Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/203

 UNITED

173

UNITED

remnant of his small army. Grant, was in his rear and Sheridan squarely in his path. The end, which liad long been foreseen, came on 9 April. Less than three weeks later Johnston surrendered to Sherman near Raleigh, North Carolina. The small Confederate forces still in arms soon dispersed or surrendered.

The Confederate navy wiis built chiefly in England. Cruisers equipped in that country inflicted much dam- age on American commerce, and for her failure to re- frain from these indirect acts of hostihty. Great Britain was later compelled to pay the United States t lie sum of $1.5,500,000. This was distributed among those American citizens whose property and ships had been destroyed by vessels of the class of the "Ala- bama", the "Florida", and the "Shenandoah". For a time England refused to pay any attention to the demands of the United States, but finally entered into a treaty, and consented to leave the settlement of the matter to an arbitration court, which convened at Geneva in 1S72, with the result mentioned. These vessels inflicted great damage on American com- merce, and Briti.sh ofiicials in the Bahamas, the Bermudas, and the West Indies permitted ships known as blockade runners to land immense quanti- ties of English goods in Southern ports. This had much to do with the desperate resistance of the South. The Federal navy, however, was efficient, and during the war captured or destroyed 1504 ships engaged in this perilous trade. In the beginning of the conflict the South built irotidads like'the"Merrimac," and de- stroyed many of the wiiiidcn ships of the United States navy. After IS02 the Federal Government began to construct a new type of warship known as "Moni- tors", which were found effective in coping with the Southern ironclads, and resulted in the maintenance of the blockade of the Southern ports. The first of those so named was invented by an engineer named Ericsson, also the inventor of the screw propeller. When the war began, the vessels of the United States navy were scattered over the globe.

Reconstruction. — When the Virginia secession con- vention decided to support the Confederate States, the citizens in the western part of the "Old Domin- ion" took steps to establish a loyal state of Virginia. A governor was chosen, senators and representatives were elected, and finally admitted to seats in Con- gress. The new commonwealth, which was called West Virginia, was proclaimed a member of the Union, 20 June, 1803. As soon as Tennessee was be- ginning to slip from the hands of the Confederacy, President Lincoln appointed Andrew Johnson as military governor of that state. Immediately after his arrival in Nashville he began to organize the Union elements, and took steps toward the building up of a loyal state government. He also exerted him- self to persuade men to enlist, and after providing them with arms sent them to the front. His attempts to establish a government friendly to the United States were constantly interrupted by Confederate armies. It was during the severe fighting in that state that the president issued his proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction. He sought to apply the same system to the States of Arkansas and Louisiana. His plan of restoring loyal governments in those states wa.s as follows: a duly qualified person was to take a census of those who were wilhng to take an oath of allegiance to the United States. If their number was equal to ten per cent of the voters of the slate in the presidential election of 1860, they were empowered to take steps toward the formation of a loyal government. This nucleus would be recognized by the president :w the state, and would receive the I)rotection of the army and navy of the United States while they were organizing it. Of the states recon- structed aicording to this plan only Tenne.s.see was recognized by Congress. n this important subject the National Legislature was not in harmony with

the executive, and after the assassination of President Lincoln, that body soon disagreed with his successor, Andrew Johnson. When the 39th Congress met in December, 1865, it refused to admit to the seats which they claimed those senators and representa- tives who came from states reconstructed under the direction of President Johnson during the preceding summer. Instead the Congress appointed a joint committee, which was empowered to inquire into the condition of the states recently in rebellion, and deter- mine whether any of them were entitled to representa- tion in Congress.

On 18 Dec, 1865, the thirteenth amendment was proclaimed a part of the Constitution. This abohshed slavery in every part of the Unit ed States. The presi- dent's proclamation, which became operative on 1 Jan., 1863, had freed the slaves only in the seceding states, and of them certain parishes of Louisiana, a few counties in Virginia and the entire State of Tennessee were excepted. There was also a doubt in the minds of some lawyers as to whether the procla- mation of President Lincoln, which was issued as a military measure, was perfectly vaUd. To free the slaves everywhere in the L^nion, and to set at rest the scruples of constitutional lawyers, it was deemed necessary to make this change in the fundamental law. The Joint Committee suggested the submis- sion to the states of the fourteenth amendment. This, which was adopted in July, 1S6S, nationalized citizenship, disfranchised certain classes who had par- ticipated in rebellion, and prohibited the payment of the Confederate debt. To entitle a stale to restora- tion in its former place, these amendments had to be adopted. Those states that did not do .so promptly were recjuired to adopt still another amendment, the fifteenth, which in effect gave the freedmen the franchise. Mr. Lincoln would have conferred the suffrage upon the more intelligent of the negroes and those who had fought gallantly in the Union ranks. Beyond that he was not jjrepared to go. The enfran- chisement of the entire body of males twenty-one years and over among the freedmen was the result of the adoption by Congress of a plan of reconstruction very different from that of Mr. Lincoln. It was shaped to a great extent by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens. In pushing their measures through Congress they were constantly opposed by President Johnson, who was a Democrat and a "strict constructionist" of the Constitution. When he violated the Tenure of Office Act, he was promptly impeached of high crimes and misdemeanours. The managers of the impeachment lacked one vote of the two-thirds necessary to convict. One by one the erring states returned. The Congressional plan of recon- struction provided for a division of the South into eleven military districts, and the establishment in each of troops commanded by a major-general. Far earlier there had been established a Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands. The army and the Freedmen's Bureau assisted in preserving order during the interval up to the spring of 1877, when the last of the Federal troops were withdrawn from the South. This was the end of the era of Reconstruc- tion. It isimpossibleeventoestimatethedestruction of wealth that had resulted from four years of war, or the confusion that succeeded.

Burdcnx of War. — In the administration of Presi- dent Jackson the public debt of the United States was about $37,000. By 1861 it had risen to 890,000,000. The total revenue was then only S41,0(X1,0I)0 a year. When the war began it was necessary to adopt a metho(l more productive. Early in the conflict Congress increased the duties on imports; imposed a tax of 3 per cent on all incomes over $800; created an internal revenue; taxed trades, professions, occu- pations, and even sales and purchases. From such sources there was collected between 1862 and 1865 the