CHAPTER 42. President Johnson and Reconstruction, 1861-1869

PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND RECONSTRUCTION, 1861-1869

437. Lincoln's Reconstruction Policy.--The great question now before the country was what should be done with the Southern states and people. And what should be done with the freedmen? On these questions people were not agreed. Some people thought that the states were "indestructible"; that they could not secede or get out of the Union. Others thought that the Southern states had been conquered and should be treated as a part of the national domain. Lincoln thought that it was useless to go into these questions. The Southern states were out of the "proper practical relations with the Union." That was clear enough. The thing to do, therefore, was to restore "proper practical relations" as quickly and as quietly as possible. In December, 1863, Lincoln had offered a pardon to all persons, with some exceptions, who should take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and should promise to support the Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation. Whenever one-tenth of the voters in any of the Confederate states should do these things, and should set up a republican form of government, Lincoln promised to recognize that government as the state government. But the admission to Congress of Senators and Representatives from such a reconstructed state would rest with Congress. Several states were reconstructed on this plan. But public opinion was opposed to this quiet reorganization of the seceded states. The people trusted Lincoln, however, and had he lived he might have induced them to accept his plan.

438. President Johnson's Reconstruction Plan.--Johnson was an able man and a patriot. But he had none of Lincoln's wise patience. He had none of Lincoln's tact and humor in dealing with men. On the contrary, he always lost his temper when opposed. Although he was a Southerner, he hated slavery and slave owners. On the other hand, he had a Southerner's contempt for the negroes. He practically adopted Lincoln's reconstruction policy and tried to bring about the reorganization of the seceded states by presidential action.

439. The Thirteenth Amendment, 1865.--President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (p. 331) had freed the slaves in those states and parts of states which were in rebellion against the national government. It had not freed the slaves in the loyal states. It had not destroyed slavery as an institution. Any state could reestablish slavery whenever it chose. Slavery could be prohibited only by an amendment of the Constitution. So the Thirteenth Amendment was adopted, December, 1865. This amendment declares that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, ... shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." In this way slavery came to an end throughout the United States.

440. Congress and the President, 1865-66.--Unhappily many of the old slave states had passed laws to compel the negroes to work. They had introduced a system of forced labor which was about the same thing as slavery. In December, 1865, the new Congress met. The Republicans were in the majority. They refused to admit the Senators and Representatives from the reorganized Southern states and at once set to work to pass laws for the protection of the negroes. In March, 1865, while the war was still going on, and while Lincoln was alive, Congress had established the Freedmen's Bureau to look after the interests of the negroes. Congress now (February, 1866) passed a bill to continue the Bureau and to give it much more power. Johnson promptly vetoed the bill. In the following July Congress passed another bill to continue the Freedmen's Bureau. In this bill the officers of the Bureau were given greatly enlarged powers, the education of the blacks was provided for, and the army might be used to compel obedience to the law. Johnson vetoed this bill also.

441. The Fourteenth Amendment.--While this contest over the Freedmen's Bureau was going on, Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill to protect the freedmen. This bill provided that cases concerning the civil rights of the freedmen should be heard in the United States courts instead of in the state courts. Johnson thought that Congress had no power to do this. He vetoed the bill, and Congress passed it over his veto. Congress then drew up the Fourteenth Amendment. This forbade the states to abridge the rights of the citizens, white or black. It further provided that the representation of any state in Congress should be diminished whenever it denied the franchise to any one except for taking part in rebellion. Finally it guaranteed the debt of the United States, and declared all debts incurred in support of rebellion null and void. Every Southern state except Tennessee refused to accept this amendment.

442. The Reconstruction Acts, 1867.--The Congressional elections of November, 1866, were greatly in favor of the Republicans. The Republican members of Congress felt that this showed that the North was with them in their policy as to reconstruction. Congress met in December, 1866, and at once set to work to carry out this policy. First of all it passed the Tenure of Office Act to prevent Johnson dismissing Republicans from office. Then it passed the Reconstruction Act. Johnson vetoed both of these measures, and Congress passed them both over his veto. The Reconstruction Act was later amended and strengthened. It will be well to describe here the process of reconstruction in its final form. First of all the seceded states, with the exception of Tennessee, were formed into military districts. Each district was ruled by a military officer who had soldiers to carry out his directions. Tennessee was not included in this arrangement, because it had accepted the Fourteenth Amendment. But all the other states, which had been reconstructed by Lincoln or by Johnson, were to be reconstructed over again. The franchise was given to all men, white or black, who had lived in any state for one year--excepting criminals and persons who had taken part in rebellion. This exception took the franchise away from the old rulers of the South. These new voters could form a state constitution and elect a legislature which should ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. When all this had been done, Senators and Representatives from the reconstructed state might be admitted to Congress.

443. Impeachment of Johnson, 1868.--President Johnson had vetoed all these bills. He had declared that the Congress was a Congress of only a part of the states, because Representatives from the states reconstructed according to his ideas were not admitted. He had used language toward his opponents that was fairly described as indecent and unbecoming the chief officer of a great nation. Especially he had refused to be bound by the Tenure of Office Act. Ever since the formation of the government the Presidents had removed officers when they saw fit. The Tenure of Office Act required the consent of the Senate to removals as well as to appointments. Among the members of Lincoln's cabinet who were still in office was Edwin M. Stanton. Johnson removed him, and this brought on the crisis. The House impeached the President. The Senate, presided over by Chief Justice Chase, heard the impeachment. The Constitution requires the votes of two-thirds of the Senators to convict. Seven Republicans voted with the Democrats against conviction, and the President was acquitted by one vote.

444. The French in Mexico.--Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, seized the occasion of the Civil War to set the Monroe Doctrine at defiance and to refound a French colonial empire in America. At one time, indeed, he seemed to be on the point of interfering, to compel the Union government to withdraw its armies from the Confederate states. Then Napoleon had an idea that perhaps Texas might secede from the Confederacy and set up for itself under French protection. This failing, he began the establishment of an empire in Mexico with the Austrian prince, Maximilian, as Emperor. The ending of the Civil War made it possible for the United States to interfere. Grant and Sheridan would gladly have marched troops into Mexico and turned out the French, but Seward said that the French would have to leave before long anyway. He hastened their going by telling the French government that the sooner they left the better. They were withdrawn in 1868. Maximilian insisted on staying. He was captured by the Mexicans and shot. The Mexican Republic was reestablished.

445. The Purchase of Alaska, 1867.--In 1867 President Johnson sent to the Senate, for ratification, a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Russia's American possessions. These were called Alaska, and included an immense tract of land in the extreme Northwest. The price to be paid was seven million dollars. The history of this purchase is still little known. The Senate was completely taken by surprise, but it ratified the treaty. Until recent years the only important product of Alaska has been the skins of the fur seals. To preserve the seal herds from extinction, the United States made rules limiting the number of seals to be killed in any one year. The Canadians were not bound by these rules, and the herds have been nearly destroyed. In recent years large deposits of gold have been found in Alaska and in neighboring portions of Canada. But the Canadian deposits are hard to reach without first going through Alaska. This fact has made it more difficult to agree with Great Britain as to the boundary between Alaska and Canada.

446. Grant elected President, 1868.--The excitement over reconstruction and the bitter contest between the Republicans in Congress and the President had brought about great confusion in politics. The Democrats nominated General F. P. Blair, a gallant soldier, for Vice-President. For President they nominated Horatio Seymour of New York. He was a Peace Democrat. As governor of New York during the war he had refused to support the national government. The Republicans nominated General Grant.

He received three hundred thousand more votes than Seymour. Of the two hundred and ninety-four electoral votes, Grant received two hundred and fifteen.