy and lived
in luxury.
THE MODOC TROUBLES.
Trouble at once resulted from removing the Indians to reservations that
were inferior in every respect to their former homes. The Modocs, who
had only a few hundred warriors, were compelled by our government to
abandon their fertile lands south of Oregon and go to a section which
was little better than a desert. They rebelled, and, under the
leadership of Captain Jack and Scar-faced Charley, a number took refuge
among some lava beds on the upper edge of California. On the 11th of
April, 1873, a conference was held between the Indian leaders and six
members of the peace commission. While it was in progress, the savages
suddenly attacked the white men. General Edward S. Canby and Dr. Thomas
were instantly killed, and General Meachem, another member, was badly
wounded, but escaped with his life.
The war against the Modocs was pushed. After much difficulty and
fighting, they were driven to the wall and compelled to surrender.
Captain Jack and two of his brother chiefs were hanged in the following
October. The remaining members were removed to a reservation in Dakota,
where they have given no further trouble.
CIVIL WAR IN LOUISIANA.
In the early part of this year, civil war broke out in Louisiana because
of the quarrels over reconstruction measures. The difficulty first
appeared two years earlier, when opposing factions made attempts to
capture the Legislature by unseating members belonging to the opposing
party. Matters became so grave that in the following January Federal
troops had to be used to preserve the peace. In December, 1872, another
bitter quarrel arose over the election of the governor and members of
the Legislature. The returning board divided, one part declaring William
P. Kellogg elected, while the other gave the election to John McEnery,
the candidate of the white man's party. Most of the negro vote had been
cast for Kellogg.
As a consequence, two rival State governments were organized. McEnery
was enjoined by the United States district court from acting, because,
as was asserted, the returning board which declared him elected had done
so in defiance of its order.
In the face of this prohibition, McEnery was inaugurated. The question
was referred to the Federal government, which declared in favor of
Kellogg. Thereupon the McEnery government disbanded, but in the latter
part of 1874 McEnery again laid claim to election. D.P. Penn, his
lieutenant-governor, and his armed followers took possession of the
State House. A fight followed in which Kellogg was driven from the
building, twenty-six persons killed and a large number wounded. Kellogg
appealed to Washington for help. McEnery, who was absent during these
violent proceedings, now returned and took the place of Penn. President
Grant ordered his supporters to disperse and General Emory forced
McEnery to surrender. The peace was broken in January, 1875, over the
election of members to the Legislature, and the Federal troops were
again called to restore order. A congressional committee was sent South
to investigate, and finally the quarrel was ended and Kellogg was
recognized as the legal governor.
ADMISSION OF COLORADO.
Colorado became the thirty-eighth State in August, 1876. The name is
Spanish, and refers to that part of the Rocky Mountains noted for its
many colored peaks. Colorado has more than thirty peaks within its
borders whose height is quite or nearly three miles. The wild,
mountainous region was explored in 1858 at two points, one near Pike's
Peak and the other in the southwestern portion. Both exploring parties
discovered gold, which, while abundant, is hard to extract. The
Territory was organized in 1861, and the principal discoveries of the
enormous deposits of silver have been made since 1870. The date of
Colorado's admission has caused it often to be referred to as the
"Centennial State."
THE PANIC OF 1873.
We had learned the meaning of hard times in 1837 and again in 1857. Once
more, in 1873, the blight fell upon the country. There were various
causes, all of which, in one sense, were the war. Prices had become
inflated, money was plentiful, and cities, towns, and people had become
extravagant. A mania seemed to seize municipal corporations for
indulging in "improvements," which brought ruinous debts upon the
municipalities. Enormous sums of money were invested in the building of
new railroad lines where the country was not developed sufficiently to
repay the expenditures. The quantity of goods brought into this country
was much in excess of that exported, a fact which turned the balance of
trade, as it was termed, against us. This required the sending abroad of
a large amount of money.
As illustrative of the extravagance in railroad building, it may be said
that, in the single year 1871, 8,000 miles were put in operation.
Instead of using ready money with which to build these lines, bonds were
issued by the railroad companies, which expected to pay the debts out of
the future earnings of the roads. In the course of five years
$1,750,000,000 were invested in railroad projects. The same speculative
spirit pervaded mining and manufacturing companies, which also borrowed
money by issuing bonds. A great amount of these were sold abroad, after
which the home market was industriously worked through the newspapers,
which overflowed with glowing promises. Thousands of poor widows,
orphans, and the trustees of estates invested all their scanty savings
in these enterprises.
Then the failures began. The banking firm of Jay Cooke & Company,
Philadelphia, one of the greatest in the United States, suspended, and
the whole country was alarmed. Next came the panic, which reached its
height in a few months. This was followed by dull times, when factories
closed, and multitudes were thrown out of employment. Several years
passed before the country fully recovered from the panic of 1873.
NOTABLE DEATHS.
Many noted men died during those times. The bluff, aggressive, and
patriotic Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln's war secretary, passed away in
December, 1869, shortly after his appointment to the bench of the
supreme court by President Grant. General R.E. Lee, who had become
president of the Washington and Lee University, died at his home in
Lexington, Virginia, in 1870. Among others of prominence who died in the
same year were General George H. Thomas and Admiral Farragut. In 1872,
William H. Seward, Horace Greeley, Professor Morse, and General George
H. Meade breathed their last, and in the year following Chief Justice
Chase and Charles Sumner died. Millard Fillmore and Andrew Johnson, as
has been stated, died respectively in 1874 and 1875.
[Illustration: MONUMENT TO GENERAL LEE AT RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.]
The Democrats now gained a majority in the House of Representatives for
the first time since 1860. Among the members elected from the South were
several distinguished military leaders of the Southern Confederacy,
besides Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, who had been its
vice-president.
It was about this time that gold was discovered among the Black Hills,
which by treaty belonged to the Sioux Indians, since the section was
within their reservation. White men were warned to keep away, and steps
were taken by the military authorities to prevent them entering upon the
forbidden ground. But no risk or danger is sufficient to quench men's
thirst for gold, and thousands of the most desperate characters hurried
to the Black Hills and began digging for the yellow deposit.
CUSTER'S MASSACRE.
The Sioux are fierce and warlike. They have given our government a great
deal of trouble, and, finding their reservation invaded by white men,
they retaliated by leaving it, burning houses, stealing horses, and
cattle, and killing settlers in Wyoming and Montana. Their outrages
became so serious that the government sent a strong military force
thither under Generals Terry and Crook, which drove a formidable body of
warriors under the well-known Sitting Bull and others toward the Big
Horn Mountains and River.
[Illustration: GENERAL GEORGE CROOK.]
Generals Reno and Custer rode forward with the Seventh Cavalry to
reconnoitre, and discovered the Indians encamped in a village nearly
three miles long on the left bank of the Little Big Horn River. Custer,
who was an impetuous, headlong officer, instantly charged upon the
Indians without waiting for reinforcements.
This woeful blunder was made June 25, 1876. All that is known of it has
been obtained from the Indians themselves. They agree that Custer and
his men dashed directly among the thousands of warriors, and that they
fought with desperate heroism, but Custer and every one of his men were
killed. The number was 261. General Reno held his position at the lower
end of the encampment on the bluffs of the Little Big Horn until
reinforcements arrived. Soldiers were sent to the neighborhood, and
there was more sharp fighting. It was a long time and there was much
negotiation necessary before the Sioux could be persuaded to return to
their reservation in Dakota.
On the 4th of July, 1876, the United States was one hundred years old.
Preparations had been on foot for several years to give it a fitting
celebration. A bill was passed by Congress as early as March, 1871,
providing that an exhibition of foreign and American arts, products, and
manufactures should be held under the auspices of the government of the
United States. A centennial commission was appointed, consisting of
General Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut; Professor John L. Campbell, of
Indiana; Alfred T. Goshorn, of Ohio; and John L. Shoemaker, of
Pennsylvania. Naturally Philadelphia, where the Declaration of
Independence was written and signed, was selected as the most fitting
place to hold the celebration. Fairmount Park, one of the largest and
finest in the world, was set apart for the buildings.
The invitations sent to other nations were courteously accepted, the
following being those that took part: The Argentine Confederation,
Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador,
Egypt, France (including Algeria), German Empire, Great Britain and her
colonies, Greece, Guatemala, Hawaii, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan,
Liberia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Orange Free State,
Persia, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunis,
Turkey, United States of Colombia, and Venezuela.
To furnish room for the display of the myriads of articles, five
principal buildings were erected, viz.: the Main Building, 1,876 feet
long and 464 feet wide; the Art Gallery or Memorial Hall, Machinery
Hall, Agricultural Hall, and Horticultural Hall. The exhibition was
formally opened by President Grant, May 1st, and closed by him six
months later. The daily attendance began with about 5,000, but rose to
275,000 toward the close. The total number of visitors was some
10,000,000, and the total receipts, as officially given out, were
$3,761,598. The exhibition was a splendid success in every sense.
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876.
Few people to-day understand the danger through which the country passed
in the autumn and winter of 1876. In June, the two great political
parties put their presidential tickets in the field. That of the
Republicans was Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and William A. Wheeler, of
New York; of the Democrats, Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A.
Hendricks, of Indiana. The Independent Greenback party also nominated a
ticket, at the head of which was the venerable philanthropist, Peter
Cooper, of New York, with Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio, the candidate for the
vice-presidency.
There was little difference between the platforms of the two leading
parties. The Democrats declared for _reform_ through all the methods of
the administration. The Republicans were equally loud in their calls for
the reform of every political abuse, and for the punishment of any and
all who made wrongful use of political offices. They also insisted that
the rights of the colored men should be safeguarded, and denounced the
doctrine of State sovereignty, of which there was little to be feared,
since it had been effectually killed by the war.
The Greenbackers made considerable stir. They also used the shibboleth
of reform, but put the currency question before all others. Although the
government was committed to the redemption of the national legal-tenders
and bonds in gold, the Greenbackers insisted that this was impossible,
and was also unjust to the debtor class. They claimed, further, that it
was the duty of the government to provide a national paper currency,
based not on specie, but on bonds bearing a low rate of interest. The
Republicans and Democrats maintained that the government could not
abrogate its promises of redeeming the currency and bonds in gold.
The Greenback party polled 81,740 votes, the Prohibition 9,522, and the
American 2,636, none gaining an electoral vote. For several days after
the November election, it was generally believed that the Democrats had
been successful, though a few Republican papers, notably the _New York
Times_, persistently claimed that the Republican ticket had been
successful.
[Illustration: MEMORIAL HALL OF 1876.]
There was a dispute in four States. In Louisiana, the returning board
threw out the returns from several parishes on the ground of
intimidation and fraud, thereby placing 4,000 majority to the credit of
the Republicans. The Democrats insisted that the rejected votes should
be counted, and, had it been done, Tilden would have been elected.
In South Carolina, two bodies claimed to be the legal Legislature and
both canvassed the returns, one giving a plurality of 800 to the
Republican ticket and the other a smaller majority to the Democratic.
Precisely the same wrangle occurred in Florida, where each side claimed
a majority of about a hundred. Matters were still more complicated in
Oregon, where a Republican elector was declared ineligible, because he
held the office of postmaster at the time he was chosen elector. The
governor proposed to withhold the certificate from him and give it to a
Democrat. Had everything claimed by the Republicans been conceded, they
would have had 185 and the Democrats 184. It was necessary, therefore,
for the Republicans to maintain every point in order to secure their
President, for it was beyond dispute that Tilden had received 184
electoral votes. On the popular vote, he had 4,284,885 to 4,033,950 for
Hayes. Each party charged the other with fraud, and thousands of
Democrats were so incensed at what they believed was a plot to cheat
them out of the presidency that they were ready to go to war. Had they
done so, it would have been the most terrible peril that ever came upon
the Republic, for the war would not have been one section against the
other, but of neighborhood against neighborhood throughout the land.
[Illustration: SAMUEL J. TILDEN (1814-1886.)]
As if nothing in the way of discord should be lacking, the Senate was
Republican and the House Democratic. The election being disputed, it
fell to them to decide the question--something they would never do,
since they were deadlocked. This was so apparent that thoughtful men saw
that some new and extraordinary means must be found to save the country
from civil war.
Congress, after long and earnest discussion, passed a bill creating an
Electoral Commission, to which it was agreed to submit the dispute. This
commission was to consist of fifteen members, five to be appointed by
the House, five by the Senate, and the remaining five to consist of
judges of the Supreme Court.
The Senate being Republican, its presiding officer, the Vice-President,
named three Republicans and two Democrats; the House naturally appointed
three Democrats and two Republicans; while of the Supreme Court, three
were Republicans and two Democrats. This, it will be noted, gave to the
commission eight Republicans and seven Democrats. The body by a strict
party vote decided every dispute in favor of the Republicans, and on the
2d of March, 1877, two days before inauguration, Rutherford B. Hayes was
decided President-elect of the United States.
[Illustration: THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION WHICH DECIDED UPON THE ELECTION
OF PRESIDENT HAYES.
Composed of three Republican and two Democratic Senators, three
Democratic and two Republican Representatives, three Republican and two
Democratic Justices of the Supreme Court; total, eight Republicans and
seven Democrats. By a strict party vote the decision was given in favor
of Mr. Hayes, who, two days later, March 4, 1877, was inaugurated
President of the United States.]