CONGRESS AND THE JUDICIARY 563 the North had in law imposed its system of reconstruction upon the South: in actual fact, the South was rapidly carrying out a counter-revolution. In 1872 public feeling at the North compelled Congress to restore political rights to the ex-Confederates except for a few leaders, and the union of the Whites in one Restoration party gave them a majority in most States over of political the Negroes. Thereafter they used little violence; rights but they continued to exclude most Negroes from the polls by threats of non-employment or by persuasion or by vague intimidation. For a while, the Federal government secured the victory of Carpet-bag State governments by giving them the use of Federal troops at the elections; but this process became increasingly distasteful to President Grant and to the country. By 1875, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina had reverted to White rule; and the other Southern States did so in the election of 1876 or as a result of the settlement following that election. Throughout "Reconstruction," Congress showed a highhanded determination to override the Judiciary, as it overrode the Executive, whenever necessary to carry Congress its point. It had suspended the writ of Habeas and the Corpus in the North during the war, and had Judiciary authorized the punishment of suspected "rebel sympathizers" by military courts. While the war lasted, the Federal judiciary had been unwilling to interfere with these courts martial, dangerous as they were to private liberty; but in 1866 the Supreme Court did at last declare that all such military commissions for the trial of citizens, in districts where the ordinary courts were open, had been unconstitutional. The "Radical" majority in Congress feared that the Court would go on to upset their program for military rule in the South, and raved wildly against the decision. Stevens at once introduced a bill to make it impossible for the Court to set aside laws of Congress thereafter except by a unanimous vote. The bill was not pressed to a vote, but was held over the Judiciary as a threat. The Court, accordingly, grew cautious. When President Johnson's reconstructed State governments appealed to it for protection against the military rule set over them by the Reconstruction Acts, it declared it had no jurisdiction in such "political cases." At a later period, however, in the famous "Slaughter House cases' of 1883, it did take from the Negroes the security for civil equality which the Fourteenth amendment had been intended to give them. Since that time the social relations of the Blacks have been regulated by State governments. The "Legal Tender decisions" showed another way in which the Supreme Court might be subject to control in times The Legal Tender decisions of strong popular feeling. The Legal Tender Act of 1862 (page 532) had made "greenbacks" lawful pay even for debts contracted before the passage of the law. This provision of the law the Court declared unconstitutional, February 7, 1870. Chief Justice Chase, who as Secretary of the Treasury had devised the law, wrote the decision; and the vote stood four to three. But one Justice had died just before, and Congress had provided for one additional new member. President Grant now filled both places -the day this decision was handed down. A new case was promptly brought before the new Court. The new appointees voted with the former minority, and the law was upheld, five to four. Loud complaint was made even by the Chief Justice that the President and Senate had "packed the Court" to secure this reversal. In the grossest form, this accusation was certainly untrue. The nominations had been settled upon before the first decision was made public. But the country was sharply divided upon the issue, and the stand of the nominees on the matter was known before they were confirmed. The rising labor parties charged that the appointment was influenced, in part at least, by great corporations whose long-term bonds, about to expire, would have had to be paid in gold under the first decision, but which they now paid in the depreciated greenbacksgaining millions for corporation coffers. THE ALABAMA ARBITRATION 565 The Reconstruction period saw three important incidents connected with foreign relations. 1. In Johnson's administration, the United States bought from Russia, for $7,200,000, the immensely rich realm of Alaska then valued mainly for its furs. Mexico But 2. The same administration victoriously vindicated the Monroe Doctrine. During our war, England, France, and Spain had united in a military "demonstration,” France to secure from Mexico the payment of debts due withdraws their citizens. England and Spain soon withdrew from from the movement because it became plain that Napoleon III of France was aiming at much more than collection of debts. Then Napoleon established Maximilian, an Austrian Archduke, as Emperor of Mexico, and maintained him there by a French army, in spite of vigorous protests from Washington. At the close of the war, however, American troops were massed on the Rio Grande; and Napoleon withdrew his army. Then the "Emperor' was captured and shot by the Mexican Republicans (1867). 3. Much bitterness was still felt toward England for her government's conduct in the matter of the Alabama. in 1867 a franchise reform in that country put The power at last in the hands of the workingmen, Alabama and a new British ministry showed a desire for arbitration a fair settlement between the two nations. In the Treaty of Washington (1871), England apologized gracefully for any remissness on her part in permitting the Confederate cruiser to escape, and the question of liability for damages was submitted to arbitration. A Tribunal of Arbitration met at Geneva, one member appointed by each of the five governments, the United States, England, Switzerland, Italy, and Brazil. At first the American government claimed huge "indirect damages" for the cost of pursuing the Alabama, the longer continuance of the war, and the increased rates of insurance on merchant shipping. The Tribunal threw out these claims; but it decided that England had not shown "due diligence" in preventing the sail ing of the Alabama, and that she was therefore responsible for all damages to American commerce committed directly by that privateer. England paid to the United States the award of $15,500,000, to be distributed by us to the owners of destroyed property. The amount proved to be excessive, since claimants for much of it could never be found: but the settlement was honorable to both nations, and it made the greatest victory up to that time for the principle of arbitration. CHAPTER XXXVI THE CLOSE OF AN ERA In 1872 the Republicans began to divide on the question of military rule in the South. The conviction was growing that the North needed its energies at home. A The election "Liberal Republican Republican" Convention nominated of 1872 Horace Greeley for the presidency, on a platform calling for civil-service reform and for leaving the South to solve its own problems. The Democrats accepted program and candidate; but they felt no enthusiasm for Greeley, a lifelong, violent opponent, and the "regular" Republicans reëlected Grant triumphantly. His second term, however, proved a period of humiliation for the simple-minded soldier. His confidence was abused basely by political "friends," and he showed himself a babe in their unscrupulous hands. The public service had become honeycombed with corruption. In 1875 Benjamin H. Bristow, Secretary of the Treasury, unearthed extensive frauds whereby high officials had permitted a "Whisky Ring" to cheat the government of millions of the internal revenue. Babcock, the President's private secretary, was deeply implicated, and Grant showed an ill-advised eagerness to save him from prosecution, while he allowed the friends of the convicted criminals to drive Bristow from office. Grant, himself, on a visit to St. Louis, had been lavishly entertained by a leading member of the "ring,' and had even accepted from him a fine span of horses. In 1876 Belknap, Secretary of War, was found to have accepted bribes, year after year, for appointments to office in the department of Indian affairs. Of course the officials who paid the bribes had enriched themselves by robbing the Indians. The Democratic House (see elections of 1874, |