Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/654

 CHAPTEK XX. POLITICAL RECONSTRUCTION. (18651885.) THE war of secession altered profoundly the governmental ideals and methods, the economic life, and the whole social structure of the United States. Long before Lee's surrender it had become evident to all intelligent men that a return to the old conditions was impossible ; and upon the final collapse of the Confederacy the question at once became pressing as to what should be done to reconstruct the government and establish it upon enduring foundations. The problem was threefold. In the forefront stood the questions presented by the conquered Southern States, whose condition in 1865 seemed appalling. Four years of desperate exertions to raise and equip armies, the ravages of campaigns and raids, the effect of a merciless blockade, and the emancipation of slaves by the Federal armies, had reduced the Southern people to bankruptcy. Mills, railways, and bridges were destroyed; banks were empty ; capital had vanished. The temper of the defeated people, in such circumstances, could not be other than bitter and despairing. Open resistance was at an end ; but a deep-seated hatred of the North, whether recklessly avowed or veiled by a sullen submission, animated most of the Southern leaders. They had staked all and lost. Here and there men of a different cast of mind advocated making the best of a bad plight, and turned from public affairs to the task of restoring then: ruined plantations; but, whether resigned or resentful, all alike retained a fervent faith in the justice of their lost cause. How these communities of ex-Confederates were to be restored to a participation in the Federal government without severely straining its operation was the first question confronting the North. A still more perplexing part of the Southern difficulty was presented by the four millions of negroes. The greater number of these had gained their freedom through the Emancipation Proclamation and the