A Short History of the United States Part 53

_a_. Review the steps which led to the war for the Union.

_b_. What were Lincoln's personal views as to slavery? Why could he not carry them out?

_c_. What were Lincoln's leading characteristics? Give ill.u.s.trations to support your view.

_d_. Study Grant's military career and try to find out why he succeeded where others failed.

_e_. Arrange a table of the leading campaigns, giving dates, leaders, end to be attained, important battles, and result.

_f_. Give the two most important battles of the war. Why do you select these?

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK.

_a_. Life in Southern prisons.

_b_. The Shenandoah Valley in the war.

_c_. Any important battle or naval action, or leading general, or naval commander.

_d_. The part played by your own state or town in the war, or the history of one of your state regiments.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS

A few days spent upon a study of the field of war will save a great deal of time. Channing's _Students' History_ will enable the teacher to indicate the most important strategic points. Maps have been sparingly provided in this book, as the simple plans in Dodge's _Bird's-eye View_ can easily be reproduced on the blackboard. In general, campaigns should be studied rather than battles.

Pictures relating to this period are easily obtainable and may be freely used. It is an excellent plan to ask some veteran to describe his experiences, and the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic will often lend material aid in making the war real to the pupils. Grant's career should be especially studied, and the reasons for his successes carefully noted.

Indeed, the study of this period may well center around Lincoln and Grant. Lincoln's inaugurals are too difficult to be studied thoroughly.

But the teacher can easily select portions, as the last paragraph of the second inaugural. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address should be learned by every pupil, and his letter to Greeley _(Students' History, _p. 539) will throw a flood of light on Lincoln's character. In studying this period, as well as other periods, it is better to dwell on the patriotism and heroism of our soldiers, sailors, and statesmen than to point out their mistakes and personal faults.

Literature is so rich in reference to this time that nothing more than the mention of the works of Lowell, Whittier, Holmes, and Longfellow is needed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PRESENT FLAG, 1900.]

XIV

RECONSTRUCTION AND REUNION, 1865-1888

Books for Study and Reading

References.--Scribner's _Popular History_, V; McMaster's _School History_, chs. x.x.x-x.x.xiii; Andrews's _Last Quarter-Century._

Home Readings.--Hale's _Mr. Merriam's Scholars._

CHAPTER 42

PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND RECONSTRUCTION, 1861-1869

[Sidenote: Position of the seceded states.]

[Sidenote: Lincoln's policy of reconstruction. _McMaster_, 427-428.]

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 Const.i.tution and the Emanc.i.p.ation 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.

[Sidenote: Andrew Johnson President, 1865.]

[Sidenote: His ideas on reconstruction. _McMaster_, 428.]

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.

[Sidenote: Force of Lincoln's Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation.]

[Sidenote: Abolition of slavery, 1865.]

439. The Thirteenth Amendment, 1865.--President Lincoln's Emanc.i.p.ation 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 inst.i.tution. Any state could reestablish slavery whenever it chose. Slavery could be prohibited only by an amendment of the Const.i.tution. 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HORSE CAR.]

[Sidenote: Forced labor in the South. _McMaster_, 429.]

[Sidenote: The Freedmen's Bureau. _Source-book_, 339-342.]

440. Congress and the President, 1865-66.--Unhappily many of the old slave states had pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.s 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) pa.s.sed a bill to continue the Bureau and to give it much more power. Johnson promptly vetoed the bill.

In the following July Congress pa.s.sed 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.

[Sidenote: Civil Rights Bill, 1866.]

[Sidenote: It is pa.s.sed over Johnson's veto.]

[Sidenote: The Fourteenth Amendment, 1866.]

441. The Fourteenth Amendment.--While this contest over the Freedmen's Bureau was going on, Congress pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANDREW JOHNSON.]

[Sidenote: Elections of 1866.]

[Sidenote: Tenure of Office Act, 1867.]