1. Immediate restoration of all the states to their rights in the Union under the constitution, and of civil government to the American people. 2. Amnesty for all past political offenses, and the regulation of the elective franchise in the states by their citizens.

3. Payment of the public debt of the United States as rapidly as practicable--all moneys drawn from the people by taxation, except so much as is requisite for the necessities of the government, economically administered, being honestly applied to such payment; and where the obligations of the government do not expressly state upon their face, or the law under which they were issued does not provide that they shall be paid in coin, they ought, in right and in justice, to be paid in the lawful money of the United States.

4. Equal taxation of every species of property according to its real value, including government bonds and other public securities.

5. One currency for the government and the people, the laborer and the office-holder, the pensioner and the soldier, the producer and the bondholder.

6. Economy in the administration of the government; the reduction of the standing army and navy; the abolition of the freedmen's bureau, and all political instrumentalities designed to secure negro supremacy; simplification of the system and discontinuance of inquisitorial modes of assessing and collecting internal revenue; that the burden of taxation may be equalized and lessened, and the credit of the government and the currency made good; the repeal of all enactments for enrolling the state militia into national forces in time of peace; and a tariff for revenue upon foreign imports, and such equal taxation under the internal revenue laws as will afford incidental protection to domestic manufactures, and as will, without impairing the revenue, impose the least burden upon, and best promote and encourage, the great industrial interests of the country.

7. Reform of abuses in the administration; the expulsion of corrupt men from office; the abrogation of useless offices; the restoration of rightful authority to, and the independence of, the executive and judicial departments of the government; the subordination of the military to the civil power, to the end that the usurpations of Congress and the despotism of the sword may cease.

8. Equal rights and protection for naturalized and native-born citizens, at home and abroad; the assertion of American nationality which shall command the respect of foreign powers, and furnish an example and encouragement to people struggling for national integrity, constitutional liberty, and individual rights; and the maintenance of the rights of naturalized citizens against the absolute doctrine of immutable allegiance and the

claims of foreign powers to punish them for alleged crimes committed beyond their jurisdiction.

In demanding these measures and reforms, we arraign the radical party for its disregard of right and the unparalleled oppression and tyranny which have marked its career. After the most solemn and unanimous pledge of both houses of Congress to prosecute the war exclusively for the maintenance of the government and the preservation of the Union under the constitution, it has repeatedly violated that most sacred pledge under which alone was rallied that noble volunteer army which carried our flag to victory. Instead of restoring the Union, it has, so far as in its power, dissolved it, and subjected ten states, in time of profound peace, to military despotism and negro supremacy. It has nullified there the right of trial by jury; it has abolished the habeas corpus, that most sacred writ of liberty; it has overthrown the freedom of speech and press; it has substituted arbitrary seizures and arrests, and military trials and secret starchamber inquisitions, for the constitutional tribunals; it has disregarded. in time of peace, the right of the people to be free from searches and seizures; it has entered the post and telegraph offices, and even the private rooms of individuals, and seized their private papers and letters, without any specific charge or notice of affidavit, as required by the organic law. It has converted the American capitol into a bastile; it has established a system of spies and official espionage to which no constitutional monarchy of Europe would now dare to resort. It has abolished the right of appeal on important constitutional questions, to the supreme judicial tribunals, and threatens to curtail or destroy its original jurisdiction, which is irrevocably vested by the constitution; while the learned Chief Justice has been subjected to the most atrocious calumnies, merely because he would not prostitute his high office to the support of the false and partisan charges preferred against the President. Its corruption and extravagance have exceeded anything known in history; and, by its frauds and monopolies, it has nearly doubled the burden of the debt created by the war. It has stripped the President of his constitutional power of appointment, even of his own cabinet. Under its repeated assaults, the pillars of the government are rocking on their base; and should it succeed in November next, and inaugurate its President, we will meet, as a subjected and conquered people, amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered fragments of the constitution.

And we do declare and resolve that ever since the people of the United States threw off all subjection to the British crown, the privilege and trust of suffrage have belonged to the several states, and have been granted, regulated, and controlled exclusively by the political power of each state respectively; and that any attempt by Congress, on any pretext whatever,

to deprive any state of this right, or interfere with its exercise, is a flagrant usurpation of power which can find no warrant in the constitution, and, if sanctioned by the people, will subvert our form of government, and can end only in a single, centralized, and consolidated government, in which the separate existence of the states will be entirely absorbed, and' an unqualified despotism be established in place of a federal union of co-equal states. And that we regard the construction acts (so called) of Congress as usurpations, and unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void.

That our soldiers and sailors, who carried the flag of our country to victory against the most gallant and determined foe, must ever be gratefully remembered, and all the guarantees given in their favor must be faithfully carried into execution.

That the public lands should be distributed as widely as possible among the people, and should be disposed of either under the pre-emption of homestead lands or sold in reasonable quantities, and to none but actual occupants, at the minimum price established by the government. When grants of public lands may be allowed, necessary for the encouragement of important public improvements, the proceeds of the sale of such lands, and not the lands themselves, should be so applied.

That the President of the United States, Andrew Johnson, in exercising the power of his high office in resisting the aggressions of Congress upon the constitutional rights of the states and the people, is entitled to the gratitude of the whole American people; and, on behalf of the democratic party, we tender him our thanks for his patriotic efforts in that regard.

Upon this platform, the democratic party appeal to every patriot, including all the conservative element and all who desire to support the constitution and restore the Union, forgetting all past differences of opinion, to unite with us in the present great struggle for the liberties of the people, and that to all such, to whatever party they may have heretofore belonged we extend the right hand of fellowship, and hail all such, co-operating with us, as friends and brethren.

Resolved, That this convention sympathizes cordially with the workingmen of the United States in their efforts to protect the rights and interests of the laboring classes of the country.

Resolved, That the thanks of the convention are tendered to Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, for the justice, dignity, and impartiality with which he presided over the court of impeachment on the trial of President Andrew Johnson.

CHAPTER XX.

GRANT'S ADMINISTRATIONS.

1869-1877.

GRANT'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

General Grant was inaugurated March 4, 1869, as the eighteenth President of the United States. He intimated in his address that it would be the policy of his administration to secure as far as possible, prosperity throughout the Union; first, by strict integrity in fulfilling our national obligations; second, by securing protection to the person and property of the citizens in the United States in every portion of our common country without reference to original nationality, color, politics, or religion, demanding of each obedience to the laws and respect for the rights of others; and third, by uniting all the states into an indestructible union, with equal constitutional guarantees.

The selection of cabinet officers created the impression that the administration of the new President would be personal rather than political. If this was his intention his opinion. was quickly changed after some political experience.

Congress met March 4, 1869, with a large republican maForty-first Congress,jority in both branches. James G. Extra Session. Blaine, a leading parliamentarian, was

speaker of the House.

On the admission of Mississippi and Texas a political struggle occurred in Congress. These states had not ratified the fourteenth amendment and were not reconstructed. On the 10th of April a bill was passed which authorized their people to vote on the constitution already prepared by the

state conventions, and to elect state officers and members of Congress. The act required that these states should ratify the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments before readmission to the Union. The republicans in passing the measure were opposed by the democrats. Congress adjourned April 23,

1869.

KU-KLUX KLAN.

At the close of the war thousands of northern men settled in the south. They were denounced as political adventurers by those who prided themselves in being "irreconcilable" and "unreconstructed" and who opposed the fourteenth and and fifteenth amendments, and the freedmen's bureau acts. They regarded the northern settlers with great ill-will and styled them "carpet-baggers." The "irreconcilables" organized themselves into secret societies with a view to afright the ex-slaves from participating in the elections, and to warn the "carpet-baggers" to leave the country. The "Ku-Klux Klan" was known in some places as the "Pale Faces," and in others as the "Knights of White Camelia." The object of the organization broadened with the difficulties which it occasioned. General Forest testified that the order was prevalent in all parts of the confederacy; that it was so secret that its constitution was handed from member to member anonymously; that it was composed of southern citizens as distinguished from carpet-baggers; that it sent out armed men who patrolled communities, intimidating and whipping men and committing murder and other crimes, for which they were never caught or punished; and that the chiefs of the order could not name anyone who had documents that would throw more definite light upon the history of the "klan" than that which he had. General John B. Gordon gave a testimony which accorded with that of General Forest, and stated that negroes and republicans did not belong to the order. So great was the alarm caused by the "Ku-Klux" that