on March 2. On the 5th, the trial began, and lasted till May 16, when a test vote was taken on the Eleventh Article, a leading one. The result was, for conviction, 35 Senators; for acquittal, 19 Senators, 14 of the latter being Democrats and 5 Republicans. The Constitution requiring a two-thirds vote to convict, the verdict was acquittal on this article. On May 26, a vote was had on the first and second articles, with the same result. It being evident that conviction could not be had, no other votes were taken and the Court of Impeachment adjourned sine die.

The political differences between the President and the Republican party were not softened by the impeachment trial, yet singularly enough the party did not suffer by its failure to convict, nor did the President cease to pursue his policy of Reconstruction, save where he was hedged by Congress, till the end of his term, when he retired to his native State, quite restored to the favor of his old political associates, with whom he had broken on the questions which gave rise to the rebellion.

Congress adjourned, July 27, 1868.

ELECTION OF 1868.-The Republican National Convention met at Chicago, May 20, 1868, and nominated Ulysses S. Grant, Ill., for President, and Schuyler Colfax, Ind., for VicePresident. The platform (1) congratulated the country on the success of the reconstruction policy of Congress. (2) Approved of equal suffrage to all loyal men in the South, and of the doctrine that it was a question properly belonging to the loyal States. (3) No repudiation of the National promises to pay. (4) Equalization and reduction of taxation. (5) Reduction of interest on National debt, and gradual payment of same. (6) Improvement of our credit. (7) Denounced the corruptions of the Johnson administration, and urged economy. (8) Lincoln's death regretted; Johnson's treachery denounced. (9) Protection of the rights of naturalized citizens. (10) Honor to the soldiers. (11) Encouragement of foreign immigration. (12) Sympathy for all oppressed people struggling for their rights; commendation of those who served in the Rebellion, for their co-operation in securing good government in the South.

The Democratic National Convention met at New York, July 14, 1868, and nominated for President, Horatio Seymour, N. Y., and for Vice-President, Francis P. Blair, Mo. The platform (1) recognized the question of secession and slavery as settled by the war. (2) Demanded immediate restoration of the Southern States, and the settlement of the question of suffrage by the States themselves. (3) Amnesty for all past offences. (4) Payment of the public debt in lawful money, where coin is not called for. (4) Equal taxation; one currency. (5) Economy; abolition of the Freedmen's Bureau; a Tariff for revenue, with incidental Protection. (6) Reform of abuses in administration; independence of Executive and Judicial branches; subordination of military to civil power. (7) Maintenance of the rights of naturalized citizens. (8) General arraignment of the Republican party, and gratitude to Johnson for " resisting the aggressions of Congress.”

The campaign was an active one. The leading topics were the Reconstruction measures of the Republican party, and equal suffrage. The latter was a new question, given prominence by the condition of the freedmen, and by the probability that they would not be able to maintain their rights as citizens without the ballot. It may be said that the verdict of the campaign led to the proposal and adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment. Grant's apothegm, "Let us have Peace," did much to tone the severities of a campaign which would else have been very bitter, owing to the hostility of the Republicans toward the Administration. And as to the merits of the issue between the Congress and President—that is, as to whether the Congress or President had a right to fix the terms on which a revolting State could be readmitted the verdict was in favor of Congress and its plan of approving of the Constitution of the applicant States, just as in case of Territories when they first applied for admission. The November result was a decided Republican victory.

FORTIETH CONGRESS-Second Session. Met Dec. 7, 1868. The leading political measure was the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which conferred the right of suffrage on all citizens, without distinction of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It passed Feb. 25, 1869, and by March

30, 1870, was ratified by three-fourths of all the States. In Congress it was a distinctive party measure, drawing full Democratic opposition. Before the country, it met with a conservative Republican opposition, partly because it was regarded as too radical an advance, and partly because it got complicated with the question of amnesty, as advocated by Mr. Greeley and a school of statesmen who thought that "universal amnesty" ought to precede, and be a consideration for, “universal suffrage."

The Electoral count showed 214 votes for Grant and Colfax, and 80 for Seymour and Blair. A question was raised over the 9 votes of Georgia, but as they did not affect the result, it was not urged. Congress adjourned sine die, March 3, 1869. Grant and Colfax were sworn into office on March 4.

XXI.

GRANT'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION.

March 4, 1869-March 3, 1873.

ULYSSES S. GRANT, ILL., President. SCHUYLER COLFAX, Ind.,

* Popular vote-Grant, 3,015,071-26 States; Seymour, 2,709,613-8 States; not voting, 3 States.

FORTY-FIRST CONGRESS-Extra Session.-Met March 4, 1869, with a very large Republican majority in both branches. The Senate stood 58 Republican, 10 Democrat, and 8 vacancies; the House, 149 Republican, 64 Democrat, and 25 vacancies; Mississippi, Texas, Virginia and Georgia not being represented. The House organized by electing James G. Blaine, Me., Speaker.

* These States not yet readmitted. 23 votes lost.

This brief session was made interesting by a strictly party struggle over the admission of Texas, Virginia and Mississippi, before they had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. On April 10 a bill passed which required them to submit their constitutions as they stood to the people, and their Legislatures to ratify both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, after which they would be readmitted. The extra session adjourned April 10, 1869.

FORTY-FIRST CONGRESS-First Regular Session.-Met December 6, 1869. The lot of President Grant had not thus far been a happy one. Unlike his predecessor, he had no policy of Reconstruction aside from the acts of Congress, and these he declared he would enforce, on the principle that the best way to secure the repeal of such as were objectionable was to show their defects by actual and literal enforcement. But in this he was largely headed off by a condition of affairs in the late rebellious States, which was then attributed to the mistaken policy of President Johnson. From whatever cause, a party arose in the Southern States which prided in the name of "Unreconstructed" and "Irreconcilable." It opposed the Reconstruction acts of Congress, and especially the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. Further, many Northern men had settled in Southern States. These, being in favor with the negroes, and naturally supporters of the government, gained a control of local politics which made them enemies of the "Unreconstructed." They were denounced as "CarpetBaggers," and the State governments they erected and supported as "Carpet-Bag Governments." But as they were operating under color of local law, and insisting on rights for the citizen which the Constitution plainly gave him, they could hardly be ousted by regular forms. Ousted they must be, however. The plan of terrorizing the negroes was hit upon. This was perfected and carried out by those secret organizations which became known as the Ku-Klux-Klan. Their operations were so effective as not only to intimidate the negroes but to drive out the Northern immigrants. This achieved, the doctrine of "a white man's government" became popular, and under it the regime of the respec