The Facts of Reconstruction | Page 3

insisted that the leaders of the Republican party in
Congress did not represent the true sentiment of the country, so he
boldly determined to antagonize the leaders in Congress, and to present
their differences to the court of public opinion at the approaching
Congressional elections. The issue was thus joined and the people were
called upon to render judgment in the election of members of Congress
in the fall of 1866. The President, with the solid support of the
Democrats and a small minority of the Republicans, made a brave and
gallant fight. The result, however, was a crushing defeat for him and a
national repudiation of his plan of reconstruction.
Notwithstanding this defeat the President refused to yield, continuing
the fight with Congress which finally resulted in his impeachment by
the House of Representatives for high Crimes and Misdemeanors in
office and in his trial by the Senate sitting as a High Court for that
purpose. When the vote of the court was taken the President was saved
from conviction and from removal from office by the narrow margin of
one vote,--a sufficient number of Republican Senators having voted
with the Democrats to prevent conviction. It was believed by many at
the time that some of the Republican Senators that voted for acquittal
did so chiefly on account of their antipathy to the man who would
succeed to the Presidency in the event of the conviction of the President.
This man was Senator Benjamin Wade, of Ohio,--President pro tem. of
the Senate,--who, as the law then stood, would have succeeded to the
Presidency in the event of a vacancy in that office from any cause.
Senator Wade was an able man, but there were others who were much
more brilliant. He was a strong party man. He had no patience with
those who claimed to be Republicans and yet refused to abide by the
decision of the majority of the party organization unless that decision
should be what they wanted. In short, he was an organization
Republican,--what has since been characterized by some as a machine
man,--the sort of active and aggressive man that would be likely to
make for himself enemies of men in his own organization who were
afraid of his great power and influence, and jealous of him as a political
rival. That some of his senatorial Republican associates should feel that

the best service they could render their country would be to do all in
their power to prevent such a man from being elevated to the
Presidency was, perhaps, perfectly natural: for while they knew that he
was a strong and able man, they also knew that, according to his
convictions of party duty and party obligations, he firmly believed that
he who served his party best served his country best. In giving
expression to his views and convictions, as he usually did with force
and vigor, he was not always considerate of the wishes and feelings of
those with whom he did not agree. That he would have given the
country an able administration is the concurrent opinion of those who
knew him best.
While President Johnson was retained in office he was practically shorn
of the greater part of the power and patronage that attaches to the office.
This was done through the passage of a bill, over the president's veto,
known as the Tenure of Office Act. The constitutionality of this act,
which greatly curtailed the power of the President to make removals
from office, was seriously questioned at the time, but it was passed as a
political necessity,--to meet an unusual and unexpected emergency that
seemed to threaten the peace and tranquillity of the country and
practically to nullify the fruits of the victory which had been won on
the field of battle. The law was repealed or materially modified as soon
as President Johnson retired from office. The President also vetoed all
the reconstruction bills,--bills conferring suffrage on the colored men in
the States that were to be reconstructed,--that passed Congress; but they
were promptly passed over the veto.
The rejection by the country of the Johnson plan of reconstruction, had
clearly demonstrated that no halfway measures were possible. If the
colored men were not enfranchised then the Johnson plan might as well
be accepted. The Republican or Union white men at the South were not
sufficient in numbers to make their power or influence felt. The
necessities of the situation, therefore, left no alternative but the
enfranchisement of the blacks. It was ascertained and acknowledged
that to make possible the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion,
in accordance with the plan which had met with the emphatic approval
of the North, the enfranchisement of the blacks in the States to be

reconstructed was an absolute necessity.
The first election