Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/680

 GCO ANDREW JOHNSON He accepted the nomination in a long letter, in which he set forth fully his views on the ques- tions at issue. On Sept. 30 he issued a proc- lamation ordering an election in Tennessee for presidential electors, and prescribing a rigid test oath as the condition of suffrage. On his inauguration as vice president (March 4, 1865) Johnson delivered an incoherent address, which was severely censured. President Lincoln was assassinated on the evening of April 14, and died the next morning. The members of the cabinet, excepting Mr. Seward, at once addressed a note to Mr. Johnson announcing the fact, and urging his immediate qualification as pres- ident. Accordingly, at 10 o'clock he took the oath of office, in the presence of the chief jus- tice, a portion of the cabinet, and several con- gressmen, at his room in a hotel. On April 17 he made a speech in which he said : " The American people must be taught, if they do not already feel, that treason is a crime and must be punished; that the government will not always bear with its enemies; that it is strong not only to protect, but to punish. In our peaceful history, treason has been almost unknown. The people must understand that it is the blackest of crimes and will be surely punished." Though in the same speech he said, "In regard to my future course I will now make no professions, no pledges," yet the whole country looked upon these expres- sions as foreshadowing a severe policy in deal- ing with the secessionists. But it soon be- came evident that this expectation was to be disappointed, and the result was the alienation from President Johnson of almost the entire body of the party that had elected him. On May 1 he appointed a military commission for the trial of those immediately concerned in the assassination conspiracy, and offered $100,000 for the arrest of Jefferson Davis, and smaller amounts for several others, on the ground that they had aided and incited that conspiracy. On May 9 a new set of rules reg- ulating trade with the southern states was promulgated, and on June 24 all restrictions were removed. An order for the restoration of Virginia to her relations with the federal government was issued May 9; and on May 29 two proclamations were promulgated, one establishing a provisional government in South Carolina, the other granting a general amnesty, on condition of their taking an oath of alle- giance, to all persons engaged in the rebellion, with the exception of 14 specified classes, per- sons included in any of which might obtain pardon by a special application to the presi- dent. The appointment of provisional govern- ments for the other insurgent states followed at brief intervals. On the assembling of con- gress in December, a determined opposition on the part of the majority to the reconstruction policy of the president was at once developed. The point at issue was, whether the seceding states should be at once admitted to represen- tation in congress, and resume all the rights they enjoyed before the civil war, without fur- ther guarantees of good faith than the surren- der of their armies, and with no provision for protecting the emancipated blacks in the en- joyment of their freedom and securing them the full rights of citizenship. A joint com- mittee of 15 was appointed, to which were referred all questions concerning the recogni- tion of these states, and the credentials of all persons sent from them as senators or repre- sentatives were laid on the table, to await the action of that committee. Congress passed an act known as the " civil rights bill," and another for the extension of the freedmen's bureau, both of which the president vetoed, and the bills were then reconsidered and passed over the veto. In a speech delivered before the White House, Feb. 22, 1866, the president charac- terized the position assumed by congress as a new rebellion; and thereafter, in messages and speeches, he maintained an open hostility to the majority of that body. In June, 1866, a call was issued for a convention to be held at Philadelphia on Aug. 14, of delegates from every state and territory. Its specific object was not defined ; but it was understood to be the foundation of a new party, on the basis of President Johnson's reconstruction policy. It failed of any practical effect, though some lead- ing members of the dominant party attended or approved it. The members of President Lincoln's cabinet had remained in office; but in July the postmaster general, Mr. Denison, the attorney general, Mr. Speed, and the secre- tary of the interior, Mr. Harlan, resigned their offices, because of disagreement with the presi- dent; and their places were filled by A. W. Randall, Henry Stanbery, and O. II. Browning, respectively. On Aug. 28 President Johnson, accompanied by Secretaries Seward, Welles, and Randall, Gen. .Grant, Admiral Farragnt, and others, left Washington for Chicago, to be present at the laying of the corner stone of a monument to Stephen A. Douglas. They went by way of Philadelphia, New York, and Albany; and at every important place the president addressed the assembled crowd, entering very fully into a discussion of his policy, and often denpuncing the action of congress. An expression which he frequently repeated in these speeches gave rise to the popular quotation, "swinging round the cir- cle." The effect of this conduct upon himself was disastrous, and the autumn elections indi- cated a decided popular approval of the posi- tion maintained by congress. In June that body had resolved that no state should be re- admitted until it had ratified the proposed 14th amendment to the constitution, which made all persons born or naturalized in the United States citizens thereof, and of the state wherein they resided; and in the session of 1866-'7 it passed acts requiring the elective franchise to be granted without distinction of color in the territories before they should be admitted as states, and similarly extending the franchise in