Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/296

280 tive law. For no statesman would subject himself to ridicule by attempting to deny all right of future popular revolutions by the mere force of a statute, or by a clause in the Constitution. Nor was it whether treason be made odious by degrading great States and harassing a vast body of peaceful people; for jurists were saying that no treason had been committed, and that States cannot be tried by courts. Only some politicians, partisans and not patriots, were crying with reference to the Southern people, "Let them be made odious." Nor should it have been whether party supremacy must be maintained. That is, shall the party which caused the war, fought for for the war, and pressed it to the success of the conquest shall its supremacy and security be the main questions? Some partisans so desired, and acted on their wishes. But the conditions of the era should have raised all issues above the fetid atmosphere of politics. It was not the time to be either a Democrat or a Republican but a patriot.

What is known as the reconstruction of the seceded States is a very sad epoch to recall, and no American who loves his country likes to bring back its harsh memories. Yet it is a matter of history and it needs be recorded in order that the part which the North and the South played during that period should be fully understood. It began under President Lincoln before the close of the war, and was carried on by President Johnson after the assassination of President Lincoln, during the years 1865 and 1866. Afterward there was a second phase of reconstruction, or "destruction," known as the congressional plan, which undid all that had been done by Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. This latter period was the greatest trial that the South had to bear, not excepting the terrible ordeal of war. To understand properly the surroundings, it is necessary to enumerate