soldiers in the field), was, Lincoln 2,330,552, McClellan 1,835,985. Eleven States did not vote at this election,

The Government was now making rapid strides for the complete abolition of slavery. In June, 1864, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was repealed; in July the Coastwise Slave Trade was forever prohibited, and on January 31, 1865, the Joint Resolution proposing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, passed the House.

On March 4, 1865, President Lincoln was inaugurated for the second time. The beautiful words closing his inaugural will live forever: "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphanto do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all Nations."

Gen. Lee surrendered to Gen. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. On April 14th, the Stars and Stripes were again raised over Ft. Sumter, and the glad news swept over the North that the war was over. On the same evening the President was shot in Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth, and died the next morning. "Now he belongs to the ages," said Stanton, at the death-bed. The death of the President meant that Andrew Johnson, a War Democrat, would be made President, and from the overwhelming shock of Mr. Lincoln's death the Republicans turned with misgiving and fear to the new Executive.

"By these recent successes, the reinauguration of the national authority, the reconstruction of which has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with great difficulty. Nor is it a small additional embarrassment that we, the loyal people, differ among ourselves as to the mode, manner and measure of reconstruction."

A. Lincoln, April 11, 1865. From his last speech before death.

Mr. Lincoln died at 7:22 o'clock a. m. on April 15, 1865; four hours later Vice President Johnson took the oath of office as President. Before him were two gigantic problems, the solution of which was fraught with the greatest difficulty. In what manner and under what restrictions should the recently rebellious States-eleven in numberbe allowed to resume the exercise of their civil functions, and when should their Senators and Representatives be seated in Congress? This was the first problem-Reconstruction. And in what manner should the enormous war debt be handled so that the credit of the Government would be thoroughly re-established and maintained; and how should the enormous paper currency (legal tenders) be managed so that the commercial interests of the country would not be disturbed? These two problems-Reconstruction and the National Debt-were ultimately to be worked out by the party that saved the Union, though now (135)

a War Democrat was in charge of the Executive Department, and friction and disagreement was almost certain. It. was most unfortunate that no definite plan of Reconstruction had been agreed upon by the Legislative and Executive Departments before Mr. Lincoln's death. Such an understanding would have avoided, probably, the bitter conflict that shortly came on between President Johnson and Congress; and the history of the few years following the Rebellion would have presented a record of greater national progress, a quicker welding of the Union, and a prompter re-establishment of national sentiment between the two sec

tions.

While it is true that Mr. Lincoln's plan of Reconstruction did not meet with the approval of Congress, yet it is almost certain that if he had lived there would have been an agreement of some kind; either the party would have followed Mr. Lincoln or Mr. Lincoln would have followed the party. Ultimate harmony between a Republican President and a Republican Congress was certain, although they might temporarily disagree; but harmony between a Republican Congress and a Democratic President once disturbed would scarcely be restored; neither would ever again completely trust the other.

Mr. Lincoln's work of Reconstruction began in 1863 when the Union army had regained Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. His message to Congress in December, 1863, was accompanied by a Proclamation of Amnesty to those who had taken part in the Rebellion in these States, upon their taking an oath to support the Constitution and

all federal laws; and upon so doing there was to be a resto ration of property, except slaves. From this pardon were excepted six enumerated classes of persons whose treason had been most offensive. State Governments could be established by those who took the oath, provided their numbers were one-tenth as large as the total number of voters in the State at the presidential election of 1860, and any Government so established would be recognized by the President, but the right of Congress to admit or reject Senators and Representatives was recognized. Louisiana was the first to make preparations to re-enter into the possession of all its State powers under this proclamation, and in the early months of 1864 a State Government was duly completed and an anti-slavery Constitution adopted. Arkansas followed the same course, but when her Senators and Representatives applied to Congress for their seats, they were denied admittance, and it was apparent that there was a distinct disagreement between the President and Congress on the subject of Reconstruction. Congress did not approve of the President's proceeding without asking its advice, and did not approve of his plan, and a Bill was introduced and passed embodying its views on the subject. In this Bill the President was directed to appoint a Provisional Governor for each of the rebellious States, and after military occupation had ceased, the Governor was to enroll the white male citizens who would take an oath to support the Constitution; after a majority had done so an election of delegates to a Constitutional Convention was to follow, and the Constitution was to contain prohibitory

clauses on the subject of slavery, the Confederate debt and the right of certain persons to vote. If this Constitution was adopted by a majority of the popular vote, then the President, with the consent of Congress, could recognize the State Government, and it would be permitted to send its Representatives to Congress. This Bill was passed July 2, 1864, on the last day of the session, but it never became a law because the President did not sign it, and did not return it before Congress adjourned. Several days after the adjournment the President issued a Proclamation in which he laid the Congressional plan before the people and declared that he was not in favor of any one scheme of Re construction, and that he was also not prepared to set aside the loyal governments which had been formed in Louisiana and Arkansas. By the time Congress met again the President had been re-elected, and it would seem that in some degree there was an endorsement not only of his War Policy but of his plan of Reconstruction. However, the matter was not pressed, and his message to Congress in December, 1864, was silent on the subject. There was no present occasion to bring forward the matter, but the President still adhered to his original plan as far as Louisiana and Arkansas were concerned, and so expressed himself in his last speech before his death.

So the matter of Reconstruction stood when Andrew Johnson became President. There was not much question about the general course he would pursue, because, as War Governor of Tennessee, he had, early in 1865, practically reconstructed that State under Mr. Lincoln's "ten percent"