The assassination of Lincoln, 14 April 1865, was a calamity not only to the country but also to the Republican party, upon which was pressing at the moment the problem of recon struction growing out of the Civil War. Lin coln had the qualities needed at that time— firmness, moderation and political sagacity. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded to the Presidency, was ill-fitted either by tempera ment or by training to deal with the delicate questions which then arose. He was hot headed, uninformed and unstable. He was soon at odds with the leaders of his party in Con gress, and by his obstinacy drove them to ex tremes which might have been avoided had the executive been guided by a broader intel ligence. All the measures of reconstruction were forced through in spite of the President's opposition. The difference became so marked that in February 1868 articles of impeachment were brought against the President by the House of Representatives. In the impeach ment proceedings in the Senate the President was not convicted. The vote was: Guilty, 35; not guilty, 19— one less than the two-thirds majority required by the Constitution for con viction.
Ulysses S. Grant, of Illinois, the victorious commander of the Union armies, wa„b the unanimous choice of the Republican National Convention, which met at Chicago 20-21 May 1868. Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, was the candidate for Vice-President. In the election which followed Grant and Colfax received 214 electoral votes. Seymour and Blair, the Democratic candidates, received 80. Through out Grant's first administration, both Senate and House were strongly Republican. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution, having been recommended by Congress and adopted by the States, was proclaimed on 30 March 1870. To Grant fell the task of bringing the Southern States into adjustment with the re constructed Union. The problems of his first administration were largely those which grew out of this new relationship. The former slaves in Southern States exercised for the first time their newly-acquired privileges of voting. The State governments of negroes and °carpet-baggers)) which were set up be came a scandal. The outrages committed by Southern Democrats upon all Republicans of whatever color aroused the resentment of the North, and kept the South in a condition of disorder which necessitated constant Federal interference.
The situation in the South, coupled with differences between the administration and cer tain Republican leaders, conspicuous among whom were Charles Sumner, Carl Schurz and Horace Greeley, caused a defection in the Re publican ranks. The discontented Republicans met at Cincinnati in May 1872, and nominated Horace Greeley, of New York, for President, and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, for Vice
President. The platform declared that sec tional issues should be buried, that civil serv ice reforms should be inaugurated and that specie payments should be immediately resumed. The Democratic convention at Baltimore, in July, accepted the Liberal Republican candi dates and platform. The regular Republican convention at Philadelphia, 5-6 June, renomi nated Grant for President by acclamation, and put Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, on the ticket with him. Grant and Wilson received 286 electoral votes out of 366. The first two years of Grant's second administration wit nessed a strong reaction against the Republi can party. There was a financial panic in 1872 and 1873, and the scandals of the whisky ring in the Treasury Department, and of the post tradership in the War Department, in volving men close to the administration, created a strong feeling of dissatisfaction throughout the country, which resulted in a political overturn in 1874. In the 44th Con gress for the first time since 1860 the House of Representatives contained a Democratic majority.
Notwithstanding these adverse influences, Grant's administration in constructive achieve ment has hardly been equaled by any other. He established our monetary system on a sound basis through his veto of the Inflation Bill in 1874 and through the enactment, in January 1875, of a law providing for the resumption payments by the redemption of greenbacks in coin. With the co-operation of Hamilton Fish, the Secretary of State, he carried through a strong, far-seeing foreign policy. There has never been a period in American history when an American citizen could count more surely on world-wide respect. He secured satisfaction from Spain for the seizure of the Virginias and the execution at Santiago, Cuba, of American citizens among her passengers. Through the Treaty of Washington and the creation of the Geneva Tribunal to pass on the Alabama claims, he was first in history to establish arbitration in the settlement of international disputes. By the appointment of a Civil Service Commission he was the first President to give official recog nition to Civil Service reform — to the prin ciple of fitness in official appointments rather than selection for partisan political activity. He urged the upbuilding of an American mer chant marine through ocean mail subsidies. He enforced the laws, maintained economy gov ernment expenditures, lowered taxes and re duced the national debt.