of its inventor; from a rallying cry it became a party tenet and a national wish. "Let us have peace" was like balm to hearts torn by bloody strife and tired of the existing political commotion. Grant was overwhelmingly elected, and his election brought about the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was passed February 25th, 1869, and by March 30th, 1870, was ratified by three-fourths of the States. It conferred the right of suffrage on all citizens, without distinction of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," and thus settled one of the questions that had been most earnestly discussed during the previous campaign.

When the electoral count was had, it showed two hundred and fourteen votes for Grant and Colfax, and eighty votes for Seymour and Blair. The table at the head of this chapter shows how the States voted, and how many votes they cast. The popular vote stood: Grant, 3,015,071; Seymour, 2,709,613.

President Grant took the oath of office, March 4th, 1869, and was duly inaugurated amid one of the largest assemblages of citizens seen in Washington since the Grand Army review of 1865. In it were many of his old soldiers, who lustily cheered their victorious commander, and contributed to the enthusiasm of the occasion. His inaugural was a brief but able State paper. It was tersely written and abounded in wholesome suggestions for peace and sound advice to the Congress and country. He had nothing but kind words for those who, in the South, were resisting reconstruction, and urged on them the necessity of speedily and freely casting their fortunes in with those of the cemented States. He took high ground in favor of economy, public credit, and a course of public affairs calculated to repair the damages of war and start the country on a new career of peace, confidence and prosperity. Laws he could never choose to defy or regard as dead letters, but would regard them as things to be enforced, holding that the rigid enforcement of even a bad law was the surest way to work its repeal.

The spirit of the message comported with the views of those who had elected him. Its grasp of subjects, vigor of thought, display of sterling good sense, and aptness of expression,

showed that he had been a good student of our institutions, and a wonderful observer of passing political events. He

announced profound respect for the will of the people, and promised to shape his conduct and policies so as to meet their views, supply their wants, and protect their dearest interests. There was nothing disappointing about this first official paper of the soldier President, but everything to inspire confidence in his ability to rule as ably and wisely as he had commanded.

He chose his cabinet as it stands at the head of this chapter, except, that it contained the name of A. T. Stewart, of New York, as Secretary of the Treasury. The Senate promptly confirmed his nominations, all but Stewart's. He was found to be an importer of foreign goods, and therefore ineligible. The name of George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, was

substituted. The Cabinet was regarded as conservative, which did not suit those who were yet full of the spirit of opposition to Johnson, and who feared the failure of a vigorous policy of reconstruction. But in this they were agreeably disappointed, for the President had no intention of defeating the popular will, and soon showed that he not only understood it, but intended to keep his promise to respect it.

The situation was such as to require an extra session of the Forty-first Congress. This met on March 4th, 1869, the day of his inauguration, and remained in session till April 10th. It contained a large Republican majority in both branches. The great question before it was the admission of Texas, Virginia and Mississippi, which States had not yet ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, nor otherwise complied with the measures of reconstruction thus far laid down. The extra session adjourned after strengthening the hands of the President, and making his way clear by enacting that these States should be readmitted after they had submitted their constitutions as they then stood to a vote of the people, and had through their legislatures ratified the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Federal Constitution.

The troubles of the new President were now to begin. Unlike his predecessor, he had no policy of reconstruction outside of the laws of Congress, and these he would enforce, however obnoxious, till they were repealed. But in this wise determination he was largely headed off by the condition of affairs which Johnson's policy had fostered, and for which it was responsible, in the Southern States. The opponents of reconstruction had there become coherent, had formed into parties, and had even got to rejoicing in the name of "Unreconstructed" and "Irreconcilables." The existing State governments were denounced as "Carpet Bag Governments," and their upholders as "Carpetbaggers." To oust these became an object. As this could not be done readily by legal means, a sentiment must be