UNIVERSTYOFCALIFORNA 
 
 31822027116045 
 
 K 
 
 yfRTF 
 
 vXJ A \A A 
 
 H1EVEMENTS.
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 SAN DIEGO
 
 UN VERS TY CAL FORNIA SAN DIEGO 
 
 3 182202711 6045
 
 J AMIES A. G-ARFIIELD.
 
 THE 
 
 REPUBLICAN MANUAL, 
 
 , frratijte, 
 
 REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 WITH BIOGBAPHJCAL SKETCHES Of 
 
 JAMES A. GAKFIELD 
 
 CHESTER A. ARTHUR 
 
 BY E. V. SMALLEY. 
 
 NEW Y OBK : 
 
 AMERICAN BOOK EXCHANGE, 
 
 TRIBUNE BUILDING, 
 
 1 880.
 
 COPTRI6HT, 1880 
 
 BOOK EXCHANGE,
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS: 
 
 ran 
 
 INTRODUCTION, ......... 3 
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, .... 5 
 
 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORMS, ... 91 
 
 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS, ...... 119 
 
 REPUBLICAN VICTORIES, - 137 
 
 REDUCTION OF THE PUBLIC DEBT AND INTEREST, - - 150 
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. QARFIELD, ..... 153 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD AS A STATESMAN AND ORATOR, - - 257 
 
 GENERAL GARPIELD'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE, - - 29?. 
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR, ... - 299 
 
 GEKEBAL ABTHUR'S LETTEB OF ACCEPTANCE, - . 329
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE purpose of this work is to describe very briefly the 
 origin, rise, and growth of the Republican Party, its great 
 achievements in moulding public oj)inion, and its important work 
 of administration and legislation. Since the party was formed, a 
 new generation of voters has come upon the stage of political ac- 
 tion, to whom its early history is little more than a tradition. 
 A brief resum6 of that history must be interesting and instructive 
 to these young Republicans who have taken up its work and 
 are to carry it on after all its founders have passed away, and 
 the older members of the party can hardly fail to find some 
 pleasure and profit in reviewing the story of its organization 
 and victories. No party ever had such a record. It has freed 
 four millions of slaves ;.it has suppressed the most formidable 
 rebellion the world ever saw ; it has preserved and strength- 
 ened the credit of the nation ; it has conferred equal rights of 
 suffrage and citizenship upon all the inhabitants of this Repub- 
 lic, and it has administered the Government for twenty years 
 with signal fidelity, honor, and intelligence. Within the com- 
 pass of 'a work so limited as this, it is not possible to go into 
 many interesting details concerning the career of this great his- 
 toric party. Very little can be said about its action in State 
 campaigns and its position upon State issues. Its history as a 
 national organization alone is dealt with in the following pages, 
 and that, too, in as condensed a form as is consistent with the 
 presentation of all important facts.
 
 A BRIEF HISTORY 
 
 REPUBLICAN PARTY, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ALL political parties that have exerted marked influence upon 
 their times, have had their beginnings far back of the period of 
 their organization. Parties are somewhat like generations of 
 men. The characteristics of any single generation cannot prop- 
 erly be studied without some knowledge of those that have 
 gone before. It occasionally happens that a party comes up 
 suddenly on some transient wave of popular excitement, 
 growing out of events essentially temporary in their nature, or 
 springs from some fictitious issue, magnified into importance 1 
 for the time being by the lack of any real fundamental ques- 
 tion affecting the Government and the interests of the people. 
 The roots of such parties are never worth seeking, because the 
 plant itself bears no seed and soon withers and disappears. 
 
 The Republican Party was the child of the conscience of the 
 North, aroused, at length, to assertion by the growth of the 
 institution of slavery. In its embryonic forms, it existed al- 
 most from the very beginning of the Government. It did not
 
 6 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 gain strength and individuality, however, until more than half 
 a century after the adoption of the Federal Constitution. A 
 brief examination of the history of the parties preceding it is 
 essential to an understanding of the changes in public sentiment 
 which at last developed this most important, most powerful, 
 and most moral of all the political organizations that have thus 
 far arisen in the United States. 
 
 During the Revolution there were but two parties in the 
 country ; the Patriot Party, supporting the effort for separate 
 national life ; and the Tory Party, which opposed the severing 
 of the Colonies from the mother country. After the recogni- 
 tion of American Independence parties soon divided on the 
 question of forming a closer union between the States. One, 
 known as the Federalist Party, favored the adoption of a Con- 
 stitution creating a strong, enduring National Government, and 
 the other, called the Anti-Federalist Party, desired to uphold 
 the rights of the States as separate and sovereign, and to con- 
 tinue the mere league between them formed by the Articles of 
 Confederation. The feebleness of the old system became more 
 and more apparent, and a convention, called in 1787, for the 
 purpose of amending and strengthening the Articles of Confed- 
 eration, adopted a Constitution, after a four months' session, 
 and thus created a new government, with independent and sov- 
 ereign powers within its own prescribed functions. The new 
 government had no model in history. The Swiss Republic was, 
 at that time, a league of cantons, closely resembling our own 
 form of government prior to the adoption of the Constitution. 
 No model was found in antiquity for the experiment. It was, 
 therefore, only natural that the scheme of resting a central au- 
 thority upon thirteen independent State Governments should 
 awaken scepticism and resistance. The Anti-Federalist Party 
 opposed the ratification of the Constitution, and were, successful 
 in several States in delaying, for a time, their assent to it. The 
 position of the Anti-Federalists was that a single executive head
 
 HISTORY Qj' TH V 2j-'j3L!UA% }'ABTY. 7 
 
 vas dangerous. They I'c-^ied above all things, that the country 
 would lapse back into a monarchical condition and lose its lib- 
 3. TJie value and necessity of a National Government was, 
 ver, so clear, that the Federalists were in a large majority 
 in the country and held the administration for twelve years, 
 lu IT88 they elected George "Washington, President, and John 
 Adams, Vice-President. At that time the Constitution re- 
 quired the electors to vote for two candidates for President. 
 The one having the highest number of votes became President, 
 nnd the one next highest, became Vice-President. This system 
 Qntinued until 1804, when the present plan was adopted. 
 ';ig Washington's first administration, a fresh cause for di- 
 vision of parties was found in the French question. The Anti- 
 Federalists, led by Jefferson, were warm sympathizers with 
 France, and desired that the new American Republic should, 
 in some form, give assistance to its recent ally. The Federal- 
 ists favored a strict neutrality between Republican France and 
 her enemies. Party feeling ran high at the -second Presidential 
 election in 1792, but Washington again received the unanimous 
 vote of the Electoral College. Adams was again chosen Vice- 
 President, receiving 77 votes, against 55, of which 50 were cast 
 for George Clinton, the candidate of the Anti -Federalists. 
 
 About this time the Anti-Federalists began to drop their party 
 nome and to take the name of Democrats. Thomas Jefferson, 
 heir great leader, objected, however, to the use of the word 
 Democrat and sought to secure the adoption of the name 
 !!" publican. Backed by his influence, this name struggled for a 
 time for recognition and was used to some extent in a few 
 States, but was not generally adopted. Most of the old Anti- 
 Federalists preferred the term Democrat as implying more fully 
 hostility to the assumption of governmental powers threatening 
 the individual rights of citizens. In 1796 the Federalists 
 elected John Adams, President. He received 71 electoral votes 
 and Jefferson, his opponent. receiving 68, became Vioe-Presi-
 
 8 HISTORY OF TlIE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 dent. Troubles with France arose and nearly resulted in war. 
 During these troubles Congress passed two acts, known as the 
 Alien and Sedition Laws ; one empowering the President to 
 order aliens who were conspiring against the peace of the 
 United States to quit the country, and the other providing for 
 the punishment of seditious libels upon the Government. These 
 laws created much party feeling and were denounced by the 
 Democrats as tyrannical and unconstitutional. They contrib- 
 uted very largely to the overthrow of the Federal Party at the 
 Presidential election of 1800, when Mr. Adams was a candidate 
 for re-election. The Democrats voted for Jefferson and Burr, 
 and gave them 73 votes each in the Electoral College, while 
 Adams received 65, Pinokney 64, and John Jay 1. The 
 election was thrown into the House of Representatives by a tie 
 between Jefferson and Burr. Jefferson was chosen President 
 and Burr Vice-President. When Jefferson entered the Execu- 
 tive office, his old views about diminishing the powers of the 
 General Government were considerably modified. He gave the 
 country a vigorous and successful administration and was ro- 
 elected in 1804, by 162 electoral votes. The Federalists voted 
 for Pinckney of South Carolina, and Rufus King of New York, 
 And were able to control only 16 electoral votes. Jefferson 
 declined to be a candidate for a third term, and the Democrat 
 selected as their nominee his friend, James Madison, whose 
 home near Charlottesville, Va., was almost in sight from Jeffer- 
 son's house at Monticello. During the last'year of Jefferson's 
 administration, the Federalists gained considerable fresh vitality 
 through the popular opposition to what was known as the Em 
 bargo, an act of Congress prohibiting American vessels from 
 trading with foreign ports. It was adopted out of revenge for 
 the insolent actions of Great Britain and France, which arbi- 
 trarily searched American ships on the high seas and often seized 
 them and confiscated their cargoes. The embargo was fatal 
 'or a time to the commercial interests of the United States,
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 9 
 
 and was repealed in 1809. At the election of 1808, the name 
 Democrat was almost universally adopted by the party support- 
 in" Madison. Madison received 122 votes and George Clinton 
 113, while the Federal candidates, C. C. Pinckney, and Rufus 
 King, received 47 each. The war of 1812 which practically 
 began in 1811, by British emissaries inciting the Indian 
 tribes of the Northwest to hostile acts, nearly obliterated party 
 lines for a time. Both of the parties supported the war when 
 it was fairly begun. The Federalists continued their organiza- 
 tion, however, and at the election of 1812, gave 89 votes for 
 De Witt Clinton, against 128 for Madison. The Democrats 
 nominated for President, James Monroe, Mr. Madison's Secre- 
 tary of State, Madison himself declining a third term. It is 
 difficult at this distance to understand what were the issues of 
 the contest, but it is plain that the old political parties had 
 nearly exhausted their motives of controversy and that the issues 
 were rather the traditions of old struggles than anything fresh 
 and vital. Monroe received 183 votes, against 24 given to 
 Rufus King by the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
 Delaware. Now began what is known in our political history 
 as the era of good feeling. No one was disposed to longer 
 question the utility of the Federal Government, and on the 
 other hand, no one was disposed to assert for it any dangerous 
 or monarchical powers. Both the Democrats and the Federal- 
 ists supported Monroe, and he was re-elected in 1820, by all of 
 the electoral votes save one. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. 
 
 Up to 1820, the existence of slavery in the United States had 
 been regarded as a misfortune by the people of all sections of 
 the country. Indeed, amoug the causes of grievances brought
 
 10 HISTORY OP THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 against Great Britain, was her action in forcing the slave trade 
 upon the colonies against their will. With scarcely an excep- 
 tion, the early statesmen of the Republic regarded the institu- 
 tion of slavery as an evil which would gradually be got rid of 
 by wise emancipation measures. Looking to that end, the slave 
 trade was prohibited and ranked with piracy, as a crime, as 
 early as 1808. Mr. Jefferson, the head of the Democratic 
 party, was one of the most enlightened opponents of slave- 
 ry, and was far from foreseeing that the party which he had 
 founded would in after-years, become its chief defender. The 
 rirst anti-slavery society in the country was formed by the 
 Quakers of Pennsylvania, but there were, at an early period, 
 organizations of emancipationists in the South who kept up 
 some agitation in behalf of measures for getting rid of the insti- 
 tution by the action of the State .Governments. One after an- 
 other of the Northern States where slavery existed provided for 
 its gradual abolition, and the sentiment in the North was so 
 nearly unanimous in opposition to fastening slavery permanent- 
 ly upon the country that it insisted that for every new Southern 
 State which came in, a Northern free State should be admitted. 
 Thus, Vermont, Ohio, and Indiana compensated for Kentucky, 
 Tennessee, and Louisiana ; and later, Maine counterbalanced 
 Alabama. Thus far, the number of free and slave States was 
 equal. Then the question arose in 1820 about admitting Mis- 
 souri with a slave Constitution. It gave rise to a vehement 
 public discussion which was rather sectional than political. The 
 people of the Northern States insisted that a clause, prohibiting 
 slavery, should be inserted in the Missouri Constitution as a 
 condition of the admission of the State. The struggle went on 
 in Congress for over two years. While it aroused the anti- 
 slavery sentiment of the North, which had been almost dormant, 
 it had the effect of inciting the South to a united and earnest 
 defence of an institution which had before been regretted, even 
 in that section, as undesirHbk- -,\\\<\ temporary in its nature
 
 HISTOE Y OF THE REP UBLICAN PARTY. 11 
 
 A compromise settled the struggle for the time being, in which 
 the South gained a victory. Missouri was admitted with 
 slavery, but an act was passed prohibiting slavery in all the new 
 territory lying north of latitude 36 degrees and 30 minutes, 
 known as " Mason and Dixon's Line." This settlement became 
 known as the "Missouri Compromise.'"' The North gained 
 nothing that did not belong to it before and the South secured 
 the admission of a new slave State, north of the old line sepa- 
 rating freedom from slavery. The " Missouri Compromise" 
 laid the foundation of the future Republican Party, by creating 
 in the mind of the North, a distrust of the South and by 
 developing a political force in the country which received the 
 significant designation of the Slave Power. This force, in the 
 c-ourse of time, suppressed all opposition to slavery in the South 
 and asserted the right to convert the whole unoccupied territory 
 of the United States into slave States, and to carry its human 
 chattels into the Northern States under the protection of the 
 Federal Government, in defiance of the laws of those States. 
 Resistance to the slave power and its demands formulated itself 
 in the course of time into the Republican Party. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THE WHIG AND DEMOCRATIC PARTIES. 
 
 MOXROE'S administration is chiefly famous in history for it,- 
 recognition of the Spanish-American Republics and its declarn 
 tion of what is known as the " Monroe Doctrine," an assertir: 
 that any attempt on the part of European Governments to e- 
 tend their system to any portion of the American Continon 
 would be considered to be dangerous to the peace and safety r . 
 the United States. The destruction of party lines under Mo;; 
 roe's administration wont so far that in the election of
 
 12 HISTOR Y OF THE REP UBLICA N PA RTY. 
 
 no reorganization on the basis of old ideas was practicable. 
 There were four candidates for the Presidency. Andrew Jack- 
 son received 99 votes, John Quincy Adams 84, William H. Craw- 
 ford 41, and Henry Clay 37. The election was thrown into the 
 House of Representatives, and Mr. Adams was chosen Presi- 
 dent. The administration of the new President, who was a son 
 of the great Federalist, John Adams, might have been expected 
 <o restore the Federal Party, but that party had outlived its 
 usefulness. It -had witnessed a complete success of its ideas 
 respecting the National Government and there was no occasion 
 for its revival. The supporters of Mr. Adams called themselves 
 National Republicans, but the name did not long survive. Mr. 
 Adams's policy did not differ much from that of Mr. Monroe. 
 The distinguishing event of his administiation was the adoption 
 of the protective tariff system. It was favored by the North and 
 opposed by the South. Parties degenerated into factions and 
 the personal popularity of the political leaders had more to do 
 with their success than any principles they professed. In 1828, 
 Mr. Adams was a candidate for re-election, but was defeated by 
 Andrew Jackson, who had 178 votes, to Adams's 83. Jackson 
 was a narrow-minded man of limited education, strong preju- 
 dices, violent temper, and little schooling in statesmanship. 
 His popularity grew out of his success as a military commander. 
 He introduced personal government at Washington to a far 
 greater extent than any of his predecessors or successors. 
 Fealty to him, personally, was the chief test of merit in hia 
 yes. For a time the country was divided into a Jackson party 
 and an anti-Jackson party, all other names being lost sight of. 
 Jackson introduced into American politics the theory that " to 
 the victors belong the spoils ;" he was the first President who 
 removed from office all persons not favorable to him politically. 
 John Quincy Adams had made a few removals of officials in 
 high position, but there was a great public clamor against him 
 for this act. Jackson swept the entire public service of every-
 
 HIKTOR Y OF THE REP UBLIVAN PARTY. 13 
 
 body who had not favored his election, aud filled the offices 
 with his personal partisans. The corruption of American poli- 
 tics in more recent times is largely due to this high-tempered, 
 bigoted, and egotistical man ; but his glaring faults almost 
 merit complete forgiveness, in view of his great service to the 
 country in suppressing the nullification movement in South 
 Carolina. 
 
 Up to this time, the South, and particularly the Democratic 
 Party in the South, had asserted the doctrine, that the Consti- 
 tution is a federal compact between sovereign States, and that 
 in such compacts between sovereigns who are equal there is 
 no arbiter, each State being the rightful judge, as a party to the 
 compact, of the constitutionality of any measure of the General 
 Government. This view was asserted by the Legislatures of 
 Virginia and Kentucky, in what are generally called the reso- 
 lutions of 1798. The doctrine that each State can judge for 
 itself whether the laws or the action of the Government is con- 
 stitutional or not became in time a part of the platform of 
 principles of the Democratic Party, and was held to with par- 
 ticular zeal by the people of the South. In 1832, South Caro- 
 lina, under thr> lead of John C. Calhoun, endeavored to resist 
 the enforcement of the new tariff law, by a process called nul- 
 lification. Less from statesmanship and patriotism, probably, 
 than from motives of personal hostility to Mr. Calhoun, 
 President Jackson threw himself with all the force of his reso- 
 lute nature upon the other side, and declared his intention to 
 treat nullification as treason, and to hang the men who resisted 
 the authority of the United States. He ordered a large armed 
 force to Charleston and thus put an end to the incipient move- 
 ment for dissolving the Union. His vigorous conduct caused 
 the total abandonment of the theory that a State can set aside 
 the laws of the United States at its pleasure. The South 
 shifted its policy, and soon began to rally on a new position, 
 namely, that when a State does not like the conduct of the
 
 14 HISTOR T OF THE REP UBLICAN PA R TY. 
 
 General Government, it has a right to secede from the 
 Union. 
 
 The nullification question was not taken up as a party issue, 
 and, indeed, Jackson gave it very little time to ferment in the 
 public mind. He furnished the country with an issue, how- 
 ever, by assailing the Bank of the United States, an institution 
 modelled somewhat after the Bank of England and having close 
 relations to the Government. It is said that Jackson's hostility 
 to the bank arose from the refusal of one of its brandies in the 
 South to cash his checks when he was carrying on the Florida 
 "War. In 1832, the President recommended the removal of the 
 public funds from the bank. Congress refused to authorize the 
 removal. Then Jackson, on his own responsibility, ordered the 
 Secretary to withdraw the deposits and place them in certain 
 State banks. That officer refusing, he was removed and Mr. 
 Taney appointed to his place. The bank was broken down, a' 
 great financial panic followed, and serious commercial distress 
 afflicted the country. The opponents of Jackson's policy to- 
 ward the bank organized themselves under the name of the 
 "Whig Party, taking this name because the Whig Party in Eng- 
 land had resisted the arbitrary measures of the king. Thus, 
 by a curious change of the political situation, the leader of the 
 Democrats, the party formed to resist strong government in this 
 country, became the type and exemplar of the strong govern- 
 ment idea, and the Whigs, the successors of the Federalists, 
 became, as they imagined, the defenders of the people against 
 the encroachments of Executive power. In 1832, just before 
 the bank question came up, Jackson was re-elected by 219 elec- 
 toral votes, against a divided opposition, casting 49 votes for 
 Henry Clay, 11 for John Floyd, and 7 for William Wirt. 
 A short-lived popular excitement against secret societies, and 
 especially against the Masons, sprang up, and Wirt was the can- 
 didate of a new party called the Anti-Masonic Party. He got 
 the electoral vote of Vermont. Martin Van Buren \vns chosen
 
 mSTOR T OF THE REP UBL1CAN PARTY. 15 
 
 Vice-president. In 1836, General Jackson put forward Mr. Van 
 Buren as his successor. The bank question, the tariff question, 
 and opposition to the personal government of Jackson were the 
 chief issues. Jackson had made a powerful impression on the 
 rather unorganized public sentiment of the country by his bold- 
 ness and independence, and his influence was sufficient to secure 
 the election of Van Buren. He received 170 electoral votes. 
 The Whig vote was divided between William Henry Harrison, 
 73 ; Hugh L. White, 2G ; Daniel Webster, 1-1 ; and Willie P. 
 Mjngum, 11. Up to 1833 national nominating conventions 
 were unknown. A party caucus of members of Congress 
 selected the candidates for President and Vice- President, and 
 not unfrequently State Legislatures put candidates in the field. 
 Van Buren's administration was exceedingly unpopular. The 
 commercial crisis of 1837 and the hard times which followed 
 reacted powerfully against the dominant party. The adminis- 
 tration was charged with the dullness of trade, the stagnation 
 of industry, the scarcity of good money, and the alarming 
 number of business failures. More to the hard times than to 
 any other cause was due the overwhelming success of the 
 Whigs in 1840. The Whigs held a national convention at 
 Harrisburg, in December, 1839, and nominated General Harri- 
 son for President, and John Tyler for Vice-President. The 
 Democrats held their convention at Baltimore, in May, 1840, 
 and unanimously nominated Van Buren for re-election. The 
 campaign was the most exciting, demonstrative, and dramatic 
 that had ever taken place in this country, and the result was 
 that Harrison and Tyler received 234 electoral votes, and Van 
 Buren 60. The Democratic vote for Vice-President was 
 divided. Harrison's popular vote was 1,275,011, and that of 
 Van Buren 1,128,702. Although Harrison's majority of the 
 popular vote was a very small one, his electoral majority was 
 enormous, a discrepancy which strikingly illustrates the pecu- 
 liarity of our electoral system.
 
 16 HISTORY OF TUK REPUBLICAN PAliT'i. 
 
 Harrison died a month after his inauguration worried to 
 death by office-seekers, it- is said. His successor, John Tyler, 
 proved treacherous to the Whig Party, espoused the views of 
 the Democrats, changed his Cabinet, and finally went over 
 to the Democratic side. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 REVIVAL. OP THE SLAVERY AGITATION THE LIBERTY PARTY. 
 
 IN 1844, the Democrats nominated James K. Polk for Presi- 
 dent, and the Whigs nominated Henry Clay. The question of 
 the extension of slave territory entered largely into the canvass. 
 A treaty had been negotiated for the annexation of Texas, then 
 an independent Republic, but still claimed by Mexico as a f>art 
 of her dominions. The treaty was rejected by the Senate and 
 the Democratic Party throughout the country took it up and 
 declared in their conventions that it was a great American 
 measure. The Whigs were nearly unanimous in their opposi- 
 tion to the Texan scheme ; in the North, because of their un- 
 willingness to give the slave power another State ; in the 
 South, on various grounds of expediency. The opposition of 
 the Whigs was not sufficiently clear and earnest, however, to 
 draw to their support all the voters hostile to- the annexation 
 project. A party was organized which took broad grounds 
 against the extension of slavery and assumed for itself the name 
 of the Liberty Party. It was, in fact, an offshoot from the anti- 
 slavery organizations throughout the North. A struggle arose 
 in the American Anti-slavery Society as to the duty of its mem- 
 bers. One faction, headed by William Lloyd Garrison, 
 abstained wholly from voting, on the ground that the Constitu- 
 tion was a covenant with the slave power to protect slavery. 
 The other faction insisted that the way to fight slavery was to 
 use the \svapon <,i ! hy ballot. This faction became the Liberty
 
 HISWRY OF THK REPUBLICAN r.UlTY. 
 
 Pi.rty. and nominated James G. Birney for President. Jt was 
 a very small party, but an exceedingly earnest one, and although 
 it never had a majority in any State, and probably not in any 
 1 v, it frequently held the balance of power, and exerted 
 considerable influence on the two great parties. Just before the 
 election of 1844, Mr. Clay wrote a letter which dissatisfied the 
 Liberty Party and also the anti-slavery Whigs in the State of 
 New York. About 16,000 votes were cast in New York for 
 Birney and were mostly withdrawn from the Whig ticket. This 
 detection caused the loss of the State to Clay, defeated him 
 for the Presidency, and changed the whole subsequent history 
 of the country. The result of the election was 174 votes for 
 Polk and Dallas, and 105 for Clay and Frelinghuysen, the vote 
 of New York turning the scale. Under Folk's administra- 
 tion, Texas was admitted and war was waged with Mexico. 
 The war was opposed by most of the Northern Whigs who had 
 begun to be considerably tinctured with anti-slavery sentiments 
 and still more strongly opposed by the Liberty Party men and 
 the Garrisonians, now called by the name of Abolitionists, who 
 thought that the purpose of the conflict "was to secure more ter- 
 ritory to be made into slave States. 
 
 The decline of the Whig Party dates from this period. As a 
 national organization it was obliged to cater to the South, where a 
 large part of its strength lay, and no positive declaration against 
 the extension of slavery could be got from its conventions. At 
 the same time a feeling of hatred to the slave power had obtained 
 a firm lodgment in the mind of a large portion of its Norther!.- 
 members. The Whig Party embraced in its membership a 
 much larger portion of the intelligent and educated classes of 
 the country than its rival, the Democratic Party. In the South, 
 these classes contented themselves with opposition to extreme 
 pro-slavery measures threatening the perpetuity of the Union, 
 but in the North they began more and more to demand such 
 action as should ^top the growth of the slave power and secure 
 to freedom all the unoccupied territory of the United States.
 
 18 aiUTO*r OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 JCHB WIJ.MOT PBOVISO THE FREE SOIL PARTY THE CAMFAI8K 
 
 OF 1848. 
 
 IT became apparent before the end of the war, that the de- 
 feat of Mexico would be followed by the cession of a large part 
 of her territory to the United States, and the question began to 
 hr agitated in Congress as early as 1847, of what should be the 
 ''jndition of the territory in reference to slavery. At a consul- 
 tation of members of the House from the free States, who felt 
 that the extreme limit of justifiable concession to slavery had 
 already been reached, David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, pre* 
 sented the following proviso, to be offered to any bill for the 
 organization of new Territories : " That as an express and fun- 
 damental condition to the acquisition of new territory frem the 
 Republic of Mexico, by the United States by virtue of any treaty 
 that may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the 
 Executive of any moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor 
 involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said terri- 
 tory, except for crime whereof the party shall first be duly con- 
 victed." This was the famous Wilmot Proviso which played a 
 large part in the political history of the succeeding years. It 
 served to bring together many members of both the Whig and 
 Democratic organizations who were opposed to the extension of 
 slavery. Its advocates were called in the political nomencla- 
 ture of the day, " Wilmot Proviso Men, " although they adhered 
 lor a time to their old party connections. The proviso was 
 offered to the bill for negotiating a treaty with Mexico, but it 
 was defeated in the House. 
 
 In 1848 the Democrats nominated for President, General 
 Lewis Cass, of Michigan. His principal competitors in the con- 
 vention were James Buchanan and Levi Woodbury. The 
 nominee for Vice-President was Geneial William O. Butler, of
 
 HISTOR T OF THE HEP UBLICAN PAR TY. 19 
 
 Kentucky. The New York Democrats divided into two fac- 
 tions, one, called "Barn-burners," opposed the extension of 
 slavery, and the other, styled "Hunkers," sympathized fully 
 with the South. The " Barn-burners " bolted from the Demo- 
 cratic convention, and sent delegates to a national convention 
 held at Buffalo, which organized a new party, called the Free 
 Soil Party. The Free Soil Party was the legitimate successor 
 of the Liberty Party of 1848. The Buffalo Convention nomi- 
 nated Martin Van Bitren for President, and Charles Francis 
 Adams for Vice-President. Van Buren's nomination weakened 
 the moral force of the new movement, for while President he 
 had been a tool of the slave power, and only since his retire- 
 meat to private life had he expressed himself against the exten- 
 sion of slavery to the Territories. The motive of his nomination 
 was to secure the votes of " Barn-burners "of New York and 
 to defeat Cass. 
 
 The Whig National Convention met in Philadelphia and 
 nominated General Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for Presi- 
 dent. His chief competitors for the nomination were Henry 
 Clay, General Scott, and Daniel Webster. Taylor's nomination 
 was exceedingly popular in the country on account of his bril- 
 liant service in the Mexican War and his lack of any political 
 record with which fault could be found. The Democrats, in 
 their convention, refused to endorse the extreme Southern view, 
 that slaves were property and could be carried into the Terri- 
 tories under the protection of the Government. The Whigs 
 dodged the slavery question altogether. The Free Soilers 
 claimed that the Constitution was hostile to slavery and intend- 
 ed to limit it to the States where it existed by virtue of local 
 laws, and further, that the 'Federal Government should relieve 
 if from all responsibility for the existence of the institution. 
 At the election, General Taylor carried 15 States, with 163 
 1. it oral votes ; and General Cass 15 States, with 137 electoral 
 'utes. Van Buren carried no State, but had a large vote
 
 20 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 throughout the North. The entire popular vote stood, Taylor 
 and Fillmore, 1,360,752 ; Cass and Butler, 1,219,962 ; Van. 
 Buren and Adams, 291,842. The general effect of the canvass 
 was to show that the Democrats were pretty thoroughly com- 
 mitted to the slave power and that the Whigs did not dare to 
 antagonize it. The agitation produced by Van Buren' s candi- 
 dacy served a good purpose in further arousing public senti- 
 ment in the North to the encroachments of slavery. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE COMPROMISE OK 1850 AND THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE LAW. 
 
 SOON after the peace with Mexico, which secured to- tho 
 United States all the territory comprised in the present States 
 of California and Nevada, and the Territories of Utah, Arizona, 
 and Xew Mexico, gold was discovered in California, and an im- 
 mense rush of emigration occurred. In a short time there were 
 people enough there to form a State Government. They 
 adopted a Constitution prohibiting slavery, nncl applied for nil 
 mission to the Union. At that time there were l"> slave States 
 and 15 free States, and the admission of California would place 
 the free States in the majority of one. It was therefore vehement- 
 ly opposed by the representatives of the slave power. Many slave 
 States threatened secession if the new State should be admitted 
 without some concessions to secure tho equality of the South in 
 the future. They demanded a recognition of their claim that 
 slavery could not be prohibited in the Territories or its exist- 
 ence be made an objection to the admission of a new State. 
 They also demanded a guarantee against the abolition of slav- 
 ery in. the District of Columbia, and a stringent fugitive-slave 
 law. The contest in Congress lasted nearly two years, and was 
 finally settled by what is known as the Compromise of 1850.
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 21 
 
 Zachary Taylor, who though a slaveholder did not sympa- 
 thize with the extreme Southern view, had died before the con- 
 troversy culminated, and Millard Fillmore, his successor, openly 
 .spoused the side of the pro-slavery leaders. The compromise 
 wns advocated by Henry Clay, and received, also, the support of 
 the great Northern Whig leader, Daniel Webster, who aban- 
 doned his anti-slavery position and went over, with his great in- 
 tellect and influence, to the slave power. His action divided 
 the Whig Party in the North and practically gave it a death- 
 blow. Wm. H. Seward became the leader of the anti-slavery 
 Whigs. The compromise of 1850 admitted California with its 
 free Constitution, and left for future settlement the status of 
 the rest of the conquered territory in respect to slavery ; re- 
 jected the Wilmot Proviso, and paid Texas, $10, 000,000 for a 
 visionary claim to the Territory of New Mexico ; prohibited 
 slave auctions in the District of Columbia, and enacted the 
 odious fugitive-slave law. This law shocked the sense of justice 
 of the more intelligent portion of the Northern people and 
 exerted a powerful influence in preparing men's minds for the 
 advent of the Republican Party. It provided for the return of 
 alleged fugitives without trial by jury, allowing their captors to 
 take them before a United States Commissioner, who was em- 
 powered to remand them on the ex-parte depositions of the slave- 
 catchers. The Commissioners were paid ten dollars in case they 
 directed the return of the alleged fugitive, and five dollars if, for 
 any cause, they decided against the claimant. In effect, there- 
 fore, they were offered a bribe to decide against the person 
 claimed as a slave. Slave-catchers were authorized to summon 
 bystanders to their aid, and all good citizens were commanded 
 to assist in the arrest of alleged fugitive slaves. The law, in 
 effect, ordered the people of the North to turn slave-catchers 
 and threatened them with heavy penalties in case they harbored 
 or assisted any fugitive. Numerous cases of extreme brutality 
 arose from the execution of this law. Professional slave-
 
 22 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN' PARTY. 
 
 hunters invaded the North a.nd captured colored persons with- 
 out much regard to whether they had run away from slavery or 
 not. In some cases there was resistance on the part of the 
 people, and trials occurred which served to increase the irrita- 
 tion in the public mind. The law was vehemently denounced 
 by the anti-slavery Whigs, the anti-slavery Democrats, and the 
 Free Soilers, and the Abolitionists found in it a new text for 
 the crusade they preached with so much earnestness and self- 
 denial against the "sum of all villainies. " Some of the Northern 
 States passed what were known as "Personal Libertv Bills," 
 practically nullifying the fugitive-slave law and punishing as kid- 
 nappers persons who sought to carry oil alleged slaves without 
 trial by jury. These personal liberty bills furnished a notable 
 illustration of the powerlessness of theories of government, 
 when human rights are involved. Hitherto the slave States 
 had alone maintained extreme State rights doctrines, but now 
 the free States practically asserted such doctrines in their legis- 
 lation hostile to the Federal authority. The personal liberty 
 bills set at naught the authority of the United States so far as 
 it was sought to be exercised in the enforcement of the fugitive- 
 slave law. They asserted the right of the State to protect the 
 people within her borders from arrest and imprisonment with- 
 out trial and from being carried off as slaves. They fell back 
 upon the clause in the Constitution which says, " In any suit> 
 at common law, whereof the value of the controversy shall ex- 
 ceed $20, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved." -Fugi- 
 tives were claimed to be property exceeding that value, and it 
 was asserted that they could not be deprived of their liberty 
 without a jury trial. Public agitation against the fugitive-slave 
 law increased from year to year, and it finally became impracti- 
 cable in most parts of the North, save in the great cities, to re- 
 claim fugitives. Not only was this the case, but associations 
 were formed hi many parts of the North for the purpose of 
 aiding slaves to escape to Canada. The lines over which tK-
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. M 
 
 fugitives were forwarded by day and by night, by the anti- 
 slavery people, were known as the "Underground Railroad.' 1 
 Many thousands of negroes escaped from the border States to 
 Canada by the aid of this institution, and became industrious 
 and valuable citizens of the British dominions. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1852 DEFEAT OF THE WHTQ PARTY. 
 
 THE Whig and Democratic Parties had been fully committed 
 by the action of their representatives in Congress to the en- 
 dorsement of the compromise measures of 1850, and it was evi- 
 dent before their national conventions met in 1852 that they 
 would rival each other in professions of fidelity to those meas- 
 ures. Indeed, a public pledge had been signed by Henry Clay, 
 Howell Cobb, and about fifty other members of Congress, of 
 both parties, agreeing to abide by the compromise as a final 
 adjustment of the controversy between the free and the slave 
 States. The Democratic Convention surprised the country by 
 dropping General Cass, James Buchanan, and Stephen A. Doug- 
 las, who were the leading candidates for the nomination, and 
 taking up Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, a man almost 
 unknown outside of his own State. On the 50th ballot Pierce 
 was nominated. Win. R. King of Alabama, was nominated for 
 Vice-president on the second ballot. The convention declared 
 that the compromise of 1850 was a finality and that the Demo- 
 cratic Party would resist all attempts at renewing the agitation 
 of the slavery question. The Whig National Convention nomi- 
 nated General Winfield Scott for President. The other candi- 
 dates were Millard Fillmore and Daniel Webster. Scott was 
 nominated on the 52d ballot, and Wm. O. Grnham of North 
 Carolina was put on the ticket for Vice-President. The plat-
 
 * HISTORY OF THE UKPUBLKJAN PARTY. 
 
 form endorsed the compromise of 1850, including the fugitive- 
 slave law, and declared that the system it established was 
 essential to the nationality of the "Whig Party and the integrity 
 of the Union. The Whigs went into the canvass with a good 
 deal of apparent vitality, but before the close it was evident 
 that the poison of slavery had sapped the vitality of the party 
 The Free Soilers met at Pittsburg, in August, and nominated 
 John P. Hale of New Hampshire, for President, and Gco. W. 
 Julian of Indiana, for Vice-President. Their platform was op- 
 position to the extension of slavery and their battle-cry was 
 "Free soil, free speech, free States, and free men." In some- 
 States the supporters of Hale and Julian took the name of Free 
 Democrats, in others they called themselves, Free Soil Demo- 
 crats, and in still others, simply Free Soilers. They did not 
 poll as large a vote as in 1848. Numbers of New York Demo- 
 crats who then voted for Van Buren, returned to their old alii - 
 giance. They had, however, a pretty effective organization in 
 all of the Northern States, sustained a number of influential 
 newspapers, and placed in the field many able stump-speakers. 
 Most of their vote was drawn from the Whigs. The result of 
 the election was that the Democrats carried all the States in 
 the Union except Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, and 
 Tennessee, choosing 254 electors. General Scott received only 
 42 electoral votes. The popular vote was, Pierce, 1,601,474 ; 
 Scott, 1,336,578; Hale, 156,149. The disaster to the Whigs 
 was so overwhelming that it killed their party. They kept up 
 some form of an organization for four years longer, but it \va 
 merely a shadow 7 . The party had no longer an excuse for liv- 
 ing. Its former principles of a protective tariff and a wise sys- 
 tem of internal improvements had very little hold upon the 
 public mind. The country was rapidly dividing on the slavery 
 question, and as the Democratic party was generally recognized 
 to be the principal ally of the slave power, there was no room 
 1'or another organization not definitely opposed to that power
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 35 
 
 The dead party was sincerely mourned, particularly by a class of 
 its adherents in the North, represented by Seward and Grceley, 
 who had hoped to lead it over to anti-slavery ground. It was 
 also regretted by a considerable element of educated and con- 
 servative people in the South, sincerely attached to the Union, 
 and apprehensive of grave dangers to the peace of the country 
 from the extreme ground taken on the slavery question by thr 
 Democrats. The disappearance of the Whigs as an organize 
 tion from the field of politics opened the way for the formation 
 of the Republican Party, by a new and formidable agency, which 
 will be described in the next chapter, coming in to complete 
 the work. 
 
 .CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 KISE AND KALI, OF THE KNOW-NOTHING OR AMERICAN PARTY. 
 
 BETWEEN the years 1853 and 1855 there suddenly arose a 
 party of phenomenal growth and extraordinary ideas. It took 
 for itself the name of the American Party, but its members were 
 generally known by the popular slang term of " Know-Noth- 
 ings," which they did not themselves object to. They were 
 organized into secret lodges, with pass-words and grips, and were 
 sworn to vote for no one for a public office w lio was not a 
 native. They proposed that citizenship should not be con- 
 ferred, so far as the right of voting was concerned, until after 
 twenty -one years' residence. They were peculiarly hostile to 
 the Catholics, and claimed that, the priests of that Church con- 
 trolled the votes of their parishioners. The growth of this 
 new organization was marvellous. It spread like wild-fire over 
 the country and before it was two years old managed to carry 
 many important local and State elections. It must not be sup- 
 posed, however, that it was absolutely without roots in the past. 
 Native Americanism as a spntiment had existed since about.
 
 26 HISTORY OP THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 the year 1830, and had in several localities in the East assumed 
 at different periods the form of political organization?. Jr 
 rested on a not unreasonable apprehension of the growing power 
 of the foreign element in the large cities of the country. This 
 element, in large part ignorant of our system of government, 
 frequently banded together to carry municipal elections, and 
 elected objectionable persons to office. When the idea of 
 nativism spread to the whole country and became the basis of a 
 national party it was illogical and unpatriotic, because the 
 growth of the United States had been largely the result of 
 foreign immigration and a great part of its wealth had been pro- 
 duced by the labors of its foreign-born citizens. Many of these 
 citizens were men of marked intellectual and moial \v<" - tli, who 
 had studied thoroughly the American system of free government, 
 and had come to this country to escape the despotic limitations 
 of life in the Old World. In seeking to exclude such men from 
 voting and holding office in the land of their adoption, the 
 Know-Nothing movement was evidently unjust. 
 
 The rapid spread of the secret Know-Nothing lodges cannot 
 be accounted for by the principles of ordinary political action. 
 A study of the laws of mind which govern the propagation of 
 intellectual delusions and produce phenomenal movements in 
 the world of religion as well as of politics would be necessary 
 for a philosophical treatment of the matter. Undoubtedly, the 
 decay of the Whig party had much to do with the rise of this 
 new movement. Men were suddenly cut adrift from their old 
 party politics. In this situation they easily became a prey to a 
 movement which had the fascination of secrecy and laid claims 
 to lofty motives of patriotism. The Know-Nothing party cul- 
 minated in 1855. It nominated Millard Fillmore for President 
 in 1856, but it was already on the wane at that time, and short!} 
 after the slavery question had so completely absorbed the public 
 mind that Know-Nothingism subsided as rapidly as it had risen, 
 find in a single year disappeared from the field of politics. It
 
 HISTORY OP THE UEPUfiUCAX PARTI'. 27 
 
 played a part of some importance hi the work of forming the 
 Republican Party, by making a sort of bridge upon which 
 many old "Whigs crossed over to that organization. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES AND THEIR WORK. 
 
 BEFORE proceeding with the chronological order of our nar- 
 rative, it is time that we should pause for a moment to consider 
 the work of the anti-slavery societies in the North. Their 
 members were few in number and were usually despised by the 
 masses of people as impractical theorists and negro-worshippers, 
 who threatened the tranquillity of the country and the perma- 
 nence of the Union, but they were men of earnest convictions 
 and lofty moral purpose, who, by their tireless exertions, gradual- 
 ly wore into the Northern mind a conception of the atrocity of 
 slavery. These societies were strongest in New England, on the 
 Western Reserve of Ohio, and in the Quaker communities of 
 Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. They supported a number of 
 eloquent public lecturers, who traversed the country and ad- 
 dressed meetings in school- houses, churches, and in the open air. 
 Often these orators were received with opprobrium and insult ; 
 sometimes they were brutally treated by angry mobs ; but they 
 kept on heroically with their noble task. The condition of 
 public sentiment in the North on the slavery question, prior to 
 1850, can scarcely be understood by the present generation. 
 Even the church organizations were, as a rule, bitterly hostile 
 to all forms of anti-slavery agitation. The Abolitionists, as the 
 anti-slavery men were generally called, were looked upon as no 
 better than criminals. A bigoted, unreasoning, and often brutal 
 devoteeism to the slavery system h;id t iken possession of the 
 public mind, and whoever oucj,tiuur<l the constitutionality 9r
 
 28 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 perpetuity of that system ran the risk of ostracism in his social 
 and business relations, and if he publicly advocated his ideas, 
 actually took his life in his own hands. This sentiment caused 
 the anti-slavery men to draw closely together for mutual en- 
 couragement and assistance. They believed in the sacred 
 humanity of their work. Their lecturers were entertained like 
 brethren at the homes of the members of the society wheie- 
 ever they went, and every anti-slavery man regarded, every 
 other anti-slavery man in the light of a near personal friend. In 
 some parts of the country, they held annual conventions under 
 tents or in groves. A number of newspapers advocated their 
 ideas, chief among which was the Liberator, published in Boston 
 by William Lloyd Garrison, who was generally recognized as 
 the head of the movement. Horace Greeley, in his "Ameri- 
 can Conflict," divided the opponents of slavery in the period 
 preceding the formation of the Republican Party into four 
 classes : 
 
 1. The Garrisonians, who regarded the Federal Constitution 
 as a covenant with death and an agreement with hell. They 
 pledged themselves to wage against slavery an unrelenting war, 
 to regard and proclaim the equal and inalienable rights of every 
 innocent human being as inferior or subordinate to no other, 
 and to repudiate all creeds, rituals, constitutions, governments, 
 and parties that rejected these fundamental truths. They gen- 
 erally declined to vote, believing the Government and all politi- 
 cal parties so corrupted by slavery that no one could take any 
 part in politics without moral defilement. 
 
 2. The members of the Liberty Party who, regarding the 
 Federal Constitution as essentially anti-slavery, swore with 
 good conscience to uphold it and to support only candidates 
 who were distinctly, determinedly, and permanently champions 
 of liberty for all. 
 
 3. Various small sects and parties which occupied a middle 
 ground between the above positions, agreeing with the latter
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. ' 29 
 
 iu interpreting and revering the Constitution as consistently 
 anti-slavery, while refusing with the former to vote. 
 
 4. A large and steadily increasing class who, though decid- 
 edly anti-slavery, refused either to withhold their votes or to 
 throw them away on candidates whose election was impossible, 
 but persisted in voting at nearly every election so as to effect 
 good and prevent evil to the extent of their power. 
 
 The influence of all the various forms of anti-slavery agita- 
 tion in opening the way for the advent of the Republican Party, 
 and laying the foundation for that great organization, can 
 scarcely be overstated. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA STRUGGLE. 
 
 THE result of the election of 1852 was to place the Demo- 
 crats in complete control of the National Government. They 
 had the President and a large majority in both houses of Con- 
 gress. Their party was now completely dominated by the pro- 
 slavery element. Franklin Pierce had been nominated by 
 Southern votes and was wholly subservient to the slave power. 
 In spite of the professions of the Democrats in their platform of 
 1852, in which they declared the compromise measures of 1850 
 to be a finality, settling forever the contest between the free 
 and the slave States, Congress had scarcely met in 1853 befuiv 
 the South began to agitate for the repeal of the prohibition of 
 slavery north of the line of 36 degrees 30 minutes. The vast 
 plains lying beyond the States of Ohio and Missouri were known 
 to be fertile and adapted for settlement. To remove the Indian 
 tribes occupying them and make out of the region two new 
 slave States, thus flanking the free States on the Avest and 
 securing for slavery all of the vast region beyond the Missouri 
 River, was the ambitious scheme of the Southern leaders. It
 
 3U HISTORY OP THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 mattered not that the faith of the South had been pledged, first 
 by the compromise of 1820 and then by that of 1850, adopted 
 as a final settlement of the slave agitation. The pro-slavery 
 leaders felt their power and determined to exercise it. After a 
 tremendous struggle in both houses of Congress, they passed a 
 bill repealing the prohibition of 1820, and opening all of the 
 new Northwest to slavery. The extreme pro-slavery Democrats 
 asserted that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and 
 that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territory of 
 the United States. They further asserted that the people of the 
 new Territory had no power themselves, by their own territorial 
 statutes, to interfere with the holding of slave property. A 
 more moderate wing of the party, headed by Stephen A. 
 Douglas, broached what was known as the popular sovereignty 
 doctrine, which was that the people of the Territories should 
 themselves decide whether they would have free or slave States, 
 and that Congress had no authority to interfere with them. 
 Abraham Lincoln once characterized this doctrine as, in Ml' ct, 
 that one man had the right to enslave another, but a third in;:ii 
 had no right to interfere. Mr. Douglas's position prevailed, 
 and the act organi/ing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, 
 passed in 1854, permitted the introduction of slaves into those 
 Territories and loft the people free to regulate their domestic 
 institutions in their own way. 
 
 The passage of this act created intense public excitement in 
 the North. It was regarded as a breach of faith on the part cJ 
 rhe South and as the forerunner of measures designed to extend 
 slavery over the whole country. Tn every Northern State Ian;./ 
 numbers of men of influence broke loose from the old political 
 organizations, and were styled " Anti-Nebraska Men." Public 
 meetings were held denouncing the measure, and a great popular 
 movement, hostile to the encroachment of slavery, arose spon- 
 taneously on a wave of excitement which swept over the entire 
 North. The Territory of Nebraska was too far away from the
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 slave States to be occupied to any great extent by emigrants 
 from the South, but a fierce struggle arose for the possession of 
 the Territory of Kansas. Armed men from Missouri moved 
 over the border at once to occupy the region and keep out 
 Northern immigrants. The Indian titles were quickly extin- 
 guished by the Democratic administration and the public lands 
 thrown open for settlement. The first party of emigrants from 
 the free States were visited by an armed mob and ordered to 
 leave the Territory. The spirit of the North was fully aroused, 
 however, and thousands of brave, intelligent men went to 
 Kansas, determined to make it a free State. A contest ensued 
 which lasted for several years, and was generally called at the 
 time " The Border Ruffian War." Reckless and lawless men 
 from the Missouri border harassed the Northern settlers. Many 
 free State men were brutally murdered. The town of Lawrence 
 was sacked and burned in part by an armed force of pro-slavery 
 men. A regiment of wild young men from the South was re- 
 cruited in Alabama by Colonel Buford, and invaded the Terri- 
 tory for the avowed purpose of subjugating the Northern 
 settlers. The North supported her emigrants with fresh 
 re- enforcements and with consignments of rifles and ammunition. 
 Numerous encounters occurred with more or less loss of life. 
 At the village of Ossawatomie, a pitched battle was fought, 
 wherein 28 free State men led by John Brown defeated, on the 
 open prairie, 56 border ruffians led by Captain Pate of Virginia. 
 In the struggle for Kansas, the South fought against the laws 
 of nature. Very little of the Territory was adapted for the 
 raising of cotton, and slavery had been found profitable only in 
 the cotton regions. Few emigrants from the South went with 
 their negroes to the new Territory, while resolute Northern 
 farmers and mechanics poured in year after year in large num- 
 ber*. The slave power then undertook to secure possession of 
 Kansas by fraud. At the first election for a Territorial Legis- 
 lature, thousands of Missourians crossed the Kansas border and
 
 32 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 voted. The free State men disregarded this election, held 
 another, and organized a legislature of their own, so that for a 
 time there were two legislatures in session. In the same 
 manner, two State Constitutions were formed, one at Lecomp- 
 ton, by a convention composed of members chosen in great 
 part by fraudulent Missouri votes, and one at Lawrence, by a 
 convention representing the anti-slavery settlers of the Terri- 
 tory. The administration at Washington endeavored to force 
 the pro-slavery Constitution upon the people. Great efforts 
 were made to this end through the agency of the Federal office- 
 holders in the Territory, supported by detachments of Federal 
 troops, and these efforts were abandoned only when it became 
 evident that the free State men were in an overwhelming 
 majority and were determined to have their rights. The Kan- 
 sas War finally degenerated into a series of plundering raids 
 by parties of Missourians, but these in time became too hazard- 
 ous to be continued. Some Democrats in Congress opposed the 
 course of the administration toward Kansas and were called 
 Anti-Lecompton Democrats, but the bulk of the party stood 
 steadily on the side of the South as long as the Democrats held 
 power in Congiess. Kansas, with its free State Constitution, 
 was refused admission to the Union. 
 
 Every incident of the long struggle in Kansas was promptly 
 reported in the Northern papers, and the anti-slavery element in 
 the North followed the conflict with intense interest, and 
 looked upon the men who took their lives in their hands and 
 n-ynt to the new Territory to secure it for freedom as heroes of 
 :i just and patriotic cause. It was the Kansas and Nebraska 
 Bill and the struggle between freedom and slavery beyond the 
 Missouri which finally crystallized the anti- slavery sentiment of 
 the North into the organization known as the Republican 
 Party.
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 83 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Ti'K. OSTEND MANIFESTO. TITK DKKD SCOTT DECISION, AND THH 
 ATTACK ON CHARLES STJMNER. 
 
 THREE events occurring in the period we are now describing 
 contributed powerfully towards increasing the alarm in the 
 North at the purposes and spirit of the slave power. In August 
 1854, Secretary of State William L. Marcy secretly directed 
 James Buchanan. John Y. Mason, and Pierre Soule, our minis- 
 ters at London, Paris, and Madrid, respectively, to meet in 
 some European city and confer about the best method of get- 
 ting possession of Cuba. The conference took place at Ostend, 
 and resulted in a dispatch to our Government, known as the 
 " Ostend Manifesto," which recommended the immediate 
 purchase of Cuba, and threatened Spain with a forcible seizure 
 of the island in case she should refuse to sell it. The purpose 
 of the Cuban annexation scheme thus developed was to prevent 
 the island from ever becoming a free republic like San 
 Domingo, and to make out of it one or more slave States to re- 
 enforce the slave power in Congress. Nothing came of the 
 manifesto, save the resulting anger of European nations and the 
 increased determination created in the North to oppose the 
 schemes of the pro-slavery leaders. 
 
 The Supreme Court of the United Spates at this time was 
 thoroughly in sympathy with the projects of the pro-slavery 
 Democracy. The leaders of that party determined by a bold 
 stroke to cut the Gordian knot of controversy as to the power 
 of the Government over slavery in the Territories, and for this 
 purpose they procured from the court what was known as the 
 Bred Scott decision. Dred Scott was a negro belonging to an 
 army officer who had taken him into a free State. This act en- 
 titled the slave to his liberty, and when he was afterward taken 
 buck to Missouri he sued for his freedom. The case was carried
 
 34 HISTORY OP THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 up to the Supreme Court. A majority of the judges decided 
 that persons of African blood were never thought of or spoken of 
 except as property when the Constitution was formed, and were 
 not referred to by the Declaration of Independence, which says 
 that all men are created free and equal and entitled to life, 
 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Such persons, the court 
 declared, had no status as citizens, and could not sue in any court, 
 and were so far inferior that they had no rights that a white 
 man was bouud to respect. Proceeding then to the question of 
 slavery in the Territories, the court, through its Chief-Justice, 
 Roger B. Taney, held that the clause of the Constitution which 
 says that " Congress shall have power to dispose of and make 
 all needful regulations respecting the territory or other property 
 belonging to the United States," applied only to territory that 
 belonged to the United States when the Constitution was 
 framed, and that in all other territory the slaveholder had the 
 right to take his slaves, and Congress had no right to prevent 
 him. This partisan decision was practically agreed to in 1S55, 
 but was held back until after the campaign of 1856, and made 
 public early in 1857. It was designed to prohibit Congress 
 from making any laws respecting slavery in the Territories, and 
 to exclude all of the inhabitants of the United States of African 
 blood, or mixed blood, from all of the privileges of citizenship, 
 so far as such privileges were guaranteed and protected by the 
 Federal Government. The decision shocked the humanity of 
 the North, but was received in the South with great satisfac- 
 tion. The slaveholders thought that they had at last secured 
 from an authority that could not be disputed an absolute en- 
 dorsement of their most extreme theories and had thrown over 
 the institution of slavery the protecting shield of the highest 
 tribunal in the land. They little dreamed of what the future 
 had in store for them. 
 
 In May, 1856, a brutal and wanton attack was made upon 
 Charles Sumner, a Senator from Massachusetts, by Preston
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 35 
 
 Brooks, a Representative from South Carolina. Mr. Surrmer 
 had made a speech upon the Kansas question, in which he had 
 sharply criticised the State of South Carolina and had reflected 
 somewhat severely upon Butler, one of her Senators. After the 
 Senate had adjourned he was sitting at his desk engaged in 
 writing, when Brooks approached him from behind, felled him 
 to the floor with a blow from a heavy cane, and continued to 
 beat him about the head till he was unconscious. A South 
 Carolina member named Keitt and a Virginia member named 
 Edmonson stood by at the time to prevent interference with 
 the dastardly outrage. Mr. Sumner was severely injured and 
 never fully recovered his former health. A disease of the spine 
 ensued, and he was obliged to resort to a painful form of treat- 
 ment which kept him for two years out of his seat in the Senate. 
 The outrage produced great indignation throughout the North, 
 which was intensified by the ovations paid to the ruffian 
 Brooks when he returned home to South Carolina. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ORGANIZATION OP THE REPUBLICAN PARTY CAJIPAIGX OF 
 1856. 
 
 THE necessity for the organization of a national party to re- 
 sist the encroachments of slavery was felt throughout the 
 North immediately after the passage of the Kansas -Nebraska 
 Bill. Events had already shaped the platform for such a party. 
 It was in all men's minds, and might have been formulated in a 
 single sentence, " The freedom of the Territories from the curse 
 of slavery." Interference with slavery in the States where it 
 existed by virtue of State law had not been thought of, save 
 by the Abolitionists, who did not count as apolitical force. The 
 men who were prepared to join a new party organization deter-
 
 36 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 mined that slavery should be wedged in within the region where 
 it already existed, and that no protection should be given by 
 Federal law to property in slaves in the States whose laws de- 
 clared that no such property should exist. The elements pre- 
 pared for crystallization into a new party were the late Free 
 Soilers, the anti-slavery Whigs, and a small number of Demo- 
 crats calling themselves anti-Nebraska men. The question 
 of when the Republican Party first originated, and who gave it 
 its name, has been much disputed, but within the past three 
 years it has come to be pretty generally acknowledged that the 
 Michigan State Convention, held at Jackson, early in June, 
 
 1854, was the first State representative body to take the name 
 of Republican. The title was suggested in a letter from Horace 
 Greeley to a delegate to that convention. This letter was shown 
 to the late Senator Howard and several other influential men. 
 The suggestion was deemed a good one, and the name was 
 formally adopted in the resolutions of the convention. A few 
 weeks later it was adopted by State conventions in Maine, Ohio, 
 Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa. In most of the New Eng- 
 land States, in Pennsylvania, and in the entire South, the Whig 
 Party still kept alive and ran tickets that year. The success of 
 the Republicans in all the States where they ran straight tickets 
 nf their own gave a great impetus to the further extension of 
 the party. It won its first national triumph in the House of 
 Representatives elected in 1854, which convened in December, 
 
 1855, when the Republican candidate for Speaker, N. P. Banks 
 of Massachusetts, was elected. 
 
 In a single year, the Republican Party had carried most of 
 the Northern States and had secured a controlling influence in 
 the lower house of Congress. Its leaders were mostly men of 
 anti-slavery convictions from the old Whig Party, like Fessen- 
 den, Sumner, Greeley, Seward, Chase, Wade, and Chandler, but 
 there were among them several former Democrats. No account 
 was made of old political affiliations, however, and the only 
 test of membership was opposition to the encroachments of the
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 37 
 
 slave power. In 1855, the Republicans strengthened their 
 State organizations and were successful in most of the Northern 
 States. The Whig Party gave some last feeble signs of life in 
 Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Ohio. At the 
 South, the Whigs almost in a mass merged themselves into the 
 Know-Nothing or American organization. Conservative men 
 in that section, opposed to reopening the slavery controversy, 
 did not venture to ally themselves with the Republicans of the 
 North, but took refuge in the American Party, where they were 
 able for a brief time to combat the ultra pro-slavery element. 
 
 Thus far the Republicans had no national organization. On 
 the 22-d of February, 1856, the first Republican National Con- 
 vention was held in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Its purpose was 
 to better organize the party and to prepare the way for the 
 Presidential campaign. A second convention, to nominate a 
 President and Vice-President, met in Philadelphia on the 17th 
 of June, and was presided over by Henry S. Lane, of Indiana. 
 John C. Fremont, the intrepid Western explorer, was nomi- 
 nated for President on the first ballot, receiving 359 votes, to 
 196 for John McLean. William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, 
 received 259 votes for Vice-President on an informal ballot, to 
 110 for Abraham Lincoln, and 180 scattering. Mr. Dayton was 
 then unanimously nominated. The platform welcomed to the 
 party all who were opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
 promise and the extension of slavery in the Territories, and who 
 favored the admission of Kansas as a free State. It demanded 
 the prohibition of slavery in all of the Territories of the United 
 States, and denied the authority of Congress or a Territorial 
 Legislature to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory, 
 freedom being the public law of the national domain under the 
 Constitution. It asserted the right and duty of Congress to 
 prohibit in all Territories those twin relics of barbarism, slavery 
 and polygamy. 
 
 The Democratic Convention met in Cincinnati on the 2d 
 of June, and nominated James Buchanan for President on, tht
 
 38 BISTORT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 17th ballot. The voting at first was close between Buchanan 
 and Pierce, Douglas Laving a small following. Toward the 
 end, all the opposition to Buchanan centred on Douglas. The 
 nominee for Vice-President was John C. Breckinridge of Ken- 
 tucky. The platform denounced all attempts to prevent slavery 
 in the Territories or the District of Columbia by legislation, and 
 all objection to the admission of a new State on the ground 
 that it established slavery. It revived the Kentucky and 
 Virginia resolutions of 179? and 1798, which contained an 
 assertion of extreme State rights doctrines. It also recognized 
 the right to maintain slavery in any part of the public do- 
 main, and promised the faithful execution of the fugitive-slave 
 law. 
 
 The Know-Nothings, now calling themselves Americans, met 
 in Philadelphia, on the 22d of February, and nominated for Presi- 
 dent Millard Fillmore of New York, and for Yice-President, 
 Andrew Jackson Donelson of Tennessee. Their platform de- 
 manded that none but natives should hold office and that 
 foreigners should not vote until they had lived twenty-ono 
 years in the country. On the 17th of September an insignifi- 
 cant remnant of the once powerful "Whig Party convened in 
 Baltimore and ratified the nomination of Mr. Fillmore. Their 
 meeting attracted very little public attention. 
 
 The Presidential contest of 1856 was exceedingly animated in 
 all of the Northern States. Colonel Fremont, although without 
 any record as a politician, proved an exceedingly popular can- 
 didate. The Republicans carried every Northern State except 
 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, and California, and 
 gave to their ticket 114 electoral votes. The Americans carried 
 but one State, Maryland. Buchanan's electoral vote was 174. 
 Of the popular vote, Buchanan received 1,838,169 ; Fremont, 
 1,341,264 ; Fillmore 874. 534. Buchanan had therefore a 
 decided plurality but he lacked 377, G2i) votes of k majority 
 over both of hi* competitor a.
 
 HISTORY OF THE SEP UBLICAN PAETT. 59 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 N BROWN'S RAID HELPER'S "IMPENDING CRISTI." 
 
 AN event that had a powerful effect in exciting the South, 
 and in aggravating the growing sectional feeling in the North, 
 took place in 1859. John Brown, who had distinguished him- 
 self as a brave free State leader in the Kansas war, invaded 
 Harper's Ferry, Virginia, on the 17th of October, with an armed 
 force consisting of 17 white men and 5 negroes. The invad- 
 ers tore up. the railroad track, cut the telegraph wires, and 
 took possession of the United States Armory ; doing this by the 
 authority of God Almighty, they said. Brown issued a proc- 
 lamation calling upon the slaves of the South to rise and de- 
 mand their liberty. The frightened inhabitants of the place 
 appealed to the State authorities to come to their aid. and the 
 State called upon the General Government. A force of United 
 States marines was promptly despatched to Harper's Ferry, and 
 a large body of Virginia militia was soon on the ground. 
 Brown and his followers defended themselves in the armory 
 building. A sharp conflict ensued. Hemmed in on all sides, 
 Brown sent out a flag of truce, but the bearer, Stephens, was 
 instantly shot down by the Virginians. One of Brown's men 
 was captured by the Virginia militia, dragged out upon the 
 railroad bridge, and shot in cold blood. Four of Brown's, party 
 attempted to escape by crossing the river, but three were mortally 
 wounded. Brown made his last stand in an engine house, where 
 he repulsed his assailants, who lost two killed and six wounded. 
 The fight went on all day ; at night Brown's forces were reduced 
 to three unwouncled whites besides himself. Eight of his men, 
 including two of his sons, were already dead, another lay dy- 
 ing, and two were captives, mortally wounded. Next morning 
 the marines charged the engine house, battered down the door, 
 and captured Brown with his surviving followers. The pur-
 
 40 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 pose of the raid upon Harper's Ferry was to stimulate an insur- 
 rectionary movement throughout the South. Brown had drawn 
 up a sketch for a provisional government, and had nominated 
 several of his followers to the* principal executive offices. ll<- 
 was held a prisoner for about six weeks, tried at Charlestown, 
 Virginia, and hanged on the 3d day of December, exhibiting 
 to the last a heroic fortitude and an exalted frame of mind which 
 won for him the admiration of even his bitter enemies, the Virgin- 
 ians, and excited deep sympathy throughout the North. The 
 South was profoundly stirred by this invasion, insignificant as it 
 was in its dimensions and its results. The Southern people, in 
 their excited frame of mind undoubtedly believed that the 
 John Brown raid had the indorsement of the Republican Party 
 of the North, and was the beginning of an effort to destroy 
 slavery by inciting the slaves to a general insurrection. The 
 horrible history of the San Domingo massacre had always been 
 a terror to the Southern people, and a rumor of a negro rising 
 had, on several occasions in the past, sufficed to throw them 
 into a convulsive state of anger and apprehension. It was not 
 strange, therefore, that an effort tp organize an insurrection, led 
 by courageous white men froni the North, should provoke their 
 fiercest animosity. 
 
 John Brown had few apologists though a great many sympa- 
 thizers in the North. His movement was his own secret and 
 was not abetted by any body of anti-slavery men. Just how 
 great an influence it exercised on the subsequent history of the 
 country it would, of course, be impossible to measure, but the 
 feelings it produced and the memories it left in the South were 
 a principal agency in inclining the Southern people to separate 
 from the North and set up a Government of their own. 
 
 A book published about this time on the slavery question 
 added to the irritation in the South. It was called " The Im- 
 pending Crisis," and its author was Hinton R. Helper, a North 
 Carolinian, who had migrated to California. The book was
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 41 
 
 nddressed to the shtveholding whites of the South, and was a 
 powerful argument, re-enforced by statistics drawn from United 
 States census reports, to prove that slavery cursed the indus- 
 tries of the Southern States. The poverty of those States in 
 respect to accumulated wealth and agricultural products in 
 comparison with the States of the North, was forcibly set forth 
 and the non-slaveholding Southern whites were urged to throw- 
 off the control of the small minority of slaveholders and take 
 the affairs of their States into their own hands. The circula- 
 tion of this book was everywhere prohibited in the South. It 
 was regarded as an incendiary document, although it contained 
 nothing but calm reasoning and indisputable statistics. Several 
 Republican members of the House signed a letter endorsing the 
 volume, and their conduct was made the subject of an acrimo- 
 nious discussion. At one time a resolution came near passing, 
 affirming that no man who recommended the book was fit to be 
 Speaker of the House. " The Impending Crisis " had an im- 
 mense sale and though its effect in the South was only to aggra- 
 vate the pro-slavery feeling, it opened the eyes of many people 
 in the North to the blighting effect of slavery upon industry, 
 n-uiufactun-s, and trade. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OF 1860. 
 
 THE Republicans were not discouraged by their defeat in 
 1856. They saw that if they hud carried the States of Penn- 
 sylania and Indiana they would have succeeded, and felt that 
 they had formed what was destined to be the great party of the 
 future, and that their principles would prevail in time. The pro- 
 mulgation of the Dred Scott decision immediately after the 
 inauguration of Mr. Buchanan gave new vigor to the Republican 
 cause, showing as it did that the pro-slavery party intended to
 
 43 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, 
 
 fully subjugate the whole country and make of it a vast slave 
 empire. The conduct of Buchanan in continuing the efforts of 
 Pierce to force slavery upon the Territory of Kansas kept alive 
 trie discussion of the question of the freedom of the Territories 
 until the next Presidential election. Buchanan was as fully 
 subservient to the South as Pierce had been. His administra- 
 tion was controlled by ultra pro-slavery men, and directed its 
 energies to carrying out the schemes of the slave power. 
 
 In 1858. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas contested 
 the State of Illinois for the United States Senatorship, and made 
 a memorable canvass which attracted great attention through- 
 out the country. Douglas advocated what was known as his 
 squatter sovereignty policy, which was that Congress should 
 abstain from all legislation as to slavery in the Territories and al- 
 low the people to settle the question for themselves. Mr. Lincoln 
 advocated the right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in 
 the Territories. Although Lincoln had a majority of the popular 
 vote, Douglas had a majority in the Legislature and was elect- 
 ed. The South was not satisfied with the Douglas squatter 
 sovereignty plan, the theory of the pro-slavery leaders being 
 that slavery could not be prohibited in the Territories by any 
 power whatever. This theory was repugnant to a great majority 
 of the Democrats of the North, and the conflict between it and 
 the Douglas theory led to a disruption of the Democratic party. 
 The Democratic national convention met at Charleston, on the 
 23d of April, 1860, and immediately got into a heated contro- 
 versy upon the subject of slavery. Finally, by a close vote, it 
 was resolved that as differences had existed in the party as to 
 the nature and extent of the powers of the Territorial Legisl.-i- 
 tures and as to the powers and duties of Congress under the 
 Constitution, over the institution of slavery within the Terri- 
 tories, the Democratic party would abide by the decision of 
 the Supreme Court on the question of constitutional law. This 
 exceedingly guarded and neutral declaration angered the
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 43 
 
 Southern delegates, and most of them withdrew from the con- 
 vention. An adjournment was carried until the 18th of June, 
 when the convention reassembled in Baltimore. The seceding 
 delegates met and adopted an extreme pro-slavery platform, and 
 adjourned to assemble in Richmond June llth. The regular 
 convention reassembled in Baltimore .and nominated Stephen A. 
 Douglas, of Illinois, for President, and Benjamin Fitzpatrick, 
 of Alabama, for Vice-President. Fitzpatrick subsequently de- 
 clined, and Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, was substituted 
 by the National Committee. The Baltimore Convention affirmed 
 Douglas' squatter sovereignty theory. The Bolting Convention 
 met in Richmond and adjourned to meet again in Baltimore, 
 June 23d, when it adopted the Charleston platform and nomi- 
 nated John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, for President, and 
 Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for Vice-President. 
 
 A new party, composed mainly of former members of the now 
 dead American party in the South and a few stubborn old 
 Whigs in the North, was formed at Baltimore May 9th. It 
 took tiie name of the Constitutional Union party, and nominated 
 for President John Bell, of Tennessee, and for Vice-President 
 Edward Everett, of Massachusetts. This party declared that it 
 recognized no political principles other than the Constitution 
 of the country, the union of the States, and the enforcement of 
 the laws. This last phrase was intended to refer to the Fugitive 
 Slave law. The Republican National Convention met in Chicago 
 Mny 16th, 1860. It was generally supposed, prior to the meet- 
 ing of the convention, that William H. Seward would be nomi- 
 nated for President. He was recognized as the chief leader of 
 the new party, and its greatest teacher on the political bearing; 
 of slav.ery. His principal competitor was Abraham Lincoln, of 
 Illinois. The other candidates were Simon Cameron, of Penn- 
 sylvania, Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio. Edward Bates, o.' 
 Missouri, William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, John McLean, of 
 Ohio, and Jacob Collamer, of Vermont. MJ. Seward led on
 
 44 HISTOR Y OF THE REP UBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 the first and second ballot, but the argument that he would not 
 be a popular candidate in the States of Pennsylvania, Indiana, 
 and Illinois the States lost by the Republicans in 1856 led to 
 the nomination of Lincoln on the third ballot. Hannibal Ham- 
 lin, of Maine, was nominated for Vice-President. The platform 
 was substantially that adopted in 1856. Its chief planks were 
 those referring to slavery in the Territories. It declared freedom 
 to be the normal condition of the Territories, and denounced 
 the new dogma that the Constitution, with its own force, carried 
 slavery there. 
 
 In the campaign of 1860 the Republicans were united and 
 confident, while the Democrats were divided into two factions, 
 which fought each other about as vigorously as they did their 
 common enemy. These factions were known by the name of 
 their leaders, one being called Douglas Democrats, and the 
 other Breckinridge Democrats. There were few Douglas men 
 in the South and few Breckinridge men in the North. The 
 strength of the new Constitutional Union party was almost 
 wholly confined to the South. Every free State but New Jersey 
 was carried by the Republicans, and in New Jersey the refusal 
 of a part of the Douglas men to support the fusion ticket 
 allowed four of the Lincoln electors to slip in. The electoral 
 vote was divided as follows : Lincoln, 180, all from the North ; 
 Breckinridge, 72, all from the South ; Bell, 39, from Virginia, 
 Kentucky, and Tennessee ; and Douglas, 12, from Missouri and 
 New Jersey. The popular vote was, Lincoln, 1,857,610; 
 Douglas, 1,291,574 ; Breckinridge, 850,082 ; Bell, 646,124. 
 
 The very large vote given to Mr. Douglas was due, in some 
 part, to his personal popularity. He was the idol of the Demo- 
 cratic party of the North, and had the South chosen to give 
 him its support, instead of seceding from the convention and 
 nominating Breckinridge, he would probably have been 
 elected President. With his comparatively moderate views on 
 the tubject of slavery, which were becoming more and more
 
 OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 4=5 
 
 modified in the right direction as he saw the tendency of the 
 pro-slavery leaders, it is not unlikely that he would have 
 averted or at least postponed the war. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SECESSION REBELLION WAR. 
 
 As soon as the election of Lincoln and Hamlin was known to 
 be beyond dispute, movements for seceding from the Union 
 began in the South. The Southern leaders did not wait to 
 learn what the policy of the new administration would be, but 
 made haste to break the relations of their States with the Union 
 and to form a separate government, under the title of the Con- 
 federate States of America. As early as December South 
 Carolina seceded ; other States followed during the winter, and 
 in February a complete Rebel government was organized at 
 Montgomery and a Rebel army put into the field. A consider- 
 able party in the Southern States, composed mostly of old 
 Whigs, opposed secession, but were overpowed by the more 
 active, unscrupulous, and determined supporters of <he move- 
 ment. During the session of Congress just prior to Mr. Lin- 
 coln's inauguration great efforts were made in the way of con- 
 ciliatory propositions to induce the Southern States not to 
 renounce their allegiance to the Union. The Republicans were 
 willing to go to the farthest extent possible not involving the 
 vital principle of their party that the Territories of the United 
 States were free soil by virtue of the Constitution. The plan 
 known as the Crittenden Compromise received a large vote in 
 both Houses, although opposed by most Republicans. Its 
 principal provision was that all of the territory north of latitude 
 36 degrees and 30 minutes should forever be free, and that all 
 of the territory south of that line should be givea up to slavery.
 
 46 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Senator Anthony, a Republican, was willing to admit New 
 Mexico as a slave State, because slavery already existed there, 
 but this was as far as he or any other Republican proposed to 
 go concerning the disputed question of the condition of the 
 Territories. A series of resolutions, accompanied by a constitu- 
 tional amendment, passed both Houses, however, guaranteeing 
 slavery in the States where it existed against any interference 
 on the part of the Federal Government, and recommending the 
 Northern States which had passed laws obstructing the recovery 
 of fugitives to repeal them. A Peace Conference, invited by 
 the Legislature of Virginia, sat in Washington in February. 
 Thirteen Northern States and seven Southern States were rep- 
 resented. Its propositions had no effect in staying the rising 
 tide of rebellion. The Southern leaders hud fully made up 
 their minds to dissolve the Union, and although many of them 
 remained in Congress up to the time of Lincoln's inauguration, 
 they did so avowedly for the purpose of resisting legislation 
 which might be hostile to their section. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this work to trace the history of the 
 war for the preservation of Ihe Union further than is necessary 
 to show the action of the political parties concerning its prose- 
 cution. ' The Republican party was Ihe war party from the be- 
 ginning to the end of the struggle, holding the Union to 
 be a perpetual bnnd, and not a league which could be dissolved 
 at the pleasure of any of its members. It also held that the 
 Republic was indestructible, and that the duty of the United 
 States Government was to enforce obedience to its authority. 
 
 The Democratic party in tho North was in an extremely 
 awkward predicament when the storm of war burst upon the 
 country. For a whole generation it had maintained the theory 
 of the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, that the States were 
 sovereign and were themselves the judges of the constitution- 
 ality of the Federal laws and acts. Out of this theory grew 
 logically another, that the Government had no right to coerce
 
 HISTOR T OF THE REP UBLICAN PARTY. 47 
 
 sovereign States. This was the theory upon which 3Tr. 
 Buchanan's administration proceeded during the three months 
 in which the Rebellion organized itself throughout the South. 
 It continued to be held by a considerable portion of the North- 
 ern Democracy, but the patriotic feeling which followed the 
 attack upun Fort Sumter caused it to be exceedingly un- 
 popular for a while, and it was rarely avowed in public during 
 the first year of the war. For a time there was but one politi- 
 cal paityin the North, and that was the party of the Union. As 
 the war went on, however, and it became evident that it was 
 going to be a long struggle and no holiday parade, as mnny had 
 imagined, the Democrats took courage and reorganized their 
 party as an anti-administration party. They did not avowedly 
 oppose the prosecution of the war at that time ; some of them, 
 indeed, insisted that if they were in power they would push it 
 more vigorously, but the spirit of their movement was cne of 
 dissatisfaction with the contest. In 1SC2, after the disaster to 
 our armies on the Peninsula and at the second battle of Bull 
 Run, a feeling of discontent arose throughout the North 
 which took the form of hostility to the Republican party in the 
 fall elections of that year. The Democrats carried the great 
 central belt of States, beginning with. New Yoik and ending 
 at the Mississippi River. Fortunately, in only one State was 
 there a Governor to be elected. That was in the State of New- 
 York, where the Democrats chose Horatio Seymour, by the aid 
 of enormous election frauds committed in the City of New 
 York. The Republicans were barely able to secure a majority 
 in the new House, and were for a time greatly discouraged 
 by their reverses and apprehensive that the Democratic 
 triumphs might lead to the ultimate success of the 
 Rebellion. In 1863, .however, the capture of Yicksburg by 
 General Grant and the decisive victory at Gettysburg com- 
 pletely turned the current of public sentiment. The Republi- 
 cans recovered that year e'-ery State they had lost in, 1862.
 
 48 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Wherever the contest was the hottest there their victory was 
 the greatest. The great political battle of the year occurred in 
 Ohio, where the Democrats nominated Clement L. Vallandig- 
 ham for Governor. He was an avowed opponent of the war 
 and an open sympathizer with the South. The majority against 
 him was the largest ever given at any election in the State, run- 
 ning up to nearly 100,000. 
 
 In 1863, the Democratic party in most of the Northern States 
 threw off all pretension of sympathy with the Union cause. On 
 this account they were given by the Republicans the name of 
 " copperheads." In some parts of the West they wore pins made 
 of the butternut, to typify their sympathy -with the South, the 
 Southern soldiers being frequently clad in homespun dyed with 
 the juice of that nut. 
 
 A long and bloody riot occurred in the City of New York in 
 1863, in which thousands of Democrats resisted the draft and held 
 possession of many parts of the city for several days, murdering 
 a number of people. The Democratic Governor of the State, 
 Horatio Seymour, addressed the mob in front of City Hall, at 
 the height of the riot, and styled the lawless persons composing 
 it "my friends.'' The riot was finally suppressed by United 
 States troops, after considerable slaughter. In the State of 
 Indiana a formidable conspiracy under the title of the " Sons 
 of Liberty," was organized by the Democratic sympathizers with 
 the South, but was suppressed by the vigilance and courage of 
 Oliver P. Morton, the Republican Governor of the State. 
 
 In several of the States the Republicans in 1863 dropped their 
 party name and took that of the Union party, iu order to save 
 the feelings of the war Democrats who desired to co-operate 
 with them. The voting force of these war Democrats was com- 
 paratively small, but among them were a number of men of 
 undoubted patriotism and high position in the country. Most 
 of them continued to co-operate with the Republican party 
 during and after the war.
 
 HISTORY OF THK RBPUBLJCA1S JfARTJ. 49 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE EMANCIPATION OF SLAVERY. 
 
 THE Republican party did not enter the war with the purpose 
 of abolishing slavery. A few far-sighted men saw that tin- 
 struggle must end either in the separation of the South or the 
 freedom of the slaves, but the masses of the party did not look 
 beyond the suppression of the Rebellion and the preservation of 
 tiie Union. President Lincoln said that if he could save the 
 I'uion with slavery he would save it, and that if lie could save 
 it without slavery he would save it. As the war went on. tin- 
 folly of recognizing and protecting an institution which gave 
 the rebels a large force of laboring men to stay at home and 
 raise food for their armies became plainly apparent, and there 
 was a general demand for the abolition of slavery as a war meas- 
 ure. It was not, however, till April, 18C2, that slavery was abol- 
 ished in the District of Columbia, nor till June, 1864, that the 
 Fugitive Slave laws were repealed. In the early military opera- 
 tions against the Rebellion great care was taken not to excite 
 insurrections among the slaves, and the negroes who came into 
 our lines were treated as contraband property, so as not to be 
 restored to their masters. On September 22d, 1862, President 
 Lincoln issued his first proclamation of emancipation, which was, 
 in effect, a threat to the States then in rebellion that they would 
 lose their slaves unless they returned to the Union. He declared 
 that on January 1st following all persons held as slaves in any 
 State which should be then in rebellion should be then and for- 
 ever after free. On January 1st, 1863, no rebel State having 
 returned to the Union, he issued his second proclamation, des- 
 ignating the States and parts of States in rebellion, and order- 
 ing and declaring tha.t all persons held as slaves in such regions 
 u are and shall be free," and pledging the Government to main- 
 tain their freedom. " On this measure.'' said Lincoln, "I in-
 
 50 HISTORY OF TUB REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 voke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious 
 favor of God." This celebrated proclamation professed to be a 
 war measure, adopted by authority of the President as the coin- 
 mander-in-chief of the army and navy. 
 
 The Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution prohibiting 
 slavery in the United States passed the Senate in Apiil, 1864, 
 and the House in January, 1865, but was not ratified by a suffi- 
 cient number of States to make it va'id until nearly a year after 
 the end of the war. It was essentially a Republican measure, all 
 of the Republicans in Congress voting for it, and nearly all of 
 the Democrats voting against it. It will stand for all time as 
 the noblest of the many monuments which mark tho brilliant 
 history of the Republican party. Public sentiment was slow 
 to take' shape in favor of the total abolition of the curse of slav- 
 ery, but its progress was certain, and when the amendment Avas 
 ratified it was approved by the entire Republican party. For 
 some time afterward the Democratic party continued to de- 
 nounce the Thirteenth Amendment, declaring it void and of no 
 effect, but long ago even the most bigoted and stubborn Demo- 
 crats came to acquiesce not only to its validity but in its 
 justice and wisdom. 
 
 CHAPTER XVH. 
 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1864. 
 
 ANXIOUS to secure the co-operation of all men who favored the 
 prosecution of the war, the Republicans, in 1864. called a Union 
 National Convention to meet in Baltimore. The convention 
 renominated Abraham Lincoln for President, and nominated 
 Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, for Vice-President. The nomi- 
 nation of Lincoln was by acclamation, but there were a number 
 of candidates for the Vice-Presidency, prominent among whom 
 were Hannibal Hamliu and Daniel S. Dickinson. Prior to the
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 51 
 
 Baltimore Convention a small number of Republicans, dissatis- 
 fied .with the administration, and especially -with its leniency 
 toward rebels, met at Cleveland and nominated John C. Fre- 
 mont for President, and John Cochrane for Vice-President. 
 Tiieir convention demanded the suppression of the rebellion 
 without compromise, and the confiscation of the lands of the 
 rebels, and their distribution among soldiers and actual settlers. 
 General Fremont accepted the nomination but repudiated the 
 confiscation plank of the platform. Subsequently both the can- 
 didates withdrewffrom the field, and the whole movement ecl- 
 ipsed. The Democrats held their convention in Chicago, and 
 manifested open hostility to the continuance of the war. Bit- 
 ter speeches were made, denouncing the administration. A 
 platform was adopted declaring the war a failure, and attack- 
 ing those who carried it on for disregarding the Constitution, 
 treading upon public liberty, perverting right, and impairing 
 justice, humanity, and material prosperity. The convention 
 nominated for President General George B. McClellan, whose 
 half-hearted, dilatory course while in command of the army of 
 the Potomac was largely responsible for whatever failure had 
 characterized the war up to that time. George H. Pendleton. 
 of Ohio, was nominated for Vice-President. The platform 
 crippled the Democratic party in the canvass, for scarcely had it 
 been published when news came that Sherman had taken 
 Atlanta, and that Farragut had carried the defences of Mubile. 
 In the face of such victories as these the declaration that the 
 war was a failure sounded absurd and treasonable. 
 
 In the canvass of 18G4 the Democrats attacked the admiin'p. 
 tration for exceeding its constitutional powers in suspending the 
 habeas corpus and imprisoning rebel sympathizers and agents 
 in the North without trial. They did not openly a^ovv their 
 old theory, that the States could not be coerced; but they had 
 a great deal to say about the " bloody and endless war, brought 
 on by the anti-slavery agitators in the North." They denounced
 
 52 HISTORY OF THE REP UBLIVAN PARTY. 
 
 the emancipation proclamation and appealed to the prejudice 
 against the negroes, still very strong in the North, by asserting 
 that the war was an abolition war, carried on not to restore the 
 Union but to free the slaves. The Republicans had practically 
 but one argument to make, and that was, that it was the duty 
 of every patriot to sustain the Government in its efforts to crush 
 the Rebellion and save the Union. The result of the election 
 was the success of the Republicans by very large majorities. 
 Mr. Lincoln had the electoral vote of every State not in the 
 rebellion, except Kentucky, Delaware, and New Jersey. He 
 received 212 electoral votes against 21 cast for McClellan. His 
 popular vote was 2,213,665 against 1,802,237. The success 
 of the Republicans in this critical campaign assured the ul- 
 timate triumph of the Union arms in the field, confirmed the 
 emancipation of the slaves, and opened the way to the termina- 
 tion of the war. Had the Democrats prevailed, there is little 
 " reason to doubt that the war would have ended by a recognition 
 of the independence of the rebel States. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 SECURING THE FRUITS OF THE WAR THE STRUGGLE WITI! 
 ANDREW JOHNSON. 
 
 AFTER the Republican party had carried the war through to 
 a successful issue, destroying upon the battle-field the doctrine 
 of secession, and forcing the surrender of the rebel armies, it 
 was called upon to meet a new and very grave issue, involving 
 the security of the results of its past efforts. 
 
 Lincoln was assassinated in April, 1865, very soon after his 
 second inauguration. The Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, 
 became President. At first he was so radical and violent in 
 his, treatment of the conquered rebels that it was feared that
 
 HISTOB T OF THE REPUBLICAN PA RTT. 53 
 
 he intended to depart wholly from the policy of kindly firmness 
 .followed by Mr. Lincoln. Before many months, however, he 
 changed his attitude completely, and undertook to defeat the 
 will of his party in Congress in respedt to the reorganization 
 of the rebel States. He had been bitterly opposed to the dom- 
 inant element of the South all his life coming of ignorant, 
 poor white stock, and representing in his early career the antag- 
 onism of the non-slaveholding element in Tennessee against the 
 slaveholders ; but all at once, when trusted with the reins of 
 government, he manifested a stubborn purpose to carry out the 
 wishes of the leading Southern men and to give them control of 
 their local affairs. 
 
 The problem of restoring the Southern States to their rela- 
 tions to the Union was a difficult one, and the Republicans were 
 not at first wholly agreed as to its proper solution. After nearly 
 two years of consideration of the question, the party, however, 
 came with substantial unanimity to the ground that the rebel 
 States had forfeited their rights as States of the Union by the 
 act of rebellion, and had become unorganized communities, held 
 under the Constitution by conquest, and to be dealt with as 
 Congress might see fit. Their re-entry into the Union must, it 
 was maintained, be under such conditions as Congress should 
 prescribe. In the mean time they were kept under military 
 government, and were divided, for the purpose, into mili- 
 tary districts. The Democrats held that so soon as hostil- 
 ities ceased each rebel State had a right to reorganize its 
 own State Government, and to enter into all of the privileges of 
 a member of the national Union, without tiny interference or 
 dictation on the part of Congress. This was the theory advo- 
 cated by Andrew Johnson. Its purpose was to reinstate the 
 white men of the South in full control of their local govern- 
 ments, leaving them to deal with the emancipated negro popu- 
 lations as they saw fit, under the solitary restraint of the Thir- 
 teenth Amendment.
 
 54 mSTOZT OF THE REPUBLICAN PAETT. 
 
 After having emancipated the slaves, the Democrats held that 
 Congress had nothing more to do with them. The temporary 
 governments organized by the -whites in several of the Southern 
 States proceeded to pass codes of black laws, -which reduced 
 the negroes to a condition of serfdom, differing practically but 
 very little from the old condition of slavery. President Johnson 
 did not avowedly go over to the Democratic party : he kept Mr. 
 Seward and several other Republicans in his Cabinet, but his 
 policy toward the South was essentially a Democratic policy, 
 and was sustained by very few people in Congress or the coun- 
 try except the Democrats. A small body of office-holders stood 
 by him in order to retain their places, and became popularly 
 known as "the bread and butter brigade." In 1867, the 
 Republicans passed a series of acts, known as the Reconstruction 
 laws, providing for the establishment of new State governments 
 in the South. These laws allowed every man to vote, black or 
 white, except such as had previously taken an oath to support 
 the Constitution of the United States and had participated in 
 the Rebellion. This limitation disfranchised a very large por- 
 tion of the active and influential white men. President John- 
 son vetoed the Reconstruction acts, and they were passed over 
 his veto, the Republicans having at that time and throughout 
 his administration a two-thirds majority in both Houses. 
 
 The conduct of Johnson created a good deal of irritation nnd 
 bad feeling. He was regarded as a traitor to the Republican pni ty 
 and the stubbornness with which he clung to his idea of the 
 rights of the Southern States under the Constitution was gener- 
 ally believed among the Republicans to arise from a settled pur- 
 pose on his part to betray his parly and to destroy the substan- 
 tial results of its victory over the Rebellion. The intense dislike 
 and strong suspicion of Johnson which animated the greater 
 portion cf the Republican party resulted in the passage of 
 articles of impeachment against him, on the 22d of February, 
 1868. The specifications were based on the President's illegal
 
 HISTORY OP TUB REPUBLICAN PARTY. 55 
 
 removal of Edwin M. Stanton from the office of the Secretary of 
 War, his expressions in party speeches of contempt of Congress, 
 and his hindrance of the execution of some of its acts. The trial 
 began in the Senate on March 23d, and lasted nearly two months, 
 attracting the closest attention of the whole country. Johnson 
 was acquitted for lack of a two-thirds majority against him, 
 the vote on the several articles of impeachment standing, 
 guilty 35, not guilty 19. A few Republicans, led by Mr. Fessen- 
 den, of Maine, not believing him guilty of an offence warrant- 
 ing his removal from office, voted with the Democrats for his 
 acquittal. The general effect of his obstinate resistance to 
 Congress was to strengthen the Republican party, and the men 
 that deserted its ranks to follow him were so few in number 
 that they were scarcely missed. At one time Johnson appeared 
 to contemplate the formation of a, new party, of which he was 
 to be the leader ; but he ended, after his terra of office closed, in 
 joining the Democratic party, which sent him to the Senate from 
 Tennessee. 
 
 The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was adopted 
 in June, 1866, by Republican votes exclusively, in both Houses 
 of Congress. This amendment made the freed negroes citizens 
 of the United States and of the States in which they lived, and 
 prohibited any State frcm abridging or limiting the privileges 
 or immunities of citizens. It left each State to regulate the 
 right of voting, but if a State excluded any of its citizens on 
 account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, it lost 
 its representative and electoral strength proportionately. The 
 amendment also provided that no person should hold office in 
 the United States or any State who, not having taken the oath 
 to support the Constitution of the United States, and had joined 
 in the Rebellion ; but Congress might remove this disability by 
 a vote of two-thirds of each branch. It provided, further, that 
 neither the United States nor any State should assume or pay 
 any debt accrued in the aid of the Rebellion, or from any of tha
 
 "' HISTORY <-)F THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 losses from the emancipation of the slaves. The Democratic 
 party vehemently opposed this amendment, and it was not fully 
 ratified by the requisite number of States until July, 1868. 
 Long after its ratification the Democrats were in the habit of 
 condemning it as revolutionary, unconstitutional, null and void. 
 Subsequent experience did not justify all of its provisions. The 
 section creating a class of persons under disabilities in the 
 South was after a time deemed unwise by a large majority of 
 the Republicans, and was greatly modified by successive am- 
 nesty measures. 
 
 In 1866, the Civil Rights act was passed, providing severe 
 penalties against any person who under color of any law or 
 ordinance should attempt to deprive the freedmen of equal 
 rights or subject them to any penalty or prohibition different 
 from those to which the whites were subjected. This act as well 
 as Amendment XIV was vetoed by President Johnson, op- 
 posed by the Democrats, and passed by the Republicans over 
 that veto and in spite of that opposition. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OF 1868. 
 
 THE Presidential campaign of 1868 was fought upon the issues 
 growing out of the Reconstruction acts of Congress, the Amend- 
 ments to the Constitution, and the suffrage and citizenship the} 
 conferred upon the colored race. The Republican National 
 Convention met in Chicago, May 20th, and nominated General 
 Ulysses S. Grant for President by acclamation. A sharp con- 
 test took place over the Vice-Presidency. The first ballot re- 
 sulted as follows : Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, 115 ; Benjamin 
 F. Wade, of Ohio, 147 ; Reuben E. Fenton, of New York, 120 ; 
 Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, 119': Andrew G. Curtin, of
 
 HKTOR T OF THE KEF FBLTCA JT PA K TY. 5? 
 
 ;;sylvania, 51 ; Hannibal Hamlin. of Maine. 28 ; James M. 
 Speed, of Kentucky, 22 : James Harlan, of Iowa, 16 ; J. A. J. 
 (Jreswell, of Maryland, 14 ; W. D. Kelley. of Pennsylvania, 4 ; 
 S. C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, 6. On the fifth ballot Schuyler 
 Colfax was nominated, receiving 541 votes. The chief feature* 
 of the platform were the indorsements of the constitution;! ! 
 amendments securing the political and civil equality of the 
 blacks and of the Reconstruction acts of Congress. 
 
 The Democratic National Convention met in New York, July 
 tth, and nominated Horatio Seymour, of New York, for Presi- 
 dent, and Francis P. Blair, of Missouri, for Vice-President. 
 An attempt was made to liberalize the party and induce it to 
 cease its opposition to the results of the war. by the nomina- 
 tion of Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, who stood a little aloof 
 from the Republican party and held rather a neutral attitude. 
 It was unsuccessful. Moderate ideas prevailed, however, in the 
 platform, which was cautiously worded so as not to offend a 
 considerable number of Democrats who were in favor of what 
 was called " accepting the situation." Among the candidates 
 for the Presidency before the convention was General W. S. 
 Hancock, who received a large vote from men who desired to 
 make use of his military reputation as an offset to that of Gen- 
 eral Grant. The majority of the convention were not willing, 
 however, to nominate any man whose record of hostility to all 
 of the Republican measures during the last ten years was in any 
 way doubtful. The Democratic campaign was so bad a failure 
 that before it closed the leading Democratic newspaper organ de- 
 manded a change in the ticket as the only way of securing the 
 possibility of success. General Grant was elected by a popular 
 vote of 3,012,833 against 2,703,249. He carried all the States 
 except Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New 
 Jersey, New York, and Oregon. Three States Virginia, Missis- 
 sippi, and Texas had not gone through with the process of re- 
 construction and therefore had no vote. Of the electoral votes
 
 58 BISTORT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Grant received 214, and Seymour 80. After this overwhelming 
 defeat a growing sentiment in favor of accepting the results of 
 the war and ceasing the hopeless contest against the inevitable 
 took possession of the Democratic Party. The election was 
 exceedingly important in its influence upon the history of the 
 country. Had the Republicans been defeated the whole policy 
 of equal suffrage and citizenship would probably have been 
 overturned. That policy was completed and firmly secured a year 
 later by the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which 
 provided that neither the United States nor any State should 
 abridge the right of any citizen to vote on account of race, 
 color, or previous condition of servitude. The ratification of 
 this amendment by the requisite number of States was pro- 
 claimed March 20th, 1870. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 OF THE SOUTH CARPET-BAG-GOVERNMBXT THE 
 E.U-KLUX KLAN CONSPIRACY. 
 
 ENCOURAGED by President Johnson's opposition to the Recon- 
 struction acts to believe that they would in the end be set 
 aside, the white people of the States which had joined the Re- 
 bellion very generally refrained from taking part in the elec- 
 tions under these acts, and thus the newly enfranchised negroes 
 became suddenly possessed of almost unlimited political power. 
 With them acted a few respectable white natives who had 
 conscientiously opposed the war, a few enterprising Northern 
 emigrants who went South to invest their means and better 
 their fortunes, and a few adventurers attracted by the prospect 
 of office. This was a poor foundation on which to rear a stable 
 structure of local government. The mass of the white population 
 looked upon the negroes as they would upon so many cattle or 
 horses which they had been robbed of by the National Govern-
 
 OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 59 
 
 ment,*and regarded them in their quality of voters and citizens 
 with undisguised hat rod and contempt. The State Governments 
 established under the new order of things were the subject of 
 constant insult in the Southern papers, and were despised 
 and detested by the great mass of the native tax-paying people. 
 The poor whites were fully as hostile as the better classes. 
 To some extent the new governm2nts meiited the condemna- 
 tion they received. Most of them were ignorant and rapacious, 
 borrowing and wasting large sums of money, raising heavy 
 taxes, and creating numberless scandals. It made no difference, 
 fiowever, what was the character of the men connected with 
 these governments they were all denounced as thieves. North- 
 ern white men who had settled in the South, whether they held 
 office or not, were stigmatized as "carpet-baggers," and every 
 native white man who joined the Republican Party was de- 
 nounced as a " scallawag," and cut off from all social relations 
 with his neighbors. The carpet-bag governments, as they were 
 called, could not have existed for a moment without the sup- 
 port of the national authority. Troops were stationed in every 
 capital and principal city through the South, for the purpose 
 of awing the disaffected people and compelling obedience to 
 the local authorities. Even these means were not wholly effec- 
 tive, however. A secret organization sprang up as if by magic 
 in all parts of the South, whose members were exclusively 
 white men, hostile to the new order of things, and sworn to 
 accomplish the destruction of negro rule. This organization 
 was called the Ku-Klux Klan. Its ostensible purpose at first 
 was to keep the blacks in order and prevent them from com- 
 mitting small depredations upon the property of the whites, but 
 its real motives were essentially political. The members met in 
 secret conclaves, and rode about the country at night wearing 
 long gowns of black or scarlet cloth, with hideous masks or hoods 
 enveloping their heads. They murdered many of the negro 
 leaders, and in pursuance of their scheme for overawing the
 
 60 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PART?. 
 
 colored population took the poor blacks out of their cabins at 
 night and brutally tiogged them. In some neighborhoods 
 scarcely a colored raau escaped a visitation from these terrible 
 midnight riders. The negroes were invariably required to 
 promise not to vote the Republican ticket, and threatened with 
 death if they broke their promises. In some places the Ku-Klux 
 Klan assaulted Republican officials in their houses or offices or 
 upon the public roads ; in others they attacked the meetings of 
 negroes and dispersed them. Their action took almost every 
 form of lawlessness, and was adopted with the single purpose 
 of breaking down the authority of the Republican State and 
 local governments, and preparing the way for a Democratic 
 victory at the elections. The Ku-Klux Klan order and its vari- 
 ations extended throughout the entire South. In some localities it 
 was called by other names, such as the " White League," or the 
 " Knights of the White Camellia," and sometimes its members 
 appeared without disguise and made their murderous attacks 
 upon their political opponents in broad daylight. In such cases 
 it was given out by the Southern newspapers that a riot had 
 occurred, in which the blacks were the aggressors. Wherever 
 the facts were obtained by the investigations of committees of 
 Congress, it was found that this explanation was a false one, 
 and that whites were always the attacking party. 
 
 The Ku-Klux Klan were particularly active in the Northern 
 counties of South Carolina, and these counties were selected by 
 President Grant for the enforcement of an act of Congress, 
 passed by the Republicans, with the view of suppressing these 
 treasonable and murderous organizations. The habeas corpus 
 was suspended by Executive order in the five counties referred 
 to, a considerable body of troops was stationed there, and large 
 numbers of arrests were made by the soldiers. Nearly three hun- 
 dred Ku-Klux were imprisoned at one time at Yorkville, South 
 Carolina, under military guard. Their disguises and other articles 
 were captured, an'rl several of them made full confession of the
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 81 
 
 atrocities in which they had been engaged. A few were 
 selected for trial and were convicted and sentenced to imprison- 
 ment in the Albany Penitentiary. The rest were released on their 
 pledges of good behavior. The result of these severe measures 
 was to break up the Ku-Klux organizations throughout the 
 South. Hostility to negro suffrage and Republican govern- 
 ment subsequently took other forms of violence, but the whip- 
 ping and killing of defenceless people by masked midnight 
 riders was abandoned. 
 
 The Republicans of the North earnestly sustained the meas- 
 ures of the Government for the punishment of conspiracy and 
 of crime, and for the defense of the rights of their brethren in 
 the South. The inefficiency and corruption which characterized 
 most of the Southern State governments produced, however, 
 considerable effect upon the Northern mind, and in course of 
 time a large portion of the Northern Republicans grew weary 
 of the effort to sustain those governments by armed force. 
 Thus there came to be a division in the party, one element 
 believing it to be the duty of the administration to continue its 
 policy of interference in Southern affairs, and the other con- 
 tending that the difficult problem of good government and equal 
 rights in that section could be best worked out by the Southern 
 people themselves, without any outside pressure. The stories of 
 Southern outrages grew monotonous and wearisome. Many 
 people doubted their authenticity, because from their own ex- 
 perience in the law-abiding communities of the North they could 
 not conceive of a state of things so wholly foreign to anything 
 they had observed at home. It did not seem reasonable that men 
 should be guilty of such barbarous acts as were done in the 
 South for the purpose of gaining political power. All reference 
 to those acts and arguments drawn from them were char- 
 acterized, in the political parlance of the time, as " waving the 
 bloody shirt," and lost their effect upon the public mind. 
 Nevertheless only a small part of the truth concerning the state
 
 63 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 
 
 of affairs in the South between 1867 and 1876 was ever made 
 known. It is not extravagant to assert that more men lost their 
 lives during that period for the sole crime of being Republicans 
 than fell on any one battle-field of the war 
 
 In the course of eight years of President Grant's administra- 
 tion the white Democrats of the South succeeded in getting 
 possession of all of their States except South Carolina, Florida, 
 and Louisiana overcoming the Republican majorities by a sys- 
 tem of intimidation, violence, and fraud. The three remaining 
 States passed into their hands immediately after the accession of 
 President Hayes. President Grant's policy toward the South 
 was not uniform and consistent. At times he was exceedingly 
 firm in his defense of the so-called carpet-bag governments, but 
 at other times he was yielding or indifferent, and allowed the 
 processes for the destruction of those governments to go on 
 without interference. Toward the close of his official career he 
 came to the conclusion that it was unwise to longer attempt to 
 support by Federal bayonets authority which was obnoxious to 
 the influential and intelligent tax-paying classes of the South. 
 In this conclusion a large portion of the Republicans sympa- 
 thized, but their opinion did not in the least modify their feel- 
 ings of condemnation of the methods by which the Southern 
 Democrats had overturned the Republican State governments in 
 that section. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 DEFENDING THE NATIONAL HONOK AND THE PUBLIC CREDIT, 
 
 IT is now time to refer to a portion of the career of the Re- 
 publican Party which reflected great houor upon it, and entitled 
 it anew to the respect and gratitude of the country. At ihc 
 end of the war the United States owed an enormous bonded 
 debt. In addition it had outstanding a large volume of paper
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 63 
 
 currency, issued with the understanding that it should bo re- 
 deemed in coin as soon as the Government was able to do so. 
 In 1867, after the floating obligations remaining from the war 
 had been gathered in and funded, the question of how to deal 
 with the debt and the currency was taken up in earnest by the 
 Republicans in Congress. Their plans met with vehement op- 
 position from a large portion of the Democratic Party. A new 
 and preposterous theory was advanced, to the effect that the 
 notes of the Government, called greenbacks, were actual money 
 instead of promises to pay money, and that the bonded debt of 
 the United States could be lawfully and honorably discharged 
 with these notes. This theory started in the West and was 
 called at first " Pendletonism, " from the fact that Pendleton, 
 the Democratic candidate for Vice-President in 1864, was 
 among its early and prominent advocates. It was claimed by 
 the supporters of this theory that as greenbacks were real money 
 the country ought to have a large supply of them. They fa- 
 vored an immediate issue of hundreds ard even thousands of 
 millions of dollars. All of the bonds that were hot specifically 
 made payable in coin they proposed to pay off at once in green- 
 backs, and thus stop the interest upon them. The paper money 
 idea soon developed into a great popular mania in, the West. 
 Many Republicans were carried away by it, but the majority of 
 the party firmly resisted it. Not much headway was made by 
 this dangerous and dishonest heresy cast of the Alleghany 
 Mountains, but beyond that line, clear through to the far West, 
 the excitement raged for several years. It must be said, in 
 credit of the Democrats of the East, that they gave no assistance 
 to the greenback idea. As a party, however, the Democrats 
 may truthfully be said to have advocated it, since the great bulk 
 of the Democratic representation in Congress came from the 
 West and the South, where the mania was widely prevalent. 
 However much praise the few Democrats who opposed the 
 scheme are entitled to, it is certain that it could not have been
 
 64 HISTORY OF THE REP UBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 defeated had not the Republican Party aa a national organiza- 
 tion set its face firmly against it. 
 
 Many of the advocates of inflation having cut loose from the 
 principles of common honesty soon became repudationists, and 
 formed a party by themselves, called the Greenback party. They 
 proposed to pay off the whole of the debt in, greenbacks, and 
 never redeem the greenbacks, but let them wear out and perish. 
 They even went so far as to pas's resolutions in their conven- 
 tions declaring that all taxation should cease and that the Gov- 
 ernment should support itself by issuing paper money. A con- 
 stant struggle against inflation schemes was kept up by the Re- 
 publicans in Congress for more than a decade, and was only 
 ended by the successful resumption of specie payments on the 
 first of January, 1879. In all of this time the Republican Party 
 was vigilant and firm in defending the national honor, and pre- 
 venting its credit from suffering by the repeated assaults upon 
 it which came from the Democratic and Greenback Parties. 
 The party which saved the Union and abolished slavery was 
 called upon to'save the credit and honor of the country, and 
 prevent its currency from becoming worthless, and it nobly re- 
 sponded to the call. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE LIBERAL DEFECTION AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1872. 
 
 CONSIDERABLE dissatisfaction was felt in the Republican 
 Party at the course of President Grant's administration. A 
 mall element of conscientious men, many of whom had aided 
 hi forming the party, believed that his policy toward the South 
 .vas unwise, and that it was time to inaugurate an era of peace, 
 reconciliation, and good feeling. They also wanted to see a 
 policy of civil service reform established, by which merit should
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 65 
 
 Iv the test for public office, and Government officials should 
 *tick to their legitimate business, and not devote their time to 
 managing caucuses and conventions in the interest of party 
 M-iidcrs who had secured them their appointments. 
 
 Grant's project for annexing San Domingo created a good 
 deal of opposition, and many of his appointments to office were 
 of a character not to commend themselves to the public judg- 
 ment. An open breach occurred between him and several Re- 
 publican leaders in Congress, chief among whom were Senators 
 Sumner, Schurz, and Trumbull. Long and acrimonious debates 
 over the San Domingo matter and a sale of arms to the French 
 Government served to widen the breach. The opponents of 
 General Grant believed that his control over all of the Federal 
 office-holders was so great and their control over the machinery 
 of the conventions was so perfect that his renomination would 
 be brought about in spite of any amount of antagonistic feeling 
 that might exist in the party, so they determined to make a 
 demonstration which would show to the country that they 
 would not in any event support Grant for a second term. They 
 took the name of " Liberal Republicans," and held a National 
 Convention in Cincinnati, in May, 1872. Once assembled they 
 were surprised at their own apparent strength and at the num- 
 ber of old-time Republicans who came to co-operate with them. 
 The plan of the leaders of the movement was to nominate 
 Charles Francis Adams for President. Some of them believed 
 that so excellent and fit a nomination would so commend itself 
 :o the whole Republican Party that General Grant would be 
 dropped. Adams failed of a majority on the first ballot, and 
 the convention was stampeded by a movement in behalf of 
 Horace Greeley, who received the nomination on the sixth 
 ballot, having 482 votes to 187 for David Davis, of Illinois. 
 Governor B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, was named for Vice- 
 Pi 'osideat on the second ballot. The regular Republicans paid 
 no attention to these nominations.* They stigmatized the move-
 
 Cfi HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 tnent as one of soreheads and bolters, and in their own con- 
 vention, held in Philadelphia in June, nominated President 
 Grant for re-election by acclamation. A brisk contest over the 
 Vice-Presidency occurred between Schuyler Colfax, the incum- 
 bent of the office, and Henry Wilson, a Senator from Massachu- 
 setts, in which Wilson was successful, receiving 364-^ votes to 
 321^ for Colfax. The platform of the Liberal Republicans de- 
 manded that sectional issues should be buiied, that good-will 
 should be cultivated, between sections, that the constitutional 
 amendments in all the settlements of the war should be re- 
 garded as finalities, that civil service reform should be under- 
 taken, and that specie payments should be immediately restored. 
 The platform of the regula/ Republicans rehearsed the glorious 
 history of the Republican Party and reaffirmed its well-known 
 distinctive principles of equal political and civil rights and a 
 firm maintenance of the national credit and honor. 
 
 The Democrats found themselves in a painful dilemma. If 
 they nominated a ticket of their own there was not the slight- 
 est chance of electing it. If they indorsed the Liberal Repub- 
 lican ticket they would have to abandon all of the ideas for 
 which they had been contending since I860. Their convention 
 met at Baltimore in July and chose the latter horn of the 
 dilemma. In spite of the bald inconsistency of the proceeding, 
 the party which had defended slavery and opposed the sup- 
 pression of the Rebellion nominated as its candidate for Presi- 
 dent a most conspicuous antagonist of slavery, a life-long op- 
 ponent of the South, and a zealous advocate of all measures 
 which had been adopted for crushing the Rebellion and giving 
 freedom and citizenship to the blacks. This apparent conver- 
 sion of a great party and this acknowledgment of the error of 
 its ways would have been sublime if it had been sincere, but the 
 object of most of the Democratic leaders was only to obtain 
 office and political patronage. Horace Greeley made no pledges 
 to them, and he avowed potth^e slightest alteration in his opin-
 
 HISTORY OF THK REPUBLICAN PARTY. 67 
 
 ions on the issues of the time. They hoped, however, that if 
 they succeeded in electing him a sense of gratitude would in- 
 duce him to give them place and power. The campaign was a 
 very animated one at first, but after the Republicans carried 
 North Carolina in August and Pennsylvania in October it be- 
 came evident that the Greeley coalition could not win, and 
 thenceforward the Democratic aud Liberal canvass lost all 
 vitality. A large number of the Republicans left their party to 
 follow their old anti-slavery leader, Horace Greeley, but their 
 votes were more than counterbalanced by those of Democrats 
 who refused to support him. This class had a candidate of 
 their own in Charles O'Conor, who was nominated by a conven- 
 tion held at Louisville. He received but a small vote, however. 
 Mo-tf, anti-Greeley Democrats contented themselves with stay- 
 ing at home on election day. Some of them voted for Grant, 
 to show iii a marked manner their hostility to the course of 
 their party. Grant carried all the States except Georgia, 
 Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas. His 
 popular vote was 3,597,070. The vote for Greeley was 2,834,- 
 070. O'Oonor received 29,408 votes, and Black 5608. Horace 
 Greeley died before the electoral colleges met. The electoral 
 vote a.s cast by the colleges was as follows : Grant, 286 ; Hend- 
 rieks, 42 ; Brown, 18 ; C. J. Jenkins, 2 ; David Davis, 1 ; un- 
 counted because cast for Horace Greeley, 17. 
 
 The Liberal defection seriously weakened the Republican 
 Party in the State campaigns of the three folio wing years, but in 
 1876 the breach was fully healed, and with the exception of a 
 few leaders who joined the Democrats the whole body of Lib- 
 erals returned to their old party allegiance in the Presidential 
 campaign of that year.
 
 68 HISTORY OF THE HEP UBLICAN. PARTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 PRESIDENT GRANT'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION CAMPAIGN 
 OF 1876. 
 
 REPUBLICAN divisions continued to a considerable extent 
 during the second administration of President Grant. The dis- 
 satisfied members of the party did not, however, form any po- 
 litical organization, but contented themselves with holding 
 themselves aloof from the State campaigns. Several painful 
 scandals affecting the appointees and personal friends of Presi- 
 dent Grant added to the unpopularity of the administration. In 
 1874, the feeling of distrust and dislike culminated and resulted 
 in an astonishing series of Democratic victories at the State and 
 Congressional elections. A large number of Northern States 
 that had been steadfastly Republican were carried by the Demo- 
 crats. Even Massachusetts, which had given heavy Republican 
 majorities ever since the party was formed, elected a Democratic 
 Governor. In short, there was a reaction against the Republi- 
 cans throughout the country of such magnitude and importance 
 that many would-be prophets predicted the speedy death of the 
 party, asserting that its mission was fulfilled, its work done, and 
 its career closed. The Democrats elected a majority of the 
 members of the National House of Representatives, and thus in 
 the following year came into possession of one branch of Con- 
 gress for the first time since 1860. 
 
 It was not long before the Republicans who had deserted 
 their party and thus helped its enemy to a substantial victory 
 began to realize that they had made a grave mistake. They 
 saw that to trust the party of slavery and rebellion with the 
 power in the National Government was to run the risk of seri- 
 ously compromising the results of the war. The State elections 
 of 1875 showed the result of this conviction, for must of the old 
 Republican States which had been lost in 1874 were regained.
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 69 
 
 An exceedingly thorough and brilliant canvass was made in 
 Ohio upon the financial question. The Democrats of that State 
 fully indorsed what was known as the soft-money idea. They 
 opposed the act for the resumption of specie payments, passed 
 by Congress in January of that year, demanded the issue of 
 more irredeemable greenbacks, and asserted that the interest on 
 the public debt should be paid in paper money, and some of 
 their orators and newspapers went so far as to demand the pay- 
 ment of the principal of the debt in the same kind of currency. 
 The Democratic nominee for Governor was William Allen, 
 popularly known as " old Bill Allen," who already held the 
 place by virtue of the election of 1873. This venerable poli- 
 tician personified for a time the soft-money delusion, which got 
 the name of "the Ohio idea," and wns commonly ridiculed by 
 its opponents as " the rag baby." The Republican candidate 
 was Rutherford B. Hayes, who had been Governor for two 
 terms, from 1868 to 1872. Taking ground in favor of hon- 
 est money redeemable in coin and an honest payment of the 
 national debt, the Republicans carried the State by a small 
 majority and turned the tide of inflation. The campaign at- 
 tracted national attention to Mr. Hayes, and made him the can- 
 didate of his State for the Presidential nomination in 1876. 
 
 The Republicans held their National Convention at Cincin- 
 nati on June 14th, 1870. James G. Elaine, of Maine, was the 
 leading candidate, and his nomination was regarded as almost a 
 certainty when the balloting began. The other prominent 
 candidates were Oliver P. Morton, cf Indiana ; Roscoe Conk- 
 ling, of New York ; Benjamin F. Bristow, of Kentucky, and 
 John F. Hartranft, of Pennsylvania. Bristow's power came, 
 as a rule, from the clement most dissatisfied with President 
 Grant's administration. Bristow had been Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury, and had differed with the President about the prosecution 
 of certain persons in the West concerned in the frauds on the 
 revenue. A personal quarrel arose, and Biistow resigned hi>
 
 70 HISTORY OF THE XKPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 place in the Cabinet. The supporters of Morton, Conkling, and 
 Hartranft were, in the main, warm friends of the administra- 
 tion. Those of Mr. Elaine were drawn from both elements by 
 his great personal popularity and his reputation as a Congres- 
 sional leader. A combination between the forces of Morton, 
 Conkling, Hartranft, and Hayes, -and a portion of those of Bris- 
 low defeated Elaine and nominated Hayes on the seventh bal- 
 lot, the vote standing, Hayes, 384 ; Elaine, 351 ; Bristow, 81. 
 V, illiam A. Wheeler, an old and influential representative in 
 Congress from the State of New York, was nominated for Vice- 
 President with little opposition. Mr. Hayes' nomination proved 
 to be a popular and fortunate one. He had an excellent mili- 
 tary and civil record and no personal enemies, and he united 
 all of the jarring elements of the Republican organization. 
 
 The Democratic Convention met in St. Louis on the 27th of 
 June, and on the second ballot nominated Samuel J. Tilden, of 
 New York for President. His principal competitors were, 
 Hendricks, of Indiana ; Allen, of Ohio, and General Hancock, 
 of the army. Tilden had just served a term as Governor of 
 New York, and had won considerable reputation as a reformer 
 by his hostility to the canal ring, and to the corrupt Tammany 
 organization in the City of New York. The Democrats ran. 
 their canvass almost exclusively on what they called the reform 
 line. They claimed that the Republican Party had grown cor- 
 rupt with long lease of power. They vigorously attnnked the 
 administration of President Grant, made the most of all the 
 scandals, true or false, which had grown out of it, and pre- 
 sented their candidate as a man who would sweep the public 
 service clean of all abuses as with a new broom. 
 
 The Republican canvass consisted mainly of an attack on the 
 bad record of the Democratic Party and a cry of alarm at the 
 solidity of the section of the country late in rebellion. A 
 good deal was nride out of the enormous Southern claims pre- 
 sented in Congress for war damages, and an effective attack was
 
 TTIRTO RY OF THE REP UBL WA N PART T. 7 1 
 
 up against Mr. Tildeu on account of his failure to pay a 
 amount of money due from him to the Government as in- 
 ome tax, and also on account of his sharp financial operations in 
 nnpction with certain Western railroads. Three insignificant 
 mmor organizations placed candidates in the field for the cam- 
 paign of 1876. The Greenback Party, an organization of fan- 
 tastic theorists and small demagogues, took up the so-called 
 Ohio idea, which the Democrats had refused to indorse in their 
 St. Louis platform, and endeavored to build upon it a great 
 political organization. They nominated for President the vener- 
 able New York philanthropist, Peter Cooper, and for Vice-Presi- 
 <l*~-nt Samuel F. Gary, of Ohio, a popular orator who had be- 
 longed to nearly every political organization which had existed 
 in his life-time. The Prohibitionists held a convention in Cleve- 
 land and nominated for President Green Clay Smith, of Ken- 
 tucky, and for Vice-President, Gideon T. Stewart, of Ohio, on 
 a platform demanding a constitutional amendment prohibiting 
 the liquor traffic. A mass meeting was held in Pittsburg, 
 which attempted to start a new organization called the Ameri- 
 can National Party. James B. Walker, of Illinois, was nomi- 
 nated for President, and Donald Kirkpatrick, of New York, for 
 Vice-President. The platform favored the recognition of God 
 and the Sabbath in the Constitution, demanded prohibitory 
 liquor laws, and denounced all secret societies. The movement 
 proved abortive, and nothing was heard of it during the 
 canvass. 
 
 The campaign of 1876 was exceedingly animated, and was 
 closely contested in all parts of the Union except the Southern 
 States, where the Democrats had already gained control. The 
 popular vote was follows : Tilden, 4,284,757 ; Hayes, 4,033,- 
 950 ; Cooper, 81,740 ; Smith, 9,522. The electoral vote, as 
 finally decided by a commission created to settle the dispute 
 about the returns, was, Hayes, 185 ; Tilden, 184.
 
 72 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE ELECTORAIi COUNT. 
 
 BOTH parties claimed to have carried the Presidential election 
 of 1876, and before the question was decided the country was 
 brought uncomfortably near to the verge of civil war. The result 
 turned upon the votes of South Carolina, Florida, and Louisi- 
 ana, which were certified by the State authorities to have btcn 
 cast for Hayes and Wheeler. In each of those States Demo- 
 cratic electors claimed to have been elected, and sent contesting 
 returns to Washington. Great excitement prevailed through- 
 out the country. Politicians of both parties hurried to the dis- 
 puted States to witness the counts of the popular vote and 
 supervise the action of the rival electoral colleges. In South 
 Carolina, which the Republicans had previously carried by 
 7najorities averaging 30,000, the Democrats organized rifle 
 clubs during the campaign to systematically intimidate colored 
 voters. These rifle clubs moved about the country fully armed, 
 and uniformed in red shirts, broke up Republican meetings, and 
 spread terror among the black population. The whole State 
 seemed like an armed camp. The effect produced by this mili- 
 tary organization on the minds of the timid colored people was 
 greatly increased by the Ellenton and Hamburg massacres, in 
 which a large number of negroes were killed. An account of 
 these occurrences would be foreign to the purpose of this work. 
 It is enough to say that the white Democrats were the aggres- 
 sors and the colored Republicans the victims, and that the 
 Republicans were convinced that both of the affairs grew out 
 of the purpose of the Democrats to so terrify the blacks that a 
 large proportion of them would be afraid to vote. As first re- 
 turned there appeared to bo a small majority for Tilden in South 
 Carolina. The board of canvassers threw out the votes of two 
 counties, acting in this matter by the plain authority of the
 
 HISTORY OF TUB: REPUBLICAN PARTY. 73 
 
 1 i\vs of the State, and gave certificates to the Hayes electors, 
 lu Florida there was a little violence and a good deal of fraud, 
 with the same result as in the case of South Carolina. 
 hi Louisiana the Republicans, judging from elections of previ- 
 ous years, had a large and certain majority. The Democrats 
 selected five of the heaviest of the Republican parishes for a 
 - .pecies of campaigning known as bulldozing. It was practi 
 >;;illy the South Carolina rifle club system, \vhich, it may be 
 mentioned, originated in Mississippi' in the State canvass of 
 1875, and was currently known in the South as the " Mississippi 
 plan." In Louisana, however, it was somewhat modified and 
 combined with features borrowed from the old Ku-Klux Elan. 
 The scheme of the Democrats was well conceived, for if they 
 could by their acts of violence overcome the Republican 
 majorities in those five counties they could carry the State. 
 The only alternative for the Republicans who controlled the 
 State Government would, they thought, be to throw out the 
 returns of the five counties entirely, and in that event the Demo- 
 crats would also win the election. The returning board, com- 
 posed of Republicans, was authorized by law to count and tabu- 
 late the votes and reject those from the precincts where the 
 election had been vitiated by fraud or violence, and by this 
 :iuthority the board threw out the five bulldozed parishes, which 
 left the Democrats a majority; but it also threw out a num- 
 'x'r of precincts in other parishes, so that the Republicans had a 
 majority on the final count. The action of the board was purely 
 legal, but it was violently assailed as wicked and corrupt by the 
 Democrats. In a moral point of view the defeat of the Demo- 
 cratic scheme for carrying the State by terrorizing the Republi- 
 can voters in five of the strongest Republican parishes was 
 certainly justifiable. 
 
 When the Democrats saw that they had lost South Carolina, 
 Florida, and Louisiana, and that Hayes would have a majority 
 of one in the electoral count, they attempted to set up a bogus
 
 74 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 electoral college in Oregon. Five thousand dollars were sent 
 out from Ixew York to pay expenses, and more money was 
 promised if the plot succeeded. Governor Grover, a Democrat, 
 making himself the judge of the qualifications of the Oregon 
 electgrs, decided that one of them was not competent, and com- 
 missioned the defeated Democratic candidate, named Cronin, 
 in his place. Cronin held an electoral college by himself, 
 appointed two other Democrats to fill vacancies, and sent on a 
 pretended return to Washington. 
 
 The Democrats had a majority in the House of Representa- 
 tives and the Republicans in the Senate, and there was a dead- 
 lock for a time over the question of the powers of the two 
 Houses concerning the electoral count. The Democrats held 
 that if one House should reject a return it could not be count- 
 ed, while the Republicans took the ground that a concurrence of 
 both Houses was necessary for the disfranchisement of a State, 
 or the rejection of any part of its vote. It was also maintained 
 by many Republicans, though not by all, that the President of 
 the Senate was. empowered by the Constitution to count the re- 
 turns, and thai? the two Houses were only present in joint con- 
 vention as official witnesses. This opinion had the support of 
 the authority of many, of the framers of the Constitution, and it 
 was beyond dispute that the returns of all the early Presidential 
 elections were counted in this way. Fortunately, a com- 
 promise was reached and a bill was passed, providing that all 
 returns objected to by either House should be referred to a 
 commission composed of five Senators, five Representatives, 
 and five Justices of the Supreme Court, and that the decisions 
 of the commission should stand unless overturned by the con- 
 current vote of both Houses. With few exceptions the leading 
 men of both parties united in this compromise. It was consid- 
 ered a patriotic thing to allay public excitement and avoid the 
 growing danger of civil war by submitting the whole contro- 
 versy to a judicial settlement. In the organization of the
 
 HISTORY OF TEE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 75 
 
 tribunal the representatives from the two Houses of Congress 
 were evenly divided between the two parties. Two of the 
 Supreme Court Justices selected had Republican antecedents 
 and two Democratic, and the choice of the fifth justice was left 
 to these four. The Democrats supposed that their choice would 
 fall upon Justice Davis of Illinois, but Davis was elected to the 
 Senate by the. Legislature of the State, and having thus stepped 
 down from the bench into party politics, was not available. 
 Justice Bradley, of New Jersey, was therefore selected. The 
 questions before the tribunal were argued for weeks by some of 
 the ablest lawyers in the country. On divisions the vote 
 invariably stood eight to seven, the eight Republicans voting 
 together, and the seven Democrats showing equal solidity. The 
 Republicans took the ground that Congress had no right to go 
 back of the regular formal returns of any State, to take up 
 questions concerning frauds in elections or counts. The Demo- 
 crats abandoned for a time, in their extreme party necessity, 
 their old State rights doctrine, and contended that Congress 
 could set aside the regular returns and investigate the facts on 
 which they were based. The adoption of this theory would 
 have resulted in making Presidential elections useless, because 
 no disputed election could ever be settled in the interval 
 between the meetings of the electoral colleges in Decem- 
 ber and the time for the inauguration of the new President on 
 the 4th of March. Eithei party could prolong an investigation 
 till after March 4th, and thus enable the Senate to place its 
 presiding officer in the Presidential chair. 
 
 The decisions of the commission made Rutherford B. Haye? 
 President of the United States, giving him a majority of onr 
 electoral vote over Samuel J. Tilden. There was much menac- 
 ing talk among the Democrats for a time about inauguratir; 
 Tilden and supporting him with the militia of the States havin 
 Democratic Governors. The House of Representatives passed 
 resolutions declaring Tilden to be the lawfully elected Presi-
 
 70 HIS TOR Y OF THE R KP UBLIOA N PA RTT. 
 
 dent. An attempt was made by tlie Democrats of that body to 
 filibuster so as to consume the time tiii noon on the 4th of 
 March, and thus prevent the completion of the count. This 
 scheme would have been carried out had it not been for the 
 opposition of many of the Southern Democrats, who showed 
 much more moderation and patriotism at this juncture than did 
 their brethren at the North. The count was completed just in 
 time, and Hayes was duly inaugurated without opposition. For 
 years afterward, however, indeed up to the present time, it has 
 been the fashion of the Democrats to denounce the Electoral 
 Commission for which their own party leaders were as much 
 responsible as those of the Republican Party, and to stigmatize 
 Mr. Hayes as a fraudulent President. Mr. Hayes's title, legally 
 and morally, is just as clear as that of any President who ever 
 occupied the White House. He had a majority of the elec- 
 toral votes legally returned and legally counted, and if a fair 
 election had been permitted in the South by the rifle clubs and 
 bulldozing organizations he would have had a large majority of 
 the popular vote. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 PRESIDENT HATES' ADMINISTRATION THE SOUTHERN QUESTION 
 CIVIL SEKVICE REFORM. 
 
 PRESIDENT GRANT went out of office with a great many oppo- 
 nents in his own party, and a great many devoted friends. His 
 administration failed to keep the Republican Party united, but 
 perhaps it was too strong and its majorities too large for har- 
 mony to prevail. It seems to be a law of parties that when one 
 greatly overtops the other for a series of years it begins to crum- 
 ble. If it has the binding force of principle, however, the disin- 
 tegration only throws off some of the surface material, and 
 ceases when it is brought down to about the size of the oppos-
 
 Hf STORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 77 
 
 ing party. The mistakes President Grant made in regard to 
 persons <md policy will hardly be remembered in history, and 
 iu'cd not be dwelt ou here. Future generations will think ef 
 only two things in connection with his eight years in the White 
 House, and both will be regarded as bright and enduring honors 
 worthily added to his great military fame that he held the 
 country firmly up to the results of the war, and that he stood 
 like a rock to stem the current of the paper-money inflation 
 mania. To the title of victor over the Rebellion which he won 
 at Appomattox may truthfully be added that of defender of 
 the public credit and protector of the principle of equal rights 
 for all citizens. 
 
 When Mr. Hayes entered upon the duties of the Presidential 
 office, rival State governments existed in South Carolina and 
 Louisiana. The Florida imbroglio had been settled by the 
 action of the State Supreme Court. In South Carolina the 
 Republicans claimed to have elected Governor Chamberlain by 
 the same vote which chose the Presidential electors. The 
 Democrats claimed that Wade Hampton was lawfully elected. 
 Each party had inaugurated its Governor, and each had a 
 Legislature in session the Republicans in the State House, pro- 
 tected by a force of United States troops, the Democrats in a 
 building hired for the purpose. After a delay of over a 
 month, which was unfortunate because irritating to the public 
 mind both North and South, the President ordered the troops 
 to withdraw from the State House, and the Chamberlain gov- 
 ernment instantly ceased to exist. The Hampton government 
 took possession of the State House without opposition, admit- 
 ted a portion of the members of the Republican Legislature, and, 
 professing an intention to forget the past and to treat all citi- 
 zens fairly, assumed complete control of the State. 
 
 In Louisiana the condition of things was more complicated 
 than in South Carolina. The Republicans, under Governor 
 Packard, had a complete State government installed in the State
 
 78 HISTOR T OF THE REP UBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 House in New Orleans, but it could not make its authority re 
 spectcd in the State, and was actually a close prisoner in the 
 Capitol building. The Democrats, under Governor Nicholls, ran 
 a government in Odd Fellows Hall, and having a large force of 
 well-disciplined white militia at their command were nble to 
 enforce their authority. With their troops and with the police 
 of New Orleans they so overawed the Republican officials, 
 legislators, and guards that they did not venture to cross an 
 imaginary line drawn through the middle of the streets sur- 
 rounding the State House. In a building adjoining the State 
 House a regiment of United States troops was quartered, and R 
 passage was opened between the two structures so that the 
 soldiers could go to the assistance of Governor Packard in case 
 of an attack. Throughout the State the Democrats had dis- 
 placed the Republican local officials chosen at the fall election, 
 and thus controlled the judiciary and the county offices in all 
 the parishes except those in the sugar- plan ting region, where 
 the blacks were in an overwhelming majority. A few unprinci- 
 pled colored men went back and forth between the two Legis- 
 latures, making a quorum in whatever body they appeared. 
 President Hayes sent a commission to New Orleans to effect a 
 compromise if possible. Its members were Judge Lawrence, of 
 Illinois. General Hawley, of Connecticut, Wayne McVeagh, 
 of Pennsylvania, Judge Harlan, of Kentucky, and ex-Gov- 
 ernor Brown, of Tennessee. It was finally arranged that the 
 Nicholls government should be allowed to go on, that a 
 Legislature should be made up of the two conflicting organ- 
 izations, that the troops should be withdrawn from protecting 
 Packard, and that no prosecutions for political reasons should 
 be commenced against Republicans. Governor Packard did 
 not assent to these terms. Seeing that he could not sustain him- 
 self, he abandoned the State House, and the Nicholls govern- 
 ment moved in. The Democrats soon broke faith by begin 
 tiinsr criminal suits against members of the Returning Board for
 
 HTSTOR Y OP THE HEP VELIO AN PARTY. 79 
 
 the purpose, as was generally reported, of forcing the adminis- 
 tration to give them control of the New Oileans Custom House 
 patronage. The State Supreme Court finally put a stop to these 
 proceedings. The Senate at "Washington admitted Kellogg, 
 the Senator chosen by the Packard Legislature, thus virtually 
 recognizing the legality of the Packard government, but in the 
 case of South Carolina it seated Butler, whom the Democratic 
 Legislature had chosen, while still in a fragmentary and illegal 
 condition. This was done as a compromise, but two years later 
 the Democrats sought to unseat Kellogg, and were only pre- 
 vented by three or four Southern Senators breaking away from 
 the party caucus, and sustaining Kellogg on the ground that 
 his case was res adjudicata. 
 
 President Hayes' action in the South Carolina and Louisiana 
 affairs gave rise to severe criticism and active opposition in the 
 Republican Party. A portion of the Republicans calling them- 
 selves " stalwarts" insisted that the titles of Chamberlain and 
 Packard were just as good as that of Mr. Hayes, and should 
 have been defended with the whole power of the Government, 
 if necessary. Another clement believed that the experiment of 
 sustaining Southern governments with Federal bayonets had 
 failed to prod\ice order, prosperity, and security of the civil 
 rights of the negroes, and that the only course left was to 
 let the Southern States alone to manage their own affairs. 
 
 Whatever might be the legal and moral title of Packard and 
 Chamberlain, this latter class argued, it was impolitic to sustain 
 with armed force authority which could not make itself re- 
 spected. This class hoped that the policy of non-interference 
 would soon lead to the division of the Southern whites, to the 
 blotting out of the color line in Southern politics, and to the 
 growth of a new Republican organization, composed of both 
 whites and blacks. They were encouraged in this belief by 
 the statements of many prominent Southern men, who said, 
 " Give us home rule, and the feeling of intolerance toward tho
 
 80 HISTORY OF THE HEPUBLICAN PAET7. 
 
 Republican Party will cease." Thus far the hope of a division 
 iu the " solid South" has not been verified. Opposition to the 
 Democratic Party in that section is still regarded as iu some 
 sort treason to the interests of the South, us though ilu- South 
 were not a component part of the United States, but -a political 
 entity separate and apart. In most of the Southern States no 
 opposition is made to the negroes voting as they please, but the 
 counting and return of the votes are in the hands of the Demo- 
 cratic officials, and public opinion, so far as it is shaped by the 
 respectable white classes, justifies any fraud that is necessary 
 to wipe out Republican majorities. In Louisiana, in 1878, un- 
 provoked and brutal massacres of negroes took place in three 
 parishes, with the evident purpose of preventing the Republi- 
 cans from carrying the election. 
 
 Besides the Southern question, there came up another issue 
 upon which Republicans disagreed. An agitation began 
 during President Grant's administration for a reform in the 
 civil service. Grant yielded to it so far as to create a comis- 
 sion which prescribed rules for the examination of candidates 
 for office. The movement went beyond this and demanded that 
 appointments should not be made as a reward for party service ; 
 that the public offices should not be dispensed by Senators and 
 Congressmen to their followers and favorites, and that public 
 officials should not employ their time in managing caucuses 
 and conventions, and in working for the success of candidates. 
 The Cincinnati platform promised this sort of reform, and Presi- 
 dent Hayes believed in it. He attempted to carry it out by dis- 
 regarding, when he saw fit, the recommendations of Senators 
 and Representatives concerning appointments and removals iu 
 their States or districts, and by issuing an order commanding 
 office-holders to refrain from taking part in caucuses, conven- 
 tions, and other forms of party work. On the one side it was 
 held that this policy weakened the party organization and 
 deprived the officials of their rights us citizens to take an active
 
 HISTORY OF TEE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 81 
 
 part in politics ; on the other it was maintained that the policy 
 was a good one, tending to elevate politics and to release the 
 party from the rule of cliques of office-holders, who organized 
 " machines" to override the will of a large majority of the 
 voters. 
 
 These dissensions so weakened the party that in 1877 it 
 lost several of the States it had carried in 1876. Time and 
 good sense have healed them in a large measure, however. 
 The order to office-holders is not enforced ; and the ad 
 ministration, while preserving a proper degree of indepen- 
 dence for the appointing power, gives due weight to the 
 recommendations of the people's representatives in Congress. 
 The Kepublican Party recovered its compactness in 1878, . in 
 the defense of the Specie Payment Act against the assaults of 
 the Democrats. It was powerfully aided, too, by an exposure 
 made by the Neio York Tribune of a secret correspondence in 
 cipher, carried on during the winter of 1876-7 between Mr. 
 Tilden's nephew Pelton and other confidential friends in New 
 York and certain agents sent out to capture the electoral votes of 
 the States of South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Oregon. 
 The employment of corrupt means to bribe electors or return- 
 ing authorities in those States was plainly shown by those dis- 
 patches. The disposition of some Republicans to think Mr. 
 Tilden might possibly have been fairly elected and unjustly 
 kept out of the Presidency vanished when the means adopted 
 by his close friends to secure him the office were thus exposed. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS THE ELECTION LAWS 
 DEMOCRATIC ATTEMPT TO COERCE THE EXECUTIVE. 
 
 THE act of 1875 providing for a return to specie payments on 
 the first of January, 1879. was a Republican measure, and for
 
 82 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 four years was defended by the Republicans against the attacks 
 of the Democrats. A few Western Republicans joined in these 
 attacks, and a few Eastern Democrats helped repulse them ; but 
 the great mass of one party favored the redemption of the 
 greenback notes in coin, and the great mass of the other wanted 
 the law repealed. Many Democrats embraced the notion of 
 ''fiat money," asserting that the government by its fiat can 
 make absolute money out of paper or any other valueless material. 
 Gold and silver money was a relic of barbarism, they declared, 
 to use valuable metals for currency when paper, which cost next 
 to nothing, would answer the purpose much better, being waste- 
 ful and foolish. These deluded people wanted all the green- 
 backs and the national bank notes retired and replaced by a 
 new kind of Government notes, bearing no promise to pay on 
 their faces, but simply declaring themselves to be money of dif- 
 ferent denominations. These notes were to be issued in quan- 
 tities sufficient " to meet the wants of trade," and were never 
 to be redeemed. 
 
 As the time fixed for resumption drew near, the clamor against 
 the law increased. Every business failure was ascribed by 
 the Democratic press in the West and South to the effect of the 
 act, and the speedy ruin of the business of the country was pre- 
 dicted. John Sherman, who as Secretary of the Treasury made 
 careful preparation for resumption, and opposed any postpone- 
 ment of the date, was a special target for criticism and abuse. 
 Specie payments were resumed on the day appointed by law, 
 >. liiiout the slightest shock or disturbance to business interests, 
 industrial and commercial prosperity began to return to the 
 country shortly afterward, and now the wisdom of the Re- 
 sumption Act is acknowledged by every one. Even the fanati- 
 cal paper-money doctrinaires, who formed a party by themselves, 
 because the Democrats did not go far enough in the direction 
 of repudiation and inflation to satisfy them, have ceased to 
 demand in their platforms the repeal of the law. lake the
 
 HISTOR Y OF THE REP UBLICAN PARTY. 83 
 
 former inflationists in the Democratic Party, they have come 
 down to a demand for the retirement of bank-notes and the 
 substitution of greenbacks for them. 
 
 In the Congress which closed March 4th, 1879, the Demo- 
 crats controlled the House and the Republicans the Senate. 
 The Democrats sought to accomplish the repeal of the Federal 
 election laws in spite of the opposition of both the Senate and 
 the President. These laws were passed in 1870, after an inves- 
 tigation of the gigantic frauds perpetrated in the City of New 
 York at the election of 1868. They were always objectionable 
 to the Democrats, theoretically because they conflicted with 
 their traditional views about State rights, and practically because 
 they prevented the repetition of the frauds of 1868 for the 
 benefit of the Democratic Party. The Republicans defended 
 the laws because of their demonstrated utility in securing fair 
 elections, and because they were based on the sound constitu- 
 tional principle of the right of Congress to regulate elections 
 that are national in their character. The Democrats tacked 
 a section repealing the election laws upon a general appropria- 
 tion bill. They also placed on the Army Appropriate Bill a 
 section prohibiting the use of troops at elections to keep the 
 peace or suppress riots. Rather than abandon these "riders" 
 they let the bills fail, and forced an extra session of Congress. 
 
 In the new Congress the Democrats controlled both Houses, 
 and had only the President to grapple with. Mr. Hayes re- 
 solved to defend the election laws with his veto power. As for 
 the matter of troops at the polls, he exposed the issue as a 
 fictitious one, showing that there were already ample provisions 
 of law forbidding the use of troops for political purposes. He 
 refused to abandon for the Executive the light to enforce obedi- 
 ence to law, with the military arm if necessary, at places where 
 elections were held, as well as elsewhere. So the issue was 
 joined. The Democrats threatened to break down the Govern- 
 ment by leaving it without means to exist if the President did
 
 84 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 not yield. Mr. Hayes stood firm, and answered them by a series 
 of vetoes directed against their measures, which maintained, 
 by arguments of remarkable force and clearness, the supremacy 
 of the nation in all matters of national concern, and the inde- 
 pendence of the Executive from Congressional dictation. Baffled 
 at every point in the long struggle, the Democrats finally yielded 
 and passed all the appropriations except the one providing for 
 the payment of the United States marshals. They declared, 
 however, that they would renew the contest at the next session, 
 but the fall elections went against them, and they did not re- 
 sume hostilities in the session which began December, 1879. 
 Only a remnant of the controversy was preserved in a proviso, 
 which they put upon an appropriation bill at the close of the 
 session, prohibiting the payment of deputy marshals for services 
 at elections. 
 
 CHAPTER XX VH. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OP 1880 NOMINATION <>K .IAMKS A. GAKFIELD. 
 
 THE idea of electing Oenentl Grunt in 1880 for a third term 
 was in the minds of many proiuineur Republicans from the day 
 he left the Whit<- Hon*e. Most of these men had favored hi- 
 nomination in 1876, but considerable feeling arose in the couu- 
 .try against a third term, and to a^siiie the people that the party 
 did not meditate conferring upon Grant greater honors then 
 Washington had received, several Republican State Conven 
 tions passed resolutions in 1875 declaring that they were 
 opposed to the election of any President for more than two 
 terms. General Grant went abroad in 1877 and spent two years 
 in foreign travel, making the circuit of the globe and visiting 
 nearly all the great nations of the earth. He was received, 
 wherever he went, with honors such as are only accorded to 
 reigning monarch*. Regarded as the representative of the great
 
 JJTSTOKY OF TITE REPUBLICAN' 7\\JtTT. 85 
 
 American Republic and the most distinguished of living mili- 
 tary chieftains, his journey was a succession of brilliant official 
 and popular demonstrations. These remarkable honors were al- 
 most as flattering to his countrymen as to him, and served to keep 
 his name and fame fresh in their minds. Before he returned 
 to the United States, in the fall of 1870, it was plain that a 
 strong movement would be made to secure his nomination. 
 With characteristic reticence he neither assented nor ob- 
 jected to this movement, but remained perfectly passive. Most 
 of the politicians who had held positions under his administra- 
 tion naturally desired his return to power, and there was be- 
 sides a considerable body of Republicans who had not been 
 office-holders and did not expect to be, who believed he would 
 be the most popular candidate the party could nominate, and 
 urged his candidacy on the ground of expediency. His most 
 prominent supporters were the three influential Senators from 
 Xcsv York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois Conkling, Cameron, and 
 Logan. The Southern Republicans were almost unanimous in 
 his favor. A considerable majority of the Northern Republi- 
 cans opposed his nomination, however, because they believed it 
 would be a violation of the tradition of two terms only, and a 
 step toward personal government. Besides, they thought it 
 would furnish the Democrats with a popular issue opposition to 
 a third term on which the Republicans would be placed in the 
 position of defending an innovation upon a safe, conservative, 
 long- established custom. The discussion of the question of 
 nominating Grant began in earnest in December, 1879, and 
 lasted without intermission until the National Convention met at 
 Chicago on the 10th of June following. Most of the anti-tbird- 
 tmn men supported Senator James G. Blaine, of Maine, the 
 most popular of the Republican leaders. A considerable num- 
 ber favored the Secretary of the Treasury, John Sherman, of 
 Ohio, making his excellent record as a Republican and hi? 
 brilliant success in the resumption of speoio payments the
 
 86 HISTORY OF TEE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 ground of their choice. Senator Geo. F. Edmunds, of Vermont, 
 had the backing of his own State and of Massachusetts ; Elihu 
 B. Washburne, ex-minister to Paris, had a small "Western fol- 
 lowing, and Senator William Windom, of Minnesota, was sup- ( 
 ported by that State. Neither candidate had votes enough to 
 nominate him. The first ballot in the convention stood : Grant, 
 304 ; Elaine, 284 ; Sherman, 93 ; Edmunds, 34 ; Washburne, 
 30 ; Windom, 10. On the second ballot one vote was given to 
 Garfield, and on most of the subsequent ballots, during the 
 first day's voting he had 2. The above figures were pretty close- 
 ly preserved for thirty-three ballots. The Grant men could 
 have controlled the nomination if they had been willing to drop 
 their candidate and take up a new man, but they stuck to the 
 ex-President with absolute fidelity. Both the Elaine men and 
 the Sherman men were equally devoted to their leaders. The 
 dead-lock was finally brought to an end by the Wisconsin dele- 
 gation voting for Garfield on the 34th ballot, against his pro- 
 test. As the leader of the Ohio delegation, Garfield was a sup- 
 porter of Sherman, and he objected to being put in an apparent 
 attitude of willingness to abandon the Ohio candidate. On the 
 next ballot, however, Indiana followed Ohio, and on the 36th 
 ballot nearly the whole body of anti-third term men swunc 
 into line for Garfield, giving him the nomination by the follow- 
 ing vote : Garfield, 399 ; Grant, 306 ; Elaine, 42 ; Sherman. 
 3 ; Washburue, 5. The result was a fortunate one. General 
 Garfield was acceptable to all the elements in the convention. 
 and the whole party dropped at once all former causes of differ 
 ence and rushed to his support. Chester A. Arthur, of New 
 York, an earnest Grant man, was nominated for the Vice- 
 Presidency, with a view of making the ticket represent both 
 wings of the party lately engaged in a contest over the question 
 of Grant's candidacy. The vote was Arthur, 468 ; Wash- 
 burne. 193 ; Jewell, 44 ; Maynard, 30 ; Bruce, 8. General Ar- 
 thur's experience as chairman of the New York Republican
 
 HISTOE 7 OF THE REP UBL1CAN PA liTY. 87 
 
 State Committee made him peculiarly available, and his prom- 
 inence as a Grant man made him specially acceptable to the ele- 
 ment which had before controlled Republican politics in New 
 York. The ticket was instantly indorsed by the entire Repub- 
 lican press and by men of all shades of Republican opinion. 
 
 By a happy inspiration the convention selected, instead of the 
 obscure man of only local fame who usually comes out of such 
 close contests with the nomination, one of the best known, 
 most trusted, and ablest of the national leaders of the Republi- 
 can Party. At the same time it secured a man with extraordi- 
 nary elements of personal popularity in his career a man who 
 rose from the ranks of toil, who gained the means for his edu- 
 cation at the carpenter's bench and on the tow-path of a canal, 
 who served with distinguished bravery in the war, and who has 
 won his way, by pure merit and honest effort, to the highest 
 walks of statesmanship and scholarly culture. 
 
 The Democratic National Convention met at Cincinnati on 
 the 22d of June. The party had been suffering from the 
 standing candidacy of Samuel J. Tilden, who had a claim upon 
 the nomination based on the assertion by the Democratic lead- 
 ers and newspapers that he was elected in 1876 and defrauded 
 of the office. He personified the " fraud issue, '' aud it was 
 manifestly impossible for the party to make that issue promi- 
 nent without making him its candidate. Mr. Tilden wrote a 
 letter just before the convention assembled, declining in terms 
 the nomination. The letter presented, however, in a masterly 
 manner, the arguments in favor of his candidacy, and was gen- 
 erally regarded as intended to strengthen his chances for the 
 nomination. On the first ballot the delegates scattered their 
 votes as follows : Hancock, 171 ; Bayard, 153| ; Field, 65 ; 
 Morrison, 62 ; Hendricks, 49 ; Thurman, 68i ; Payne, 81 ; 
 Tilden, 38 ; Ewing, 10 ; Seymour, 8 ; scattering, 38. 
 
 After this ballot the convention adjourned until the next 
 day, and during the night the opponents of Tilden managed to
 
 OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 combine upon General Hancock, who was nominated next 
 morning. The second ballot stood : Hancock, 319 ; Randall, 
 129i ; Bayard, 113 ; Field, 65$ ; Thurman, 30 ; Hendricks, 
 31 ; English, 19 ; Tilden, 6 ; scattering, 3. Changes were 
 made before the vote was announced which nominated Hancock, 
 he having 705 votes to Hendricks, 30 ; Bayard 2, and Tilden 1. 
 Hancock had been the standing candidate, since 1868, of 
 those Democrats who wanted to repeat the McClellan ex- 
 periment with a better soldier than McClellan. A National 
 Greenback Convention met in Chicago, June llth, and nom- 
 inated J. B. Weaver, of Iowa, for President, and E. J. Cham- 
 bers, of Texas, for Vice-President. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVEII. 
 
 A FEW WORDS IN CONCLUSION. 
 
 In the foregoing chapters the main current of Republican 
 action has been clearly traced, beginning with the hostility 
 of the party to the extension of slavery, and continuing through 
 its successive defence of the integrity of the American Union, 
 its emancipation of the slaves, its reorganization of the rebel- 
 lious States, its establishment of equal suffrage and equal citizen- 
 ship for all, its defence of the public credit, and its resumption 
 of specie payments. Outside of this main channel of patriotic- 
 activity it has accomplished many things which should not be 
 overlooked, even in so brief a sketch as is given in these pages. 
 It has steadily reduced the debt resulting from the war. 
 and has paid off and cancelled the enormous amount of $837.- 
 000,000 in the period between 1865 and 1880. At the same 
 time it has been so successful in funding the principal of the 
 remaining debt in low-interest bonds that it has effected A
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 89 
 
 iving, in the matter of interest alone, of $71,000,000 a year, 
 thus further lessening the burden of the debt. It steadily re- 
 duced taxation and public expenditures as long as it remained 
 in power in Congress. It has greatly improved and simplified 
 the protective tariff system, originated by the "Whig Party, and 
 has by its legislation of the past twenty years so encouraged 
 ;ind shielded American manufactures that they have increased 
 more than fourfold and are now able to command our own 
 markets and to compete in many lines with the manufacture* 
 of older countries in the markets of the world. While oppos-, 
 ing all monopolies, the Republican Party has had for its central 
 idea in its tariff legislation the fact that the perpetuity of free 
 institutions in this country requires an intelligent laboring class, 
 and that such a class cannot exist upon the pauper wages paid 
 to the laborers of the Old World. The party has also carried 
 out the policy of internal improvements, originated by the 
 Whig Party, and by a system of judicious legislation has opened 
 the great rivers of the country to navigation, improved its har- 
 bors, and connected the Atlantic with the Pacific coast by great 
 railway lines. It has established a national banking system 
 which saves the people millions of dollars annually by protect- 
 ing them against the losses incident to the old State banking 
 systems which preceded it. It has greatly impi oved the postal 
 m, giving to the country fast mails and letter-carrier deliv- 
 'i ie*. It has established the principle of international arbitra- 
 tion as a means of averting war. A catalogue of the wise meas- 
 ures it has adopted would be far too long to be given here. 
 Xt-Mi'ly all of these measures were resisted at the time of their 
 adoption by the opposition party, but with scarcely an excep- 
 tion they have come to be approved by that party as wise and 
 patriotic. No one can see into the future of American politics, 
 but it is evident that the party which has been able to meet all 
 
 jf the issues of the most important epoch in the nation's history
 
 90 HIS TOR T OF THE REP UBLICAN PA RTT. 
 
 with such signal intelligence and such remarkable success is 
 not near the end of its career. The day is probably far dis- 
 tant when a complete and final history of the Republican Party 
 can be written. The author presents these pages only as a brief 
 outline sketch of the first quarter of a century of its existence.
 
 REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES. 
 
 FIRST REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM. 
 ADOPTED AT PHILADELPHIA, JUNE I?TH, 1856. 
 
 THIS convention of delegates, assembled in pursuance of a 
 call addressed to the people of the United States, without regard 
 to past political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the 
 repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present 
 administration, to the extension of slavery into free territory ; 
 in favor of admitting Kansas as a free State, of restoring the 
 action of the Federal Government to the principles of Washing- 
 ton and Jefferson, and who purpose to unite in presenting can- 
 didates for the offices of President and Vice-President, do re- 
 solve as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated 
 in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Fed- 
 eral Constitution is essential to the preservation of our repub- 
 lican institutions, and that the Federal Constitution, the rights 
 of the States, and the Union of the States, shall be preserved. 
 
 Resolved, That with our republican fathers we hold it to be a 
 self-evident truth that all men are endowed with the inalien- 
 able rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and 
 that the primary object and ulterior designs of our Federal Gov- 
 ernment were to secure these rights to all persons within its 
 exclusive jurisdiction ; that as our Republican fathers, when 
 they had abolished slavery in all of our national territory,
 
 92 HISTORY OF THK REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 ordained that n'o person should be deprived of life, liberty, or 
 property without due process of law. it becomes our duty to 
 maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts 
 to violate, for the purpose of establishing slavery in any territory 
 of the United States, by positive legislation, prohibiting its ex- 
 istence or extension therein. That we deny the authority of 
 Congress, or of a Territorial Legislature, of any individual or 
 association of individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in 
 any Territory of the United States, while the present Constitu- 
 tion shall be maintained. 
 
 Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sover- 
 eign power over the Territories of the United States for their 
 government, and that in the exercise of this power it is both the 
 right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories 
 those twin relics of barbarism polygamy and slavery. 
 
 Resolved, That while the Constitution of the United States was 
 ordained and established by the people in order to form a more 
 perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
 provide for the common defense, and secure the blessings of 
 liberty, and contains ample provisions for the protection of the 
 life, liberty, and property of every citizen, the dearest constitu- 
 tional rights of the people of Kansas have been fraudulently and 
 violently taken from them ; their territory has been invaded by 
 an armed force ; spurious and pretended legislative, judicial, 
 and executive officers have been set over them, by whose 
 usurped authority, sustained by the military power of the Gov- 
 ernment, tyrannical and unconstitutional laws have been enacted 
 and enforced ; the rights of the people to keep and bear arms 
 have been infringed ; test oaths of an extraordinary and entan- 
 gling nature have been imposed as a condition of exercising the 
 right of suffrage and holding office ; the right of an accused 
 person to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury has 
 been denied ; the right of the people to be secure in their per- 
 sons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches
 
 HISTOHY OF THE HUPUBLKJAX PARTI'. 93 
 
 and seizures has been violated ; they havo been deprived of 
 life, liberty, and property without due process of law ; that the 
 freedom of speech and of the press has been abridged ; the 
 right to choose their representatives has been made of no effect ; 
 murders, robberies, and arsons have been instigated and eu- 
 ro uraged, and the offenders have been allowed to go unpun- 
 ished ; that all of these things have been done -with the knowl- 
 edge, sanction, and procurement of the present administration, 
 and that for this high crime against the Constitution, the Union, 
 and humanity, we arraign the administration, the President, his 
 advisers, agents, supporters, apologists, and accessories, either 
 before or after the facts, before the country and before the 
 world, and that it is our fixed purpose to bring the actual perpe- 
 trators of these atrocious outrages and their accomplices to a 
 sure and condign punishment hereafter. 
 
 Resolved, That Kansas should be immediately admitted as a 
 State of the Union, with lu-r present free Constitution, as at 
 once the most effectual way of securing to her citizens the en- 
 joyment of the rights and privileges to which they are entitled, 
 and of ending the civil strife now raging in her territory. 
 
 Resolved, That the highwayman's plea, that " might makes 
 right," embodied in the Ostend circular, was in every respect 
 unworthy of American diplomacy, and would bring shame and 
 dishonor upon any government or people that gave it their 
 sanction. 
 
 Resolved, That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, by the most ecu 
 tral and practicable route, is imperatively demanded by the in- 
 terests of the whole country, and that the Federal Governmeni 
 ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction , 
 and, as an auxiliary thereto, the immediate construction of an 
 emigrant route on the line of the railroad. 
 
 Resohed, That appropriations b\ Congress for the improve- 
 ment of rivers and harbors, of a national character, required 
 lor the accommodation and security of our existing commerce.
 
 94 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 are authorized by the Constitution, and justified by the obliga- 
 tion of Government to protect the lives and property of its 
 citizens. 
 
 SECOND REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM. 
 ADOPTED AT CHICAGO, MAY 17TH, 1860. 
 
 Resolved, That we, the delegated representatives of the Re- 
 publican electors of the United States, in convention assembled, 
 in discharge of the duty we owe to our constituents and our 
 country, unite in the following declarations : 
 
 1. That the history of the nation during the last four year? 
 has fully established the propriety and necessity of the organi- 
 zation and perpetuation of the Republican Party, and that the 
 causes which called it into existence are permanent in their 
 nature, and now, more than ever before, demand its peaceful 
 and constitutional triumph. 
 
 " 2. That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in 
 the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal 
 Constitution, " that all men are created equal ; that they are 
 endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that 
 among these are life, liberty and the punuit of happiness ; that 
 to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, 
 deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, 1 ' 
 is essential to the. preservation of our republican institutions : 
 and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and 
 the union of the States must and shall be preserved. 
 
 3. That to the union of the States this nation owes its unpre- 
 cedented*increase in population, its surprising development of 
 material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happi- 
 ness at home, and its honor abroad ; and we hold in abhorrence 
 all schemes for disunion, come from whatever source they, may ;
 
 HISTOR Y OF THE REP UBLICAN PARTY. 95 
 
 and we congratulate the country that no Republican member of 
 Congress has uttered or countenanced the threats of disunion so 
 often made by Democratic members without rebuke and with 
 applause from their political associates ; and we denounce those 
 threats of disunion in case of a popular overthrow of their 
 ascendency as denying the vital principles of a free government, 
 and as an avowal of contemplated treason which it is the im- 
 perative duty of an indignant people sternly to rebuke and for- 
 ever silence. 
 
 4. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, 
 and especially the rights of each State to order and control its 
 own domestic institutions according to its own judgment ex- 
 clusively, is essential to that balance of powers on which the 
 perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends ; and 
 we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil 
 of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as 
 among the gravest of crimes. 
 
 5. That the present Democratic administration has far ex- 
 ceeded our worst apprehensions, in its measureless subserviency 
 to the exactions of a sectional interest, as especially evinced in 
 its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton Consti- 
 tution upon the protesting people of Kansas ; in construing the 
 personal relation between master and servant to involve an un- 
 qualified property in persons ; in its attempted enforcement, 
 everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of Con- 
 gress and of the Federal courts, and of the extreme pretensions 
 of a purely local interest ; and in its general and unvarying 
 abuse of the power intrusted to it by a confiding people. 
 
 6. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless extrav- 
 agance which pervades every department of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment ; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is 
 indispensable to arrest the systematic plunder of the public 
 treasure by favored partisans ; while the recent startling de- 
 velopments of fraud and corruption at the Federal metropolis
 
 Pfi HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 show that an entire change of administration is imperatively 
 demanded. 
 
 7. That the new dogma that the Constitution of its own 
 force carries slavery into any or all of the Territories of the 
 United States is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with 
 the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with contem- 
 poraneous exposition, and with legislative and judicial prece- 
 dent ; is revolutionary in its tendency, and subversive of the 
 peace and harmony of the country. 
 
 8. That the normal condition of all of the territory of the 
 United States is that of freedom ; that as our republican fathers, 
 when they had abolished slavery in all of our national territory, 
 ordained that " no person should be deprived of life, liberty, 
 or property without due process of law," it becomes our duty, 
 by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to main- 
 tain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to 
 violate it ; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a Terri- 
 torial Legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence 
 to slavery in any Territory in the United States. 
 
 9. That we brand the recent reopening of tin: Afiicau *lave 
 trade, under tin cover of our national flag, aided by perversions 
 of judicial power, as a crime against humanity and a burning 
 shame to our country and age ; and we call upon Congress to 
 rake prompt and efficient measures for the total and final sup- 
 pression of that execrable traffic. 
 
 10. That in the recent vetoes, by their Federal Governors, of 
 the acts of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska prohibit- 
 ing slavery in those Territories, we find a practical illustration 
 of the boasted Democratic principle of non-intervention and 
 popular sovereignty embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and 
 a demonstration of the deception and fraud involved therein. 
 
 11. That Kansas should, of right, be immediately admitted 
 as a State under the constitution recently formed and adopted 
 by her people, and accepted by the House of Representative*.
 
 HISTOR Y OF THE R EP UL1 L 1C A N PA RTY. 9 ?" 
 
 12. That, while providing revenue for the support of the 
 General Government by duties upon imports, sound policy re- 
 quires such an adjustment -of these imposts as to encourage the 
 development of the industrial interests of the whole country ; 
 and we commend that policy of national exchanges which 
 secures to the workingmen liberal wages, to agriculture remu- 
 nerating prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate 
 reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, and to the nation 
 commercial prosperity and independence. 
 
 13. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of 
 the public lands held by actual settlers, and against any view 
 of the free homestead policy which regards the settlers as pau- 
 pers or suppliants for public bounty ; and we demand the pas- 
 sage by Congress of the complete and satisfactory homestead 
 measure which has already passed the House. 
 
 14. That the Republican Party is opposed to any change in our 
 naturalization laws, of any State legislation by which the rights 
 of citizenship hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign 
 lands shall be abridged or impaired, and in favor of giving a 
 full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of 
 citizens, whether native or naturalized both at home and abroad. 
 
 15. That appropriations by Congress for river and harbor im- 
 provements of a national character required for the accommoda- 
 tion and security of an existing commerce, are authorized by 
 the Constitution, and justified by the obligation of Government 
 to protect the lives and property of its citizens. 
 
 16. That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean is imperatively dc 
 mauded by the interests of the whole country ; that the Federal 
 Government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its 
 construction ; and that as preliminary thereto a daily overland 
 mail should be promptly established. 
 
 17. Finally, having thus set forth our distinctive principles 
 fond views, we invite the co-operation of all citizens, however 
 differing on other questions, who substantially agree with us in 
 their affirmance and support.
 
 98 HISTORY GF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 THIRD REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM. 
 ADOPTED AT BALTIMORE, JUNE TTH, 18G4. 
 
 Reached, That it is the highest duty of every American 
 citizen to maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the 
 L'nion, and the paramount authority of the Constitution and 
 laws of the United States ; and that, laying aside all differ- 
 ences of political opinion, we pledge ourselves as Union men, 
 animated by a common sentiment, and aiming at a common 
 object, to do everything in our power to aid the Government in 
 quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging against its 
 authority, and in bringing to the punishment due to their 
 crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it. 
 
 Rcsohed, That we approve the determination of the Govern- 
 ment of the United States not to compromise with rebels, nor 
 to offer any terms of peace except such as may be based upon 
 an " unconditional surrender'' of their hostility and a return to 
 uicir just allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the United 
 States, and that we call upon the Government to maintain this 
 position and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible 
 vigor to the complete suppression of the rebellion, the patriot- 
 ism, the heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the Ameri- 
 can people to their country and its free institutions. 
 
 licsolced, That, as slavery was the cause, and now constitutes 
 the strength, of this rebellion, and as it must be always and 
 everywhere hostile to the principles of republican govern- 
 ment, justice and the national safety demand its utter and com- 
 plete extirpation from the soil of the Republic, and that we up- 
 hold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the 
 Government, in its own defense, has aimed a death-blow at 
 this gigantic evil. We are in favor, furthermore, of such an 
 amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the people inr 
 conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever 

 
 HISTORY OF TUB REPUBLICAN PARTY. 09 
 
 prohibit the existence of silvery within the limits of the juris- 
 diction of the United States. 
 
 Looked, That the thanks of the American people are due to 
 the soldiers and sailors of the army and navy, \vho have 
 perilled their lives in defense of their country, and in vindica- 
 tion of the honor of the, flag ; that the nation owes to them 
 some permanent recognition of their patriotism and valor, and 
 ample and permanent provision for these of their survivors who 
 have received disabling and honorable wounds in the service of 
 the country ; and that the memories of those who have fallen 
 ia its defense shall be held in grateful and everlasting remem- 
 brance. 
 
 Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practical wisdom, 
 the unselfish patriotism and unswerving fidelity to the Consti- 
 tution and the principles of American liberty, with which Abra- 
 ham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of unparallel- 
 ed difficulty, the great duties and responsibilities of the Presi- 
 dontij 1 ! office ; that we approve and indorse, as demanded by 
 the emergency and essential to the preservation of the nation, 
 and as within the Constitution, the measures and acts which 
 ho has adopted to defend the nation against its open and secret 
 foes; that we approve especially the proclamation of emanci- 
 pation, and the employment as Union soldiers of men here- 
 tofore held in slavery ; and that we have full confidence in his 
 determination to carry these and all other constitutional meas- 
 ures essential to the salvation of the country into full and com- 
 plete effect. 
 
 Resolved, That we deem it essential to the general welfare 
 that harmony should prevail in the national councils, and we 
 regard as worthy of public confidence and official trust those 
 only who cordially indorse the principles proclaimed in these 
 resolutions, and which should characterize the administration 
 of the Government. 
 
 Resolved, That the Government owes to all men employed in 
 its urmies, without regard to distinction of color, the full pro-
 
 100 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 tection of the laws of war, and that any violation of these laws 
 of the usages of civilized nations in the time of war by the 
 rebels now in arms, should be made the subject of full and 
 prompt redress. 
 
 Resolved, That the foreign immigration, which in the past has 
 added so much to the wealth and development of resources and 
 increase of power to this nation, the asylum of the oppressed 
 of all nations, should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal 
 and just policy. 
 
 Resoked, That we are in favor of the speedy construction of 
 a railroad to the Pacific. 
 
 Resolved, That the national f atli, pledged for the redemption 
 of the public debt, must be kept inviolate ; and that for this 
 purpose we recommend economy and rigid responsibility in the 
 public expenditures, and a vigorous and a just system of taxa- 
 tion ; and it is the duty of every loyal State to sustain the credit 
 and promote the use of the national currency. 
 
 Resolved, That we approve the position taken by the Govern- 
 ment that the people of the United States never regarded with 
 indifference the attempt of any European power to overthrow 
 by force, or to supplant by fraud, the institutions of any re- 
 publican government on the Western Continent, and that they 
 view with extreme jealousy,, 'as menacing to the peace and in- 
 dependence of this our country, the efforts of any such power 
 to obtain new footholds for monarchical governments, sustained 
 by a foreign military force, in near proximity to the United 
 States. 
 
 FOURTH REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM. 
 ADOPTED AT CHICAGO, MAY 21sT, 1868. 
 
 THE National Republican Party of the United States, assem- 
 bled in National Convention in the city of Chicago, on the 21st 
 Jay of May, 1838, make the following declaration of principles :
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, 101 
 
 L. We congratulate the country on the assured success of the 
 reconstruction policy of Congress, as evidenced by the adop- 
 tion, in the majority of the States lately in rebellion, of con- 
 stitutions securing equal civil and political rights to all ; and it 
 is the duty of the Government to sustain those constitutions and 
 to prevent the people of such States from being remitted to a 
 state of anarchy. 
 
 2. The guarantee by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal 
 men at the South was demanded by every consideration of pub- 
 lic safety, of gratitude, and of justice, and must be main- 
 tained ; while the question of suffrage in all of the loyal States 
 properly belongs to the people of those States. 
 
 3. We denounce all forms of repudiation as a national crime ; 
 and the national honor requires the payment of the public in- 
 debtedness in the uttermosi fc-uod faith to all creditors at home 
 and abroad, not only according to the letter but the spirit of 
 the laws under which it was contracted. 
 
 4. It is due to the labor of the nation that taxation should be 
 equalized and reduced as rapidly as the national faith will 
 permit. 
 
 5. The national debt, contracted as" it has been for the preser- 
 vation of the Union for all time to come, should be extended 
 over a fair period for redemption ; and it is the duty of Con- 
 gress to reduce the rate of interest thereon whenever it can b 
 honestly done. 
 
 6. That the best policy to diminish our burden of debt is to 
 so improve our credit that capitalists will seek to loan xis money 
 at lower rates of interest than we now pay and/must continue to 
 pay so long as repudiation, partial or total, open or covert, is 
 threatened or suspected. 
 
 7. The Government of the United States should be adminis- 
 tered with the strictest economy : and the corruptions which 
 have been so shamefully nursed and fostered by Andrew John- 
 son call loudly for radical reform.
 
 102 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, 
 
 8. "Wo profoundly deplore the untimely and tragic death of 
 Abraham Lincoln, and regret the accession to the Presidency of 
 Andrew Johnson, who has acted treacherously to the people 
 who elected him and the cause he was pledged to support ; 
 who has usurped high legislative and judicial functi.ms ; who 
 has refused to execute Ihe laws ; who has used his high office 
 to induce other officers to ignore and violate the laws ; who 
 has employed his executive powers to render insecure the 
 property, the peace, liberty and life of the citizen ; who 
 has abused the pardoning power ; who has denounced the 
 national legislature as unconstitutional ; who has persist- 
 ently and corruptly resisted, by every im-ans in his power, eviy 
 proper attempt at the reconstruction of the States lately in re- 
 bellion ; who has perverted the public patronage into an engine 
 of wholesale corruption ; and who has been justly impeached 
 for high crimes and misdemeanors, and properly denounced 
 guilty thereof by the vote of thirty-five Senators. 
 
 9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers, 
 that because a man is once a subject he is always so, must bo 
 resisted at every hazard by the United States, as a rtlic of feu- 
 dal times not authorized by the laws of .nations, and at war 
 with our national honor and independence. Naturalized 
 citizens are entitled to protection in all of their rights of citizen- 
 ship, as though they were native born ; and no citizen of the 
 United States, native or naturalized, must be liable to arrest 
 and imprisonment by any foreign power for acts done or words 
 spoken in this country ; and, if so arrested and imprisoned, it 
 is the duty of the Government to interfere in his behalf. 
 
 10. Of all who were faithful in the trials of the late war, 
 there were none entitled to more especial honor than the brave 
 soldiers and seamen who endured the hardships of campaign 
 and cruise, and imperilled their lives in the service of the 
 country ; the bounties and pensions provided by the laws for 
 these bravo defenders of the nation are obligations never to h<-
 
 UISTOn Y OF THE REP UBLICAN PARTY. 103 
 
 forgotten ; the widows and orphans of the gallant dead nro the 
 \v;i!-il3 of the people a sacred legacy bequeathed to the nation's 
 protecting care. 
 
 11. Foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much 
 ;o tho wealth, development, and resources, and increase of 
 power to this Republic, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, 
 should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. 
 
 12. This convention declares itself in sympathy with all op- 
 pressed peoples struggling for their rights. 
 
 13. That we highly commend the spirit of magnanimity and 
 forbearance with which men who have served in the Rebellion, 
 but who now frankly and honestly co-operate with us iia re- 
 storing the peace of the country and reconstructing the South- 
 ern State governments upon the basis of impartial justice and 
 equal rights, arc received back into the communion of the loyal 
 people ; and we favor the removal of the disqualifications and 
 restrictions imposed upon the late rebels in the same measure as 
 the spirit of disloyalty will die out, and as may be consistent 
 with tho safety of the loyal people. 
 
 14. That we recognize the great principles laid down in tho 
 immortal Declaration of Independence as the true foundation 
 of democratic government, and we hail with gladness every 
 effort toward making these principles a living reality on every 
 inch of American soil. 
 
 FIFTH REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM. 
 ADOPTED AT PHILADELPHIA, JUXE GTH, 1872. 
 
 THE Republican Party of the United States, assembled in 
 National Convention in the City of Philadelphia, on the 5th and 
 6th days of June, 1872, again declares its faith, appeals to its 
 history, and announces its position upon the questions before 
 the country :
 
 104 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 1. During eleven years of supremacy ifc has accepted with 
 grand courage the solemn duties of the time. It suppressed a 
 gigantic rebellion, emancipated four millions of slaves, decreed 
 the equal citizenship of all, and established universal suffrage. 
 Exhibiting unparalleled magnanimity, it criminally punished 
 no man for political offenses, and -warmly welcomed all who 
 proved loyalty by obeying the laws and dealing justly with 
 their neighbors. It has steadily decreased with firm hand thc^ 
 resultant disorders of a great wai*, and initiated a wise and 
 humane policy toward the Indians. The Pacific Railroad and 
 similar vast enterprises have been generously aided and success- 
 fully conducted, the public lands freely given to actual settlers, 
 immigration protected and encouraged, and a full acknowledg- 
 ment of the naturalized citizen's rights secured from European 
 powers. A uniform national currency has been provided, repu- 
 diation frowned down, the national credit sustained under the 
 most extraordinary burdens, and new bonds negotiated at low 
 rates. The revenues have been carefully collected and honestly 
 applied. Despite annual large reductions of the rates of taxa- 
 tion, the public debt has been reduced during General Grant's 
 Presidency at the rate of a hundred millions a year, great finan- 
 cial crises have been avoided, and peace and plenty prevail 
 throughout the land. Menacing foreign difficulties have been 
 peacefully and honorably composed, and the honor and power 
 of the nation kept in high respect throughout the world. This 
 glorious record of the past is the party's best pledge for the 
 future. We believe the people will not intrust the govern- 
 mcntto any party or combination of men composed chiefly 
 of those who have resisted every step of this beneficent pro- 
 gress. 
 
 2. The recent amendments to the National Constitution should 
 be cordially sustained because they arc right, not merely toler- 
 ated because they are law, and should be carried out according 
 to their spirit by appropriate legislation, the enforcement of
 
 HISTORY OF THE kEl'IBLiCAN PARTY. lOfi 
 
 which can safely be intrusted only to the party that secured 
 those amendments. 
 
 3. Complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of 
 ;ill civil, political, and public rights should be established and 
 effectually maintained throughout the Union by efficient and 
 appropriate State and Federal legislation. Neither the law nor 
 ity administration should admit any discrimination in respect of 
 ./citizens by reason of race, creed, color, or previous condition of 
 servitude. 
 
 4. The National Government should seek to maintain honor- 
 able peace with all nations, protecting its citizens everywhere, and 
 sympathizing with all peoples who strive for greater liberty. 
 
 5. Any system of the civil service under which the positions 
 of the Government are considered rewards for mere party zeal is 
 fatally demoralizing, and we therefore favor a reform of the 
 system by laws which shall abolish the evils of patronage and 
 make honesty, efficiency, and fidelity, the essential qualifica- 
 tions for public positions, without practically creating a life 
 tenure of office. 
 
 6. We are opposed to further grants of public lands to cor- 
 porations and monopolies, and demand that the national domain 
 be set apart for free homes for the people. 
 
 7. The annual revenue, after paying current expenditures, 
 pensions, and the interest on the public debt, should furnish a 
 moderate balance for the reduction of the principal, and that 
 revenue, except so much as may be derived from a tax upon 
 tobacco and liquors, should be raised by duties upon importa- 
 tions, the details of which should be so adjusted as to aid in 
 securing remunerative wages to labor, and promote the indus- 
 tries, prosperity, and growth of the whole country. 
 
 8. "We hold in undying honor the soldiers and sailors whose 
 valor saved the Union. Their pensions are a sacred debt of the 
 nation, and the widows and orphans of those who died for their 
 country are entitled to the care of a generous and grateful
 
 100 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 people. We favor such additional legislation as will extend 
 the bounty of the Government to all of our soldiers and sailors 
 who were honorably discharged, and who in the line of duty 
 became disabled, without regard to the length of service or the 
 cause of such discharge. 
 
 9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers 
 concerning allegiance " once a subject always a subject"- 
 having at last, through efforts of the Republican Party, been 
 abandoned, and the American idea of the individual's right to 
 transfer allegiance having been accepted by European nations, 
 it is the duty of our Government to guard with jealous care the 
 right of adopted citizens against the assumption of unauthorized 
 claims by their former governments, and we urge continued, 
 careful encouragement and protection of voluntary immigration. 
 
 10. The franking privilege ought to be abolished, and the 
 way prepared for a speedy reduction in the rates cf postage. 
 
 11. Among the questions which press for attention is that 
 which concerns the relations of capital and labor, and the Re- 
 publican party recognizes the duty of so shaping legislation as 
 to secure full protection and the amplest field for capital, and 
 for labor, the creator of capital, the largest opportunities, and 
 a just share of the mutual profits of these two great servants of 
 civilization. 
 
 12. We hold that Congress and the President have only ful- 
 filled an imperative duty in their measures for the suppression 
 of violent and treasonable organizations in certain lately rebel- 
 lious regions, and for the protection of the ballot-box ; and, 
 therefore, they are entitled to the thanks of the nation. 
 
 13. We denounce repudiation of the public debt, in any form 
 or disguise, as a national crime. We witness with pride the 
 reduction of the principal of the debt, and of the rates of inter- 
 est upon the balance, and confidently expect that our excellent 
 national currency will be perfected by a speedy resumption of 
 specie payment.
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 107 
 
 14. The Republican Party is mindful of its obligations to tho 
 loyal women of America for their noble devotion to the cause 
 of freedom. Their admission to the wider fields of usefulness 
 is viewed with satisfaction ; and the honest demand of any class 
 of citizens for additional rights should be treated with respect- 
 ful consideration. 
 
 15. "We heartily approve the action of Congress in extending 
 amnesty to those lately in rebellion, and rejoice in the growth 
 of peace and fraternal feeling throughout the land. 
 
 16. The Republican party proposes to respect the rights re- 
 served by the people to themselves as the powers delegated by 
 them to the State and to the Federal Government. It disap- 
 proves of the resort to unconstitutional laws for the purpose of 
 removing evils, by interference with rights not surrendered by 
 the people to cither the State or National Government. 
 
 17. It is the duty of the General Government to adopt such 
 measures as may tend to encourage and restore American com- 
 merce and ship-building. 
 
 18. "We believe that the modest patriotism, the earnest pur- 
 pose, the sound judgment, the practical wisdom, the incorrup- 
 tible integrity, and the illustrious services of Ulysses S. Grant 
 have* commended him to the heart of the American people, and 
 with him at our head we start to-day upon a new march to 
 victory. 
 
 19. Henry Wilson, nominated for the Vice-Presidency, known 
 to the whole land from the early days of the great struggle for 
 liberty as an indefatigable laborer in all campaigns, an incor- 
 ruptible legislator and representative man of American institu 
 tions, is worthy to associate with our great leader and share th< 
 honors which we pledge our best efforts to bestow upon them.
 
 108 BISTORT GF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 SIXTH REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM. 
 
 ADOPTED AT CINCINNATI, JUNE IOTH, 187G. 
 
 in the economy of Providence, this land was to be 
 purged of human slavery, and when the strength of government 
 of the people, by the people, and for the people was to be dem- 
 onstrated, the Republican Party came into power. Its deeds 
 have passed into history, and we look back to them with pride. 
 Incited by their memories to high aiim for the good of our 
 country and mankind, and looking to the future with unfalter- 
 ing courage, hope, and purpose, we, the representatives of the 
 party in National Convention assembled, make the following 
 declaration of principles : 
 
 1. The United States of America is a nation, not a league. 
 By the combined workings of the National and State Govern- 
 ments, under their respective constitutions, the rights of every 
 citizen are secured, at home and abroad, and the common wel- 
 fare promoted. 
 
 2. The Republican Party has preserved these governments to 
 the hundredth anniversary of the nation's birth, and they are 
 now embodiments of the great truths spoken at its cradle 
 " that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by 
 their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are 
 life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that for the attain- 
 ment of these enrls governments have been instituted among 
 men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov- 
 erned." Until these truths are cheerfully obeyed, or if need be 
 vigorously enforced, the work of the Republican Party is un- 
 finished. 
 
 3. The permanent pacification of the southern section .of the 
 Union and the complete protection of all of its citizens in the 
 free enjoyment of all of their rights is a duty to which the Re- 
 publican Party stands sacredly pledged. The power to provide
 
 WYOF THE :, ' ..i'L'BJJf'AX PAUTT. 109 
 
 for the enforcement of the principles embodied in the recent 
 constitutional amendments is vested by those amendments in the 
 Congress of the United States, and we declare it to be the 
 solemn obligation of the legislative and executive departments 
 of the Government to put imo immediate and vigorous exercise 
 all their constitutional powers for removing any just causes of 
 discontent on the part of any class, and for securing to every 
 American citizen complete liberty and exact equality in the ex- 
 ercise of all civil, political, and public rights. To this end we 
 imperatively demand a Congress and a Chief Executive -whose 
 oo ura ge and fidelity to those duties shall not falter until these 
 results are placed beyond dispute or recall. 
 
 4. In the first act of Congress signed by President Grant, the 
 National Government assumed to remove any doubts of its pur- 
 pose to discharge all just obligations to the public creditors, 
 and " solemnly pledged its faith to make provision at the earli- 
 est practicable period for the redemption of the United States 
 notes in coin.'' Commercial prosperity, public morals, and 
 national credit demand that this promise be fulfilled by a con- 
 tinuous and steady progress to specie payment. 
 
 5. Under the Constitution the President and heads of de- 
 partments are to make nominations for office ; the Senate is to 
 advise and consent to appointments, and the House of Repre- 
 sentatives is to accuse and prosecute faithless officers. The best 
 interest of the public service demands that these distinctions be 
 respected ; that Senators and Representatives who may be 
 judges and accusers should not dictate appointments to office. 
 The invariable rule in appointments should have reference to 
 the honesty, fidelity, and capacity of the appointees, giving to 
 the party in power those places where harmony and vigor of 
 administration require its policy to be represented, but permit- 
 ting all others to be filled by persons selected with sole refer- 
 ence to the efficiency of the public service, and the right of all
 
 110 HISTOJt T OF THE EEP UBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 citizens to share in the honor of rendering faithful service to 
 the country. 
 
 G. Wo rejoice in the quickened conscience of the people con- 
 cerning political affairs, and will hold all public officers to a 
 rigid responsibility, and engage that the prosecution and pun- 
 ishment of all who betray official trusts shall be swift, thorough, 
 and unsparing. 
 
 7. The public school system of the several States is the bul- 
 wark of the American Republic, and with a view to its security 
 and permanence we recommend an amendment to the Consti- 
 tution of the United States forbidding the application of any 
 public funds or property for the benefit of any schools or insti- 
 tutions under sectarian control. 
 
 8. The revenue necessary for current expenditures and the 
 obligations of the public debt must be largely derived from 
 duties upon importations, which, so far as possible, should be 
 adjusted to promote the interests of American labor and advance 
 the prosperity of the whole country. 
 
 9. "\Vc reaffirm our opposition to further grants of the public 
 lands to corporations and monopolies, and demand that the 
 national domain be devoted to free homes for the people. 
 
 10. It is the imperative duty of the Government so to modify 
 existing treaties with European Governments that the same 
 protection shall be afforded to the adopted American citizen 
 that is given to the native born ; and that all necessary laws 
 should be passed to protect emigrants in the absence of power 
 in the States for that purpose. 
 
 11. It is the immediate duty of Congress to fully investigate 
 the effect of the immigration and importation of Mongolians 
 upon the moral and material interests of the country. 
 
 12. The Republican Party recognizes with approval the sub- 
 stantial advances recently made toward the establishment of 
 equal rights for women by the many important amendments 
 effected by Republican legislatures in the laws which concern
 
 HISTORY OF THE REP UBLICAN PA R TT. Ill 
 
 the personal and property relations of wives, mothers, and wid- 
 ows, and by the appointment and election of women to tho 
 superintendence of education, charities, and other public trusts. 
 The honest demands of this class of citizens for additional 
 rights, privileges, and immunities should bo treated with re- 
 spectful consideration. 
 
 13. The Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power 
 over the Territories of the United States for their government, 
 and in the exercise of this power it is the right and duty of 
 Congress to prohibit and extirpate, in the Territories, that relic 
 of barbarism polygamy ; and we demand such legislation as 
 shall secure this end and the supremacy of American institu- 
 tions in all of the Territories. 
 
 14. The pledges which the nation has given to her soldiers 
 and sailors must be fulfilled, and a grateful people will always 
 hold those who imperilled their lives for the country's preser- 
 vation in the kindest remembrance. 
 
 15. We sincerely deprecate all sectional feeling and tenden- 
 cies. We therefore note with deep solicitude that the Demo- 
 cratic Party counts, as its chief hope of success, upon the elec- 
 toral vote of a united South, secured through the efforts of 
 those who were recently arrayed against the nation, and we in- 
 voke the earnest attention of the country to the grave truth that 
 :i Miccess thus achieved would reopen sectional strife and im- 
 peril national honor and human rights. 
 
 16. We charge the Democratic Party with being the same in 
 r-haracter and spirit as when it sympathized with treason ; with 
 making its control of the House of Representatives the triumph 
 and opportunity of the nation's recent foes ; v;ith reasserting 
 and applauding in the National Capitol the sentiments of unre- 
 pentant rebellion ; with sending Union soldiers to the rear, and 
 promoting Confederate soldiers to the front ; with deliberately 
 proposing to repudiate the plighted faith of the Government ; 
 with being equally false and imbecile upon the overshadowing
 
 112 BISTORT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 financial questions ; with thwarting the ends of justice by its 
 partisan mismanagement and obstruction of investigation ; with 
 proving itself, through the period of its ascendency in the lower 
 House of Congress, utterly incompetent to administer the Gov- 
 ernment ; and we warn the country against trusting a party thus 
 alike unworthy, recreant, and incapable. 
 
 17. The national administration merits commendation for its 
 honorable \york in the management of domestic and foreign 
 affairs, and President firant deserves the continued heany 
 gratitude of the American people for his patriotism and his 
 eminent services, in war and in peace. 
 
 Upon the reading of the resolutions, Edward L. Pierce, of 
 Massachusetts, moved to strike out the eleventh resolution : 
 which, after debate, was disagreed to yeas 215, nays 532. 
 
 Edmund J. Davis moved to strike out the fourth resolution 
 and substitute for it the following : 
 
 Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to provide for carry- 
 ing out the act known as the Resumption Act of Congress, to 
 the end that the resumption of specie payments may not be 
 longer delayed. Which, after a brief debate, was disagreed to 
 on a viva wee vote, 
 
 The candidates were : Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, for 
 President ; William A. Wheeler, of New York, for Vice-Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 SEVENTH REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM. 
 ADOPTED AT CHICAGO, JUNE STH, 1880. 
 
 THE Republican Party, in National Convention assembled, at 
 the end of twenty years since the Federal Government was first 
 committed to its charge, submits to the people of the United 
 States this brief report of its administration : It suppressed a 
 rebellion which had armed nearly a million of men to subvert
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 113 
 
 the national authority. It reconstructed the Union of the 
 States, with freedom instead of slavery as it corner-stone. It 
 transformed 4,000,000 hunuiri beings from the likeness of things 
 to the rank of citizens. It relieved Congress from the infamous 
 work of hunting fugitive slaves, and charged it to see that 
 slavery does not exist. It has raised the value of our paper 
 currency from thirty-eight per cent to the par value of gold. It 
 hub restored upon a solid basis, payment in coin for all the 
 national obligations, and has given us a currency absolutely good 
 and equal in every part of our extended country. It has lifted 
 the credit of the nation from the point where six pei cent bonds 
 sold at eighty-six to that where four per cent bonds are eagerly 
 sought at a premium. Under its administration railways have 
 increased from thirty-one thousand miles in 1860 to more than 
 eighty thousand miles in 1879. Our foreign trade has increased 
 from seven hundred millions to eleven hundred and fifty mill- 
 ions in the same time ; and our exports, which were twenty 
 millions less than our imports in 1800, were $264,000,000 more 
 than our imports in 1879. Without resorting to loans it has, 
 since the war closed, defrayed the ordinary expenses of govern- 
 ment besides the accruing interest on the public debt, and dis- 
 bursed annually more than 30,000,000 for soldiers 1 pensions. 
 It has paid $888,000,000 of the public debt, and, by refunding 
 the balance at a lower rate, has reduced the annual interest 
 charge from nearly $151,000,000 to less than $89,000,000. All 
 the industries of the country have revived, labor is in demand. 
 wages have increased, and throughout the entire country there 
 is evidence of a coming prosperity greater than we have ever 
 enjoyed. Upon this record the Republican Party asks .for the 
 continued confidence and support of the people, and this con- 
 vention submits for their approval the following statement of 
 the principles and purposes which will continue to guide and 
 inspire its efforts : 
 
 1. We affirm that the work of the last twenty-one years has
 
 114 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 been such as to commend itself to the favor of the nation, and 
 that the fruits of costly victories which \ve have achieved 
 through immense difficulties should be preserved ; that the 
 peace so gained should be cherished ; that the dissevered Union, 
 now happily restored, should be perpetuated, and that the lib- 
 erties secured to this generation should be transmitted undi- 
 minished to future generations ; that the order established and 
 the credit acquired should never be impaired ; that the pension 
 promises should be paid ; that the debt so much reduced should 
 be extinguished by the full payment of every dollar thereof ; 
 that the reviving industries should be further promoted, and 
 that the commerce, already so great, should be steadily encour- 
 aged. 
 
 2. The Constitution of the United States is a supreme law, and 
 not a mere contract. Out of confederated States it made a sov- 
 ereign nation. Some powers are denied the nation, while others 
 are denied the States. But the boundary between powers dele- 
 gated and those reserved is to be determined by the National 
 and not the State tribunals. 
 
 8. The work of popular education is one left to the care of 
 the several States, but it is the duty of the National Government 
 to aid that work to the extent of its constitutional ability. The 
 intelligence of the nation is but the aggregate intelligence o r 
 the several States, and the destiny of the nation must be guided, 
 not by the genius of any one State, but by the average geniu* 
 of all! 
 
 4. The Constitution wisely forbids Congress to make any law 
 respecting an establishment of religion, but it is idle to hope 
 that the nation can be protected asrainst the influence of sectari- 
 anism while each State is exposed to its domination. "We 
 therefore recommend that the Constitution be so amended as to 
 lay the same prohibition on the Legislature of each State, and 
 to forbid the appropriation of public funds to the support of 
 sectarian schools.
 
 HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 115 
 
 5. We reaffirm the belief avowed in 1876 that the duties 
 levied for the purpose of revenue should so discriminate as to 
 favor American labor ; that no further grant of the public 
 domain should be made to any railroad or other corporation ; 
 that slavery having perished in the States, its twin barbarity, 
 polygamy, must die in the Territories ; that everywhere the pro- 
 tection accorded to a citizen of American birth must be secuied 
 to citi/.ens by American adoption ; that we esteem it the duty of 
 Congress to develop and improve our water-courses and harbors, 
 but insist that further subsidies to private persons or corpora- 
 tions must cease ; that the obligations of the Republic to the 
 men who preserved its integrity in the day of battle are undimin- 
 ished by the lapse of fifteen years since their final victory, and 
 their perpetual honor is and shall forever be the grateful privi- 
 lege and sacred duty of the American people. 
 
 6. Since the authority for regular immigration and intercourse 
 between the United States and foreign nations rests with the 
 Congress of the United States and its treaty-making powers, the 
 Republican Party, regarding the unrestricted immigration of 
 the Chinese as an evil of great magnitude, invoke the exercise of 
 that power to restrain and limit that immigration by the enact- 
 ment of such just, humane and reasonable provisions as will pro- 
 duce that result. 
 
 7. That the purity and patriotism which characterized the 
 earlier career of R. B. Hayes, in peace and war, and which 
 guided the thought of our immediate predecessors to him for a 
 Presidential candidate, have continued to inspire him in his 
 career as Chief Executive, and that history will accord to his 
 administration the honors which are due to an efficient, just, 
 and courteous discharge of the public business, and will honor 
 his interpositions between the people and proposed partisan 
 laws. 
 
 8. We charge upon the Democratic Party the habitual sacrifice 
 of patriotism and justice to a supreme and insatiable lust of
 
 1 1 6 HISTOR Y OF THE REP UBL TCAN PA R TY. 
 
 office and patronage ; that to obtain possession of the National 
 Government and State Governments, and the control 'of place, 
 they have obstructed all efforts to promote the purity and to 
 conserve the freedom of suffrage ; have labored to unseat law- 
 fully elected members of Congress to secure at all hazards the 
 majority of the States in the House of Representatives ; have 
 endeavored to occupy by force and fraud the places of trust given 
 to others by the people of Maine, and rescued by the courage 
 and action of Maine's patriotic sons ; have, by methods vicious 
 in principle and tyrannical in practice, attached partisan legisla- 
 tion to appropriations, upon whose passage the veiy movements 
 of the Government depend ; have crushed the rights of the in- 
 dividual, have advocated the principles and sought the favor of 
 rebellion against the nation, and have endeavored to obliterate 
 the sacred memories of the war and to overcome its inestimably 
 good results of nationality, personal freedom, and individual 
 equality. The equal steady and complete enforcement of the 
 laws and the protection of all our citizens in the enjoyment of 
 all privileges and immunities guaranteed by the Constitution, is 
 the first duty of the nation. The dangers of a solid South can 
 only be averted by a faithful performance of every promise 
 which the nation has made to its citizens. .The execution of 
 the laws and the punishment of all those who violate th< i 
 the only safe method by which an enduring peace can be se- 
 cured, and genuine prosperity established throughout the South. 
 Whatever promises the nation makes the nation must perform, 
 and the nation cannot with safety relegate this duty to tin 
 States. The solid South must be divided by the peaceful sigcn- 
 cies of the ballot, and all opinions must there find free expres- 
 sion ; and to this end the honest voter must be protected against 
 terrorism, violence, or fraud. And we affirm it to be the duty 
 and purpose of the Republican Party to use all legitimate 
 means to restore all States of this Union to the most perfect 
 harmony which may be possible. And we submit to the prac-
 
 HISTOR T OF THE EEP UBLICAN PA R TY. 117 
 
 tical, sensible people of the United States to say whether it 
 would not be dangerous to the dearest interests of our country 
 at this time to surrender the administration of the National Gov- 
 ernment to a party which seeks to overthrow the existing 
 policy, under which we are so prosperous, and thus bring dis- 
 trust and confusion where there is now order, confidence, and 
 hope. 
 
 The Republican Party, adhering to the principle affirmed by 
 its last National Convention, o"f respect for the constitutional 
 raJes governing appointments to office, adopts the declaration 
 of President Hayes, that the reform of the civil service should 
 be thorough, radical, and complete. To this end it demands the 
 co-operation of the legislative with the executive department of 
 the Government, and that Congress shall so legislate that fitness, 
 ascertained by proper practical tests, shall admit to the publie 
 service.
 
 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES T. COXGDON.
 
 EAELY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 
 
 THERE is abundant evidence that slavery in America was 
 never germane to the sentiment and conscience of the American 
 people. The plea sometimes adduced during the anti-slavery 
 discussion, that the slaves were forced upon the colonies by the 
 commercial cupidity of the mother country, was not without a 
 modicum of truth. It is historically true that both Virginia and 
 South Carolina, in the eighteenth century, sought to restrict the 
 importation of slaves. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania pressed 
 the adoption of similar measures, but in each instance the veto 
 of the colonial governor was interposed. It must be under- 
 stood that, notwithstanding slave labor was in many of the colo- 
 nies found profitable, there was always sturdy protest against it. 
 The constant testimony of the Quakers against it is of record. 
 John Wesley had denounced it as the sum of ail villainies ; 
 Whitefield had spoken to the planters of ;> the miseries of the 
 poor negroes;" Dr. Hopkins, the eminent theologian, had filly 
 characterized the traffic in its very centre, and to the face- of 
 the Newport merchants engaged in it. The Continental Cor: - 
 gross in 1774 had pledged the United Colonies to discontinue- 
 altogether the slave trade. Several of the slave colonies them- 
 selves joined in the declaration against the trade. These facts 
 are worth remembering, because they show that even at that 
 time there was a strong and conscientious feeling against slavery 
 and in favor of justice and humanity. The defence of slaverv 
 upon moral, theological, and political grounds came afterv,:u.i
 
 122 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 
 
 It is nearly a hundred years since the establishment of the 
 Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, 
 and Benjamin Franklin was made its president. There were 
 other and similar societies in different States. The first anti- 
 slavery national convention was held in 1795. 
 
 Perhaps the earliest abolitionist intimately connected with 
 the anti-slavery agitation which culminated in such great 
 results was Benjamin Lundy, a member of the Society of 
 Friends, who, born'in New Jersey in 1789, in 1815 had estab- 
 lished an anti-slavery association called u The Union Humane 
 Society," at St. Glairs ville, Va. Lundy wrote, travelled, 
 lectured, and everywhere maintained his crusade against the in- 
 stitution. In 1821 he started the Genius of Universal Emancipa- 
 tion, the office of which he removed to Baltimore in 1824. 
 Having made the acquaintance of William Lloyd Garrison, he 
 engaged the assistance of that gentleman in the editorial 
 management of the newspaper. Lundy was the first to establish 
 anti-slavery periodicals and deliver anti-slavery lectures. It is 
 stated that from 1820 to 1830 Lundy travelled twenty-five thou- 
 sand miles, five thousand on foot, visited nineteen States, made 
 two voyages to Kayti, and delivered more than two hundred 
 addresses. 
 
 The first number of Mr. Garrison's Liberator was published in 
 Boston, in January, 1831. The history of the agitation which 
 was then begun has already been partially written and is famil- 
 iar to many still living. From this time forth to the bloody 
 issue, and the final triumph of right and of justice, slavery began 
 to be felt in the politics of the country. Undoubtedly a vast 
 majority of both the Whig and Democratic Parties were upon 
 its side. Upon the other there were two classes. There was 
 that which would keep no terms with slavery, but at all times 
 and seasons yielded not one jot or tittle, but demanded its im- 
 mediate abolition. There were others who took more moderate 
 ground ; who doubted the poliey of instant abolition ; who ad-
 
 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 123 
 
 hercd to the parties with which they found themselves allied ; 
 but who nevertheless insisted upon the right of free discussion 
 :uid the right of petition. The great champion of this right in 
 the House of Representatives was John Quincy Adams. He had 
 gone from the White House to the House of Representatives with 
 no special feelings of kindness for the Southern States or for their 
 political leaders. But he was always careful to declare that per- 
 sonally he was not in favor of the abolition of slavery in the Dis- 
 trict, while he deemed the right of petition " sacred and to be 
 vindicated at all hazards." His position must not be misunder- 
 1. Asserting energetically the right of the petitioners to be 
 hoard, he had no sympathy with their opinions. He did not 
 -. . gard the question of shivery in the District as of much conse- 
 :ce. lie took: no humanitarian ground. Ke fought the 
 ' >:it;le, and fought it nobly, but it was as a constitutional lawyer, 
 :.ad not as an abolitionist. He argued the matter as he argued 
 the famous Amis tad case, upon strictly legal principles. For- 
 umately they happened to be upon the right side, und Mr. 
 A Jams's services at this time were unquestionably of great value 
 to the cause of freedom. 
 
 Among the few who took an entirely different ground, and 
 who avowed their sympathy with the prayer of thq petitioners, 
 was William Slade. of Vermont, who was in the House from 
 1831 to 1843, and afterward Governor of Vermont. He said, 
 with manly precision and courage, " The petitioners wish the 
 abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia ; so do I. They 
 wish to abolish the slave-trade in the District ; so do I." But 
 protest at such a time was vain, and the petitions were laid 
 upon the table by a great majority. Agitation must at any cost 
 be arrested. Tranquillity must by any expedient be secured. 
 In the Senate at the same time a similar controversy was going 
 on. Singularly enough, the champion of the right of petition 
 hero was Mr. James Buchanan, who spoke and voted for the 
 reception of the petitions, though he also advocutod the instant
 
 124 JSARLT REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 
 
 rejection of their prayer ; and he actually succeeded, to the great 
 indignation of Mr. Caliioun, in carrying his point. Mr. Morris, of 
 Ohio, vindicated the right, and declared that " no denial of it 
 by Cougress could prevent them from expressing it.'' Similar 
 ground was taken by Mr. Prentiss, of Vermont. Mr. Websti-r, 
 not then so regardless of the popular opinion as he afterward 
 became, advocated the reference of the petitions to the proper 
 committees. 
 
 Among those who in those dark days of Northern subserviency 
 nobly stood up for free speech and a free press, was Governor 
 Joseph Ritner, of Pennsylvania, who in one of his messages said . 
 " Above all, let us never yield up the right of free discussion of 
 any evil which may arise in the land, or any part of it." Thad- 
 deus Stevens, then chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the 
 Pennsylvania House, took ground equally brave and indepen- 
 dent. The Southern Legislatures had asked of the Northern 
 States the enactment of laws for the suppression of free discus- 
 sion. " No State," said Mr. Stevens, " can claim from us such 
 legisjation. It would reduce us to a vassalage but little less 
 degrading than that of the slaves. " But in no State can the 
 progress of this great controversy be more satisfactorily 
 observed than in Massachusetts. There the abolitionists were 
 most uncompromising and determined, and so respectable were 
 they in numbers and character that those who were opposed to 
 their opinions and proceedings were not long afterward glad 
 enough to get their votes in seasons of particular emergency. 
 But Massachusetts respectability, taking its tone from Boston, as 
 the tone of Boston was governed by its commercial interests, was 
 then ready for almost unconditional surrender, of all which ic 
 should have held most dear, to the slave power. Edward Everett 
 was Governor of the State, and wont so far as to suggest that anti- 
 slavery discussion " might be prosecuted as a misdemeanor at 
 common law." This part of Governor Everett's message was 
 referred to a committee of which Mr. George Lunt was chair-
 
 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. Wi> 
 
 man. Before this committee appeared in their own defence such 
 abolitionists as Ellis Gray Loring, William Lloyd Garrison, Dr. 
 Charles Follon. Samuel J. May, and William Goodell. It is 
 almost impossible now to conceive of the indignities as possible 
 to which these gentlemen were subjected by the chairman, Mr. 
 Lunt. Dr. Folleu, one of the mildest and most amiable of men, 
 was peremptorily silenced. ' You are here," said Mr. Lunt to 
 Mr. May, " to exculpate yourselves if you can" as if the remon- 
 strants had be-n criminals at the bar of public justice. Such 
 treatment excited great indignation among those who were pres- 
 ent merely as j-pectators. Dr. William Ellery Channing the 
 story is still related in Boston walked across the room to offer 
 Mr. Garrison his hand, and to speuk to him words of sympathy 
 and encouragement. From that day the progress of anti- 
 slavery opinions in Massachusetts went on almost without cessa- 
 tion. They colored and affected the action of political parties ; 
 they broke up and scattered an organization which had held 
 the State in fee for more them a generation ; they proved them- 
 selves superior to all the reports and resolutions which such men 
 as Mr. Lunt could bring forward ; they won for their supporters 
 all the distinction which place and popular confidence could 
 confer, and reduced those who rejected them to the leanest of 
 minorities. All things worked together for good. The murder 
 of Lovejoy, at Alton in 1837, was a triumph of slavery which 
 proved in the end one of the most fatal of its misfortunes. It 
 sent Dr. Channing to Faneuil Hall to protest against such an out- 
 rage upon law and justice. It sent there Wendell Phillips to 
 make his first speech, which rendered him at once famous. It 
 created a public sympathy in Boston and throughout the State 
 which was never lost, which the immense influence of Mr. 
 Webster was unable to overcome, and which prepared the way, 
 first for the Free Soil and then for the Republican Party. 
 Boston conservatism occasionally made a good deal of noise 
 afterward, but it never carried another election. "Politics,"
 
 126 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 
 
 said Mr. Franklin Pierce about that time in the Senate, " are 
 beginning to mingle with that question." And " lie profoundly 
 regretted that individuals of both parties were submitting to 
 the catechism of the abolitionists." Mr. Pierce was right ; but 
 there was a good deal more to come. 
 
 The intense hostility of a portion of the Northern people to 
 the measures and methods of the early abolitionists did not and 
 could not prevent a gradual change in the temper and the opinions 
 of vast numbers of reflecting and conscientious men, who saw 
 the sole remedy only in political action. The audacity of the 
 slave power, never for a moment satisfied, gave its friends at 
 the North no opportunity of appealing successfully to Northern 
 interests. The most imprudent of mankind were always do- 
 ing something which fanned the slumbering embers again into 
 a blaze. They would not let well enough alone. They would not 
 temporize even when to do so would have been greatly to their 
 advantage. South Carolina, for instance, had been for years in 
 the habit of imprisoning colored seamen during their detention 
 at Charleston. Massachusetts appointed Samuel Hoar, of Con- 
 cord, the agent of the State to prosecute suits to test the legality 
 of these imprisonments. Mr. Hoar was not only a gentleman 
 of great personal worth, but he belonged to one of the oldest 
 families in the State, and for many years had been respected as 
 a jurist of great ability and integrity. To what indignities he 
 was subjected, and how he was expelled from the State, the 
 history of those times will never fail to tell. One result of this 
 v, as to make abolitionists of a great number of highly respect- 
 able people who otherwise might never have been moved from 
 t.hu path of the strictest conservatism. The admission of Texas 
 ad a slave State brought into the anti-slavery ranks, ill-defined 
 as they were, great numbers of persons who otherwise might 
 have kept silence forever. It caused a meeting of protest in 
 Fuiieuil Hall, over which Charles Francis Adams presided. The 
 :>j-:olutions were drawn up by Charles Sumner. They were prc-
 
 EARLT REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 127 
 
 pented by John G. Palfrey. Garrison and Phillips were there, and 
 for once the anti-slavery men of the non-political and the politi- 
 cal schools worked together. The matter was discussed in the 
 colleges and the law schools, in the factories and work-shops ; 
 it was then that the great political revolution in so many State? 
 began. Above all , it sharply defined the line between those Whigs 
 and Democrats who, after a political wrong had been accom- 
 plished, were willing quietly to submit, and those who thought 
 that the wrong should be a fair warning figdnst others of a sim- 
 ilar character. If the motive of annexation was the preservation 
 of slavery, then there was all the more reason for watching 
 slavery closely. 
 
 The case of Mr. Giddings is an excellent illustration of the 
 folly by which the Whig Party alienated many of its best 
 friends. If he was anything, Mr. Giddings was every inch a 
 Whig. He clung to his political organization when many 
 another man would have left it in disgust. lie was, while Mr. 
 John Quincy Adams survived, the steady and able ally of that 
 statesman in the House of Representatives. But neither this 
 nor his stroug anti-slavery sentiments prevented him from 
 being a warm friend and supporter of Henry Clay. He clung 
 to his party until his party nominated General Taylor. This 
 was a supposed submission to the slave power, though it did 
 rot turn out to be afterward, which, sent Mr. Giddings into the 
 Free Soil ranks in 1848. What men went with him, and what 
 came; of that movement, even after it had to all appenranr 
 utterly failed, is well enough known. No wonder Mr. Gidding 
 felt that the North should have different men in tl.o public- 
 councils, when with a large majority it could not shield him 
 from outrages in the House to which the lowest of men would 
 h:irdly have submitted outside of it. 
 
 Tho Democratic Party often exhibited as little wisdom. It 
 
 hud not, for instance, a stronger and more able; soldier than Mr. 
 
 . P. Hale, of New Hampshire. Personally very popular, be
 
 128 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 
 
 was an excellent debater, never found wanting in an emergency, 
 and one who was alike equal to attack or defence. He was, 
 however, foremost in his denunciation of the plan for the annex- 
 ation of Texas a measure which he characterized as " emi- 
 nently calculated to provoke the scorn of earth and the judg- 
 ment of Heaven." He had already been nominated for the 
 --.i-'xt Congress by the Democrats of his district, but another 
 Convention was called, and the name. of Mr. Hale was taken from 
 i he ticket. It is to tell the whole historical story to say that 
 his day's absurd action made Mr. Hale a Senator of the United 
 States. This is the story everywhere. The Whig National 
 Convention, which treated with such utter contempt the protests 
 of anti-slavery Whigs, was the last which met with any prospect 
 of good fortune before it. The day was pregnant with great 
 events, and great political changes were at hand. The Barn- 
 burner revolt in New York assisted in forwarding the great 
 reform. There were yet to be defeats, and men's minds were 
 not entirely fixed ; but both great parties in 1848 sealed their 
 political doom with suicidal hands. Mr. Allen, of Massachu- 
 setts, had said in the Whig National Convention, " It is evident 
 the terms of union between the Whigs of the North and the 
 Whigs of the South are the perpetual surrender by the former 
 of the high offices and powers of the Government to their South- 
 ern confederates. To those term. I think, sir, the free States 
 will no longer submit." Mr. Wilson declared that he would 
 ; not be bound by the proceedings of the convention ;" and Mr. 
 Stanley, of North Carolina, with far-seeing sagacity, retorted th;:t 
 he was " injuring no one but himself' 1 a declaration which in 
 the light of subsequent events seems sufficiently amusing. 
 
 Before the dissatisfied delegates went home the Buffalo Con- 
 vention was decided upon. The first State Convention of the 
 new party in Massachusetts was held in Worcester, and was at- 
 tended by men who have since been often enough heard of- 
 by Henry Wilson, Charles Francis Adams. Oh.-irles Sumner, E.
 
 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 129 
 
 Rooky, aod Hoar, to mention no other?. The action of the 
 Buffalo Convention in nominating Mr. Van Buren for President 
 brought a great portion of the Democratic Party to the new 
 organization, especially in Massachusetts, and in that State the 
 party has never fairly recovered from the events of that cam- 
 paign. The nomination of Charles Francis Adams for Vice- 
 President was deemed a sufficient concession to the bolting 
 Whigs. It was a ticket for an honest man to support, although 
 no prospect of success was before it. The campaign started 
 with great spirit in Ohio, being led by Chase, Giddings, Root, 
 ami other distinguished men. The new party went through a 
 campaign which resulted in entire defeat and in victory ! But 
 it had cast two hundred and ninety-thousand votes for freedom : 
 it had defeated a candidate the avowed supporter of slavery ; 
 and it had secured the election of another who, although a 
 slaveholder, was at least not a trimmer and a doughface. 
 
 Here as well as anywhere may be considered the distinctive 
 character of those who early engaged in this war against slavery 
 :sion. It need not be said that coalition was necessary, and 
 ion always implies the co-operation of those who find each 
 other useful, but who may be governed by widely different 
 motives. Those who had conscientiously entertained a hatred 
 of slavery found an opportunity of alliance with others, whose 
 hostility was at least recent, and who had managed to get along 
 wit! the South so long as that section conceded to them a fair 
 share in the Government. The Democratic wing of the Free 
 Soil Party made great pretensions to anti-slavery sentiment. 
 Among those who were loudest was John Van Buren, of New 
 York. Tie went so far as to say at Utica, in the Barnburners' 
 '.'o'lvention, " We expert to make the Democratic Party of this 
 State the great anti-slavery party of this State, and through it 
 to make the Democratic Party of the United States the great 
 anti-slavery party of the United States.'' Sii!>-equent events 
 'i!'j .-, ed that this meant very little save the desire for revenge
 
 130 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 
 
 on the part of a son -who was irritated by what lie regarded as 
 the personal wrongs of a father. Not many years elapsed before 
 John Van Buren was again in the Democratic Party, when it was 
 even more thoroughly than before the servant of slavery, with 
 the immoral aspects of the institution more fully developed. 
 With him returned to their allegiance many thousands of 
 Democrats. He was supple, clever, and adroit. As a plat- 
 form speaker he had few equals ; but that he was altogether 
 sincere perhaps it would be too much to say. 
 
 No man is personally identified more historically with the 
 Republican Party than Henry Wilson. He had great virtues 
 and great faults of character. His natural impulses were warm 
 and generous. lie had absolute physical courage, and when 
 his passions were aroused he was a formidable enemy. He 
 could put a personal injury in abeyance if he thought it for his 
 advantage to do so ; but he had a long memory, and although he 
 might forgive he never forgot. He had great skill in party 
 manoeuvre, and a perfect faith in party management. It was 
 perhaps his real misfortune that his first political successes of 
 any importance were secured by coalitions. It is true that many 
 of these were originated by himself, but he was not, it must be 
 said in his defense, the originator of the opportunity. He was 
 perfectly frank in his avowal of what he thought to be not only 
 the expediency but the virtue of joining in any political move- 
 ment which would advance his own political opinions, without 
 much regard for appearances. Others acquiesced in such 
 bargains Mr. Wilson went farther, for he believed in them. 
 There was no nicety, no moral scrupulosity in 1m constitution. 
 This made it easy for him to act with anybody or everybody ; 
 and to this easy political virtue he owed his first election to the 
 United States Senate. He joined the Know-Nothing Party 
 without in the least accepting its particular tenets. He did not 
 hesitate to receive Democratic votes. In Massachusetts the 
 Whig Party was in his way, and in the way of the anti-slavery
 
 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 131 
 
 views which he undoubtedly entertained, and he determined 
 upon its destruction. He never apologized for alliances which 
 others thought to he immoral. He was a leader of those who 
 regarded slavery as sinful and impolitic ; he himself undoubt- 
 edly shared in their opinions ; but he did not hesitate in an 
 emergency to act with those whose views were widely differ- 
 ent. After his success was definitely assured he became more 
 independent, and, it must be added, more consistent. His 
 capacity for public affairs was of a first-rate order, and he had 
 entirely risen above the defects of his early education. He was 
 a born political soldier, and did quite as much as any man to 
 bring the Republican Party to compactness and coherence. 
 
 Mr. Charles Stunner was of a character widely different from 
 that of his colleague. The latter, with all his merits, was in- 
 grain a politician ; Mr. Sumner was perhaps the worst politician 
 in the United States. While the struggle which resulted in 
 making him a Senator of the United States was going on in the 
 Massachusetts Legislature, he kept resolutely aloof from the 
 contest, and neither by word nor by deed indicated his 
 approval or disapproval of the coalition. Even when the pro- 
 longed contest resulted in his election, he left the city of 
 Boston that he might avoid the congratulations of his support- 
 ers of either sort. He followed w r hat he called "a line of 
 reserve." In a letter to Mr. Wilson he thanked that gentleman 
 for "the energy, determination, and fidelity" with which he 
 had fought the battle, and said, " For weal or woe, you must 
 take the responsibility of having placed me in the Senate of the 
 United States." It is doubtful whether Mr. Sumner did entirely 
 approve the means which were used to make him in the first 
 instance a Senator ; but, like other anti-slavery Whigs and 
 Democrats, he acquiesced. So sturdy a man as Robert Rantoul, 
 Jr., accepted a seat in the Senate under precisely the same con- 
 ditions, and he was elected to the House of Representatives in 
 the same way. Even Horace Mann defended the coalition.
 
 132 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 
 
 Mr. Sumner's career in the Senate was never in the least influ- 
 enced by the necessity of conciliating Democrats at home ; and 
 long before his re-election anything like coalition had, by the 
 march of events, been made unnecessary. Ultimately Mr. Sum- 
 ner's hold upon the hearts of the people of Massachusetts be- 
 came so strong that the efforts of a petty clique to unseat him, 
 could not under any circumstances probably have been success- 
 ful. He was regarded, especially after the felonious assault 
 upon him in the Senate Chamber, as a martyr to the cause. He 
 was a great man for great occasions ; and by long familiarity 
 with the business of the Senate he became much more prac- 
 tically useful than he was at first ; but he could not be consid- 
 ered a popular member, and there were those who thought him 
 somewhat arrogant. He never worked well in the traces of 
 party, and there was something of the virtuoso in his character, 
 which his less refined associates did not relish. His speeches 
 were very carefully prepared, but they were often loaded with 
 learning, and the more elaborate portions of them smelt of lh.' 
 lamp. His name, however, is inseparably and most honmui 1;, 
 connected with the greatest of events, and he will doubtless !>u 
 remembered long after he ceases to be read. 
 
 Charles Francis Adams had been among the earliest of the 
 Conscience Whigs of Massachusetts. His distrust of the Souili 
 and of the slaveholder v, a-* natural, for he had received a large 
 inheritance of family grievances, real or supposed. None of 
 them, however, prevented him from permitting his name to be 
 used with that of Mr. Van Buren, and he accepted the nominsi- 
 tion for the Vice-Presidency from the Buffalo Convention with 
 perfect complacency. But if his passions were strong, hi* 
 political tastes were occasionally fastidious, and probably he 
 never thoroughly relished the Massachusetts Coalition. He 
 exhibited on many occasions the same remarkable mixture of 
 ardor and conversatism which characterized his illustrious 
 father. He could lead sometime** with special ability, but h<j
 
 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 133 
 
 could not "be easily nor often led. Party harness sat very easily 
 upon his shoulders, and he could throw it off whenever he 
 pleased. But of the new party he was an invaluable member, 
 for his training for public affairs had been first-rate ; the his- 
 torical associations of his name were interesting and attractive ; 
 he was veiy wealthy ; and he was a master of political science. 
 Opposed as ho was to the coalition which elected Mr. Sumner, 
 he shared that opposition with Richard II. Dana, Jr., Samuel 
 Hoar, John G. Palfrey, and some other eminent Free Soilers. 
 Ultimately, of course, these differences of opinion subsided ; 
 but Mr. Adams has shown, with other members of the party, 
 that the same freedom of judgment which had led to its forma- 
 tion still guided many of its choicest spirits. Of the brilliant 
 career of Mr. Adams, subsequent to these events, it is unneces- 
 sary here to speak. The present time finds him a member of 
 that Democratic Party which he has so often and so bitterly 
 denounced. The fact is to be most pleasantly regarded as evi- 
 dence of the perfect independence of his character. 
 
 All the temptations which led several prominent Whigs to 
 repudiate the nomination of General Taylor in 1848 had no 
 effect upon Mr. William II. Seward. His time had not yet 
 come, but it was well known that his political opinions were of 
 an anti-slavery color, and that he was particularly sensitive upon 
 the point of surrendering fugitives from slavery. These views 
 began to develop more definitely after his election to the 
 United States Senate in 1849. In the debate upon the admission 
 of California into the Union in 1850, he used the phrase " higher 
 law than the Constitution," a part of which has become prover- 
 bial. He fought the compromises to the last. In his speech at 
 Rochester in 1858 he had alluded to the " irrepressible conflict," 
 and this phrase also has become famous, as well as the declara- 
 tion that " the United States must and will become either 
 entirely a slaveholding nation or entirely a free labor nation." 
 In 1860 in the Senate he a-vowed that his vote should never bt
 
 134 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 
 
 given to sanction slavery in the common territories of the 
 United States, " or anywhere else in the world." His services 
 as Secretary of State during the Rebellion were of the first 
 order, and especially his management of our foreign relations. 
 Undoubtedly his wisdom and forethought saved us upon more 
 than one occasion from a foreign war. His adherence to office 
 under President Johnson did much to injure his popularity ; 
 and pei haps he was not sorry definitely to retire from public life 
 in 1869, and to find a new and rational pleasure in prolonged' 
 foreign travel. Mr. Seward was a man of fine literary tastes, of 
 no mean literary skill ; he had the faculty of acquiring and of 
 keeping friends ; and in the social circle he was devoted and 
 affectionate. The disappointment of his public life, which con- 
 sidered altogether was eminently successful, was his failure to 
 secure the Presidency ; but it must have been an alleviation to 
 know that he shared this with so many eminent men. II L 
 public career was peculiarly consistent, and perhaps of all pub- 
 lic characters of his time he was oftenest found upon the side 
 of the oppressed and the unfortunate, even in cases which had 
 no political significance. 
 
 The man who even before 1846, and in that year, argued that 
 slavery was local and dependent upon State law, was Salmon P. 
 Chase, of Ohio, and nothing could be more astonishing than the 
 changes which ultimately placed such a lawyer upon the bench 
 of the Supreme Court, and in the place just before occupied by 
 Chief-Justice Taney. He was one of the few remarkable men 
 to whom the old Liberty Party was indebted for an existence, to 
 which the Republican Party also owes something. He was the 
 first or among: the first to propose the Free Soil movement and 
 the Buffalo Convention in 1848, and over this body he presided. 
 He too was sent to the United States Senate by a coalition of Free 
 Soil members and Democrats of the Ohio Legislature in 1849 ; but 
 the Ohio Democrats in their State Convention had already de- 
 clared slavery to be a national evil, which rendered the coali-
 
 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 135 
 
 tion at least not absurd and contradictory. Mr. Chaso made 
 haste to disavow all connechon with the Democrats after the 
 nomination of Mr. Pierce in 1852, upon a pro-slavery platform. 
 With his record and strong opinions upon the subject of slavery 
 he came naturally into the Republican Party, and into the 
 Cabinet of President Lincoln as Secretary of the Treasury in 
 JS61. As Chief-Justice of the United States, his great learning, 
 his sense of equity, and his liberal views of important public 
 questions won him a permanent reputation as a lawyer. Ho 
 did not always agree with the policy of the Republican Party, 
 and he was even talked of as a candidate of the Democrats for 
 the Presidency a nomination which was not accorded to him, 
 but which it was understood that he was willing to accept un- 
 der certain conditions. He is an excellent instance of what the 
 reader of this chapter must have observed the tendency, dur- 
 ing stormy political seasons, of really able men to cut loose the 
 bonds of party and to seek in new affiliations the accomplish- 
 ment of cherished purposes and the vindication of profound 
 convictions. Judge Chase, in his own State, was a man of un- 
 bounded popularity. This was never shaken by any course 
 which he thought n't to pursue ; and to the last r>o man ever 
 doubted his integrity. 
 
 Not as President, but as one of the leaders who made tho 
 Republican Party possible, the career of Abraham Lincoln be- 
 fore ho was elected to the office in which he died a martyr to 
 his principles, ought here to be alluded to. In Congress, which, 
 he entered in 1848, he doubted the constitutionality of slavery 
 in the District of Columbia ; he suggested the expediency of 
 abolishing the slave-trade there ; and he warmly advocated tho 
 Wilmot Proviso. When the project for the repeal of the Mis- 
 souri Compromise was brought forward, he found his place in 
 the great contest at once. His platform duels with Douglas in 
 Illinois will never be forgotten, and his speech at Springfield 
 utterly demolished the sophistry of the " great principle" 
 which R^ertffi that a man in "N>br:*kfl mJjyht not only govern
 
 136 EARLY REPUBLICAN LEADERS. 
 
 himself, but also govern other persons without their consent. 
 He too declared that no government could endure permanently 
 which was " half slave and half free." How well he demeaned 
 himself in his high office it is unnecessary to say. He gre\\ 
 larger and larger under the pressure of the terrible situation ; 
 he was as tender as a woman, and as stern as a Roman ; IK- 
 thought, planned, acted, always with perfect caution, with 
 native sagacity, with a perfect appreciation of the situation. Ii 
 was no accident, it was the impulse of character and the 
 prompting of the heart which led Abraham Lincoln into the. 
 Republican Party, 'of which he was a defender and ornament. 
 In the most doubtful days, if there be a party which is on the 
 side of justice and humanity, a man with a heart is sure to find 
 it ; and if there be another, its exact opposite, pledged to op- 
 pression, to selfishness, and to corruption, the man without u 
 heart is sure to drift into it. 
 
 In this chapter many honored names have been necessarily 
 omitted. The object has been to refer to only a few of tin; 
 most prominent as examples of fidelity to great principles and 
 to ideas worthy of the support of the American people. After 
 all, more have been omitted than mentioned. We might have 
 spoken of Horace Mann, the uncompromising philanthropist, 
 the profound scholar, and the life-long advocate of popular edu- 
 cation ; of John G. Palfrey, who was among the first of Massa- 
 chusetts Whigs to risk all save the reward of a good conscienct- 
 for the sake of the slave ; of the young and eloquent Burlin- 
 game, first known as a popular speaker, but who afterward 
 developed into a most able diplomatist ; and we might hav< 
 added something of the magnetic influence which drew tli 
 young men of the North about the banner of freedom, ami 
 awakened an enthusiasm which made the strict lines and til- 
 self-seeking policy of the old parties distasteful to their gener- 
 ous natures. Happy will the nation be should any such great 
 emergency again arise, if once more the old honesty shall be 
 j.nd the old enthusiasm stimulated !
 
 REPUBLICAN VICTORIES. 
 
 THE POPULAR AND ELECTORAL VOTE AT EACH 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SINCE THE 
 
 FORMATION OF THE 
 
 REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Reduction of the Public Debt.
 
 138 
 
 REPUBLICAN VICTORIES. 
 
 POPULAK VOTE OP 1856. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 James Buchanan, 
 Democratic. 
 
 John C. Fremont, 
 Republican. 
 
 M. Fillmore, 
 American. 
 
 Total 
 Vote. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Maj. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Maj. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Maj. 
 
 Alabama 
 Arkansas 
 California.... 
 Connecticut. 
 Delaware.... 
 Florida 
 
 46,739 
 21,910 
 53,365 
 34,995 
 8,004 
 6.358 
 66,578 
 105,348 
 118,670 
 36,170 
 74,642 
 22,164 
 39.080 
 39,115 
 39.240 
 52,136 
 35,446 
 58,164 
 32,789 
 
 195^878 
 48.246 
 170,874 
 230,710 
 6,680 
 Electors 
 73,638 
 31,169 
 1(),f,69 
 89,706 
 52,843 
 
 18,187 
 11,123 
 *17,200 
 
 '""20,69i 
 42,715 
 
 308 
 
 '"5',i05 
 
 28,552 
 10,787 
 
 36.165 
 2,615 
 6 175 
 
 
 75.291 
 
 110'221 
 8H.3.5 
 14.487 
 11,191 
 93.806 
 238.931 
 X35.431 
 t9.304 
 142.372 
 42: 878 
 H '.1,734 
 86.836 
 
 125>53 
 
 1,521 
 1,525 
 14,350 
 19,159 
 1,909 
 
 '"6,9i2 
 1,455 
 
 
 
 4,833 . 
 
 Georgia 
 Illinois 
 
 
 
 42,228 
 
 96,189 
 94,375 
 43,954 
 314 
 
 07,379 
 281 
 108,190 
 71,762 
 
 
 37,444 
 22,386 
 9,180 
 67,416 
 20,709 
 3,325 
 47,460 
 I9.6S6 
 1,660 
 24,195 
 
 
 
 Iowa 
 Kentucky.. . 
 Louisiana. .. 
 Maine 
 Maryland. . 
 Mas.-achus'ts 
 Michigan 
 Mississippi.. 
 Missomi 
 N. H'pshirc. 
 New Jersey.. 
 New York.. . 
 N. Carolina. . 
 Ohio 
 P'nsvlvania.. 
 Rhode Island 
 S. Carolina. . 
 Tennessee. . . 
 Texas 
 
 $7,184 
 24,974 
 
 
 ' 8 : 6o4 
 
 
 49,324 
 17,966 
 
 9^640 
 
 "il',860 
 "'i',025. 
 
 
 
 
 48,524 
 422 
 21,115 
 124,604 
 
 88,18! 
 
 82,175 
 1,676 
 
 laiure. 
 66,178 
 15,639 
 545 
 60.310 
 679 
 
 
 
 71.556 
 
 B%487 
 85.132 
 
 4Jl>V.:5 
 
 38,345 
 28.338 
 276,007 
 
 ' 187,497 
 147,510 
 
 11,467 
 by the 
 
 5,134 
 ' $80,129 
 ' $16',623 
 
 Legis- 
 
 
 ... .. 
 
 chosen 
 7460 
 15,530 
 
 
 1S9.816 
 4(3.808 
 C0.675 
 150.307 
 119,513 
 
 4,053,907 
 
 391561 
 801 
 
 66,090 
 
 i2',668 
 
 :::::: 
 
 Vermont.. . . 
 Virginia 
 Wisconsin . . 
 
 Tonl 
 Buchanan's P 
 
 29,105 
 
 1,?38,169 
 lurality... 
 
 142,353' 
 
 t496,05. 
 
 1,341,264 
 
 146,730 
 
 874,53 
 
 8,0644! 
 
 * Plurality over Fiilmore. t Plurality over Fremont. J Plurality orcr Bucbwiaa,
 
 REPUBLICAN VICTORIES. 
 
 139 
 
 EL3CTOHAL VOT3 OF 1350. 
 
 
 PRES. V. PHE=I. 
 
 i 
 
 
 PBES. V. PRBS. 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J, 
 
 
 
 
 CT^TSS. : . 
 
 i ft 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 STATES. 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 z : 1 I I 
 
 s ' - ^ 
 
 s 
 2 "3 
 
 _j 
 
 
 ?. 
 
 R 
 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 1 1 I 
 
 5, 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 S 5 
 
 s 
 
 
 a 
 
 -> r: -^ Z? 3 
 
 
 
 ' fa ' fa ij Q O 
 
 r* 
 
 
 & 
 
 fa fa n jo jp 
 
 
 1 Alabama .. 9 ... . 9 .. . .. . 
 2 Arkansas. . 4 ... , 4 
 
 |17 Mississippi 
 4 118 Missouri.. 
 
 7 
 'i 
 
 
 1... 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 t) 
 
 
 3 California.. 4 .. . 4 
 
 4 19 N Ilamps'e -. . 
 
 5 
 
 
 r i 
 
 
 5 
 
 4 Comitsctic't ... G G . . . 
 
 G 20 New Jersey 
 
 r 
 
 "7..: 
 
 
 7 
 
 5 "olawaru. -'i ...... 3 
 
 3 21 New York.. 
 
 
 33 .. 
 
 :-">:> 
 
 
 89 
 
 G Florid i.... 3 3 . .. . 
 
 3 22 N. Carolina 10 ... 10 . 
 
 
 i i 
 
 7 G;'or$ri i 10 
 
 .. ... 10 
 
 10 23 Ohio 23 ... 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 8 Illinois 11 
 
 11 
 
 11 24 Pennsylv'ia 27 
 
 27 ... 
 
 
 ;; 
 
 Indiana. . .. 
 
 18 
 
 1.5 
 
 13 2.") R Inland 
 
 4 .. 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 4 
 
 10 Iowa 
 
 
 4...'..J 4... 
 
 4 26 S. Carolina. 
 
 8' ..'... 
 
 8 ... 
 
 
 8 
 
 11 K.-ntucky . 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 12 27 Tennessee. .1 12... 
 
 
 12 ... 
 
 
 19 
 
 12 Louisiana.. 
 
 (i 
 
 ..- ... G 
 
 6 2-tTt-xas .... ! 4 ... 
 
 
 4 ... 
 
 
 4 
 
 13 Main-.. . 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 . . 
 
 H 29 Vermont 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 6 
 
 14 Maryland 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 30 Vir"inia. 
 
 15 
 
 
 13 .- 
 
 
 13 
 
 1"> Ma^s'chu'ts 1 .. . 
 
 13 
 
 13 ... 
 
 13 31 Wisconsin. 
 
 
 5 .. 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 
 
 IS Michigan... 
 
 
 G 
 
 G .. . 
 
 n 
 
 ^rrs=i 
 
 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total...! 171 114 8i174ll4 l 82!)!.
 
 140 
 
 REP UBLICAN VICTORIES. 
 
 POPtTLAB VOTE OP 1860. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 A. Lincoln, 
 Republican. 
 
 S. A. Doug- J. C. Breckin- 
 las, ridge, 
 Ind. Dem. i Democratic. ; 
 
 John Bell, 
 Const. Union. 
 
 Total 
 Vote. 
 
 ' 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Maj. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Maj. 
 
 Vote. Maj. j 
 
 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Maj. 
 
 ! 
 1; Alabama. 
 'i Arkansas. 
 3 California 
 I Connlcut 
 5 Delaware. 
 Florida... 
 
 
 ! 
 
 13.651 
 5,227 
 38,516 
 15,522 
 1.' 23 
 367 
 11,590 
 160,315 
 115,509 
 65,111 
 25,651 
 
 : ,625 
 
 26.693 
 5,%6 
 
 
 
 : :::: 
 
 48,a31 7,355 
 , 28.732 3,411 
 34.334 
 14,641 
 7,3 1: 
 i 8,54:i 2,739 
 51.880 t9,003 
 2..104 : 
 12,295 , 
 1,048 
 53,143 
 22.681 t2,477 
 6.368 
 42.4r<2 ';.'-' 
 5,939 
 805 
 
 27,825 
 20,094 
 6.817 
 3.291 
 3,864 
 5.437 
 42,886 
 3,913 
 5,30C 
 1.763 
 66.058 
 20.204 
 2.046 
 41.760 
 
 
 
 90.30T 
 54,053 
 118.840 
 77,146 
 16.S 49 
 14,347 
 106.365 
 338,693 
 272,143 
 128.331 
 , 146.216 
 50,510 
 97,918 
 92.502 
 169.173 
 154,747 
 34,799 
 69,120 
 165.518 
 65.953 
 121.125 
 ! 675.156 
 %,OoO 
 442,411 
 12,410 
 : 476.442 
 19,951 
 
 39.173 
 43,692 
 3,815 
 
 *657 
 10,238 
 
 
 7:Georgia. . 
 SJIllinois... 
 9 Indiana . . 
 10 Iowa 
 il!Kentucky 
 12 Louisiana 
 i:j Maine 
 M .Maryland 
 15 Mass 
 if, Michigan. 
 \\ Minn'sota 
 18 Mississ'pi 
 19: Missouri.. 
 -f ' N. Hamp. 
 21. N. Jersey. 
 22 New York 
 :3 N. Carol'a 
 -,'4 'Ohio.. .. 
 io^ Oregon... 
 : '0 Penn 
 ,r R. Island. 
 :S 8. Carol'a 
 '0,Tenness'e 
 30! Texas 
 
 ' Yfi'iei 
 
 139.033 
 70,409 
 1,364 
 
 62,81 i 
 2.294 
 106.533 
 88,480 
 22,069 
 
 'if .028 
 87.5W 
 
 58.324 
 362,646 
 
 '"5,629 
 5,923 
 12,487 
 
 "27,764 
 
 $12,915 
 
 43.891 
 88,313 
 
 9,339 
 
 "fl^OSS 
 "56!i.36 
 
 34.372 
 65,037 
 11.920 
 3,283 
 56,801 
 25,881 
 02,801 
 31-2,510 
 ' 701 
 
 
 
 t lyj 
 4:477 
 
 2;),331 
 405 
 62 
 
 
 7J8 
 
 
 40.797 12.474 
 ! 31.317 
 j 2112 . . 
 
 25.040 
 58,372 
 441 
 
 
 
 
 
 48,:i39 C48 
 11.405 
 3,006 
 178,871 
 
 44*990 
 
 12.194 
 183 
 12,776 
 
 
 231.610 
 5.270 
 96&OHO 
 12.244 
 Electors 
 
 20.779 187,202 
 *1,319 3.951 
 59,61? in.7f 
 4.53; 7.707 
 chosen by the 
 "11.330 
 
 
 
 
 
 Le- 
 
 gisla- ! ture. 
 64,709 .... 
 ; 47.54S 32,110 
 1.969 .. .. 
 74,323 
 888 
 
 
 
 69,274 
 16,48$ 
 218 
 
 i 74.681 
 161 
 
 ; $4,563 
 
 145,333 
 62,986 
 42.844 
 167.223 
 152,180 
 
 JllVermont. 
 '1-2 Virginia . 
 -! Wiscon'n 
 
 | Total... 
 'Lincoln's 
 
 33,808 24,772 
 1,929' 
 86,110 io.o-io 
 
 6.849 
 16,290 
 65,021 
 
 ..... 
 
 i $35 3 
 
 'l,86fi,852 
 Plurality 
 
 326,391 1,375,157 
 *491,195 i 
 
 4,477 
 
 847,51458,737 
 
 587,83C 
 
 
 4,676,853 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 * Plurality over Douglas, t Plurality over Bell. $ Plurality over Brcckinridge.
 
 REPUBLICAN VICTORIES, 
 
 141 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE OF 1860. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 . 
 
 | 
 
 [J 
 
 T 
 
 s 
 
 'C ' & 
 
 e >, 
 
 a 3w _ . 1* . 
 q _j t <- *3 a c 5 
 
 ~ e : P" 
 
 2o d ' 3t < 
 
 -4 * ^ -/. 
 
 B<a 
 
 *53 
 
 II 
 
 a s 
 
 ts" 5 
 
 oT 
 
 
 1-1 bo 
 
 1! 
 1 = 
 
 Edward Everett, 
 of Muss. 
 
 H. V. Johnson, 
 of Ga. 
 
 
 
 9 
 4 
 
 
 
 9 
 4 
 
 4 
 6 
 3 
 3 
 10 
 11 
 13 
 4 
 12 
 6 
 8 
 8 
 13 
 G 
 4 
 7 
 9 
 5 
 7 
 35 
 10 
 23 
 3 
 27 
 4 
 8 
 12 
 4 
 5 
 , 15 
 5 
 
 303 
 
 2 Arkansas 4 
 
 
 
 
 3 California 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 Delaware . . ........ 3 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 
 
 6 Florida 8 
 
 
 
 
 7 Georgia 
 
 10 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 8 Illinois 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 13 
 
 
 
 9 Indiana 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 10 Iowa 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 Kentucky . . . . VZ ... 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 
 
 13 Maine 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 14 Maryland ... . 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 15 Massachusetts 13 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 16 Michigan .6 
 
 
 
 
 17 Minnesota . 4 i 
 
 
 
 
 18 Mississippi 7 
 
 . 
 7 
 
 
 
 19 Missouri . 9 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 20 New Hampshire. 5 . 
 
 5 
 4 
 
 35 
 
 
 21 New Jersey 4 ' 3 \ 
 
 3 
 
 22 New York 
 
 S5 
 
 S3 North Carolina .. 10 !. 
 
 io . 
 
 24 Ohio .... 23 ... . t . aa ' 
 
 25 Oregon . . . . 3 
 
 3 
 27 
 
 4 
 
 
 26 Pennsylvania 27 : 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 27 Rhode Island. . 
 28 South Carolina 
 
 4 . . 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 29 Tennessee 12 
 
 
 12 
 
 30 Texas 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 31 Vermont 5 1 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 32 Virginia 15 1 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 83 Wisconsin ! 5 : . .. 
 
 5 
 
 
 Total 
 
 180 ! 72 | 39 12 
 
 180 
 
 72 39 ' 12 

 
 142 
 
 FOPULAK VOTE OF 1864. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, 
 Republican. 
 
 Gco. B McClellan, 
 L>euiocrauc. 
 
 Tofil 
 Yale. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Majority.' 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Majority. 
 
 Alabama* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Arkansas* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cnliionii'i 
 
 C2.1S4 
 44,<591 
 
 18,593 
 2.406 
 
 43,841 
 42.285 
 8,71,7 
 
 
 105.975 
 f 0,9To 
 10,922 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 
 
 013 
 
 Kloridu* 
 
 
 
 Georgia* I 
 
 
 
 
 
 Illinois 
 
 189,496 
 1. '0,422 
 89.075 
 16.441 
 
 27,7'SS 
 
 30.70U 
 20.189 i 
 8!>,4T!) 
 12.750 j 
 
 158,730 
 130,233 
 40,590 
 3,091 
 64,801 
 
 
 348.220 
 2SO,<;55 
 13S.071 
 20,131 
 SB.QS7 
 
 (iitiiiu.u 
 
 
 Iowa 
 
 "sb.sis" 
 
 Kansas. . .. , 
 
 Kentucky . 
 
 Louisiana.*.., 
 
 
 
 Elaine 
 
 G 1,803 
 40,153 
 1-26,742 
 !i 1,521 
 25,000 
 
 iV,693 
 
 7,414 ! 
 77,997 
 10,917 
 7,085 
 
 44,211 
 32 739 
 4S 745 
 74,604 
 17.375 
 
 
 1.. 0.014 
 
 Maryland 
 
 
 72J98 
 
 175.487 
 
 10.1i5 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 
 
 
 M iiim>otrt 
 Mt>*issippi* 
 
 
 42,435 
 
 Missouri 
 
 12,750 
 9, 26 
 0,400 
 00723 
 568,755 
 
 41.072 
 3.232 ! 
 3,529 
 
 0,749' 
 
 31.078 
 0.591 
 32.871 
 68,024 
 861,986 
 
 
 104.428 
 16,40 
 
 OO.'ol 
 
 128.747 
 7.JO,7~'1 
 
 Nevada 
 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 
 N i w Jursc y 
 New York 
 
 7,301 
 
 Norih Carolina* 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 2(i5. i: 4 
 9,888 
 
 293,301 
 13,093 
 
 59,5t-(i 
 1,431 
 20.075 
 5,222 
 
 205,508 
 8.457 
 76,310 
 K470 
 
 
 ' 47.1,722 
 
 Oregon 
 
 
 18,345 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 
 572,707 
 22,102 
 
 South Carolina* 
 
 
 
 : Tennessee* 
 
 
 
 
 
 ;'fexas* - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Vermont 
 
 . 42,419 
 
 9,098 
 
 13,321 
 
 
 .",7-W 
 
 Virginia* 
 
 
 Wei-t Virginia 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Total .. 
 
 23,152 
 83,458' 
 
 "52.714 
 17,574 
 
 10.4S8 
 05.884 
 
 
 - r .:3.5GO 
 149,342 
 
 
 2.210,067 
 
 451.770 
 407.342 
 
 1,808,725 
 
 44,428 
 
 4,024,792 
 
 Lincoln's Majority. 
 
 
 
 The eleven States marked thus (*) did not vote.
 
 VICTORIES. 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE OF 1864. 
 
 
 PRESI- 
 
 V.PRE- 
 
 
 STATES. 
 
 PBCTJ . 
 
 V. PKE- 
 
 
 
 UENT. 
 
 SIDE'T. 
 
 
 BENT. 
 
 blDENr. 
 
 
 
 
 <-i 
 
 
 . 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 c|o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 Vi 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 't 
 
 
 e * 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 fr 
 
 
 
 
 r=l 
 
 
 
 j. 
 
 
 
 STATM. 
 
 "" 
 
 c 
 
 
 H 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 2 
 
 
 , > 
 
 
 
 = 
 
 
 y a! 
 
 
 
 
 s? 
 
 - - 
 
 j. 
 $ 
 
 I 
 
 I,| 
 
 
 5 
 
 f 
 
 c !-s . 
 * 5 - 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 C f, 
 
 U 
 
 | 
 
 ^S _ 
 
 ciS 
 
 u 
 
 a 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 3! 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 S 2 
 
 a o 
 
 15 
 
 K 
 
 3 
 
 i^ -HH ^ 
 ^.' O 
 
 !S 
 
 
 <:o 
 
 > 
 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 K ; H 
 
 < 
 
 - 
 
 > 
 
 < e> i H 
 
 11 Alabama 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 8 8 
 
 20 
 
 Missouri 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 5 5 21 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 g 
 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 3;Calitornia 
 
 5 
 
 
 r, .. 
 
 ...ji 5 22 N. Hampshire.. 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 4 \ Connecticut 
 
 6 
 
 
 .. 6 23 
 
 New Ji*mev . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 p 1 
 
 7 
 
 5 Delaware. 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 ,; 
 
 3 
 
 . 3 24 New York.". . 
 
 83 
 
 
 
 8i 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 6 Florida 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 . 3 3 ar, 
 
 X CjimlilllL 
 
 
 
 <) 
 
 
 
 ') 
 
 7 Georgia 
 
 
 
 Ml'.! 
 
 
 9 9 20 Ohio .... 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 "1 
 
 
 
 "1 
 
 8 Illinois 
 
 18 
 
 
 . if. 
 
 
 . . 16 27 Orcwni 
 
 o 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 <t 
 
 9 Indiana 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 13 28 
 
 Pennsylvania.. 
 
 2'j 
 
 
 
 
 
 90 
 
 10 Iowa 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 8 29 
 
 Hhndn T.-ilnnil 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 11 Kansas 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 30 South Carolina 
 
 
 
 r, 
 
 
 (; 
 
 6 
 
 12 Kentucky 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 11 31 Tennessee 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 HI 
 
 
 13 Louisiana . . 
 
 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 7 32 
 
 TeTHs 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 c, 
 
 14 Maine 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 7 33 Vermont... 
 
 fl 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 :> 
 
 15 Maryland 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 .. 734 
 
 Virginia... 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 . =10 
 
 10 
 
 16 Massachusetts.. 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 12 35 W. Virginia 
 
 ^ : v. 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 17 Michigan 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 81 3fi 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 8 - 
 
 
 >; n 
 
 18 Minnesota 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 
 Total 
 
 212 
 
 21 
 
 81 j 212 
 
 .21 
 
 81 
 
 314 
 
 19 Mississippi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 144 
 
 REPUBLIC AX VICTORIES. 
 
 POPTTLAH VOTE OP 1868. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 Ulysses S. Grant, 
 Republican. 
 
 . 
 Horatio Seymour, 
 Democratic. 
 
 Total 
 Vote. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Majority. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Majority. 
 
 1< Alabama 
 
 76,366 
 22,112 
 54.583 
 50,995 
 7,623 
 
 4,278 
 3,034 
 506 
 3,043 | 
 
 72,088 
 19,078 
 54,077 
 47,952 
 10,980 
 the Legis- 
 102.722 
 199,143 
 166,980 
 74.040 
 13,990 
 115.890 
 80.225 
 42.460 
 62.357 
 59.408 
 97,069 
 28,075 
 
 
 148.454 
 41,19" 
 108,>i> 
 98.947 
 18,603 
 
 2 Arkansas 
 
 
 3:California 
 
 
 4 Connecticut. . 
 
 
 5 Delaware 
 
 3,357 
 lature. 
 
 45,588 
 
 6 Florida 
 
 Electors 
 57,134 
 250,303 
 176,548 
 120,399 
 31,048 
 39,566 
 33,263 
 70,493 
 30,438 
 130,477 
 128,550 
 43,545 
 
 choseu by 
 
 7'Georgia 
 
 159.856 
 449,446 
 343.528 
 194,439 
 45,038 
 155,456 
 113,488 
 112.953 
 92,795 
 195,885 
 225,619 
 71,620 
 
 SDlinoii 
 
 51,160 
 9.568 
 46,359 
 17,058 
 
 28,033' " 
 
 9 Indiana 
 
 
 10 Iowa 
 
 11 Kansas 
 
 
 12 Kentucky 
 IS'Louisiana 
 14 Maine 
 
 76.324 
 46,962 
 
 15 Maryland. 
 
 31,919 
 
 16 Massachusetts 
 1? Michigan 
 
 77.069 
 31,481 
 15,470 
 
 18 Minnesota 
 19 Mississippi 
 
 
 
 20 Missouri 
 21 Nebraska 
 
 86,860 
 9,729 
 6,480 
 38,191 
 80.131 
 419,888 
 96,789 
 280,223 
 10.961 
 3-12,280 
 12,993 
 62,301 
 56,628 
 
 21,232 
 4,290 
 1,262 
 6,967 
 
 12,168 
 41,617 
 
 28,898' ' 
 6,445 
 17,064 
 30,499 
 
 65,628 
 5,439 
 5,218 
 31,224 
 
 &s,ooi 
 
 429.883 
 84,601 
 238,606 
 11.125 
 , 313,382 
 6,548 
 45,237 
 28,129 
 
 
 152,486 
 15,168 
 11,698 
 69,415 
 163,132 
 849,766 
 181,370 
 518.829 
 22.086 
 055,652 
 19,541 
 107,538 
 82,757 
 
 
 22 Nevada 
 
 23 New Hampshire.. 
 24 New Jersey 
 25'Nfiw York.... . 
 2ti North Carolina. . . 
 27 Ohio 
 
 
 2,870 
 10,000 
 
 
 28 Oregon 
 2!) Pennsylvania 
 30 Rhode Island . . . 
 31 South Carolina. . . 
 ."2 Tennessee. 
 
 164 
 s 
 
 
 
 33 Texas 
 
 
 34 Vermont 
 
 44,167 
 
 32,122 
 
 12,045 
 
 
 56,212 
 
 35 Virginia 
 
 
 3(5 West Virginia. . . . 
 37 Wisconsin. . 
 
 29,175 
 108,857 
 
 8,869 20,306 
 24,150 84,707 
 
 
 49,481 
 193,564 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 3,015,071 
 
 522,642 
 305,456 
 
 , 2,709,613 
 
 217,184 
 
 5,724,684 
 
 Grant's Maioritv 
 ^ 3 ' 

 
 14; 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE OF 1868. 
 
 
 PRESI- 
 
 V.-PRE- 
 
 
 STATES. 
 
 PRESI- 
 
 V.-PBE- ! 
 
 
 DENT. 
 
 SIDENT. 
 
 
 DENT. 
 
 SIDENT. 
 
 
 
 L 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 1 . ; 
 
 ! 
 
 
 
 
 " +r 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 -; . 
 
 j C 
 
 
 
 STATES. 
 
 rl K 
 
 :0 
 
 
 a 
 
 *s 
 
 
 
 5 o^ 
 
 M ^ 
 
 
 
 
 fills 
 
 o 
 
 '5 ! 
 
 
 1 I i 
 
 tT 
 
 x" '5 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 C5 ' 5.1 ^ 
 
 a 
 
 e 
 
 
 C3 P, 9 
 
 ,2 pa o 
 
 
 
 yj co i 5 
 
 o 
 
 fc 8 
 
 3 
 
 oa a g 
 
 6 i*<[S| 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 . CJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 P W 
 
 > 
 
 02 
 
 frt > 
 
 
 p B> 
 
 ai ,fe 
 
 > 
 
 ^ 
 
 Alabama 
 
 J 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 an 
 
 Missouri. . . 
 
 11 .. 
 
 1 
 
 
 11 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 5 . 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 5 21 (Nebraska 
 
 3 .. .. 
 
 3 .. 
 
 
 8 
 
 California. 
 
 5 .. 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 52 Nevada 
 
 3 .. .. 
 
 3 .. 
 
 
 3 
 
 Connecticut. .. 
 
 fi 
 
 
 fi 
 
 
 6 !23 
 
 N. Hampshire. 
 
 5. .. 
 
 5 .. 
 
 
 5 
 
 Delaware : 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 3 124 
 
 3 25 
 
 New Jersey , . . 
 
 ; 7 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 Florida a 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 New York. . . 33! 
 
 . 33 
 
 
 Georgia 
 
 i 9 
 
 
 
 9 .. 
 
 9 2(5 
 
 16 2V 
 
 N. Carolina.. .. 9 .. : . 
 
 9 .. 
 
 
 21 
 
 Illinois 
 
 16 '.. 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 Ohio 21 .. .. 
 
 21 .. 
 
 
 Indiana 
 
 13 
 
 
 13 
 
 13 28 
 
 Ores-oil. : a. . 3 
 
 
 8 
 
 Iowa 
 
 8 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 29'PeuTisylvania. 26 . 26.. 
 
 
 
 Kansas 
 
 3 . 
 
 
 8 
 
 3 30 Khode Island. . 4 .... 4 . . 
 
 
 4 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 ... 11 
 
 
 ...11 .. 
 
 11 31 South Carolina 
 
 6 .... ^ 6 .. 
 
 
 6 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 7 32 Tennessee 
 
 10 '..:.. 
 
 10 .. 
 
 
 10 
 
 Maine . . 
 
 19 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 7 133 
 
 Tfixns 
 
 G 
 
 
 (i 
 
 f, 
 
 Maryland 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 r> 
 
 
 7 J34 Vermont 
 
 5 .. ' 5 . 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 Michigan 
 
 12.. 
 
 8 .. 
 
 
 is 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 12 fe Virginia. .. .. 
 
 8 ! 3H West Virginia. 
 4 8/1 Wisconsin 
 
 10 
 
 "5 .' '. 
 8 .. 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 1 K 
 
 Minnesota ... 
 
 4 .. 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 
 . \ _ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 2148023 
 
 214 80 23 Hi ; 
 
 
 
 1_J 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 
 
 i iii
 
 140 
 
 REPUBLICAN VICTORIES. 
 
 POPULAR VOTE OP 1872. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 U. S. Grant, 
 Republican. 
 
 H. Greeley, 
 Dem. & Lib. Rep. 
 
 O'Co- 
 nor, 
 Dem. 
 
 Black. 
 Tempo-; 
 
 ranee. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Maj. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Maj. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Alabama.. 
 Arkansas . 
 Ciililornia. 
 Conn'icut. 
 Delaware . 
 Florida... 
 Georgia. . . 
 Illinois ... 
 Indiana. 
 Iowa 
 Kansas . . . 
 'Kentucky. 
 Louisiana. 
 Maine 
 Maryland. 
 Mass 
 Michigan.. 
 jMiimVotu. 
 Mississ'pi. 
 Missouri. . 
 Nebraska . 
 Nevada . . . 
 !N. Hump.. 
 IN. Jersey. 
 New York 
 N. Carol 'a. 
 [Ohio 
 Oregon 
 Perm 
 R. Island.. 
 S. Carol'a. 
 Tenness'e. 
 Texas 
 Vermont. . 
 Virginia... 
 w. Virg'a. 
 Wisconsin 
 
 Total.... 
 Grant's M 
 
 90,272 
 41.373 
 54,020 
 60,688 
 11,115 
 17,763 
 62,550 
 241,941 
 18:>,147 
 331,500 
 67.04S 
 88,766 
 71,668 
 61.422 
 66,700 
 1&J.472 
 138,455 
 55,117 
 82.175 
 119,198 
 18,829 
 8:413 
 87,168 
 91,656 
 440.736 
 94,789 
 281.852 
 11. SI!) 
 849,589 
 13,665 
 72.290 
 85,d.:5 
 47,406 
 41.481 
 93,408 
 32.315 
 104,!I97 
 
 10,828 
 3,446 
 12,234 
 4,348 
 422 
 2,330 
 
 ' '53,948 
 21,098 
 58,149 
 S3. 482 
 
 W.444 
 
 37,927 
 40.718 
 45,880 
 10,206 
 15,427 
 76,856 
 184,938 
 163,639 
 71.196 
 32,970 
 99,995 
 57.029 
 29,087 
 67,687 
 5.9.260 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i,068 
 204 
 487 
 
 "'266' 
 
 
 
 9,806 
 
 4.000 
 3.058 
 1,417 
 
 
 
 
 2,221 
 590 
 2,374 
 
 
 8,855 : 
 
 
 14,634 
 12.335 
 
 
 
 
 
 908 
 
 19 
 
 
 74,212 
 55.908 
 20,0!J4 
 
 34,887 
 
 ' 'lO,517' 
 2,177 
 5,444 
 14.570 
 51.800 
 24.075 
 34.208 
 3,517 
 135.918 
 8336 
 49,400 
 
 
 29.961 
 1.772 
 2,264 
 17,686 
 
 
 78.355 
 34,423 
 47,288 
 161,434 
 7.812 
 6,286 
 31,424 
 76,4:6 
 357,281 
 70,094 
 244.321 
 7^730 
 212^41 
 5,329 
 22,703 
 94,391 
 00.5(;0 
 10.927 
 91,654 
 29,451 
 86,477 
 
 
 2,861 
 
 i,27i 
 
 
 
 
 
 29,809 ! 
 
 2,429 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 030 
 1,454 
 
 200 
 
 "'sioi' 
 
 
 
 \ . 
 
 
 1,103 
 572 
 
 2,100 
 
 
 
 
 1,630 
 
 
 
 
 187 
 
 
 8,736 
 16,595 
 
 
 2.499 
 593 
 
 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 600 
 834 
 
 
 
 
 
 3,597,070 825,326 
 ajority 727,975 
 
 2,834,079 
 
 74,709 
 
 29,408 
 
 5,608
 
 REP UBL1CAN V1VTORIE& 
 
 ELECTORAL VOTE OP 1872. 
 
 14? 
 
 STATXS. 
 
 riiESlOE.NT. YlCE-PlSESIDEXT. 
 
 3 j Ulysses S. (irnnt. of 111. 
 
 A. Ilemlricks, of I ml. 
 
 (irat/. IJrown. of Mo. 
 
 .1. .lenkiiis, of <;a. 
 
 Davis, of Illinois. 
 
 )t. Counted. 
 
 \Vilson, of Maes. 
 
 G. I'.rown. </f .Mo. 
 
 =' 
 
 Colqiult. of (ia. 
 
 'o 
 
 "5 
 ^ 
 
 .2: 
 /* 
 
 | | f 
 
 N. 1'. Hunks, of Mass. 
 
 Nor Ommed. 
 
 = - y * C5 
 
 E- 
 
 0,fi 
 
 * | ; H 
 
 3 < * i- ? f 
 
 Alabama 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Connecticut <> 
 
 
 
 
 i; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Delaware 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 ... ,i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Florida .. 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (Joor"iii 
 
 
 f, 
 
 i 
 
 
 '3 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
 
 Illinois ; 21 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jowa 11 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kansas 5 
 
 
 
 
 r, .. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 
 , 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 " 1 
 
 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Maryland .. . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 b 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 Massachusetts V. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 It . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 R 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 M iss.Miri 
 
 fi 
 
 i 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 6 
 
 B 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 .. 
 
 
 Nebraska ' 3 . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Nevada 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^TTT - 
 
 
 
 
 NL'W Hampshire 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 New J'-rsey 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 ..!.. 
 
 New York 
 
 35 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 P.3 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 North (,'aioliua .. 
 
 10 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 .. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ohio 
 
 *? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 92 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Oregon 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania . 
 
 89 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 
 V? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TCKSIS ... 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 Vermont 
 
 r, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Virginia 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 West Virginia . . 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 286 4218 
 
 o 
 
 1 17 '^: <" 7 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 1,4 
 
 ; 3
 
 148 
 
 REP UBLICA X I '1C TORIES. 
 
 POPULAR VOTE OF 1876. 
 
 STATES. 
 
 1 
 
 S. J. Tiiden, ' 
 Democratic. 
 
 K. B. Hayes, 
 Republican. 
 
 Peter cooper, 
 C.n-rnhack. 
 
 (.. < . Smith. 
 Temperance. 
 
 = Total 
 S3 Vote. 
 
 1 
 cc 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Maj. ' 
 
 Vote. 
 
 Maj. ' 
 
 Alabama. .. 
 Arkansas... 
 California . 
 Colorado. . . 
 Connecticut 
 Delaware. . 
 Florida ... 
 Georgia 
 Illinois 
 Indiana. . . . 
 Iowa. 
 
 10-2,002 
 58,071 
 70.4tio 
 Electors 
 61 ,934 
 13.381 
 22,988 
 130.088 
 258.601 
 213,52() 
 112.099 
 
 ^.772 
 19,113 
 
 cboeeuj 
 
 1.732 
 2,629 
 
 68.230 
 38,669 
 79,269 
 liy Leins- 
 59,034 
 10,752 
 23 849 
 50.446 
 278,232 
 208,011 
 171.327 
 78.322 
 
 75! 135 
 66.SCO 
 
 150,068 
 166.534 
 72,962 
 
 103,517 
 
 108,41'i 
 330,698 
 
 15,206 
 884,192 
 
 1.-.767 
 9i;87C 
 B9,56( 
 44.80T 
 44.09S 
 85.55S 
 45J.69J 
 130,66f 
 
 latnre. 
 
 47 
 
 
 170.232 
 
 97.029 
 
 
 19 155.800 
 
 774 
 
 878 
 
 36 122,156 
 24,133 
 
 920 
 
 
 
 
 79.642 
 5,515 
 
 
 
 1S0.53J 
 
 1.971 
 
 50,191 
 32,511 
 
 17,233 
 9.533 
 9,001 
 7,776 
 1,944 
 
 83 
 
 779 
 ,060 
 
 2..-; 11 
 
 141 
 
 286. 554,493 
 431. 070 
 
 36 
 110 
 818 
 
 " 10 
 84 
 706 
 78 
 
 .. .. 292,463 
 23 124,133 
 259 60** 
 
 
 37.902 
 
 
 Kentucky. . 
 I/ iiisiana. 
 Maino 
 
 ' 
 Sli 8OUI1.. 
 
 N <.>.';'; :i ."." 
 
 N. H's.'shin 
 New Jersey 
 New York 
 X. Carolina 
 Ohio 
 Oregon. . . 
 Pcnnsylv'a 
 Rhode Isl'd 
 S. Carolina. 
 
 Texas 
 Vermont. . . 
 Virginia. 
 W. Virginia 
 Wisconsin.. 
 
 Total 
 TBden'ftHi 
 
 159,680 
 70.508 
 
 !'l s-23 
 91,780 
 108.771 
 141,095 
 
 48,7(19 
 112.173 
 203,077 
 
 9,808 
 88,609 
 
 115,902 
 521,919 
 125,427 
 323,182 
 14.149 
 366.158 
 10.712 
 90.C06 
 133,166 
 104.755 
 20.254 
 1 39,670 
 5MM 
 123,927 
 
 
 4,627 
 15,814 
 
 '40'. 423 
 15.542 
 21,180 
 
 145.C43 
 
 .. .. 
 
 
 71 
 .... I24.J44 
 l4.77fl 
 
 
 26^568 
 17,010 
 
 1,075 
 
 2,954 
 
 
 04 97 ::.M ',(>: 
 : r*.| 
 
 re 
 
 71-2 
 1,987 
 
 *o 134 
 
 !:; , Seal .x:;l 
 8,859 1.8C8 1,017,?30 
 233 844 
 
 2,747 
 547 
 9,375 
 4,947 
 964 
 
 3.057 
 510 
 7,187 
 
 68 
 
 76 058.64'' 
 29 865 
 1,319 83 758,809 
 f.n 26.627 
 .... 182.77'6 
 
 
 59^955 
 
 
 . 222.7 32 
 
 
 
 
 149,555 
 
 , 23,838 
 
 
 64.346 
 
 44,112 
 12,384 
 
 
 235.228 
 
 
 1.373 
 
 
 100.526 
 
 ' 5,205 
 
 1.5C9 
 
 27 
 
 256,131 
 
 4.284,757 
 jority 
 
 545 672 
 156,909 
 
 4,0:53,900! 248,501 
 
 j 
 
 81,740 
 
 9,522 2,636 | 8,412,605
 
 REPUBLICAN VICTORIES. 
 
 U9 
 
 ELECTOR A.L VOTE OF 1876. 
 
 
 PRESI- jj p^g~ 
 DENT. * sl 
 
 
 
 
 PENT: '{|- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 | 
 
 
 
 i! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 n~ S" 
 
 i 
 
 STATES. 
 
 tS 
 
 fr * !hJ 
 
 "3 
 
 o 
 
 1 . 
 
 
 
 STATES. 9 
 |o 
 
 J -ij* 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 W3 
 
 ^r, 
 
 ^&5 
 
 
 
 f-Oflfc ^fc 
 
 013 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 *-a-i 
 
 < % 
 
 si" * 
 
 
 
 <*' 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 ^ = 
 
 
 
 P5 as ^ 
 
 tl 
 
 
 Alabama. . . . 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 ! 
 
 1 
 
 Missouri.... 
 
 
 1B li.. 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 15 
 
 Arkansas. . . . 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 6 
 
 6 122: Nebraska 
 
 3 3 
 
 
 
 California 
 
 6 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 6 23 Nevada 
 
 3 :::. 
 
 3 
 
 
 3 
 
 Colorado 
 
 8 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 3 24 
 
 N. H'inoshire s 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 
 
 Connecticut.. 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 25 ' New Jersey./ 
 
 o 
 
 ! 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 Delaware 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 a 
 
 3 |26 
 
 New York. . . as . 
 
 35 
 
 35 
 
 Florida* 
 
 4 
 
 
 4 . . 
 
 4 a; N. Carolina.. . 16 . 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 ^Qeor^ia. 
 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 11 as 
 
 Ohio . . . 
 
 29 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 Illinois 
 
 21 
 
 
 21 
 
 21 29|Oresron* a 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Indiana 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 i* 
 
 is ;Sfi 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 29 
 
 
 ! 29 ' 
 
 CM) 
 
 Iowa 
 
 11 
 
 
 ii ! iT 'ai 1 Rhode' Island. 
 
 4 
 
 
 4 
 
 Kansas 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 82 8. Carolina*.. 
 
 7 
 
 
 7 1... 
 
 7 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 12 1'2 33 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 
 12 
 
 ... 12 
 
 12 
 
 Louisiana*. 
 
 8 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 34 
 
 Texas . . 
 
 
 Q 
 
 R 
 
 
 Maine 
 
 7 
 
 
 7 
 
 7' 35: Vermont. .. 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 
 
 .... 5 
 
 Maryland 
 
 
 8 
 
 ... 8 
 
 8 36 
 
 Virginia.. . 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 Massaeh'setts 
 
 13 
 
 
 13 .... 
 
 18 37 W.Virginia.. 
 
 
 5 
 
 ; 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 Michigan . . . 
 
 11 
 
 
 11 . 
 
 11 38 
 
 Wisconsin.... 
 
 10 
 
 .. . 10 .. 
 
 10 
 
 Minnesota 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 .... 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mississippi 8 
 
 .... 8 
 
 8,, 
 
 Total i!85 184 1F5 184 
 
 369 
 
 * From Florida two ets of certificates w*re received ; from Louisiana, three : from Oreer.n, t-wo ; and 
 from South Carolhiv two. They were refcned to an Electoral Commission, formed umder the yir^visiona 
 of the Compromise Bill, approved Jnuar>'29th, 18"7 ; the Commission decided in favor of counting th 
 Electoral Vote, as returned in the table. 
 
 Number of Counties in each State and Territory in 1878. 
 
 IjAlabama 
 
 3 Arkansas 
 
 3 California 
 
 4 Colorado 
 
 S'Connecticut 
 
 6 Delaware 
 
 7Floricla 
 
 8 Georgia 
 
 9 Illinois 
 
 10 Indiana 
 
 11 Iowa 
 
 12 Kansas 
 
 13 Kentucky 
 
 14 Louisiana 
 
 15 Maine 
 
 16 Maryland. 
 
 17 Massachusett* . . 
 
 18 Michigan 
 
 67 19 1 Minnesota 
 
 71 37 
 75 38 
 115: 
 62 
 14 
 10 
 21 
 60 
 94 1 
 88 2 
 23 3 
 67 4 
 5 5 
 33 6 
 94 7 
 151 8 
 14 
 105 
 
 West Virginia 
 
 54 
 60 
 
 2299 
 
 6 
 34 
 
 10 
 10 
 12 
 20 
 24 
 S 
 
 121 
 
 74 20 Mississippi. 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 52 21 Missouri 
 
 Total Counties... 
 TERRITORIES. 
 Arizona 
 
 30 ai Nebraska 
 
 8 83 Nevada. 
 
 3 i4 New Hampshire .... 
 39 25 New Jersey 
 
 137 26 New York 
 
 102 27 North Carolina 
 92 28 Ohio . . 
 
 Dakota 
 
 99 29 Oregon 
 
 Idaho 
 
 76 30 Pennsylvania ... 
 
 Montana 
 
 117 31 Rhode Island 
 58 32 South Carolina 
 16 33 Tennessee 
 
 New Mexico 
 
 Utah 
 
 Washington 
 
 23 34 Texas 
 
 Wyoming 
 
 14 35 Vermont . . . 
 
 Total 
 
 76 36. Virginia
 
 150 REPUBLIC AX VICTORIES. 
 
 BEPTJBLICAN FINANCIAL ACHIEVEMENTS. 
 
 OFFICIAL TREASURY STATEMENT, SHOWING THE ANNUAL REDUCTIONS IN THE 
 Principal, Interest, AND Per Capita AMOUNT OF THE Public 
 Debt, FROM 1865 TO 1880. 
 
 
 Total interest- 
 bearing debt. 
 
 Annunl in- 
 terest cliarge. 
 
 Debt on which 
 interest lias 
 ceased. 
 
 Debt bearing 
 no interest. 
 
 1853 
 
 2,231,311,918 9 
 2 38V 30.294 96 
 2.332,331,207 CO 
 2,248.007,387 06 
 2.202.08rf,7'27 CD 
 2.162.060,528 3'J 
 2 048,455.722 39 
 1.934,696.750 00 
 1,814794.100 00 
 1.710,483,950 00 
 1.738.930.750 00 
 1.722,670,300 00 
 1, 710,085,450 00 
 1,711,888,5(10 00 
 1,794.735 6"0 00 
 ], 797.643,700 00 
 1,7X8,998,100 00 
 
 137.742,617 43 1.245,771 20 
 150.977.C97 87 l,r.03.020 09 
 1-10,068.196 9 35.002 05 
 138,892,451 39 1.840.015 01 
 3i8.459.51i8 14 1,11)7,340 89 
 125.523,998 34 5,260.181 00 
 118,784,!I60 S4 3,70S.CU 00 
 111,049,33050 l,94S.f,02 26 
 103.988.463 00 7,92fi.7!i8 6 
 98.049.804 00: 51.929.710 26 
 08,796.004 50 3.216.590 26 
 96.855.C90 50 11. 425.820 20 
 95.10-1,209 CO' 3.91)2.420 S6 
 93.1CO,6I3 50 16,648.860 26 
 94,654,472 50! 5,594.500 26 
 83,773,77850: 87,015,13026 
 79,633,981 00, 7,021,455 26 
 
 458.0S0.180 25 
 461,610.311 Bl 
 439.909.874 04 
 428,218,101 20 
 408,401.782 (1 
 421.131,510 55 
 430,508 064 42 
 416.503,080 00 
 <30.t8D.431 52 
 472,009.332 94 
 509.543,128 17 
 498,182.411 69 
 465 807.1EG 89 
 470.764.0S1 84 
 455.875.08 3 S7 
 410.835. 74 1 70 
 388.800.815 37 
 
 1385 Aug. 8d 
 18G6 July 1st.... 
 1807 
 
 ISfiS . 
 
 I860 
 
 18(0 
 1871 
 
 1872 
 
 1873 
 
 1S7-1 
 13 o .... 
 
 1876 
 
 1877 
 
 1878 
 
 1879 
 
 1880 
 
 
 Outstanding 
 principal. 
 
 Cash in the Total debt, less 
 Treasury cash in 
 July 1. Treasury. 
 
 Population 
 of the 
 United States. 
 
 Debt 
 per 
 capita. 
 
 Interest 
 per 
 
 capil; 
 
 1865.. 2,680,647,869 74 
 
 5,832.012 982,674,815.850 76 
 
 34,748,COO 
 
 7;; ro 
 
 3 : 
 
 SC5- 2.844 ,6J9,6i6 56 
 
 88,218,055 13 2.756, 31.571 43 
 
 3.3,228.COO 
 
 78 5 
 
 4 
 
 >XG 2,773.230,173 69 
 
 137.200.0t!) 85 2,G36,< 30.103 84 
 
 85,469.000 
 
 74 82 
 
 4 - 
 
 7. 12,678126.108 87 
 
 169,974,892 182,508,151,211 09 
 
 36,211,000 
 
 C9 gii 
 
 3 : 
 
 H<;n.. 12,611. GS7.851 19 
 
 130,834.437 96 2.480,853.413 2-3 
 
 86.973.000 
 
 C7 10 
 
 3 - 
 
 I30.. 2,.".8S,452,j:13 94 
 
 155,680,otO fa 2,432,7 7 1,873 09 
 
 37 7oO.OOO 
 
 G-i 43 
 
 3 : 
 
 >-rO.. 2.480.072427 81 
 
 149.502.471 00 2,331.169,956 21 
 
 38.558,371 
 
 CO 40 
 
 3 08 
 
 ten.. 2,353,211.3^2 32 
 
 100.217.203 65 2,246.994.008 07 
 
 39.555.000 
 
 EG 81 
 
 2 3 
 
 ; -12.. 2.253.251.328 78 
 
 103.4rO.7U3 432.149.780,530 35 
 
 40.004,000 
 
 B2 <'3 
 
 2 (i 
 
 ::;:;.. 2.234.482,993 20 
 
 129.020. !)!i 45 2.105.462.060 75 
 
 41.704000 
 
 to 4:) 
 
 2 5 
 
 Sr-!.. 2,251,690.408 43 
 
 147,541.314 742,104.149,153 G9 
 
 42,8."G,000 
 
 49 10 
 
 2 1 
 
 1873.; 2.232,284.531 95 
 
 142,243,361 822.090.041.170 13 
 
 44.060,000 
 
 47 4-1 
 
 2 19 
 
 1376.. 2.180,395.067 15 
 
 119.4ii9.726 702,060,925,840 45 
 
 45.316.000 
 
 45 48 
 
 2 10 
 
 1877.. 2,205.801,393 10 
 
 186.025,960 73 2,019.275.431 37 
 
 46,624.000 
 
 43 31 
 
 2 GO 
 
 1878..;2,256,205.892 53 
 
 256,823,612 08 1.999 3S2.280 45 
 
 47,983.000 
 
 41 C7 
 
 I 97 
 
 1679.., 2. 245 495,072 04 
 
 249,0-0.167 01 1,99->.414.905 03 
 
 49,395 000 
 
 40 42 
 
 1 C9 
 
 1880.. '2,120,415,370 63 
 
 201,088,622 88 1,919,326,747 75 
 
 50,858,000 
 
 37 74 
 
 1 5fi
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD 
 
 OF OHIO.
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 JAMES A. GABFIELD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIRTH AND ANCESTRY. 
 
 PROBABLY it was the rather German-looking fare of General 
 Garfield that led a German paper in St. Louis to trace for him 
 a Teutonic ancestry, by an ingenious etymological study of his 
 name. What his forefathers were in remote times nobody 
 knows, for the household traditions, like those of most New 
 England families, do not go beyond the Atlantic. The name 
 seems to be broadly English enough, in spite of the possibility 
 of its being a corruption of Garf elder, or Gerbef elder, to be fol- 
 lowed back to an Anglo-Saxon source, and we shall doubtless 
 hear before long of an abundance of remote English cousins 
 ready to claim kinship with the Republican candidate. There 
 is nothing like a nomination for the Presidency to broaden a 
 man's family ties. But whether the original stock be Anglo- 
 Saxon or Teutonic, the American offshoot is as free from any 
 foreign grafts as the purest Puritan blood of New England. 
 
 On both his father's and his mother's side General Garfield 
 comes of a long line of New England ancestry. The first of the 
 American Garfields was Edward, who came from Chester. Eng- 
 Inuu, tn Massachusetts Bay as early as 1630, settled at Wnter-
 
 15-i LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 town, and died June 14th, 1672, aged ninety-seven. His son, 
 
 :~'lward, Jr., had two wives ; first Rebecca , the mother of 
 
 ill his children, and second, Joanna, the widow of Thomas 
 Buckniinster, of Muddy River (Brookline), and the maternal 
 .mcestor of Colonel Joseph Buckminster, of Barre, who com- 
 manded a regiment in the battle of Bunker Hill, where he ac 
 quired a reputation for prudence and bravery. Edward Gar- 
 field, Jr., died in 1672, and his inventory amounted to 457 : 3 : 6. 
 He was one of the earliest proprietors of Watertown, and was 
 selectman in 1638. 1655, and 1652. 
 
 His son, Captain Benjamin Garfield, born in 1G43, admitted 
 freeman in 1600, was representative of Watertown to the Great 
 and Genera] Court nine times between 1689 and 1717 ; and 
 he held numerous municipal appointments. He had two 
 wives, Mehitabel Hawkins and Elizabeth Bridge, and eight 
 Children ; by the second wife he had a son Thomas, born De- 
 cember 12th, 1680, who was a prominent and leading citizen of 
 Weston. He married Mercy Bigelow, daughter of Joshua and 
 Elizabeth (Flagg) Bigelow, and had twelve children. The 
 third, Thomas, married Rebecca Johnson, of Lunenburg, and 
 had the following children : Solomon, born July 18th, 1743, 
 and married May 20th, 1766, to Sarah Stimson, of Sudbury 
 these were the great grandfather and grandmother of General 
 James A. Garfield ; Rebecca, bom September 23d, 1745, mar- 
 ried, October 31st, 1785, David Fiske ; Abraham, born April 
 3d, 1748, died August 15th. 1775, in the Revolutionary army ; 
 Hannah, born August 15th, 1750 ; Lucy, born March 3d, 1745. 
 The General's great-grandfather Solomon Garfield, was mar- 
 ried in 1766 to Sarah Stimson, a widow, with children by her 
 first husband, and went to live in the town o/ "Westou, Massa- 
 chusetts. Abraham Garfield, a brother of Solomon, was iu the 
 fight at Concord Bridge, and was one of the signers of the affi- 
 davits sent to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia to prove 
 that the British were the aggressors in that affair and fired twice
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 155 
 
 before llio patriots replied. It scerns that the skirmish was re- 
 garded somewhat as if it had been a case of assault and battery, 
 and the patriots were desirous of justifying themselves by show- 
 ing that the other fellows began the fight. After the Revolu- 
 tionary War closed there was a large emigration from Massachu* 
 setts into the wilderness of Central New York. Solomon Gar- 
 field packed his household goods upon a wagon, joined the 
 " movers," and went to Otsego County. He bought wjld land 
 in the township of Worcester, and reared a family of five chil- 
 dren Thomas, Solomon, Hannah, Reoecca, and Lucy. 
 
 One of Solomon Garfield's sons, Thomas, was the grandfather 
 of General Garfield. He grew up in Worcester, married Asc- 
 nath Hill, worked hard on a stony farm, had four children 
 Polly, Betsey, Abram, and Thomas and died at thirty (when 
 his youngest son Abram was two years old) of small pox, which 
 he contracted during a journey he made to Albany with a load 
 of produce. His son Abram, born in 1799, was bound out to 
 James Stone, a relative on his mother's side. At the ago of fif- 
 teen he left his guardian and went to Madrid, St. Lawrence 
 County. New York, where he worked by the month on a farm 
 for three VHJUX. Afterward, when eighteen years old, he 
 made his way to Newburg, Ohio, where he got employment 
 chopping and clearing bind. His guardian's wife was an aunt 
 of Eliza Ballou, the girl whom he was afterward to marry. The 
 mother of Eliza moved from Richmond, New Hampshire, with 
 her family, after the death of her husband, and her children 
 and the GarnYld children got their education in the same dis-, 
 trict school-house in Worcester Township. 
 
 Eliza Ballou's father was a cousin of Hosea Ballou, the 
 founder of Universalism in this country. Eliza was born in 1801 . 
 The Ballous are of Huguenot orgin, and are directly descended 
 from Matvnin Ballou, who fled from France on the revocation 
 of the Edict of Nantes, and with other French Protestants joined 
 Roger Williams' colony in Rhode Island, the only Amencan col-
 
 156 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFTELD. 
 
 ony founded on the basis of full religious liberty. The gift of 
 eloquence is undoubtedly derived by General Garfield from thu 
 Ballous, who were a race of preachers. When Eliza's oldest 
 brother, James, was eighteen, he got what was called in New 
 York at that time the 4 ' Ohio fever," and persuaded his mother 
 to sell the scanty possessions of the family inOtsego County and 
 move to the new State with the three younger children. They 
 left Worcester in 1814, followed the Susquehana Valley down 
 to Harrisburg, then turned westward across the mountains, and, 
 crossing the Ohio River at "Wheeling, reached Perry Township, 
 about ten miles from Zanesville, Muskingum County, at the end 
 of the sixth week. 
 
 In 1820, Abram Garfield, then lacking a few months of his 
 majority, left Newburg, Ohio, to join his old Otsego neighbors 
 near Zanesville. He was a tall, robust young fellow, of very 
 much the same type as his famous son, but a handsomer man, 
 according to the verdict of his wife. He had a sunny, genial 
 temper, like most men of great physical strength, was a great 
 favorite with his associates, and was a natural leader and mas- 
 ter of the rude characters with whom he was thrown in his 
 forest-clearing work and his later labors in building the Ohio 
 Canal. His education was confined to a few terms in the Wor- 
 cester district school, and the only two specimens of his writing 
 extant show that it was not thorough enough to give him much 
 knowledge of the science of orthography. He was fond of 
 reading, but the hard life of a poor man in a new country gave 
 him little time to read books, if he had had the money to buy 
 them. The weekly newspapers and a few volumes borrowed 
 from neighbors formed his intellectual diet. It was only nat- 
 ural that the stout, handsome young man should speedily fall 
 in love v/ith his old schoolmate, Eliza, at whose mother's home 
 in Muskingum County he was warmly welcomed. She was a 
 -lender girl, short of stature, with blue eyes and fair hair like 
 'his own. active, healthy, industrious, trained in all household
 
 LIFE OF JAM US A. GARFIELD. 157 
 
 labors, expert at the spinning-wheel and the loom, and able, in 
 spite of her delicate- look ing frame, to lend a vigorous hand to 
 help her brothers in the harvest-field, as girls used to do in the 
 pioneer days. In a word, she was just the wife for a young 
 fellow like Abram Garfield, who had his way to make in the 
 world. 
 
 Short courtships and early marriages were the rule in those 
 days. Life was too serious and laborious to spend much time 
 in love-making. On the 3d of February, 1829, Abram Garfield 
 and Eliza Ballou were married iu the village of Zanesville by 
 a Justice of the Peace named Richard H. Hogan. The bride- 
 groom lacked nine months of being twenty- one years of age, 
 and the bride was only eighteen. They went to Newburg, 
 Cuyahoga County, Ohio now a part of the City of Cleveland 
 and began life in a sm;ill log-house on a new farm of eighty 
 acres. In January, 1821, their first child, Mehitabel, was born. 
 In October, 1822, Thomas was born, and Mary, in October, 
 1824. In 1826 the family removed to New Philadelphia, Tus- 
 carawas County, where the 1'arhcr had a contract to construct 
 three miles of canal. Men who worked for him are still living, 
 and remember his great strength and energy and his remarkable 
 control over the force of workmen in his employ Three years 
 were spent in New Philadelphia. In 1827 the fourth child, James 
 B. , was born. This was the only one of the children that the 
 parents lost. He died in 1830, after the family returned to the 
 lake country. In January, 1830, Abram went to Orange Town- 
 ship, Cuyahoga County, where lived Amos Boynton, his half- 
 brother the son of his mother by her second husband and 
 bought eighty acres of land at two dollars an acre. The coun- 
 try was nearly all wild, and the new farm had to be carved out 
 of the forest. Boyutou purchased at the same time a tract of 
 the same size adjoining, arid the two families lived together for 
 a few weeks iu a log-house built by the joint labors of the men. 
 Soon a second cabin was reared across the road. The dwelling
 
 158 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 of the Garfields was 'built after the standard pattern of the 
 houses of poor Ohio farmers in that day. Its walls were of 
 logs, its roof was of shingles split with an axe, and its floor of 
 rude thick planking split out of tree-trunks with a wedge and 
 maul. It had only a single room, at one end of -which was 
 the big cavernous chimney, where the cooking was done, and 
 at the other a bed. The younger children slept in a trundle- 
 bed, which was pushed under the bedstead of their parents in 
 the day-time to get it out of the way, for there was no room to 
 spare ; the older ones climbed a ladder to the loft under the 
 steep roof. In this house James A. Garfield was born, Novem- 
 ber Iflth, 1831. 
 
 The father worked hard early and late to clear his land and 
 plant and gather his crops. No man in all the region around 
 could wield an axe like him. Fenced fields soon took the place 
 of the forest ; an orchard was planted, a barn built, and the 
 family was full of hope for the future when death removed its 
 strong support. One day in May, 1833, a fire broke out in the 
 woods, and Abram Garfield. after heating his blood and exerting 
 his strength to keep the flames from his fences and fields, sat 
 down to rest where a cold wind blew, and was seized with a 
 violent sore throat. A country doctor put a blister on his neck, 
 which seemed only to hasten his death. Just before he died, 
 pointing to his children, he said to his wife, "Eliza, I have 
 planted four saplings in these woods. I leave them to your 
 care." He was buried in a corner of a wheat-field on his farm. 
 James, the baby, was eighteen months old at the time. His moth- 
 er remembers that the father, a few days before he died, wa;- 
 reading a volume of "Plutarch's Lives'" and holding the boy 
 on one knee. James had just begun to say " papa" and " mam- 
 ma,' 1 and the t\s-o words were his whole vocabulary. Stopping 
 his reading a moment to listen to the child's prattle, the father 
 -'lid, " Say Plutarch, James." The boy pronounced the
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 150 
 
 word plainly, and repeated it several times. " Eliza," said the 
 father, " this boy will be a great scholar some day." 
 
 The loss of the father threw the family into great distress. 
 They were in debt, and there seemed no way out of their 
 trouble but to give up the homestead. The neighbors advised 
 the mother to break up the family, find homes for the older 
 children, and get some sort of employment to support herself 
 and the baby ; but she determined to make an effort to keep the 
 household together. Thomas, the oldest boy, was ten years old, 
 and soon became the main stay of the family. He was a brave, 
 affectionate, industrious lad, stalwart of frame, and devoted to 
 his mother and the younger children. Fifty acres of the farm 
 were sold to pay the debts, and on the remaining thirty Mrs. 
 Garfield managed, by the hardest toil and the closest economy, 
 to rear her family. Thonas did not marry until he was thirty, 
 when James had got his education and begun his career, and 
 the load of poverty had been lifted from the mother. He now 
 lives in Michigan. The two sisters are married and live in So- 
 lon, Ohio. 
 
 Abram Garfield was a Whig in politics, and a great admirer 
 of Henry Clay. He joined the Disciples Church, with his wife, 
 soon after his marriage, and not long after the denomination 
 was formed, under the influence of the preaching of Alexander 
 Campbell. 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 A TOILSOME BOYHOOD. 
 
 THE childhood of Jamea A. Garfield was passed in almost 
 complete isolation from social influences save those which pro- 
 ceeded from the home of his mother and that of his Uncle 
 Boynton. The farms of the Garfields and Boyntons were par- 
 tially separated from the settled country around by a large
 
 160 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFTELD. 
 
 tract of forest on one side and a deep rocky ravine on another. 
 About a mile away ran the Chagrin River through a wild gorge. 
 For many years after Abram Garfield and his half-brother 
 Boynton built their log cabins, the nearest house was seven 
 miles distant, and when the country became well settled the 
 rugged character of the surface around their farms kept neigh- 
 bors at a distance too great for the children of the two families 
 to find associates among them, save at the district school. So 
 the cousins grew up together like brothers aiid sisters. Indeed 
 there was a double bond between the two families, for Mrs. 
 Boynton was a sister of Mrs. Garfield. Boynton had six children 
 three boys and three girls who with the four Garfield chil- 
 dren made a harmonious group, which only separated when the 
 older boys went away to earn wages at wood -chopping or in the 
 hay-field. 
 
 The district school-house stood upon a corner of the Garfield 
 farm, and it was there, when nearly four years old, that James 
 conned his " Noah Webster's Spelling Book." and learned his 
 " a-b ab's." The teacher was a young man from. New Hamp- 
 shire, named Foster. A few weeks after the term began he 
 told Mrs. Garfield that " Jimmy' ? was the most uneasy boy in 
 the school : it was impossible to make him keep still, he said, 
 but he learned very fast. By the next spring " Jimmy" read 
 tolerably well, and the schoolmaster gave him a Testament as a 
 reward for being the best scholar in his class. 
 
 James was put to farm work as soon as he was big enough to 
 be of any use. The family was very poor, and the mother 
 often worked in the fields with the boys. She spun the yarn 
 and wove the cloth for the children's clothes and her own, 
 sewed for the neighbors, knit stockings, cooked the simple 
 meal* for the household in the big fireplace, over which hung 
 an iron crane for the pot-hooks, helped plant and hoe the corn 
 and gather the hay cro T1 , and even assisted the oldest boy to 
 clear and fence land. In the midst of this toilsome life the
 
 LIFE OF JAXEti A UAH FIELD. 161 
 
 brave little woman found time to instil into the minds of her 
 children the religious :ind moral maxims of her New England 
 ancestry. Every day she read four chapter* of the Bible a 
 practice she keeps up to this time, and has never interrupted 
 for a single day save when lying upon a sick bed. The chil- 
 dren lived in an atmosphere of religious thought and discus- 
 sion. Uncle Boynton, who was a second father to the Garfield 
 family, flavored all his talk with Bible quotations. He carried 
 a Testament in his pocket wherever he went, and would sit on 
 his plough-beam at the end of a furrow to take it out and read a 
 chapter. It was a time of religious ferment in Northern Ohio. 
 New sects filled the air with their doctrinal cries. The Disci- 
 ples, a sect founded by the preaching of Alexander Campbell, 
 an eloquent and devout man of Scotch descent, who ranged 
 over Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, from his 
 . home at Bethany in the " Pan Handle," had made great prog- 
 ress. They assailed all creeds as made by men, and declared the 
 Bible to be the only rule of life. Attacking all the older de- 
 nominations, they were vigorously attacked in turn. James' 
 1 was filled at an early day with the controversies this new 
 excited. The guests at his mother's house were mostly 
 travelling preachers, and the talk of the neighborhood, when 
 not about the crops and farm labors, was usually on religious 
 topics. Polities had only a secondary hold on the local mind. 
 When a lad of seven or eight, James was asked one day whether 
 was a Whig or a Democrat. He replied : " I'm a Whig, 
 but I've not been baptized," supposing the party names to have 
 sonic connection with the denominational divisions of which he 
 heard so much. 
 
 At the district school James was known as a fighting boy. 
 
 lie found that the larger boys were disposed to insult and 
 
 abuse a little fellow who had no father nor big brother to pro 
 
 iiim, and he resented such imposition with all the force of 
 
 a sensitive nature hacked by a hot temper, great physical cour
 
 162 LIFE OP JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 age, and a strength unusual for his age. His- big brother Thomas 
 had finished his schooling and was much away from home, 
 working by the day or month to earn money for the support of 
 the family. Many stories are told iu Orange of the pluck 
 shown by the future Major-General in his encounters with the 
 rough country lads in defence of his boyish rights and honor. 
 They say he never began a fight and never cherished malice, 
 but when enraged by taunts or insults would attack boys 
 of twice his size with the fury and tenacity of a bull-dog. A 
 few years after the death of his father the house was enlarged 
 m a curious fashion. The log school-house was abandoned for 
 a new frame building, and the old structure was bought by 
 Thomas Garfield for a trifle, and he and James, with the help 
 of the Boynton boys, pulled it down and put it up again on a 
 site a few steps in the rear of the Garfield dwelling. Thus the 
 family had two rooms and were tolerably comfortable, as far as 
 household accommodations were concerned. In these two 
 log "buildings they lived until James was fourteen, when the 
 boys built a small frame house for their mother. It was 
 painted red and had three rooms below and two under the roof. 
 The original cabin had settled so much and got so awry that it 
 threatened to tumble down. Every year they had to saw off 
 the bottom of the front door, which hung upon wooden hinges, 
 to keep it from " binding" upon the floor. The new house cost 
 about three hundred dollars. The boys hired a carpenter and 
 worked with him. James thus got to be quite expert with the 
 s.iw and plane, and was able afterward to earn wages as a car- 
 penter's assistant. 
 
 For a long time there was no newspaper taken in the Garfield 
 household. The first one the General remembers, for which his 
 mother subscribed, was the Protestant Unionist, a Disciples 
 weekly, printed in Pittsburg. Few books were to be had in 
 the neighborhood, but such as could be borrowed were devour- 
 ed by James with indiscriminate avidity. Everything was fish
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 163 
 
 that came to his net. He particularly delighted in the old 
 "English Reader," which was the only reading book at the 
 school for pupils of all ages. Many of the extracts it contained 
 sunk so deeply into his mind by repeated rehearsal that he can 
 repeat whole pages to-day without pausing for a word. A 
 book that made a strong jmpression upon him at an early age 
 was a romance called " Alonzo and Melissa, or the Cow Boys 
 of the Revolution." Another was a sea tale called " Tom Hal- 
 yard." One of his cousins came into possession of a copy of 
 " Robinson Crusoe" minus the last twenty pages. He read the 
 book again and again until it was worn out by constant use. A 
 neighbor's boy got a copy of " Josephus" and the twc got per- 
 mission to read it as a reading book in the school one winter. 
 His hunger for reading was insatiable, and he forgot nothing that 
 he read. Even the florid and bombastic preface to Kirkham's 
 Grammar was read so often that he can repeat it now from 
 beginning to end. He was a master of the spelling-book be- 
 fore he was ten years old, and was the champion of his school 
 in the spelling matches with the neighboring districts. He 
 studied Pike's and Adams' Arithmetics, and Woodbridge's 
 Geography. 
 
 There were no playthings nor picture-books in the Garfield 
 family. They were too poor to buy such things. Yet it must 
 not be thought that they were exceptionally poor. All the 
 farmers' families in Northern Ohio had a life of hardship and 
 sacrifice in those days, and the lot of the Garfields was only 
 harder than the rest because of the death of the father. As 
 soon as the boys got old enough to earn money the household 
 was in as comfortable circumstances as were other families liv- 
 ing on small farms. There were no social castes in the com- 
 munity, and the hard struggles of the Garfields with poverty 
 never caused them to be ranked below their more fortunate 
 neighbors, as would be the case at this time. Laziness, drunk- 
 enness, and immorality were all that dishonored persons in that
 
 164 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 clay. Work of all kinds was honorable, and no menial spirit at- 
 tached to it. 
 
 James often got employment in the haying and harvesting 
 season from the farmers of Orange. When he was sixteen he 
 walked ten miles to Aurora, in company with a boy older than 
 himself, looking for work. They ^ffered their services to a 
 farmer who had a good deal of hay cut. " What wages do you 
 expect ?" asked the man. "Man's wages a dollar a day," 
 replied young Garfield. The farmer thought they were not 
 old enough to earn full wages. " Then let us mow that field 
 by the acre," said the young man. The farmer agreed ; the 
 customary price per acre was fifty cents. By four o'clock in 
 the afternoon the hay was down and the boys earned a dollar 
 apiece. Then the farmer engaged them for a fortnight. 
 James's first steady wages were earned from a merchant who 
 had an ashery where he leached ashes and made black salts, 
 which were shipped by lake and canal to New York. He got 
 nine dollars a month and his board, and stuck to the business 
 for two months, at the end of which his hair below his cap was 
 bleached and colored by the fumes until it assumed a lively red 
 hue. Afterward he went to Newburg, where an uncle lived 
 who had a piece of oak-timbered land to clear on the edge of In- 
 dependence Township. James agreed to chop one hundred 
 cords of wood at fifty cents a cord. He boarded with one of 
 his sistefs, who was married and lived near by. He was a good 
 chopper, and easily cut two cords a day. Near him worked a 
 German, who was neither quick nor expert. James found lie 
 could make two cuts through a log while the German was mak- 
 ing one, and he was disposed to disparage the clumsy fellow, 
 but at the end of a week ho found the slow chopper had as 
 many cords piled up as he. This set him to thinking and ob- 
 serving, and he noticed that the German never stopped as he 
 did to look at the blue lake and the distant -^ails, or sat on his. 
 loo- to rest and meditate, but kept steadily ::t his work like a
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARVIELD. 165 
 
 machine. The boy learned a lesson of persistence and applica- 
 tion. It was the story of the hare and the tortoise in a new 
 form. 
 
 The view of Lake Erie and the passing sails stirred 
 afresh in him the ambition to be a sailor, which almost every 
 sturdy farmer's boy feels who reads tales of sea fights and ad- 
 ventures in the quiet monotony of his inland home. He re- 
 solved to ship on one of the lake craft, and with this purpose 
 walked to Cleveland and boarded a schooner lying at the. 
 wharf, and told the captain he wanted to hire out as a sailor, 
 i'lie captain, a brutal, drunken fellow, was amazed at the im 
 [mdence of the green country lad, and answered him with a 
 torrent of profanity. Escaping as quickly as he could from the 
 vessel, the lad walked up the river along the docks. Soon he 
 heard himself called by name from the deck of a canal-boat, 
 and, turning around, recognized a cousin, Amos Letcher, who 
 told him he commanded the craft, and proposed to engage him to 
 drive horses on the tow-path. The would-be sailor thought 
 that here was a chance to learn something of navigation in a 
 humble way, preparatory to renewing his application for ser- 
 vice on the lakes. He accepted the offer and the wages of 
 " ten dollars a month and found," and next day the boat start- 
 ed for Pittsburg with a cargo of copper ore. It wa called the 
 Evening Star, was open amidships, and had a cabin .at the bow 
 for the horses and one at the stern for the men. At Akron it 
 left the main line of the Ohio Canal, and following the Penn 
 sylvania branch took the young driver through the heart of the 
 district he was afterward to represent in Congress, past the 
 towns of Ravenna, Warren, Niles, and Youngstown, to tin- 
 Beaver River ; thence by slack water to the Ohio at Beaver 
 village, where the boat was taken in tow by the stern-wheeler 
 Michigan and pulled up to IMltslmrg. Some of the stories told 
 of GarlieliTs canal adventures are fictitious. That of his victory 
 over the burly boatman at the mouth of the Beaver is true, and
 
 166 LIFti OF JAMK8 A. <+ AH FIELD. 
 
 also that of his narrow escape from drowning. He fell over- 
 board, in the darkness, into Breakneck Creek, near Kent, 
 Ohio (then Franklin Mills), while pulling in the bowline, and 
 was saved from going under the boat by ;i lucky twist in the 
 rope which caught between two planks and held till he pulled 
 himself hand over hand up to the deck. On the return trip the 
 Evening Star stopped at Brier Hill on the Mahouing River, 
 arid loaded with coal at the mints of David Tod, afterward 
 Governor of Ohio, and a warm friend of Garfield. the Major- 
 General and member of Congress. The boating episode in 
 GarfiekTs life lasted through the season of 1848. After the 
 first trip to Pittsburg the boat went back and forth between 
 Cleveland and Brier Hill with cargoes of coal and iron. 
 
 Late in the fall the young driver, who had risen to the post 
 of steersman, was seized with a violent attack of ague, which 
 kept him at home all winter and in bed most of the time. All 
 his summer's earnings went for doctors' bills and medicines. 
 When he recovered, his mother, who had never approved his 
 canal adventure, dissuaded him from carrying out hits project of 
 shipping on the lakes. To master one passion she stimulated 
 another that of study. She brought to her help the district 
 school-teacher, an excellent, thoughtful man named Samuel D. 
 Bates, who jired the boy's mind with a desire for a good educa-- 
 tion, and doubtless changed the course of his life. He wen^ 
 to the Geauga Academy, at Chester, a village a few miles dis- 
 tant, and began a new career. 
 
 During the boyhood period above described Garfield had no 
 political impressions. He remembers attending but one political 
 meeting ; that was in the Harrison campaign. Xor did he ex- 
 perience any deep religious emotions. He went regularly when 
 at home to the Disciples meetings, first atBentleyville and later 
 at the school-house near his home, where his Undo Boynton had 
 organized a congregation. There was no Sunday-school in the 
 neighborhood. The polemics of religion interested him dtcplv
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFTELD. 167 
 
 at that time, but his heart was not touched. He was familiar 
 with Bible texts, and was often a formidable disputant. One 
 day, when about fifteen, he was digging potatoes for a farmer in 
 Orange and carrying them in a basket from the patch to the cel- 
 lar. Near the cellar-door sat a neighbor talking to the farmer's 
 grown-up daughter about the merits of the sprinkling and im- 
 mersion controversy, and arguing that sprinkling was baptism 
 within the meaning of the Scriptures. James overheard him 
 say that a drop was as good as a fountain. He stopped on his 
 way to the field and began to quote this text from Hebrews r 
 " Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, 
 having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience." " Ah, 
 you see," said the man, "it says ' sprinkled.' " " Wait for 
 the rest of the text," replied James ; " ' and our bodies washed 
 with pure water ! ' Now, how can you wash your body in a 
 drop of water ?" Without waiting for a reply, he hastened off 
 to the potato-field. 
 
 He repulsed all efforts to persuade him to join the church, 
 and when pressed hard stayed away from meetings for several 
 Sundays. Apparently, he wanted full freedom to reach conclu- 
 sions about religion by his own mental processes. It was not un- 
 til he was eighteen and had been two terms at the Chester 
 school that he joined his uncle's congregation. He was bap- 
 tized in March, 1850, in a little stream putting into the Cha- 
 grin River. His conversion was accomplished by a quiet, sweet- 
 tempered man who held a series of meetings in the school-house 
 near the Garfielrl homestead, and told in the plainest and most 
 straightforward manner the story of the Gospel. A previous 
 perusal of Pollock's " Course of Time" had made a deep im- 
 pression upon him and turned his thoughts to religious sub- 
 jects.
 
 168 LTF/S OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BRAVE EFFORTS FOR AN EDUCATION. 
 
 THE country schoolmaster who helped Mrs. Garficld dissuade 
 her son from going as a sailor on the lakes in the spring of 1849 
 was a student at Gcauga Academy, a Free Will Baptist institu- 
 tion in the village of Chester, ten miles away from the home 
 of the Garficlds in Orange. The argument which finally turned 
 the robust lad from his cherished plan of adventure was ad- 
 vanced by his mother, and was that, if he fitted himself for 
 teaching by a few terms in school, lie could teach winters and 
 sail summers, and thus have employment the year round. In 
 the month of March, with seventeen dollars in his pocket, got 
 together by his mother and his brother Thomas, James went 
 to Chester with his cousins, William and Henry Boynton. The 
 boys took a stock of provisions along, and rented a room witli 
 two beds and a cook-stove in an old unpainted house where 
 lived a poor widow woman, who undertook to prepare their 
 meals and do their washing for an absurdly small sum. The 
 academy was a two-story building, and the school, with about 
 a hundred pupils of both sexes, drawn from the farming coun- 
 try around Chester, was in a flourishing condition. It had a 
 library of perhaps one hundred and fifty volumes more books 
 than young Garfield had ever seen before. A venerable gen- 
 tleman named Daniel Branch was principal of the school, and 
 his wife was his chief assistant. Mrs. Branch had introduced an 
 iconoclastic grammar, which assailed all other systems as 
 funded on a false basis ; maintained that but was a verb in the 
 imperative mood, and meant lie out ; that and was also a verb in 
 the imperative mood, and meant add ; and tried in other ways 
 to upset the accepted etymology. Garfield had been reared in 
 " Kirkham" at the district school, and refused to accept the 
 new system. The grammar classes that term were a, continu-
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. AX FIELD. IGfl 
 
 ous 1 nil lie between him and his teacher. At Chester he first 
 saw an algebra. What was of more importance, though he did 
 not know it at the time, he first saw his future wife. Lucretia 
 Rudolph, a quiet, studious girl in her seventeenth year, was 
 among the students. There was no association between the 
 two, however, save in classes. James was awkward and bash- 
 ful, and contemplated the girls at a distance as a superior order 
 of beings. 
 
 There was a literary society connected with the academy, and 
 James began to take part in the debates, but with a good deal 
 of diffidence. He read his first essay at one of the school exer- 
 cises, and was glad that there was a short curtain across the 
 front of the platform which hid his trembling legs from the view 
 of the audience. Among the books he read was the autobiog- 
 raphy of Henry C. Wright, and he was greatly impressed by 
 the author's account of how he lived in Scotland on bread, 
 milk, and crackers, and how well he was, and how hard he 
 could study. James told his cousins that they were extrava- 
 gant, and that another term they must board themselves and 
 adopt Henry C. Wright's diet. At the end of the term of 
 twelve weeks he went home to Orange, helped hi* brother 
 build a barn for their mother, and then worked for day wages 
 at haying and harvesting. With the money he earned he paid 
 (ill some arrears of doctors' bills left from his long illness. 
 When he returned to Chester in the fall he had one silver six- 
 pence in his pocket. Going to church next day he dropped the 
 sixpence in the contribution-box. 
 
 lie had made an arrangement with Hemaii Wood worth, a car- 
 penter in the village, to live at his house and have lodging, board, 
 washing, fuel, and light for one dollar and six cents a week, and 
 this sum he expected to earn by helping the carpenter on Satur- 
 days and at odd hours on school days. The carpenter was build- 
 ing a two-story house, and James' first work was to get out sid- 
 ing at two oents a board. The first Saturday he planed fifty-one
 
 170 LIFE OP JAME8 A. GARFltiLD. 
 
 boards, and so earned a dollar and two cents, the most money 
 he had ever got for a day's work. That term he paid his way, 
 bought a few books, and returned home with three dollars in 
 his pocket. He now thought himself competent to teach a 
 country school, but in two days 1 tramping through Cuyahoga 
 County failed to find employment. Some schools had already 
 engaged teachers, and where there was still a vacancy the trus- 
 tees thought him too young. He returned home completely 
 discouraged and greatly humiliated by the rebuffs he had met 
 with. He made a resolution that he would never again ask for 
 a position of any sort, and the resolution was kept, for every 
 public place he has since had has come to him unsought. 
 
 Next morning, while still in the depths of despondency, he 
 heard a man call to his mother from the road, " Widow Gaf- 
 ficld " (a local corruption of the name Garfield), " where's your 
 boy Jim ? I wonder if he wouldn't like to teach our school at 
 the Ledge." James went out and found a neighbor from a 
 district a mile away, where the school had been broken up for 
 two winters by the rowdyism of the big boys. He said he 
 would like to try the school, but before deciding must consult 
 his uncle, Amos Boynton. That evening there was a family 
 council. Uncle Amos pondered over the matter and finally 
 said, " You go and try it. You will go into that school as 
 the boy, ' Jim Gaffield' ; see that you come out as Mr. Garfield, 
 the school master." The young man mastered the school, after 
 a hard tussle in the school-room with the bully of the district, 
 who resented a flogging and tried to brain the teacher with a 
 billet of wood. No problem in his after life ever took so much 
 absorbing thought and study as that of making the Ledge 
 school successful. He devised all soils of plans for making 
 study interesting to the children ; joined in the out-door sports 
 of the big boys, read aloud evenings to the parents where he 
 boarded, and won the hearts of old and young. Before spring 
 he got the name of the best schoolmaster who ever taught at
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 171 
 
 the Ledge. His wages were twelve dollars a month and board, 
 and he " boarded around " in the families of the pupils. 
 
 He had forty-eight dollars in the spring more money than 
 had ever been in his possession before. Before returning to 
 Chester he joined the Disciples Church, and his religious ex- 
 perience, together with his new interest in teaching, caused 
 him to abandon his boyhood ambition of becoming a sailor. 
 During his third term at the academy he and his cousin Henry 
 boarded themselves and put in practice Henry C. "Wright's 
 cheap dietary scheme. At the end of six weeks the boys found 
 their expenses for food had been just thirty-one cents per week 
 apiece. Henry thought they were living too poorly for good 
 health, and they agreed to increase their outlay to fifty cents a 
 week apiece. James had up to this time looked upon a college 
 course as wholly beyond his reach, but he met a college gradu- 
 ate who told him he was mistaken in supposing that only the 
 sons of rich parents were able to take such a course. A poor 
 boy could get through, he said, but it would take a long time 
 and very hard work. The usual time was four years in prepar- 
 atory studies and four in the regular college course. James 
 thought that by working part of the time to earn money he 
 could get through in twelve years. Ho then resolved to bend 
 all his energies to the one purpose of getting a college educa- 
 tion. 
 
 From this resolution he never swerved a hair's- breadth. Un- 
 til it was accomplished it was the one overmastering idea of his 
 life. The tenacity and single-heartedness with which he flung 
 to it and the sacrifices lie made to realize it unquestionably ex- 
 erted a powerful influence in moulding and solidifying hi 
 character. He begun to study Latin, philosophy, and botany 
 When the spring term ended he went home again and worke 1 
 through the summer at haying and carpentering. Next fall h<' 
 was back at Chester for a fourth term, and in the winter he goi 
 a village school to teach in Warrensville, at sixteen dollars a
 
 172 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFTELD. 
 
 month and board. One of the boys wanted to study geometry. 
 Tin- teacher hud never got so far in mathematics, but he bought 
 a text-book, studied nights, kept ahead of his pupil, and took 
 him through without his onee suspecting;' that the master was 
 not an expert in the science. In the spring lie 1 went with his 
 mother to visit relatives in Muskingum County, riding for the 
 first time on a railroad train. The Cleveland and Columbus 
 Railroad was just open, and the travellers went by it to 
 Columbus, where they saw the State Capitol and the Legisla- 
 ture, and from whence they proceeded by stage to Zanesvillc, 
 and then floated eighteen miles in a skill down the Muskingum 
 River to their destination. James taught a spring school in a 
 log building on Back Run, in Harrison Township. There was 
 coal in a bank near the school-house, and the teacher and his 
 boys dug the fuel for their fire. 
 
 Returning to Orange in the summer, he decided to go on 
 with his education at a new school just established by the 
 Disciples at Hiram, Portage County, a petty cross-roads 
 village, twelve miles from a town and a railroad. His re- 
 ligious feeling naturally called him to the young institution of 
 his own denomination. In August, 1851, he arrived at Hiram, 
 and found a plain brick building standing in the midst of a 
 corn-field, with perhaps a dozen farm-houses near enough for 
 boarding places for the students. It was a lonely, isolated 
 place on a high ridge dividing the waters flowing into Lake 
 Erie from those running southward to the Ohio. lie lived in a 
 room with four other pupils, studied harder than ever, having 
 now his college project fully anchored in his mind, got through 
 his six books of C3sar that term, and made good progress in 
 Greek. In the winter he again taught school at Warrensvillc, 
 and earned eighteen dollars a month. Next spring lie was back 
 at Hiram, and during the summer vacation he helped build a 
 house in the village, planing all the siding and shingling the 
 rodf.
 
 Llb'K OF .IAMKH A. OARFIELD. 173 
 
 He met at Hiram a woman who exercised a strong influence on 
 his intellectual life Miss Almeda A. Booth, a teacher in the 
 school. She was nine years older than the young student, pos- 
 \ a mind of remarkable range and grasp, and a character 
 of unusual sweetness, purity, and strength. She became his 
 guide and companion in his studies, his mental and moral hero- 
 ine, and his unselfish, devoted friend. The friendship 
 between them continued until she died a few years ago, 
 when he delivered an oration on her life and character before the 
 pupils of the Hiram Eclectic Institute. Young Garfield was 
 again thrown into class associations at Hiram with Lucretia Ru- 
 dolph, whose father had settled there to educate his four chil- 
 dren. A strong, mutual attachment grew out of this associa- 
 tion, and the young people entered into an engagement to marry 
 as soon as James should graduate at college and establish him- 
 self in life. 
 
 At the beginning of his second year at Hiram, Garfield was 
 made a tutor in place of one of the teachers who fell ill, and 
 thenceforward he taught and studied at the same time, work- 
 ing tremendously to fit himself for college. His future wife 
 recited to him two years in Greek, and when he went to col- 
 lege she went to teach in the Cleveland schools, and to wait pa- 
 tiently the realization of their hopes. When he went to Hiram 
 lie hud studied Latin only six weeks and had just begun Greek, 
 and was therefore just in a condition to fairly begin the four 
 years' preparatory course ordinarily taken by students before 
 entering college in the Freshman class. Yet in three years' 
 time he fitted himself to enter the Junior class, two years further 
 along, and at the same time earned his own living, thus crowd- 
 ing six years' study into three, and teaching for his support at 
 the same time. To accomplish this, he shut the whole world 
 out from his mind save that little portion of it within the range 
 of his studies, knowing nothing of politics or & '' news of the
 
 174 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 
 
 day, reading no light literature, and engaging in no social rec- 
 reations that took his time from his books. 
 
 In the spring of 1854, he wrote to the Presidents of Yale, 
 Brown, and Williams, telling what books he had studied, and 
 asking what class he could enter if he passed a satisfactory ex- 
 amination in them. All three wrote that he could enter the 
 Junior year. President Hopkins, of Willams, added this sen- 
 tence to the business part of his letter : " If you come here, we 
 shall do what we can for you." This seemed like a kindly 
 hand held out, and it decided him to go to Williams. He had 
 been urged to go to the Disciples' College, in Bethany, Virginia, 
 founded by Alexander Campbell, but with a wisdom hare ly to 
 be expected in a country lad devotedly attached to the sect rep- 
 resented by the Bethany school, he sought the wider culture 
 and broader opportunities of a New England college. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TWO TEARS AT COLLEGE. 
 
 WHEN Garfield reached Williams College, in June, 1854, he 
 had about three hundred dollars -which he had saved while 
 teaching in the Hiram school. With this money he hoped to 
 manage to get through a year. A few weeks remained of the 
 closing school year, and he attended the recitations of the So- 
 phomore class in order to get familiar with the methods of the 
 professors before testing his ability to pass the examinations 
 for the Junior year. He had a keen sense of his want of the 
 advantages of society and general culture which the students 
 with whom he came in contact had enjoyed all their lives, but 
 his homely manners and Western garb did not subject him to 
 any slights or mortifications. The spirit of the college was 
 generous and manly. No student was fstimatod 1>\ the clothes
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 175 
 
 he wore ; no one was snubbed because he was poor. The in- 
 tellectual force, originality, and immense powers of study pos- 
 sessed by the new comer from Ohio were soon recognized by 
 his classmates, and he enjoyed as much respect, cordiality, 
 and companionship as if he had been the son of a millionaire. 
 The beauty of the scenery around Williamstown made a strong 
 impression upon his fancy. He had never seen mountain? 
 before. The spurs of the Green Hills which reach down from 
 Vermont and enclose the little college town in their arms were 
 to the young man from the monotonous landscapes of the West- 
 ern Reserve a .wonderful revelation of grandeur and beauty. 
 He climbed Greylock and explored all the glens and valleys of 
 the neighborhood. 
 
 The examination for entering the Junior class was passed 
 without trouble. Although self-taught, save for the help of his 
 friend and companion in his studies, Miss Booth, his knowledge 
 of the books prescribed was thorough. A long summer vaca- 
 tion followed his examination, and this time he employed in 
 the college library, the first large collection of books he had ever 
 seen. His absorption in the double work of teaching and fit- 
 ting himself for college had hitherto left him little time for 
 general reading, and the library opened a new world of profit 
 and delight. He had never read a line of Shakespeare save a 
 few extracts in the school reading-books. From the whole 
 range of fiction he had voluntarily shut himself off at eighteen, 
 when he joined the church,having serious views of the business 
 of life, and imbibing the notion, then almost universal among 
 religious people in the country districts of the Wtst, that novel- 
 reading was a waste of time, and therefore a sinful, worldly 
 sort of intellectual amusement. When turned loose in the col- 
 lege library, with weeks of leisure to range at will over its 
 shelves, he began with Shakespeare, which he read through from 
 cover to cover. Then he went to English history and poetry. 
 Of the poets, Tennyson ph'^prl him best, which is not to be
 
 170 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 wondered at, for the influence of the laureate was then at its 
 height. He learned whole poems by heart and can repeat them 
 now. 
 
 After he had been six or eight months at college, and had 
 devoured an immense amount of serious reading, he began to 
 suffer from intellectual dyspepsia. He found his mind was not 
 assimilating what he read, and would often refuse to be held 
 down to the printed page. Then he revised his notions about 
 books of fiftion and concluded that romance is as valuable a 
 part of intellectual food as salad of a dinner. He prescribed 
 for himself one novel a month, and on this medicine his mind 
 speedily recuperated and got back all its old elasticity. Coop- 
 er's " Leatherstocking Tales " were the first novels he read, 
 nnd afterward Walter Scott. An English class-mate introduced 
 him to the works of Dickens and Thackeray. He formed a 
 habit in those days of making notes while he read of everything 
 he did not clearly understand, such as historical references, 
 mythological allusions, technical terms, etc. These notes he 
 would take time to look up afterward in the library, so as to 
 leave nothing obscure in his mind concerning the books he read. 
 The thoroughness he displayed in his work in after-life was 
 thus begun at that early period, and applied to every subject 
 he took hold of. The ground his mind traversed he carefully 
 cleared and ploughed before leaving it for fresh fields. 
 
 Garfield studied Latin and Greek, and took up German as an 
 elective study. One year at college completed his classical 
 studies, on which he was far advanced before he came to Wil- 
 liams. German he carried on successfully until he could read 
 Goethe and Schiller readily and acquired considerable fluency 
 in the conversational use of the language. He entered with 
 /.eal into the literary work of the school, joined the Philologian 
 Society, was a vigorous debater, and in his last year was one 
 of the editors of the Williams Quarterly, a college periodical of 
 a high order of merit. To this magazine lie was a frequent
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 17? 
 
 contributor in prose, and once wrote a poem. The influence of 
 the mind and character of Dr. Hopkins was powerfully felt in 
 shaping the direction of his thought and his views of life. ITe 
 often says that the good President rose like a sun before him, 
 and enlightened his whole mental and moral nature. His 
 preaching and teaching were a constant inspiration to the young 
 Ohio student, and he became the centre of his college life tin 
 object of his reverence and hero-worship. 
 
 At the end of the fall term of 1854 came a winter vacation o! 
 two months, which Garfield, employed in teaching a writing- 
 school at North Powiial, Vermont. He wrote a bold, hand- 
 ome, legible hand, not at all like that in vogue nowadays in 
 the systems taught in the commercial colleges, but a hand that 
 was strongly individual and was the envy of the boys and girls 
 vrho tried to imitate it in his Vermont class. It is said that a 
 year or two before Garfield taught his writing-class in the 
 North Pownal school-house, ChesteV A. Arthur taught the district 
 school in the same building. 
 
 At the end of the college year, in June, Garfield went*back 
 to Ohio and visited his mother, who was then living with a 
 daughter in Solon. His money was exhausted, and he had to 
 adopt one of two plans, dther to borrow enough to take him 
 through to graduation at the end of the next year, or to go t:> 
 teaching in order to earn the money, and thus break the contin- 
 uity of his college course. He then hit upon the plan of insur- 
 ing his life, and assigning the policy as security for a loan. His- 
 brother Thomas undertook to furnish the funds in instalments, 
 I nit becomng embarrassed was not able to do so, and a neigh- 
 bor, Dr. Robinson, assumed the obligation. Garfield gave hi? 
 notes for the loan, and regarded the transaction as on a fair 
 business basis, knowing that if he lived he would rep;iy the 
 money and that if he died his creditor would be secure. 
 
 His second winter vacation Garlield spent inPoestenkill, Ni.-w 
 York, a country neighborhood about nix miles from Troy, where
 
 178 LIFE OF JAMES A, GARFIELD. 
 
 a Disciple minister from Ohio, named Strecter, was preaching, 
 and where he soon organized a writing-school to employ his 
 time and bring him in a little money. Occasionally Garfield 
 preached in his friend's church. During a visit to Troy he 
 became acquainted with the teachers and directors of the public 
 schools of that city, and was one day surprised by the offer of a 
 position in them at a salary far beyond his expectations of what 
 he could earn after his graduation and return to Ohio. It was 
 a turning-point in his life. If he accepted, he could soon pay 
 his debts, marry the girl to whojn he was engaged, and live a life 
 of comfort in an attractive Eastern city ; but he could not finish 
 his college course, and he would have to sever the ties with 
 friends in Ohio and with the struggling school at Hiram, to 
 which he was deeply attached. Had he taken the position, his 
 whole subsequent career would no doubt have been different. 
 While in church at Chicago just before the nomination last 
 June, he recognized in the congregation the man who made him 
 the offer in Troy. The two hud not met since that time. " Do 
 you remember what you said on that occasion ?" asked his old 
 friend. " No ; I cannot recall the conversation." " We were 
 walking on a hill called Mount Olympus when I made you my 
 proposition. After a few moments silence you said : ' You are 
 not Satan, and I am not Jesus, but we are upon a mountain and 
 you have tempted me powerfully. I think I must say, get thee 
 behind me. I am poor, and the salary would soon pay my debts 
 and place me in a position of independence ; but there are two 
 objections. I could not accomplish my resolution to complete 
 a college course, and should be crippled intellectually for life. 
 Then my roots are all fixed in Ohio, where people know me and 
 I know them, and this transplanting might not succeed as well 
 in the long run as to go back home and work for smaller pay.' ' 
 Study at Williams was easy for Garfield. He hud been used 
 to much harder work at Hiram, where he had crowded a six 
 years' course into three, and taught at the same time. Now he
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 179 
 
 had the stimulus of a large class, an advantage he had never 
 enjoyed before. His lessons were always perfectly learned, and 
 he found a good deal of time for courses of reading that in- 
 volved as much brain- work as the college text-books. 
 
 During his last term at Williams he made his first political 
 speech, an address before a meeting gathered in one of the 
 class-rooms to support the nomination of John C. Fremont. 
 Although he had passed his majority nearly four years before, 
 he had never voted. The old parties did not interest him ; he 
 believed them both corrupted Avith the sin of slavery ; but 
 when a new party arose to combat the designs of the slave 
 power it enlisted his earnest sympathies. His mind was free 
 from all bias concerning the parties and statesmen of the past, 
 and could equally admire Clay or Jackson, Webster or Benton. 
 He is the first man nominated for the Presidency whose politi- 
 cal convictions and activities began with the birth of the Re- 
 publican Party. 
 
 He graduated August, 1856, with a class honor established 
 by President Hopkins and highly esteemed in the college that 
 of Metaphysics reading an essay on " The Seen and the Un- 
 seen." It is singular how, at different times in the course of his 
 education, he was thought to have a special aptitude for some 
 single line of intellectual work, and how at a later period his 
 talents seemed to lie just as strongly in some other line. At 
 one time it was mathematics, at another the classics, at another 
 rhetoric, and finally he excelled in metaphysics. The truth was 
 that he had a remarkably vigorous and well-rounded brain, ca- 
 pable of doing effective work in any direction his will might 
 dictate. The class of 1856 contained among its forty-two mem- 
 bers a number of men who have since won distinction. Three 
 became general officers in the volunteer army during the rebel- 
 lion Garfield, Daviess, and Thompson. Two, Bolter and 
 Shattuck, were captains, and were killed in battle ; Eldridge, 
 who now livea in Chicago, was a colonel ; so was Ferris Ja-
 
 1 80 LIFE OF J. I MEX A OA HFTKLD. 
 
 <<} >s, of Delhi, N. Y. Rockwell is a quartermaster in the Reg- 
 ular Army. Gilfillau is Treasurer of the United States. Hill 
 was Assistant Attorney General and is now a fclwycr in Boston. 
 Knox is a leading lawyer in New York. Newcombe is a pro- 
 fessor in the University of the City of New York. In the class 
 ;ihead of Garfield was Hitchcock, lately Senator from Nebraska, 
 :in<l Ingalls, now a Senator from Kansas. To furnish two 
 United States Senators from one class and a Senator-elect and 
 Presidential nominee from the next following class, is an honor 
 which has probably never before fallen to any college. Ingalls 
 was the poet of the school in his day, and many of his asso- 
 ciates believed him destined to take rank in the future close up 
 to Tennyson. Many years later, after he came to the Senate, 
 Garlield met him at a dinner-party and brought the blushes to 
 the Kansas statesman's face by reciting from memory two or 
 three of his college productions. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL AT HtRAM. 
 
 BEFORE Garfield graduated at Williams College the trustees,! 
 of the Hiram Eclectic Institute elected him teacher of ancient 
 languages, and the post was ready for him as soon as he got 
 back to Ohio. It was not a professorship, because the institu- 
 tion was not a college, and did not become one until 1867, long 
 after his connection with it ceased. A year later, when only 
 twenty-six years old, he was placed at the head of the school, 
 with the title of Chairman of the Board of Instruction, the 
 Board waiting another year before conferring upon him the full 
 honors of the Principalship. He continued to hold the position 
 of Principal until he went into the army, in 18G1. He was nom- 
 inal Principal two years longer, the Board hoping he would re-
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 181 
 
 turn and manage the school after the war unlcd. When he 
 went, to Congress lie was made Advising Principal and lecturer, 
 and his name was borne upon the catalogues in this capacity 
 until 1864. He is still one of the trustees. 
 
 Before he went to college, Garfield had begun to preach a 
 little in the country churches around Iliram, and when he re- 
 turned he began to fill the pulpit in the Disciples' Church in 
 Hiram with considerable regularity. In his denomination no 
 ordination is required to become a minister. Any brother hav- 
 ing the ability to discourse on religious topics to a congrega- 
 tion is welcomed to the pulpit. His fame as a lay preacher ex- 
 tended throughout the counties of Portage, Summit, Trumbull, 
 and Geauga, and he was often invited to preach in the towns 
 of that region. He felt no special call to the ministry if he 
 gave up teaching he had already determined to go to the law 
 but he was an earnest supporter of the Christian sect with 
 which he had connected himself, and was eager to advance its 
 interests ; besides, it helped the school for the young Principal to 
 make acquaintances in the surrounding country. Almost every 
 sermon delivered away from home brought new pupils at the be- 
 ginning of the next term. 
 
 His method of conducting recitations in the school embodied 
 a series of technical questions for text-book answers, the as- 
 signment of topics, calls upon the students for their opinions and 
 finally his own discussion of the subject-matter; which was al- 
 ways thorough, luminous, and singularly interesting. His mem- 
 ory was wonderful, and his thoughts would range over his read- 
 ing and reflections to gather fresh material to illustrate and 
 broaden the lessons beyond the range of the text-book. He 
 was a famous teacher of English grammar ; if he had any spe- 
 cialty, this was it, but he seemed to teach all branches equally 
 well mathematics, classics, philosophy, history, etc. He had 
 a code of rules for the school, bxit his own presence and per- 
 sonal force were more potent than all the regulations which
 
 182 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 could be devised. The students obeyed him because they loved 
 him and respected him. He was cordial and companionable 
 with them all, and made such careful studies of the pupils' char- 
 acters that he knew what forces to bring to bear in each indi- 
 vidual case to secure application to study and to awaken am- 
 bition for a noble life. Inspired by his wonderful influence, 
 which seemed to reach to the fibres of every pupil's heart, 
 the school became like a great harmonious family in which ho 
 was the wise, affectionate elder brother. One of his former 
 pupils says of his peculiarities as a teacher : 
 
 " ]STo matter how old the pupils were, Garfield always called 
 us by our first names, and kept himself on the most familiar 
 terms with all. He played with us freely, scuffled with us 
 sometimes, walked with us in walking to and fro, and we treat- 
 ed him out of the class-room just abotit as we did one another. 
 Yet he was a most strict disciplinarian, and enforced the rules 
 like a martinet. He combined an affectionate and confiding 
 manner with respect for order in a most successful manner. If 
 lie wanted to speak to a pupil, either for reproof or approba- 
 tion, he would generally manage to get one arm around him 
 and draw him close up to him. He had a peculiar way of 
 shaking hands, too, giving a twist to your arm and drawing you 
 right up to him. This sympathetic manner has helped him to 
 advancement. "When I was janitor he used sometimes to 
 stop me and ask my opinion about this and that, as if seriously 
 advising with me. I can see that my opinion could not have 
 been of any value, and that he probably asked me partly to 
 increase my self-respect and partly to show me that he felt an 
 interest in me. I certainly was his friend all the firmer for it. 
 
 " I remember once asking him what was the best way to pur- 
 sue a certain study, and he said : ' Use several t?xt-books. Get 
 the views of different authors as you advance. In that way you 
 can plough a broader furrow. I always study in that way.' 
 He tried hard to teach us to observe carefully and accurately.
 
 LIFE Off JAMES A. GARFIELD. 1<S3 
 
 Kc broke out one day in the midst of a lesson with, ' Henry, how 
 many posts are there under the building down-stairs ?' Henry 
 expressed his opinion, and the question went around the class, 
 hardly one getting it right. Then it was : ' How many boot- 
 scrapera are there at the door ?' ' How many windows in the 
 building ?' ' How many trees in the field ?' "What were the 
 color of different rooms and the peculiarities of any familiar 
 objects. He was the keenest observer I ever saw. I think he 
 noticed and numbered every button on our coats. A friend of 
 mine was walking with him through Cleveland one day, when 
 Garfield stopped and darted down a cellar- way, asking his com- 
 panion to follow, and briefly pausing to explain himself. The 
 sign ' Saws and Files ' was over the door, and in the depths was 
 heard a regular clicking sound. ' I think the fellow is cutting 
 files,' said he, ' and I have never seen a file cut.' Down they 
 went, and, sure enough, there was a man recutting an old file, 
 and they stayed ten minutes and found out all about the pro- 
 cess. Garfield would never go by anything without understand- 
 ing it. 
 
 " Mr. Garfield was very fond of lecturing to the school. He 
 spoke two or three times a week, on all manner of topics, gen- 
 erally scientific, though sometimes literary or historical. He 
 ppoko with great freedom, never writing out what he had to 
 say, and I now think that his lectures were a rapid compilation 
 of his current reading, and that he threw it into this form 
 partly for the purpose of impressing it on his own mind. His 
 facility of speech was learned when he was a pupil there. The 
 societies had a rule that every student should take his stand on 
 the platform and speak for five minutes on any topic suggested 
 at the moment by the audience. It was a very trying ordeal. 
 Garfield broke down badly the first two times he tried to speak, 
 but persisted, and was at last, when he went to Williams, one of 
 the best of the five-minute speakers. When lie returned as 
 Principal his readiness was striking and remarkable.
 
 184 7,7777? OF JAMER A GARFTELD. 
 
 " At the time I was at school at Hi ram, Principal Garfield wan 
 a great reader, not omnivorous, but methodical and in certain 
 lines. He was the most industrious man I ever knew or heard 
 of. At one time he delivered lectures on geology, held public 
 debates on Spiritualism, preached on Sunday, conducted the re- 
 citations of five or six classes every day, attended to all the 
 financial affairs of the school, was an active member of the 
 Legislature, and studied law to be admitted to the Bar. He 
 has often said that he never could have performed this labor if 
 it had not been for the assistance of two gifted and earnest 
 women Mrs. Garfield herself, his early schoolmate, \\\\o had 
 followed her husband in his studies, and Miss Almeda A. 
 Booth, a member of the faculty. The latter was a graduate of 
 Oberlin, and had been a teacher of young Garfield when he 
 was a pupil, and now that he had returned as head of the fac- 
 ulty she continued to serve him in a sort of motherly way as 
 tutor and guide. When Garfield had speeches to make in the 
 Legislature or on the stump, or lectures to deliver, these two 
 ladies ransacked the library by day and collected facts and 
 marked books for his digestion and use in the preparation of 
 the discourses at. night. Mr. Garfield always acknowledged his 
 great, obligation to Miss Almeda Booth, and at her death, re- 
 cently, he delivered one of the most touching and eloquent ad- 
 dresses of his life." 
 
 The attendance at the school ranged from a hundred and 
 eighty to two hundred, and the salaries of teachers and Princi- 
 pal not being fixed, but depending upon the revenue of the 
 institution, fluctuated somewhat. The spring and fall terms 
 were the fullest, because many of the pupils went out in the 
 winter to teach country schools. Mr. Garlield's salary averaged 
 about, eight hundred dollars a year, a comfortable lit.tlo in 
 come for rural Ohio in the times before the war. 
 
 lie Cist his first, vote in 1856 Jfor John C. Fremont, his o\\ n 
 political career thus beyitmin;^ with the first national campaign
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 185 
 
 of the "Republican Party. Before leaving Willams College he 
 made a speech to the students on the question of shivery in the 
 Territories, and during the fall, after he returned to Hiram, he 
 spoke in the Diseiples 1 Church in reply to Alphonso Elart, ol 
 Ravenna, who had delivered a Democratic address there a few 
 nights before. Then a joint debate was arranged at Garret:-- 
 ville, between Hart and Garfield which attracted a good deal of 
 local attention and is well remembered to this day by the older 
 farmers of Portage County. This debate launched Garfield as a 
 political speaker. His reputation as a stump orator widened 
 steadily from that debate until it embraced first the State of 
 Ohio and then the Nation. 
 
 A year after he took charge of the Hiram school Garfield 
 married Lucretia Rudolph, his fellow-student and pupil in for- 
 mer years, to whom he had engaged himself before he went to 
 Williams College. Their love had stood the test of time and 
 absence, and now that he had made his place in the world and 
 felt that he could support a family, there was nothing to hin- 
 der its consummation. The marriage took place at the house 
 of the bride's parents, November llth, 1858. 
 
 Miss Rudolph was a girl of unusual culture. A good schol- 
 ar in Latin, Greek, and German, and also in mathematics and 
 philosophy, she met the young teacher on his own intellectual 
 plane. They read the same books and delighted in the same 
 studies. Yet with all this learning, she was still a quiet, 
 trusting, affectionate country girl who had but one hero in 
 life, her lover and husband, but one ambition to h"ld fast his 
 love, and make for him a happy home. She was of medium 
 stature, with dark hazel eyes, wavy brown hair, a rounded 
 form, and an expression about her mouth denoting a calm, 
 sweet temper, combined with a strong will. The marriage was 
 a happy one. Indeed, it could hardly have been otherwise, 
 for there was congeniality of taste, a high ideal of a pure 
 home life, identity of religious belief, a great love of study uud 
 culture, and a long-standing affection to base it on.
 
 186 LIFE OF JAMES A. GAHFIELD. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IU THE STATE SENATE. 
 
 THE years of Garfield's Principalship of the Hiram Eclectic 
 Institute were years of great intellectual activity. He delivered 
 three lectures a week to the students, following usually the line 
 of his reading. It was his habit to make skeleton notes of what 
 he read, and by the aid of these notes to talk for half an hour 
 upon the theme of the book, giving the ideas of the author and 
 then his own comments. He delivered lectures before literary 
 societies in the neighboring towns. One was on the li Char- 
 acter and Writings of Sir Walter Scott," another oil the 
 "Character of the German People," another on " Carlyle's 
 Frederick the Great." He became greatly interested in the 
 science of geology, and held a debate with William Den ton on 
 the question of whether all life upon the earth was developed 
 by processes of law or had been introduced by successive 
 creative acts. Denton held the development theory ; Garfield 
 that of intelligent providential action. The discussion lasted 
 five days and evenings, embraced twenty speeches on the part 
 of each of the disputants, and was remarkable as a sustained 
 and severe intellectual effort. It brought Garfield many invita- 
 tions to deliver courses of lectures on geology. He prepared 
 a course and gave it at a number of places in Northern Ohio. 
 His labors upon the stump, beginning in 1856, with perhaps a 
 score of speeches for Fremont and Dayton in country school- 
 houses and town-halls in the region around Hiram, were ex- 
 tended in 1857 and 1858 over a wider area of territory, and in 
 1859 he began to speak at county mass-meetings. His first 
 appearance at a big meeting was at Akron, whore his name was 
 put upon the bills below that of Salmon P. Chase. There 
 the young teacher met for the first time the great anti-slavery 
 leader whom he had honored and admired from his boyhood,
 
 LIFE OF JAM!:'* I. GARFIELD. 18? 
 
 and a friendship sprang up between the two which endured 
 imtil Chase's death. All this time, while infusing new vigor 
 into the Hiram school, delving in the fields of literature and 
 science, and fighting on the stump the battles of the young 
 Republican Party against slavery, Garfield did a great deal of 
 pulpit work. Of his career as "a lay preacher something -will be 
 said in another chapter, lie often filled the pulpit in the Disci- 
 ples' Church at Hiram, and for some time was the regular 
 minister in Solon and Newburg, going on S.aturday to one or 
 the other of these places, and returning to Hiram for school 
 duties Monday morning. Such an amount of work would have 
 broken down any man not gifted with a remarkably vigorous 
 brain and a remarkably vigorous body, but hard work in many 
 lines at once seemed to be natural to him. He slept well, ate 
 heartily, and was never overtasked by anything which could be 
 done in the working hours of the twenty-four. Repose seemed 
 not to be necessary to his organization. His mind never lay 
 fallow. 
 
 In 1859, he was chosen by the faculty of Williams College to 
 deliver the Master's Oration on Commencement Day, and tak- 
 ing his wife with him, he went down the St. Lawrence River 
 to Quebec, and then crossed the New England States to Wil- 
 liamstown making the first pleasure trip of his life. Before 
 leaving home he had been solicited to be a candidate for the 
 Legislature from Portage County, but declined. He thought at 
 the time that the State Senate might have tempted him. The 
 Senatorship from the district composed of Portage and Summit 
 counties was conceded to Portage, and the politicians had gener- 
 ally agreed upon an old citizen of Ravenna, Mr. Prcntiss, for the 
 place. When Garfield returned from his Eastern trip, he learn- 
 ed that Mr. Prentiss had died during his absence and was met 
 at Mantua station by some friends who desired him to be a 
 candidate. He told them he would have to talk with the fac- 
 ulty at Hiram before he could give them an answer. The
 
 188 LIFE OF JAMES A. GA11FIELD. 
 
 teachers advised him to take the nomination, and said they 
 thought they could get along without him in the school during 
 the few weeks he would be in Columbus. So he wrote to his 
 political friends that if they desired to nominate him without 
 any seeking or effort on his part, he would not refuse. There 
 were a number of candidates, but Garfield was nominated at 
 the third ballot, and the district being heavily Republican, was 
 elected without trouble, although some fault was found with 
 him because of his refusal to pledge himself to this or that 
 measure and his declaration of a purpose to act independently 
 according to his own convictions of duty. 
 
 In January, 1860, he went to Columbus, and took his seat in 
 the State Senate. Soon a warm friendship sprang up between 
 him and Jacob D. Cox, afterward Major-General, Governor, 
 and Secretary of the Interior. The two roomed together, 
 studied together, read together, and worked together on meas- 
 ures of legislation. They were called the Damon and Pythias 
 of the legislature. He found himself with very little knowledge 
 of the machinery of the State Government, and to supply his 
 deficiency he adopted a plan that was characteristically original. 
 " If T trace a dollar, " he said to his friend Cox," from the pocket 
 of a taxpayer up to the State Treasury, and then out to its ulti- 
 mate destination in the payment of State expenditures, and fa- 
 miliarize myself with all the statutes governing every transfer 
 of the money, I think I shall know pretty well how the State 
 machine* works." This plan he carried out. and at the end of 
 his investigation had thoroughly mastered the subject. The 
 campaign of 18fiO made him widely known throughout the 
 State. Before the legislature adjourned a meeting was held in 
 Columbus to ratify the nomination of William Denison for Gov- 
 ernor. Chase, Giddings, Hassaurek, and Garfield were the 
 speakers. Garfield spoke last. He had just been reading a 
 poem by Charles Mackay, who had lately visited this country, 
 describing the progress southward of a Mississippi River att-iim
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 189 
 
 er from St. Louis to New Orleans. With his remarkable mem- 
 ory, Garfield hud the poem at his tongue's end, and a happy 
 thought struck him to compare the progress of the Democratic 
 Party from its old anti-slavery ideas toward absolute subser- 
 viency to the South to the voyage of the steamer as de- 
 scribed by Mackay. The verses lent themselves marvellously to 
 the comparison, especially one about driving a drove of squeal- 
 ing, grunting hogs across a plank upon the boat. The plank, 
 in the illustration, was the Dred Scott decision and the hogs the, 
 unwilling Northern Democrats. The speech* was a great hit, 
 and made the young orator famous throughout the State. In- 
 vitations came to speak in Cincinnati and in most of the large 
 towns. From a local stumper at school-house and township meet- 
 ings, Garfield developed into one of the most popular campaign 
 orators in the State. 
 
 He found time to read law assiduously while he was in the 
 legislature. In 1858, lie made up his mind that his future 
 career should be at the Bar. Teaching seemed rather an epi- 
 sode than a permanent vocation, and he did not feel the inner 
 call to devote himself to preaching, although he was a success- 
 ful pulpit orator, and was a devoted believer in Christianity. 
 He therefore entered his name as a law student in the office of 
 Williamson & Riddle, in Cleveland, and got from Mr. Riddle 
 a list of the books to be studied. His method of study was to 
 read a chapter, close the book, and write a synopsis of it ; 
 then re-read the chapter and compare the synopsis with it. In 
 this way the contents of the books became firmly fixed in his 
 mind. In 1861 he applied to the Supreme Court in Columbus 
 for admission to the Bar, was examined by a committee com- 
 posed of Thomas M. Key, a distinguished lawyer of Cincinnati, 
 and Robert Harrison, afterward a member of the Supreme 
 Court Commission, and admitted. His intention was to open 
 an office in Cleveland, but the breaking out of the war changed 
 liis plans.
 
 190 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 
 
 During his two winters at Columbus, Garfleld was chairman of 
 the Committee on Colleges and Universities, and made a num- 
 ber of thoughtful reports. He introduced a bill for a geologi- 
 cal survey of the State which the war pushed aside for a time, 
 but which was afterward passed. In the winter of 1861 he 
 offered a resolution inviting the Legislatures of Kentucky and 
 Tennessee to visit Columbus as the guests of the Ohio Legisla- 
 ture, the purpose being to strengthen the bonds of the Union 
 in view of the gathering storm of secession. The resolution 
 was adopted, the invitation accepted, and Garfield went to 
 Louisville as chairman of the Reception Committee, and made 
 a notable speech there at a banquet. He was severely criti- 
 cised at home for his course in this matter, but the visit of the 
 two legislatures unquestionably exerted an important influence 
 in strengthening the Union feeling in Kentucky and Tennessee. 
 
 Garfield and Cox were among the first to foresee that the end 
 of secession would be war. After a long talk one night, they came 
 to the conclusion that war was inevitable, and mutually pledged 
 themselves to each other to enter the struggle and offer their 
 lives to their country. This resolution was taken in no light 
 mood. Both had homes and families. Governor Cox has 
 often said since that the moment when he clasped hands with his 
 friend and agreed to enter the army was the most solemn mo- 
 ment of his life. The comrades began at once to read military 
 works and study the profession of arms. They introduced a 
 bill offering the United States Government three millions of 
 dollars for the war. Garfield offered a bill punishing treason 
 against the State, and supported it with an exhaustive report 
 and speech on the question of the possibility of treason being 
 committed against a State, which carried the bill through. 
 After McClellan came to Columbus to take command of the 
 State troops, Garfield was sent to Springfield, Illinois, to procure 
 five thousand stand of arms, a portion of those saved by Gen- 
 u.;l Lyon, and removed from the St. Louis arsenal. He sue-
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 191 
 
 ceeded in his mission., shipped the guns, and saw them safely 
 delivered at Columbus. He was sent to Cleveland by Governor 
 Denison soon after the fall of Fort Sumter to organize the Sev- 
 enth and Eighth Regiments of Ohio infantry. The Governor 
 offered him the colonelcy of one of the new regiments, but he 
 declined because he did not think himself fit for such a post as 
 long as he was without military experience. If a "West Pointer 
 could be got to take command, he would be glad, he said, of a 
 subordinate position. Finally, the Governor appointed him lieu- 
 tenant-colonel and sent him to the Western Reserve to raise a 
 regiment, with the understanding that a "West Pointer should 
 be found for its colonel if possible. Garfield suggested Cap- 
 tain (now General) Hazen, a Portage County man, then sei v- 
 ing in the Regular Army, and Governor Dennison asked the 
 War Department to detail him, but General Scott would not 
 consent. So the Forty-second Regiment went into camp without 
 any colonel, and it was only then that Garfield yielded to the 
 solicitations of its officers and of the Governor, and consented 
 to take command. 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 FIGHTING FOR THE UNION. 
 
 THIS and the following chapter, relating to General Garfield 's 
 military career, are copied without change from White! r^v 
 Reid's " Ohio in the War," a comprehensive history, published 
 in 1867, of the part played by Ohio regiments and Ohio men in 
 suppressing the rebellion. Mr. Reid, now the distinguish'"! 
 editor of the New York Tribune, was one of the most intrepid 
 and impartial of the war correspondents those staff ofiici r- 
 of the people, sent with the armies of the Union to share their 
 dangers and hardships and describe their marches and battles 
 through the medium of the daily press. His account of
 
 192 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 General Garfield's part in the \v:ir i.s peculiarl}' valuable, inas- 
 much as it was written long before there could be any political 
 motive for exaggerating his heroism and military genius, as one 
 of a series of criticisms, conspicuous for good judgment and 
 fairness, upon the men from Ohio who won distinction in the 
 national armies. 
 
 When the time came for appointing the officers for the Ohio 
 troops, the legislature was still in session. Garfleld at once 
 avowed his intentidu of entering the service. But he displayed 
 at the outset his signal want of tact and of skill in advancing 
 his own interests. Of the three leading radical Senators, Gar- 
 field had the most personal popularity. Cox was at that time, 
 perhaps, a more compact and pointed speaker -he had matured 
 earlier, as (to change the figure) he was to culminate sooner. 
 But he had never aroused the warm regard which Garfield's 
 whole-hearted, generous disposition always excited. Yet Cox 
 had the sagacity to see how his interests were to be advanced, 
 lie abandoned the Senate chamber ; installed himself as an 
 assistant in the Governor's office, made his skill felt in the 
 rush of business, and soon convinced the appointing power of 
 his special aptitude for military affairs. In natural sequence 
 he was presently appointed a brigadier-general. Garfield was 
 sent off on a mission to some Western States to see about arms 
 for the Ohio volunteers, and on his return he was offered the 
 lieutenant-colonelcy of one of the reserve regiments, but his 
 making haste slowly was not to injure his future career. 
 
 On the 14th of August, 1861, some months after the adjourn- 
 ment of the legislature, and after the successful close of Mc- 
 Clellan's West Virginia campaign, the ex -Senator was finally 
 appointed by Governor Denison Lieutenant-Colonel of the 
 Forty-second Ohio Regiment not yet organized, a company for 
 which had been recruited among the pupils of the Hiram 
 Eclectic Institute. 
 
 It was umdwstood that if he had cared to push the matter,
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 193 
 
 Garfiehl might have been colonel ; but with a modesty quite 
 unusual in those days of the war, he preferred to start low, 
 iuid rise as he learned. Five weeks were spent in diligently 
 drilling the regiment, and finally, about the time its organiza- 
 tion was complete, the lieutenant-colonel was, without his own 
 solicitation, promoted to the colonelcy. 
 
 It was not until the 14th of December that orders for the 
 field were received. The regiment was then sent to Catletts- 
 burg, Kentucky, and the colonel was directed to report in 
 person to Geneial Buell. That astute officer, though as opposite 
 ts the poles to Garfield in his political convictions, soon per- 
 :eived the military worth of the young colonel. On the 17th 
 of December he assigned Colonel Garfield to the command of the 
 Seventeenth Brigade, and ordered him to drive the rebel 
 forces under Humphrey Marshall out of the Sandy Valley, in 
 Eastern Kentucky. 
 
 Up to this date no active operations had been attempted in 
 the great department that lay south of the Ohio River. The spell 
 iif Bull Run still hung over our armies. Save the campaigns in 
 Western Virginia, and the unfortunate attack by General Grant 
 -it Bcliuont, not a single engagement had occurred over all the 
 region between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. General 
 Buell was preparing to advance upon the rebel position at 
 Bowling Green, when he suddenly found himself hampered by 
 two co-operating forces skilfully planted within striking dis- 
 tance of his Hank. General Zollicoffer was advancing from 
 Cumberland Gap to Ward Mill Spring; and Humphrey 
 .Marshall, moving down the Sandy Valley, was threatening to 
 overrun Eastern Kentucky. Till these could be driven back, 
 an advance upon Bowling Green would be perilous, if not 
 actually impossible. To General George II. Thomas, then just 
 raised from his colonelcy of regulars to a brigadier-generalship 
 >f volunteers, was committed the task of repulsing Zollicoffer ; 
 to the untried colonel of the raw Forty-second Ohio, the taek
 
 194 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 of repulsing Humphrey Marshall, and on their success the, 
 whole army of the department waited. 
 
 Colonel Garfield thus found himself, before he had ever seen 
 a gun fired in action, in command of four regiments of infantry, 
 and some eight companies of cavalry,* charged with the work 
 of driving out of his native State the officer reputed the ablest 
 of those, not educated to war, whom Kentucky had given to 
 the Rebellion. Marshall had under his command nearly five 
 thousand men, stationed at the village of Paintville, sixty miles 
 up the Sandy Valley. He was expected by the rebel author- 
 ities to advance toward Lexington, unite with Zollicoffer, and 
 establish the authority of the Provisional Government at the 
 State capital. These hopes were fed by the recollection of his 
 great intellectual abilities, and the soldierly reputation he had 
 borne ever since he led the famous charge of the Kentucky 
 Volunteers at Buena Vista. 
 
 Colonel Garfield joined the bulk of his brigade at the mouth 
 of the Big Sandy, and moved with it directly up the valley. 
 Meantime he ordered the small force at Paris to march overland 
 and effect a junction with him a little below Paintville. The 
 force with which he was able to move numbered about twenty- 
 two hundred. 
 
 Marshall heard of the advance, through the sympathizing 
 citizens, and fell back to protect his trains. As Garfield ap- 
 proached, January 7th, 1862, he ascertained the position of his 
 enemy's cavalry, and sent some of his own mounted forces to 
 make a reconnoissance in force of the positions which he still sup- 
 posed Marshall's main body to occupy. He speedily discovered 
 Marshall's retreat -, then hastily sent word back to his cavalry 
 not to attack the enemy's cavalry until he had time to plant his 
 
 * The brigade was composed of the Fortieth and Forty-second 
 Ohio, the Fourteenth and Twenty-second Kentucky Infantry, six 
 < ompanies of the First Kentucky Cavalry, and two companies of 
 
 :U Langhlin's(Ohio) Cavalry.
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELV. 195 
 
 force on its line of retreat. Unfortunately, the circuitous route 
 delayed the courier, and before Garfield's order could be 
 delivered the attack had been made, and Marshall's cavalry 
 had been driven back in considerable confusion. When, 
 pushing on with the main column, he reached the road on 
 which he had hoped to intercept their retreat, he found it 
 strewn with overcoats, blankets, and cavalry equipments 
 proofs that they had already passed in their rout. Colonel 
 Garfield pushed the pursuit with his cavalry till the infantry 
 outposts were reached ; then, drawing back, encamped with 
 his whole force at Paintville. Here, next morning, he was 
 joined by the troops that had marched from Paris, so that his 
 effective force was now raised to about thirty-four hundred 
 men. 
 
 After waiting a day for rations, which were taken through 
 with the utmost difficulty, on the 9th of January Garfield ad- 
 vanced upon Marshall's new position near Prestonburg. Before 
 nightfall he had driven in the enemy's pickets, and had sent 
 orders back to Paintville to forward the few troops less than 
 one thousand in all who had not been supplied with rations in 
 time to move with the rest of the column. The men slept on 
 their arms, under a soaking rain. By four o'clock in the morn- 
 ing of January 10th, they were in motion. 
 
 Marshall was believed to be stationed on Abbott's Creek. 
 Garfield's plan, therefore, was to get over upon Middle Creek, 
 and so plant himself on the enemy's rear. But in fact Mar- 
 shall's force was upon the heights of Middle Creek itself, only 
 two miles from Prestonburg, So, when Garfield, advancing 
 cautiously westward up the creek, had consumed some hours 
 in these movements, he came upon a semi-circular hill, scarcely 
 one thousand yards in front of which was Marshall's position, 
 between the forks of the creek. The expected reinforcements 
 from Paintville had not yet arrived, and, conscious of his com- 
 parative weakness, Colonel Garfield determined first to develop
 
 196 LIFE OF JAMES A. QAHFIELD. 
 
 the enemy's position more carefully. A small body of picked 
 men, sent dashing up the road, drew a fire both from the head 
 of the gorge through which the road lead and from the heights 
 on its left. Two columns were then moved forward, one on 
 either side of the creek, and the rebels speedily opened upon 
 them with musketry and artillery. The fight became somewhat 
 severe at times, but was, on the whole, desultory. Gat-field 
 reinforced both of his columns, but the action soon developed 
 itself mainly on the left, where Marshall speedily concentrated 
 his whole force. Meantime Garfield's reserve was now also 
 under fire from the commanding position held by the enemy's 
 artillery. lie was entirely without artillery to reply ; "but the 
 men stationed themselves behind trees and rocks, and kept up 
 a brisk though irregular fusilade. 
 
 At last, about four o'clock in the afternoon, the reinforcements 
 from Paintville arrived. As we now know, these still left 
 Marshall's strength superior to that of his young assailant ; but 
 the troops looked upon their opportune arrival as settling the 
 contest. Unbounded enthusiasm was aroused, and the approach- 
 ing column was received with prolonged cheering. Garfield now 
 promptly formed his whole reserve for attacking the enemy's 
 right and carrying his guns. The troops were moving rapidly 
 up in the fast-gathering darkness, when Marshall hastily 
 abandoned his position, fired his camp equipage and stores, 
 and begiui a retreat which was not ended till he had reached 
 Abingdon, Virginia. Night checked the pursuit. Next day 
 it, was continued for some distance, and some prisoners were 
 taken; but a further advance in that direction was quite im- 
 possible without more transportation, and, indeed, would have 
 been foreign to the purpose for which General Buell had 
 ordered the expedition. 
 
 Speaking of these movements on the Sandy, after he had 
 gained more experience of war, Garfield said : "It was a very 
 < .\\ and imprudent affair on my part. If I had 1 it-en an officer
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 107 
 
 of more experience I probably should not have made the 
 attack. As it was, having gone into the army with the notion 
 that fighting was our business, I didn't know any better." 
 
 A fresh peril, however, now beset the little force. An un- 
 usually violent rain-storm broke out, the mountain gorges were 
 all flooded, and the Sandy rose to such a height that steam boat- 
 men pronounced it impossible to ascend the stream with sup- 
 plies. The troops were- almost out of rations, and the rough, 
 mountainous country was incapable of supporting them. 
 Colonel Garfield had gone down the river to its mouth. He 
 ordered the Sandy Valley, a small steamer which had been in 
 the quartermaster's service, to take on a load of supplies and 
 start up. The captain declared it was impossible. Efforts 
 were made to get other vessels, but without success. 
 
 Finally Colonel Garfield ordered the captain and crew on 
 board, stationed a competent army officer on deck to see that 
 the captain did his duty, and himself took the wheel. The 
 captain still protested that no boat could possibly stem the rag- 
 ing current, but Garfield turned her head up the stream and 
 began the perilous trip. The water in the usually shallow river 
 was sixty feet deep, and the tree-tops along the bank were 
 almost submerged. The little vessel trembled from stem to 
 stern at every motion of the engines ; the waters whirled her 
 about as if she were a skiff ; and the utmost speed that steam 
 could give her was three miles an hour. "When night fell 
 the captain of the boat begged permission to tie up. To at- 
 tempt ascending that flood in the dark he declared was mad- 
 ness. But Colonel Garfield kept his place at the wheel. 
 Finally, in one of the sudden bends of the river, they drove, 
 with a full head of steam, into the quicksand of the bank. 
 Every effort to back off was in vain. Mattocks were procured 
 and excavations were made around the imbedded bow. Still 
 she stuck. Garfield at last ordered a boat to be lowered to 
 take a line across to the 'ipjx.site bank. The crew protested
 
 198 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 against venturing out in the flood. The Colonel leaped into 
 the boat himself and steered it over. The force of the current 
 carried them far below the point they sought to reach ; but 
 they finally succeeded in making fast to a tree and rigging a 
 windlass with rails sufficiently powerful to draw the vessel off 
 and get her once more afloat. 
 
 It was on Saturday that the boat left the mouth of the Sandy. 
 All night, all day Sunday, and all through Sunday night they 
 kept up their struggle w r ith the current, Garfield leaving- the 
 wheel only eight hours out of the whole time, and that during 
 the day. By nine o'clock Monday morning they reached the 
 camp, and were received with tumultuous cheering. Garfield 
 himself could scarcely escape being borne to headquarters on 
 the shoulders of the delighted men. 
 
 Through the months of January, February, and March, 
 se\eral small encounters with guerrillas in the mountains 
 occurred, generally favorable to the Union arms, and finally 
 resulting in the expulsion of the bands of marauders from the 
 State. Just on the border, however, at the rough pass across 
 the mountains, known as Pound Gap, eighty miles north of 
 Cumberland Gap, Humphrey Marshall still kept up a post of 
 observation, held by a force of about five hundred men. On 
 the 14th of March. Garfield started with five hundred infantry 
 and a couple of hundred cavalry against this detachment. The 
 distance was forty miles, and the roads were at their worst, but 
 by the evening of the next day he had reached the foot of the 
 mountain, two miles north of the Gap. Next morning he sent 
 the cavalry directly up the Gap road, to attract the enemy's 
 attention, while he led the infantry along an unfrequented foot- 
 path up the side of the mountain. A heavy snow storm helped 
 to conceal the movements. While the enemy watched the 
 cavalry, Garfield had led the infantry, undiscovered, to within 
 a quarter of a mile of their camp. Then he ordered an attack. 
 The enemy were taken by surprise and a few volleys dispersed
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIKLD 199 
 
 them. They retreated in confusion down the eastern slope of the 
 mountain, followed for several miles into Virginia by the cav- 
 alry. Considerable quantities of stores were captured. The troops 
 rested for the night in the sixty comfortable log huts which the 
 enemy had built, ;>nd the next morning burned them down, 
 together with every thing else left by the enemy which they 
 could not carry away. 
 
 Six days afterward an order was received to leave a small 
 garrison at Piketon, and to transfer the rest of the command 
 rapidly to Louisville. 
 
 These operations in the Sandy Valley had been conducted 
 witli such energy and skill as to receive the special commenda- 
 tion of the commanding general and of the Government. 
 General Buell had been moved to words of unwonted praise. 
 
 The following is the text of General Bucll's congratulatory 
 order : 
 
 " HEADQUARTEKS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, ) 
 LorisviLi-E, KENTUCKY, January 20, 1862. \ 
 " Gencrot. Orders No. 40 
 
 " The general commanding takes occasion to thank General Gar 
 field and his troops for their successful campaign against the rebel 
 force under General Marshall on the Big Sandy, and their gallant 
 conduct in battle. They have overcome formidable difficulties in 
 the character of the country, the condition of the roads, and the 
 inclemency of the season ; and, without artillery, have, in several 
 engagements, terminating in the battle on Middle Creek on the 10th 
 hist., driven the enemy from intrenched positions, and forced him 
 back into the mountains, with the loss of a large amount of bag- 
 gage and stores, and many of his men killed or captured. 
 
 " These services have called into action the .highest qualities of 
 a soldier fortitude, perseverance, courage." 
 
 The War Department had conferred the grade of brigadier- 
 general, the commission bearing the date of the battle of 
 Middle Creek. And the country, without understanding very 
 well the details of the campaign of which, indeed, no satis- 
 factory account was published at. the time- fully appreciated 
 the satisfactory result. The discomfiture of Humphrey Mar
 
 200 LIFE OF JAMKS A. GAKFIELD. 
 
 shall was a source of special chagrin to the rebel sympathizer!* 
 of Kentucky, and of amazement and admiration throughout the 
 loyal West, and Garfield took rank in the public estimation 
 among the most promising of the younger volunteer generals. 
 
 Later criticism will confirm the general verdict then passed 
 upon the Sandy Valley campaign. It was the first of the 
 brilliant series of successes that made the spring of 1862 so 
 memorable. Mill Springs, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Nash- 
 ville, Island No. 10, Memphis, followed in quick succession ; 
 but it was Garfield's honor that he opened this season of vic- 
 tories. His plans, as we have seen, were based on sound 
 military principles ; the energy which he threw into their 
 execution was thoroughly admirable, and his management of 
 the raw volunteers was such that they acquired the fullest 
 confidence in their commander, and endured the hardships of 
 the campaign with a fortitude not often shown in the first field- 
 service of new troops. But the operations were on a small 
 scale, and their chief significance lay in the capacity they de 
 veloped, rather than in their intrinsic importance. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL AND CHIEF OF STAFF. 
 
 ON his arrival at Louisville, from the Sandy Valley, General 
 Garfield found that .the Army of the Ohio was already beyond 
 Nashville, on its march to Grant's aid at Pittsburg Landing. 
 He hastened after it, reported to General Buell about thirty 
 miles south of Columbia, and, under his order, at once assumed 
 command of the Twentieth Brigade, then a part of the division 
 under General Thomas J. Wood. He reached the field of 
 Pittsburg Landing about one o'clock on the second day of the 
 battle, and participated in its closing scenes.
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARF1ELD. 201 
 
 The next (lay he moved with Sherman's advance, and had a 
 sharp encounter with the enemy's rear-guard, a few miles be- 
 yond the battle-tield. His brigade bore its full share in the . 
 tedious siege operations before Corinth, and was among the 
 earliest in entering the abandoned town after General Beaure- 
 gard's evacuation. 
 
 Then, when General Buell, turning eastward, sought to pre- 
 pare for a new aggressive campaign with his inadequate forces, 
 General Garficld was assigned to the task of rebuilding the 
 bridges and reopening the Memphis and Charleston Railroad 
 eastward from Corinth to Decatur. Crossing the Tennessee 
 here, he advanced to Huntsville, where he remained during the 
 rest of his service in that campaign. He was presently put at 
 the head of the court-martial for the trial of General Turchin, 
 whose conduct at Athens had been the occasion of a parting 
 howl against General Mitchel, and had been one of the earliest 
 subjects forced upon the attention of General Buell on his 
 arrival.* His manifest capacity for such work led to his sub- 
 sequent detail on several other courts-martial. 
 
 The old tendency to fever and ague, contracted in the days 
 of his tow-path service on the Ohio Canal, was now aggravated 
 in the malarious climate of the South, and General Gartield was 
 finally sent home on sick-leave about the first of August. Near 
 
 * This case attracted great attention at the time, and General 
 Turchin was vehemently championed by the newspapers, particu- 
 larly those of Chicago. The charges against him were neglect of 
 duty, to the prejudice of good order and discipline, in permitting 
 the wanton and disgraceful pillage of the town of Athens, Ala 
 bama : conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, in failing 
 to pay a hotel bill in the town ; and insubordination, in disobeying 
 the orders against the molestation of peaceful citizens in person 
 and property. Some of the specifications particularized very shame- 
 ful conduct. The court found him guilty (except is to the hotel- 
 bill story), and sentenced him to dismissal from the army. Six 
 of it* members recommended him to clemency on account of miti- 
 gating circumstances, but the sentence was executed
 
 202 LIFE OF JAMES A. GAEFIEL1). 
 
 the same time the Secretary of War, who seems at this early clay 
 to have formed the high estimate of Garfiekl which he con- 
 tinued to entertain throughout the war, sent orders to him to 
 proceed to Cumberland Gap, and relieve General George W. 
 Morgan of his command. But when they were received he was 
 too ill to leave his bed. A month later the Secretary ordered 
 him to report in person at Washington, as soon as his health 
 would permit. 
 
 On his arrival it was found that the estimate placed upon 
 his knowledge of law, his judgment, and his loyalty had led to 
 his selection as one of the first members of the court-martial for 
 the noted trial. of Fitz John Porter. In the 'duties connected 
 with this detail most of the autumn was consumed. General 
 Gacfield was understood to be one of the clearest and firmest in 
 the conviction that General Porter had wilfully permitted 
 Pope's defeat at the second Bull Run, and that no less punish- 
 ment than dismissal from the service would be at all adequate 
 lo his offence. 
 
 The intimacy that sprang up during the trial between General 
 Garfield and General Hunter, the President of the court-martial, 
 led to an application for him for service in South Carolina, 
 whither Hunter was about to start. Garficld's anti-slavery 
 views had been greatly strengthened by his experience thus far 
 during the war, and the South Carolina appointment, under a 
 commander so radical as Hunter, was on this account peculiarly 
 gratifying. But in the midst of his plans and preparations, the 
 old army in which he had served plunged into the battle of 
 Stone River. A part of the bitter loss that followed was the 
 loss of Garesche, the lamented Chief of Staff to the command - 
 ing general. Garfield \vas at once selected to take his place ; 
 the appointment to Soutli Carolina was revoked ; and early in 
 January he was ordered out to General Rosecrans. 
 
 The Chief of Staff should bear the same relation to his 
 general that a Minister of Slat does-to his sovereign. What
 
 LIFE OF JAMKS A. 9AUFIKLD. 203 
 
 this last relation is the most brilliant of recent historians shall 
 tell us : " The difference between a servant and a Minister of 
 State lies in this : that the servant obeys the orders given him, 
 without troubling himself concerning the question whether 1,1 \ 
 master is right or wrong ; while a Minister of State declines to 
 be the instrument for giving effect to measures which he deems 
 to be hurtful to his country. The Chancellor of the Russian 
 Empire was sagacious and polite. . . . That the Czar was 
 wrong in these transactions against Turkey no man knew bet- 
 ter. . . . But, unhappily for the Czar and for his Empire, 
 the Minister did not enjoy so commanding a station as to be 
 able to put restraint upon his sovereign, nor even, perhaps, to 
 offer him counsel in his angry mood."* We are now to see that 
 in some respects our Chief of Staff came to a similar experience. 
 
 From the day of his appointment, General Garfield became 
 the intimate associate and confidential adviser of his chief. 
 But he did not occupy so commanding a station as to be able to 
 put restraint upon him. 
 
 The time of the general's arrival marks the beginning of 
 that period* of quarrels with the War Department in which 
 General Rosecrans frittered away his influence and paved the 
 road for his removal. We have seen in tracing the career of 
 that great strategist and gallant soldier, how unwise he al\v;i_v> 
 was in caring for his own interests, and how imprudent was the 
 most of his intercourse with his superiors. Yet he was nettrlv 
 always right in his demands. General Garfield earnestly sym 
 pathizcd with his appeals for more cavalry I and for revolving 
 arms. But he did all that lay in his power to soften th 
 tone of asperity which his chief adopted in his dispatches t< 
 Washington. Sometimes he took the responsibility of totuli 
 
 * Kinglake's " Crimean War," vol. i. chap. xvi. 
 
 t A demand which General Buell had made, quite as emphat- 
 ically as his successor, and with an accurate prediction of the evik. 
 that would flow from its absence.
 
 204 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 suppressing an angry message. Oftencr he attempted to soften 
 the phraseology. T5nt in all of this (here was a limit beyond 
 which he could not go ; and when Rosccrans had pronounced 
 certain statements of the department a profound, grievous, 
 cruel, and ungenerous official and personal wrong," the good 
 offices of the Chief of Staff were no longer efficacious the 
 breach was irreparable. Thenceforward he could only strive to 
 make victories in the field atone for the errors in council. 
 
 He regarded the army as vitally defective. We have already 
 pointed out, in tracing the actions of its chief, the great mis- 
 take of retaining as commanders of the wings such incapables 
 as A. M. McCook and T. L. Crittenden. Almost the first rec- 
 ommendation made by General Garficld was for their displace- 
 ment. It is gratifying now to know that he was so little moved 
 by popular prejudice, and so well able to perceive real ability 
 beneath concealing misfortunes, that he urged upon Rosccrans 
 to replace them by Irvin McDowell and Don Carlos Buell. 
 NVith George H. Thomas already in command, with men like 
 these as his associates, and with the energy and genius of 
 Rosecrans to lead them, the Army of the Cumberland would 
 have been the best officered army in the service of the nation. 
 But Rosecrans was unwilling to adopt the suggestion for a 
 reason creditable to his kindness of heart, but not to his mili- 
 tary character. Crittenden and McCook ought to be removed 
 -of that he had no doubt, but " he hated to injure tw r o such 
 L;OOC! fellows." And so the " two good fellows " went on until 
 Chickamauga.* 
 
 * To the above statement it should be added that General Gar- 
 tield made the recommendation for the removal of Crittenden and 
 McCook in the course of a discussion of the battle of Stone River, 
 in which Rosecrans explicitly suid that these offirois had shown 
 themselves incompetent in that engagement. Garlield did not take 
 the ground that Buell and McDowell had approved themselves 
 equal to the high commands they had formerly held, but, discuss 
 ing this, he argued at length their masterly qualifications for im-
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 205 
 
 From the 4th of January to 24th of June General Rosecrans 
 lay at Murfreesboro. Through live months of this delay 
 General Garfielcl was with him. The War Department de- 
 manded an advance, and, when the spring opened, urged it 
 with unusual vehemence. General Rosecrans delayed, waiting 
 for cavalry, for re-iuforcements, for Grant's movements before 
 Vicksburg, for the movements of the enemy, for the operations 
 of his generals. The Chief of Staff at first approved the delays, 
 till the army should be strengthened and massed, but long be- 
 fore the delaying officers were ready he was urging movement 
 with all of his power. He had established a secret service 
 system, then perhaps the most perfect in any of the Union 
 armies. From the intelligence it furnished he felt sure that 
 Bragg's force had been considerably reduced, and was now 
 greatly inferior to that of Rosecrans. As he subsequently said, 
 lie refused to believe that this army, which defented a superior 
 foe at Stone River, could not now move upon aii inferior one 
 with reasonable prospects of success. 
 
 Finally, General Rosecrans formally asked his corps, division, 
 and calvary generals as to the propriety of a movement. With 
 singular unanimity, though for diverse reasons, they opposed it. 
 Out of seventeen generals, not one was in favor of an immediate 
 advance, and not one was even willing to put himself on record 
 as in favor of an early advance. 
 
 General Garfield collated the seventeen letters sent in from 
 the generals in reply to the questions of their commander, and 
 fairly reported their substance, coupled with a cogent argument 
 against them and in favor of an immediate movement. This 
 report we venture to pronounce the ablest military document 
 known to have been submitted by a Chief of Staff to his 
 
 portaut subordinate positions, as well as the fact that this offer 
 of an opportunity to come out from the cloud under which they 
 rested would insure then gratitude and incite them to their very 
 best efforts.
 
 2UH LIFE Of JAMES A. OARFIELD. 
 
 superior during the war. General Garfield stood absolutely 
 alonc, every general commanding troops having, as we have 
 seen, either openly opposed or failed to approve an advance. 
 But his statements were so clear and his arguments so forcible 
 that he carried conviction. 
 
 Twelve days after the reception of this report the army moved 
 to the great dissatisfaction of its leading generals. One of 
 the three corps commanders, Major-General Thomas L. Crit- 
 tenden, approached the Chief of Staff at the headquarters on 
 the morning of the advance : " It is understood, sir," he said, 
 " by the general officers of the army, that this movement is 
 your work. I wish you to understand that it is a rash and fatal 
 move, for which you will be held responsible." 
 
 This rash and fatal move was the Tullahoma campaign a 
 campaign perfect in its conception, excellent in its general exe- 
 cution, and only hindered from resulting in the complete de- 
 struction of the opposing army by the delays which had too 
 long postponed its commencement. It might even yet have de- 
 stroyed Bragg but for the terrible season of rains which set in 
 on the morning of the advance, and continued uninterruptedly 
 for the greater part of a month. "With a week's earlier start it 
 would have ended the career of Bragg's army in the war. 
 
 There now sprang up renewed differences between General 
 Rosecrans and the War Department. In the general policy that 
 controlled the movements of the army Garfield heartily sympa- 
 thized ; he had, in fact, aided to give shape to that policy. 
 But he had deplored his chief's testy manner of conducting his 
 defence to the complaints of the "War Department, and did his 
 best to soften the asperities of the correspondence. 
 
 At last came the battle of Chickamauga. Such by this time 
 had come to be Garfield's influence, that he was nearly always 
 consulted and often followed. He wrote every order issued 
 that day one only cxcepted. This he did rarely as an amanu- 
 ensis, but rather on the suggestions of his own judgment, after-
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFTELD. 20? 
 
 ward submitting what lie had prepared to Rosecrans for ap 
 proval or change. The one order which he did not write was 
 the fatal order to Wood which lost the battle. The meaning 
 was correct ; the words, however, did not clearly represent 
 what Rosecrans meant, and the division commander in question 
 so interpreted them as to destroy the right wing. 
 
 The general commanding and his Chief of Staff were caught 
 iu the tide of the disaster and borne back toward Chattanooga 
 The Chief of Staff was sent to communicate with Thomas, 
 while the general proceeded to prepare for the reception of the 
 routed army. 
 
 Such at least were the statements of the reports, and, in a 
 technical sense, they were true. It should never be forgotten, 
 however, in Garfleld's praise, that it was on his own jearnest 
 representations that he was sent that, in fact, he rather pro 
 cured permission to go to Thomas and so back into the battle, 
 than received orders to do so. He refused to believe that 
 Thomas was routed or the battle lost. He found the road en- 
 vironed with dangers ; some of his_escort were killed, and they 
 all narrowly escaped death or capture. But he bore to Thomas 
 the first news that officer had received of the disaster on the 
 right, and gave the information on which he was able to extricate 
 his command. At seven o'clock that evening, under the per- 
 sonal supervision of General Gordon Granger and himself, :i 
 shotted salute from a battery ofsix Napoleon guns was fired into 
 the woods after the last of the retreating assailants. They 
 were the last shots of the battle of Chiekarnauga, and what was 
 left of the Union Army was master of the field. For the time 
 the enemy evidently regarded himself as re -pulsed ; and Gar- 
 field said that night, and has always since maintained, that 
 there was no necessity for the immediate retreat on Rossville. 
 
 Practically, this was the close of General Garfield's military 
 career. A year before, while he was absent in the army, and 
 without any solicitation on his part, he had been elected to
 
 ^08 LIFE OF JAMK8 A. OARFIELD. 
 
 Congress from the okl Giddirigs district, in which he resided. 
 He was now, after a few weeks 1 service witli Rosecrans at Chat- 
 tanooga, sent on to Washington as the bearer of despatches. 
 He there learned of his promotion lo a major-generalship of 
 volunteers, " for gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of 
 Chickamauga. " He might have retained this position in the 
 army ; and the military capacity he had displayed, the high 
 favor in which he was held by the Government, and the cer- 
 tainty of his assignment to important commands, seemed to 
 augur a brilliant future. He was a poor man, too, and the major- 
 general's salary was more than double that of the Congress- 
 man. But on mature reflection he decided that the circum- 
 stances under which the people had elected him to Congress 
 hound him up to an effort to obey their wishes. He was fur 
 thermore urged to enter Congress by the officers of the army. 
 who looked to him for aid in procuring such military legisla- 
 tion as the country and the army required. Under the belief 
 that the path of usefulness to the country lay in the direction 
 in which his constituents pointed, he sacrificed what seemed to 
 be his personal interests, and on the 5th of December.- 1863, 
 resigned his commission, after nearly three years' service. 
 
 General Garfield's military career was not of a nature to sub- 
 ject him to trials on a large scale. He approved himself a good 
 independent commander in the small operations in the Sandy 
 Valley. His campaign there opened our series of successes in 
 the West ; and, though fought against superior forces, began 
 with us the habit of victory. After that he was only a subor- 
 dinate, but he always enjoyed the confidence of his immediate 
 superiors, and of the department. As a chief of staff he was 
 .unrivalled. There, as elsewhere, he was ready to accept the 
 gravest responsibilities in following his convictions. The bent 
 of his mind was aggressive ; his judgment of purely military 
 matters was good ; his papers on the Tullahoma campaign will 
 stand a monument of his courage and his far-reaching, soldierly
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 209 
 
 sagacity ; and his conduct at Chickamauga will never be for- 
 gotten by a nation of brave men. 1 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 QARFIELD AT CHICKAMAUGA. 
 
 THE foregoing chapter closes the extract from Whitelaw 
 Reid's history of " Ohio in the War." As an appropriate pen- 
 dant, the following letter from W. F. G. Shanks, which re 
 cently appeared in the New York Tribune, is added. Mr. 
 Shanks was at the battle of Chickamauga as a correspondent of 
 the New York Herald : 
 
 A good deal of surprised comment was made, during the 
 sessions of the Chicago Convention, at the statesmanlike utter- 
 ances and attitude of General Garfield before it, as though such 
 might not have been expected. His moderation, his candor, 
 his evident sincerity and earnestness, and his conciliatory and 
 politic utterances are not new to the style ami manner of the 
 man. He has distinguished himself in the display of the same 
 argumentative and diplomatic qualities on more than one occa- 
 sion. In fact, General Garfi eld's military record is that of one 
 who was at once warrior and statesman, equally brave in the 
 field and sagacious in counsels affecting the policy, if not the 
 military conduct, of the war. 
 
 One of the first incidents of his military career to bring him 
 into general notice was not a feat of war, but of argument. In 
 January, 1863, he became the Chief of Staff to Major General 
 William S. Rosecrans, then in command of the Army of the. 
 Cumberland. How he came to be selected by Rosecrans tin- 
 present writer does not remember, but it was soon after the 
 battle of Stone lliver, in which the former chief was killed 
 i^iiiield was looked upon as about the only mature member of
 
 210 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 the staff, Rosecrans having a partiality for young and gallant 
 spirits like Captain Charles Thompson, Major Bond, Colonel 
 Mickler. Captain Hunter Brooke, Major Horace Porter, subse- 
 quently on Grant's staff, and Major Morton McMichael. Not 
 that Garfield was much older than these, but he had a mature 
 look always, and his mood was ever serious, as if there was in 
 the peril of the Nation something more of personal concern and 
 personal interest to him than to most of his associates. It was 
 while Garfield was acting in this capacity under Rosecrans that 
 Clement C. Vallandigham, of Ohio, banished to the South for 
 his treasonable sentiments, was brought to Murfreesboro, Tenn., 
 where the army lay, to be sent by a flag of truce, into the 
 rebel lines, a few miles distant, at Tullahoma. When brought 
 into camp, Vallandigham was taken, in the usual course of 
 business, to Rosecrans's headquarters, and he and Garfield being 
 acquaintances, it was natural that they should fall into con- 
 versation, and equally natural that the conversation should be in 
 regard to the policy and conduct of the war in a political sense. 
 The conversation was reported by a correspondent of the Cin- 
 cinnati Gazette, who was present, and was copied into almost 
 every paper of the country, both loyal and rebel, as a fine illus- 
 tration of sound and argumentative views on both sides. The 
 comments of the loyal papers were highly complimentary to 
 General Garfield, and this brought him into paiticular notice. 
 His last words with Vallandigham on the next morning, just 
 as the latter was about to be escorted into the rebel lines, at 
 once finely illustrated Garfield's quickness and neatness at repar- 
 tee and that familiarity on his part with Shakespeare without 
 which no education can be said to be complete. Vallandig- 
 ham, on his appearance in the room at a very early hour of the 
 morning, with an affectation of unconcern and light-heartedness 
 which he could not have felt, threw himself into a tragic air, 
 and in a mock heroic vein exclaimed, from Romeo and Juliet ; 
 
 " Night's caudles are burnt out, and jocund day 
 Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops. "
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 211 
 
 Here he hesitated, when Garfield quickly but quietly finished 
 the speech by adding, in a half aside, to the aide de-camp in 
 charge of the flag of truce escort, waiting to convey Vallandig- 
 ham to the rebel lines : 
 
 " 1 must begone and live, or stay and die." 
 
 Vallandigham, however, overheard and caught the hidden- 
 meaning of the citation, and blushed scarlet as he made its ap- 
 plication. 
 
 Later on, in the campaign of the Army of the Cumberland 
 against Bragg at Chattanooga, Garfield again encountered a 
 prominent Southern gentleman in argument as to the policy of 
 the war. What Garfield said was a powerful plea, in advance, for 
 the policy subsequently adopted of freeing and arming the 
 slaves of the South. This was published in the Cincinnati Ga- 
 zette about the last of August, 1863, and would be well worth 
 reproducing as an illustration of the clear, forcible, and logical 
 views of the then comparatively young politician on the great 
 questions of the time. Like the interview with Vallandigham, 
 the conversation was quoted all over the North and served to 
 bring Garfield into further notice. 
 
 The first martial achievement of Garfield which attracted gen- 
 eral attention was his conduct at Chickamauga, on the second 
 day of that battle, September 20th, 1863. His conspicuous bra- 
 very on that occasion won for him the rank of major-general. 
 As Chief of Staff, it was his duty to remain with Geueral Rose- 
 crans, and it happened that the latter had established his head- 
 quarters for the day in the rear of the right wing and centre, 
 leaving General George H. Thomas to look personally to the 
 direction of the left wing. McCook and Crittenden were com- 
 manders of the other two corps. Soon after the fog, which for 
 the most of the morning enveloped, the field and made manoeu- 
 vring almost impossible, the rebels, under Longstrcet, who had 
 come from Lee's Virginia army to take part in this great con-
 
 212 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 
 
 test, made a grand assault on the right and centre. A division 
 of*Crittenden's corps was moving to the left at this juncture, 
 and the gap in the line had not been filled by other troops when 
 the attack was made. The rebels penetrated far to the rear of 
 the Union line at this point, and turned and drove back the 
 right of Thomas's forces and the left of the other two corps. 
 ^The latter were eventually routed, driven across a ridge of hills 
 to roads leading into Chattanooga, toward which they retreated 
 in dreadful disorder and panic. Thomas, however, held his 
 ground, withdrawing his right only a little. In the tumult of 
 the defeat of the right and centre, McCook, Crittenden, and 
 Rosecrans, with their staff officers, were driven beyond the 
 ridge named, and they too started for Chattanooga, not know- 
 ing how Thomas had fared. Garfield followed his commander 
 about half way to Chattanooga, but refused to go any farther, 
 and accompanied only by his orderly and Captain William B. 
 (Jaw, of the Engineers, who offered to act as his guide, he rode 
 through Rossville Gup in the mountain range, and pushed 
 southward again in search of General Thomas, the firing of 
 whose guns, indicating that there was a brisk right still going 
 on, could be distinctly heard. Garfield on this occasion liter- 
 ally followed the Napoleonic maxim for the guidance of his 
 generals : " March in the direction of the heaviest firing.'" 
 
 At the time he made this attempt the road by which Garfield 
 expected to reach General Thomas was under cover of the sharp- 
 shooters and advance guards of the rebels, who were pushing 
 forward to secure possession of the road and thereby cut off 
 Tliomas's line of retreat. Garfield did not know of thdr pres- 
 ence there until admonished of it by the sharp fire of the enemy. 
 The horses of both Garfield and Gaw were shot at the first fire, 
 and Garfield's orderly was wounded. They were compelled to 
 swerve from the beaten ro;td and take to the fields and moun- 
 tain-side. Gaw was perfectly familiar with the topography,
 
 LIFE OF JAMK8 A. GARFIELD. 21i5 
 
 and following his guidance Garfield ran the gauntlet of the 
 rebel line and finally reached General Thomas in safety. 
 
 He reached the " Rock of Chickamauga " just after the re- 
 pulse of the enemy in a formidable assault all along Thomas's 
 line, which the rebels enveloped on both flanks. He found 
 Thomas and his staff, General Gordon Granger, General James 
 B. Steedman, General Wood, and others grouped in a hollow of 
 an open field, a depression just sufficient to protect them from' 
 the rebel fire. It is all a myth about General Thomas standing 
 on a big rock, his breast thrown out in defiant attitude, with a 
 look of scorn on his face. There were no rocks on the field ; 
 none nearer than Lookout Mountain, ten miles away. The 
 fact was that Thomas was very glad of the security afforded by 
 the depression in the field, and his look was one of much con- 
 cern and anxiety, and everybody knew that he was heartily 
 wishing it was nightfall, that he might slip away and get back 
 to Chattanooga. The historic scene was sketched shortly after, 
 and a very accurate painting of it, by Walker, hangs on the 
 walls of General J. Watts DePeyster, in this city. There 
 were several dead trees still standing, and numbers of those 
 present in the group did not disdain their shelter, so near were 
 the rebel marksmen, posted high in the branches of trees for 
 the purpose of firing on the group. 
 
 When Garfield reached Thomas, he at once gave the latter a 
 brief account of the disaster to the right and centre, aud heard 
 from General Thomas a statement of his own situation and in- 
 tention. This conversation was cut short by another assault of 
 the rebel lines. It was made with great force and in great 
 desperation, the rebels evidently foreseeing that if repulsed they 
 could not get their troops in position for still another attack 
 before the sun went down. The fire lasted furiously for half 
 an hour, when the rebels again broke and abandoned the as- 
 sault. During all this fight General Garfield quietly sat on the 
 ground, behind one of the dead trees alluded to, and coolly in-
 
 214 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 dited a dispatch to General Rosecrans, detailing the situation. 
 While he sat there, and during the heaviest of the firing, a 
 white dove, after hovering around and above for several min- 
 utes, finally settled on the topmost perch of the tree above Gar- 
 field's head. Here it remained during the heat of the fight, 
 and when the musketry ceased it flew away to the North. 
 Garfield's attention and that of General Wood was called to the 
 bird. The latter said nothing, but went on writing. Wood 
 simply said in reply : " Good omen of peace.'' Garfield hav- 
 ing finished his dispatch, sent it by an officer, and himself re- 
 mained on the field with General Thomas until the retreat was 
 effected the same night to Chattanooga. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FIRST TERM IN CONGRESS. 
 
 IN the summer of 1862, when everybody supposed the war 
 was going to end in a few months, a number of officers Avho 
 had gained distinction in the field, were taken up at home and 
 elected to Congress. Among them was General Garfield, who 
 was nominated by the Republicans of Joshua R. Giddings's old 
 district while with his brigade in Kentucky. He had no knowl- 
 edge of any such movement in his behalf, and when he accepted 
 the nomination, he did so in the belief that the rebellion would 
 be subdued before he would be called upon to take his seat in 
 the House in December, 1863. His nomination was partly the 
 result of his military fame and partly of a desire on the part of 
 the friends of Giddings to defeat his successor, John Hut- 
 chins, who had pushed him out of Congress four years before 
 Garfield's popularity made him the most available man in the 
 district for this purpose. He was elected by a large majority.
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 215 
 
 Hi- continued his military service up to the day of the meeting 
 ! Congress. Even then he seriously thought of resigning his 
 position as a Representative rather than his Major-General's 
 commission, and would have done so had not Lincoln urged 
 him to enter Congress. He has often expressed regret that he 
 did not fight the war through. Had he done so, he would no 
 doubt have ranked at its close among the foremost of the vic- 
 torious Generals of the Republic, for he displayed in his Sandy 
 Valley campaign and at the battle of Chickamauga the highest 
 qualities of generalship. A brilliant opening awated him in the 
 Army of the Cumberland. General Thomas wanted him to take 
 command of a corps. President Lincoln told him he greatly 
 needed the influence in the House of one who had had practical 
 military experience to push through the needed war legislation. 
 He yielded, and on the 5th of December, 1863, gave up his gen- 
 eralship and took his seat in the House. 
 
 He was appointed on the Military Committee, under the chair- 
 manship of General Schenck, and was of great service in carry- 
 ing through the measures which recruited the armies during 
 the closing years of the war. Schenck had just come out of the 
 army with a shattered right arm and a Major-General's epau- 
 lets. The two Ohio soldiers became fast friends and co- 
 workers. Th^y took lodgings in the same house, ate at the 
 same table, and devoted their combined energies to carrying- 
 through Congress such practical legislation as their experience 
 iu the field had shown was needed to fill up the wasted ranks 
 and increase the efficiency of the forces engaged in the suppres- 
 sion of the rebellion. Garheld opposed the continuance of the 
 commutation law, which allowed men drafted to escape service 
 by paying three hundred dollars, or by pleading a variety of dis- 
 abilities. A draft of 200,000 had produced only 13,000 men for 
 actual service. President Lincoln went to the Capitol and told 
 the Military Committee that this law must be repealed or the 
 armies drawn back and placed upon the defensive. The politi-
 
 21 6 TJFE OF JAMES A, OARF1ELD. 
 
 cal campaign of 1864 was at hand, and members of Congress 
 were afraid of the effect of a vigorous draft upon the fortunes of 
 the Republican Party. One of the committee reminded Lincoln 
 that his own re-election was pending, and that of all the mem- 
 bers of the House, and that the unpopularity of a draft which 
 could not be evaded might defeat them all. Lincoln replied, 
 with a -solemnity of manner unusual with him : " It is not nec- 
 essary that I should be re elected, or that the members of this 
 Congress should be re-elected, but it is necessary that the re- 
 bellion should be suppressed, and the Union restored. Give 
 me the men I ask, and I will end the war with another year ; 
 refuse, and I must withdraw our armies from Atlanta and from 
 the march to Richmond. 1 " General Garfield warmly supported 
 the Piesident ; the timidity of Congress was overcome ; the 
 draft was vigorously enforced, and the rebellion was crushed 
 within the time Lincoln promised. 
 
 General Garfield soon took rank in the House as a ready and for- 
 cible debater, -a hard worker, and a diligent, practical legislator. 
 His superior knowledge used to offend some of his less learned col- 
 leagues at first. They thought him bookish and pedantic, until 
 they found how solid and useful was his store of knowledge, 
 and how pertinent to the business in hand were the drafts he 
 made upon it. His genial personal ways soon made him many 
 warm friends in Congress. The men of brains in both houses 
 and in the departments were not long in discovering that here 
 was a fresh, strong intellectual force that was destined to make 
 its mark upon the politics of the country. They sought his ac- 
 quaintance, and before he had been long in Washington he had 
 the advantage of the best society of the capital. 
 
 In the summer of .1864, a breach occurred between the Presi- 
 dent and some of the most radical of the Republican leaders in 
 Congress over the question of the reconstruction of the States 
 of Arkansas and Louisiana. Congress passed a bill providing 
 for the .organization of loyal governments within the Union
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 217 
 
 lines of these States, but Lincoln vetoed it and appointed mili- 
 tary Governors. Senator Ben Wade, of Ohio, and Representa- 
 tive Henry Winter Davis, of Maryland, united, in a letter to the 
 New York Tribune, sharply criticising the President for defeat- 
 ing the will of Congress. This letter became known as the 
 Wade-Davis manifesto, and created a great sensation in politi 
 cal circles. The story got about in the Nineteenth District that 
 General Garfield had expressed sympathy with the position of 
 Wade and Davis. His constituents condemned the document, 
 and were strongly disposed to set him aside and nominate 
 another man for Congress. When the convention met the 
 feeling against Garfield was so pronounced that he regarded his 
 re-nomination as hopeless. He was called upon to explain IIK-* 
 course. He went upon the platform and everybody expected 
 something in the nature of an apology, but he boldly defended 
 his position, approved the manifesto, justified Wade, and said 
 he had nothing to retract and could not change his honest con- 
 victions for the sake of a seat in Congress. He had great re- 
 spect, he said, for the opinions of his constituents, but greater 
 regard for his own. If he could serve them as an independent 
 Representative, acting on his own judgment and conscience, he 
 would be glad to do so, but if not, he did not want their nom- 
 ination ; he would prefer to be an independent private citizen. 
 Probably no man ever talked in that way before or since to a 
 body of men who held his political fate in their hands. Leav- 
 ing the platform, he strode out of the hall and down the stairs, 
 supposing that he had effectually cut his own throat. Scarcely 
 had he disappeared when one of the youngest delegates sprang 
 up and said : '' The man who has the courage to face a conven- 
 tion like that deserves a nomination. I move that General Gar- 
 field be nominated by acclamation," The motion was carried 
 with a shout which reached the ears of the Congressman and 
 arrested him on the sidewalk as he was returning to the hotel. 
 He was re-elected by a majority of over 12,000.
 
 218 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 IN CONGRESS 1865 TO 1867. 
 
 AT the beginning of the Thirty-ninth Congress in December, 
 1865, General Garfield asked Speaker Coif ax to transfer him 
 from the Committee on Military Affairs to that of Ways and 
 Means, saying that in the near future financial questions would 
 occupy the attention of the country and he desired to be in a 
 position to study them carefully in advance. The Military 
 Committee having on its hands the work of reorganizing the 
 Regular Army on a peace basis, was the more important of the 
 two at the time, but Garfield foresaw the storm of agitation and 
 delusion concerning the debt and the currency which was soon 
 to break upon the country, and wisely prepared to meet it. He 
 began a long and severe course of study, ransacking tin; Con- 
 gressional Library for works that threw light on the experience 
 of other countries, and that gave the ideas of the thinkers and 
 statesmen of all nations on these subjects. As he read he made 
 copious notes, which were of great service to him in after years. 
 Most of all he studied the history of the long suspension of 
 specie payments in Great Britain during and after the Napo- 
 leonic wars. He used to sit at his library-table until long after 
 midnight, surrounded by volumes of Parliamentary reports and 
 debates. In them he found every dishonest theory and wild 
 delusion respecting the public debt and paper money which 
 was afterward advanced in this country as new and beneficial 
 discoveries. The Bullion Report of Horncr and Iluskissou 
 was like a flood of light to him. He used to characterize it as 
 the bulwark of sound currency ideas for this whole century. 
 It demonstrated by facts too plain for controversy that gold had 
 not risen during the suspension, but was still the measure of 
 values, though out of use as currency, and that it was paper
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 219 
 
 which wem, up and down. In Sir Robert Peel's manly avowal 
 in 1820 that Homer had been right in 1810 and he wrong, and 
 in his subsequent sturdy defence of specie payments, he found 
 much instructive material which he afterward used to good 
 effect in the battles he led against inflation and repudiation. 
 
 Then lie went back to study the history of the Continental 
 currency, and still further back to the French assignats and the 
 George Law scheme, and afterward passed down the line of 
 early American statesmen, gathering their wisdom to reinforce 
 his belief that the precious metals were the only trustworthy 
 standards of value. All this time there was not a ripple of 
 financial agitation in Congress. The public mind was wholly 
 occupied with the new Constitutional Amendments and the 
 legislation for reconstructing the Rebel States. In the passage 
 of those amendments and that legislation lie bore a prominent 
 part, but he never relaxed his financial studies. They gave him 
 the firm basis of fact and conviction which was like a rock 
 under his feet in alt the turbulent agitation of the following 
 years. He forged from them a sharp sword to slash the wind- 
 bag paper-money schemes of demagogues and fanatics, and to 
 cut to pieces the many projects which arose for repudiating the 
 obligations of the nation to its creditors. 
 
 His membership of the Ways and Means opened up a line of 
 congenial work in connection with the tariff and the system 
 of internal revenue taxation. These two sources of income, 
 gauged to the needs of the war, had to be changed to conform 
 to the conditions of peace. In the course of this work and of 
 the investigations which accompanied it, he reached a conclusion 
 upon the tariff question from which he has never departed 1 
 since namely, that whatever may be the truth or falsity of 
 abstract theories about free trade, the interests of the United 
 States require a moderate protective system. He made a speech 
 in which he expressed his views on this subject very clearly, 
 Subsequent experience and study has shown him no occasion
 
 220 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFTELD. 
 
 for modifying those views. In March, 1866, he made his first 
 speech on the currency question, and took strong ground in 
 favor of a speedy return to specie payments. " On the one side," 
 he said, "it is proposed to return to solid and honest, values ; 
 on the other to float on the boundless and shoreless sea of paper 
 money, with all its dishonesty and broken pledges. I, for one, 
 am unwilling that my name shall be linked to the fate of a 
 paper currency. I believe that any party which commits itself 
 to paper money will go down amid the general disaster, covered 
 with the curses of a ruined people.' 1 In that speech he traced 
 the history of suspension in England and drew from it a warn- 
 ing for this country which few were disposed to heed at the 
 time. 
 
 General Garfield's third nominaton, in 1866 was not accom- 
 plished without resistance. Some of the iron-workers in the 
 southern part of his district were dissatisfied because he was 
 not willing to go to the extreme length of an almost prohibitive 
 tariff on their products. They brought forward as their candi- 
 date the old member John Hutchins, whose place Garfield had 
 taken four years before, and made an active canvass of the 
 district, flooding it with circulars attacking Garfield'? record 
 in Congress, and charging him, without evidence, with being a 
 free trader. They elected a small minority of the delegates to 
 the nominating convention, but their strength was not great 
 enough to make a showing against a movement to renominate 
 Garfield by acclamation. In after-years, when the crash of 187" 
 had shown the folly of over-stimulating manufactures by ex- 
 orbitant tariffs, these same iron-masters became convinced that 
 'he was their best friend. 
 
 In the summer of 1867 General Garfield went to Europe, and 
 made a rapid tour through Great Britain and the Continent 
 His health failed under the pressure of too much bruin-work, 
 and he took this means of recuperating. This was the only year 
 since he entered public life that he had been absent from si
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 221 
 
 political campaign. He returned late in the fall to find that 
 Pendletouism a demand for the payment of the bonded debt 
 in irredeemable green back notes had run rampant in Ohio, and 
 had taken possession of the Republican Party as well as of the 
 Democracy. A reception was given him at Jefferson, in his 
 district, which assumed the form of a public meeting. He was 
 told that he had better say nothing about his financial views, 
 for his constituents had made up their minds that the bonds 
 ought to be redeemed in greenbacks. He made a speech in 
 which he told his fridnds plainly that they were deluded, that 
 there could be no honest money not redeemable in coin and no 
 honest payment of the debt could be made save in coin, aud 
 that as long as he was their representative he should stand on 
 that ground, whatever might be their views. The speech 
 produced a deep impression throughout the district. The next 
 June the National Republican Convention took sound ground 
 upon the debt and currency questions, and most Republicans 
 who had been carried away by Pendeltonism grew ashamed of 
 their folly. 
 
 In the Fortieth Congress General Garfield was put back upon 
 the Military Committee and made its chairman. The work was 
 hardly to his taste but there was plenty of it to do, and he 
 engaged in it with his usual energy. It consisted mainly in 
 tying up the loose threads of the war, examining the claims 
 for pay and bounty of irregular military organizations and of 
 officers and men in whose records there were technical errors. 
 General Garfield set on foot a thorough examination of the 
 condition of the army, the organization and efficiency of the 
 staff and liuc, and sought to correct by legislation the errors of 
 routine and tradition, and to modernize the service. He pre- 
 pared a report which has since 'been a standard work in military 
 circles. 
 
 The time for taking the decennial census was at hand, aud 
 on his motion a special committee was raised to prepare the
 
 222 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELJ). 
 
 needed legislation. Although second on the committee, he was 
 its acting chairman. The committee devoted six weeks to the 
 study of the subject, and prepared a bill which considerably 
 enlarged the field of statistics to be covered by the census, and 
 sought to make the returns far more valuable than before to 
 the political economist and the sociologist. The bill passed the 
 House but failed in the Senate, and the census of 1870 was 
 taken under the old law. Ten years later, however, the Gar- 
 field bill was revived, and with a few modifications made by 
 the Commissioner of the Census, became the law for the census 
 of 1880. 
 
 General Garfield got a bill through for the establishment of 
 a National Bureau of Education, in response to a report of the 
 National Teachers' Association. This bureau is hia own 
 creation, and he had to defend it for many years against the 
 assaults of the weak-government people, who did not want any 
 new function added to the Federal Government. At last, how- 
 ever, its utility was so fully demonstrated that the attacks 
 ceased. 
 
 In 1868 Garfield was renominated without opposition, and 
 chosen a fourth time to represent his district. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 IN CONGRESS 1869-1875. 
 
 ON the organization of the Forty-first Congress, in December, 
 1869, General Garfield was made chairman of the Committee on 
 Banking and Currency. The inflation movement was rapidly 
 gathering force in the country, and men of both parties in Con- 
 gress were swept into it by fear of their constituents. A cry 
 \vas set up that times were getting hard because there was not 
 money enough to do the business of the people. The West, par^
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARF1ELD. 223 
 
 ticularly, clamored for more currency. The necessary shrinkage 
 from war prices was taken as a proof of a dearth of circulating 
 medium. False tabular statements were circulated, making a 
 contrast between the amount of currency in circulation in 1865 
 and 1860. T3eneral Gartield led the opposition to inflation. See- 
 ing that what the people needed to lead them to right conclusions 
 was information, he studied the situation with great care and his 
 speeches bristled with facts which could not be controverted. 
 Finally, after a long fight in his committee with the men who 
 wanted to throw out a flood of new greenbacks, he brought in 
 and carried through Congress, a bill allowing an addition of 
 fifty-four millions to the national bank circulation and giving 
 preference in the assignment of the new issue to the States 
 which had less than their quota of the old circulation. This 
 measure was a stunning blow to the inflation movement. The 
 new issue was not all taken up for four years, and during all 
 that time it was a sufficient answer to all demands for " more 
 money' r to call attention to the fact that there was currency 
 waiting in the Treasury for any one who would organize a 
 bank. Soon after the fifty-four millions were applied for 
 national banking was made perfectly free. Then the in- 
 flationists were forced to change their ground, assault the banks, 
 and claim that it. was greenbacks which were to bless the coun- 
 try, and make people rich, and no other kind of paper money. 
 The New York gold panic came during General Gartield 's 
 chairmanship of the Banking Committee. Under orders of the 
 House, he conducted with great sagacity and thoroughness an 
 investigation which exposed all the secrets of the gold gamblers 1 
 plot which culminated in " Black Friday''. He made a report 
 whi-.'h was a complete history of the affair, and the lesson lie 
 drew from it was that the only certain remedy against the 
 i<Turrence of such transactions was to be found in the resump- 
 tion of specie payments. Pushing his researches into financial 
 j' ; is. and defending on all occasions the principle that the
 
 224 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 only safe and sound currency was one based upon coin, he 
 became the recognized leader of the honest-money party in the 
 House and the most potent single factor in the opposition to 
 inflation. He helped work up the bill to strengthen the 
 public credit, which failed to get through during the closing 
 days of Johnson's administration, but was passed as soon as 
 Grant came in and was the first measure to which the new 
 President put his signature. This bill committed Congress 
 fully to the payment of the public debt in coin and was the 
 fortress around which the financial battle raged in subsequent 
 years. Thaddeus Stevens, deluded in his old age by the 
 sophistries concerning the greenbacks, deserted the hard- 
 money side in the struggle over the bill, declared that the 
 bonds were payable in greenbacks, and denied that he had 
 taKen other ground in his advocacy of the original five-twenty 
 bond bill in 1862. General Garfield made an analysis of the 
 history of the law and showed that in the debate over the bill 
 Stevens said six times that the bonds were payable in coin ; 
 that everybody so understood the contract at the time ; that the 
 Secretary of the Treasury so advertised the bonds ; that the 
 people bought them with the promise that they were to be 
 so paid. Garfield's speech furnished the rallying ground for 
 the opponents of the greenback theory. Day after day the 
 New York Tribune kept a paragraph standing in its editorial 
 columns challenging a refutation of the facts he had presented. 
 From the strong bulwark of those facts a successful appeal was 
 made to the conscience of the American people. 
 
 In December, 1871, General Garfield was placed at the head 
 of the important Committee on Appropriations, a position which 
 made him the leader of the majority side of the House. With 
 his old haMt of doing everything he xmdertook with the utmost 
 thoroughness, he made a laborious study of the whole history of 
 appropriation bills in this country and of the English budget 
 system. Especially did he seek to discover the philosophic law
 
 LIFE OF JAMEK A. 1-iARFTELlt. ^5 
 
 back of all legislation, if one existed, governing the return of 
 a nation from the high plane of war expenditures to the normal 
 level of peace. He found that the experience of both England 
 and this country, in the past, showed that it took a period after 
 the close of a war about twice as long as the war itself to get 
 upon a peace basis of expenditures. 
 
 He made a speech in which he predicted that by the end of 
 1H7(> Congress would reach the limit of the lowest possible 
 reduction of expenditures, and that from that time forward there 
 would be a gradual increase under the conditions of peace, in a 
 ratio which he stated in proportion to the growth of population 
 and the settlement of new territory. About a year ago, in an 
 article on " A ppropriations and Missappropriations, "in the North 
 American Revciw, he quoted his prediction of 1871, and showed 
 that, it had come true within- a few months of the time then 
 fixed, and within a small percentage of the increase after that 
 date which he had stated. That speech of 1871 was the first 
 regular budget speech, explaining thoroughly the needs of all 
 departments of the Government, and the means for meeting 
 them, which had ever been made in the House. Thereafter, 
 General Garfield made such a speech regularly every year on 
 ntroducing the General Appropriation Bill, and his successors 
 n the chairmanship of the committee have continued the 
 mstom. 
 
 General Garfield found a great deal of looseness and con- 
 fusion in the practice concerning estimates and appropriations. 
 Unexpended balances were lying in the Treasury, amounting 
 to $130,000,000, beyond the supervision of Congress and sub- 
 ject to the drafts of Government officers. There were be- 
 sides what were called permanent appropriations, which ran on 
 from year to year without any legislation. Garfield instituted 
 
 sweeping reform. He got laws passed covering all old 
 balances back into the Treasury, making all appropriations ex- 
 pire at the end of the fiscal year for which made, unless needed
 
 220 LIFE OF JAMES A. UARFIEL1). 
 
 to carry out contracts, and covering in all appropriations at thr 
 end of every second year. At the same time he required the 
 Executive Departments to itemize their estimates of the mom \ 
 needed to run the Government much more fully than had bei-n 
 done before, so that Congress could know just how every dollar 
 it voted was to be expended. 
 
 All this time he was a rigid but intelligent, economist. He was 
 often forced to make himself unpopular by opposing the 
 measures of his fellow-members involving unwise expenditures 
 of public money. He was the faithful guardian of the 
 Treasury, but he pursued no penny-wise policy. The needs of 
 the country and the requirements of an efficient administration 
 were fully appreciated, and the irresponsible efforts of the 
 Democrats to cripple the Government by a reckless cutting 
 clown of its supplies were successfully resisted. The total 
 expenses of the Government were steadily reduced under his 
 management but no branch of the public service had its 
 efficiency impaired by such reduction. 
 
 The four years of his chairmanship of appropriations were 
 years of close and unremitting labor. He worked habitually 
 fifteen hours a day. In addition to the demands of his own 
 department of legislation, he took part in all the general work 
 of the House, bore a leading part in all the debates involving 
 the principles of the Republican Party, fought without 
 cessation a brave battle against inflation and repudiation, and 
 omitted no opportunity to aid in educating the public mind to 
 a comprehension of the importance of returning to specie pay- 
 ments.
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. . .JW7 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A CAMPAIGN OP SLANDER. 
 
 FIVE times had General Garfield been chosen to represent the 
 oid Giddings district without serious' opposition in his own 
 party, and without a breath of suspicion being cast upon his 
 personal integrity. With one exception, all his nominations 
 had been made by acclamation. In his sixth canvass, however, 
 a storm of calumny broke upon him. A concerted attack was 
 made upon him for the purpose, if possible, of defeating him 
 in the Convention, and failing in that, to beat him at the polls.' 
 lit was charged with bribery and corruption in connection with 
 the Credit Mobilicr affair and the De Qolyer pavement contract, 
 and with responsibility for the Salary Grab. A fcv, Liberal Re- 
 publicans of 1872 led the attack and the Democrats supported 
 them. The district was soon broadcast v.'ilh printed sheets 
 traducing him. An extra sheet of the New York Sun, devoted 
 to assailing and misrepresenting his record, was printed and 
 sent in enormous numbers to the district. So many copies were 
 received in the town of Painesville alone that a dray was loaded 
 with them. Wherever Garfield went on his canvass of his dis- 
 trict, he found the sheets in everybody's hand. lie met the 
 charges in a bold, straightforward way, published a pamphlet, 
 reviewing the testimony against him, showed that the only evi- 
 dence connecting him with the Credit Mobilier stock was the 
 Unsupported and self-contradicted testimony of Oakes Ames, 
 who had himself sworn at the beginning of the investigation 
 that Garfield had none of the stock ; that in the pavement busi 
 ness he had earned and received a fee, as any other lawyer 
 might have done, in a matter which was not before Congress 
 nor likely to come then- ; and that he opposed the Salary Grab 
 persistently, and only voted at the last for the appropriation
 
 OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 bill containing it when the alternative was its passage or an 
 extra session, with all its expense and its disturbance to 
 business ; and that he had refused to receive the extra pay, and 
 had so fixed it in the Treasury that neither himself nor his heirs 
 could ever draw it. 
 
 In the Convention, General Garfield was nominated by a ma- 
 jority of three to one, and the opposition to him did not bring 
 forward a candidate, but merely cast blank votes. His enemies 
 then took their charges before the people. They nominated a 
 second Republican candidate a Methodist presiding elder, 
 well-known and highly esteemed throughout the district, 
 hoping to defeat the regular nominee. General Garfield met 
 the charges against him before the jury of his constituents, He 
 visited all parts of the district, speaking day and night at 
 township meetings. The verdict of the election was a complete 
 vindication of his character and actions. It was the year of the 
 great Republican back-set. The Republicans lost every Northern 
 State, from Massachusetts to Illinois. Governor Noyes,their 
 soldier-candidate for re-election in Ohio, was beaten. Congres- 
 sional districts that had gone Republican ever since the parly 
 was formed deserted to the Democracy. The adjoining 
 distiict to Garfield's, which had given unbroken Republican 
 majorities of from 4000 to 7000, elected a Democrat. All the 
 general influences which produced this reaction were, of course, 
 at work in Garfield's district, in addition to the personal chaises 
 against him and the special efforts made to defeat him. He 
 held his district, however. It is important to notice the figures 
 of the vote, for it has been claimed that the district rebuked 
 him by cutting down his majority heavily. The fact is, his 
 majority was greater than that of the State ticket, greater than 
 Governor Noyes's. The total Republican vote fell off, but not 
 so much as in many other districts. Nothing was accomplished 
 by the campaign of mud-slinging. The honest, intelligent farm- 
 ers of the Nineteenth Distiict heard the evidence on both
 
 LIFJS OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 229 
 
 sides and refused to believe that they had been represented for 
 twelve years by a rascal. They declined to withdraw their 
 confidence from General Garfield. The vote, as contrasted with 
 that of 1872, was as follows : 
 
 In 1872, Garfield 's vote for Congress was 19,189 ; opposition 
 vote, 8254, Garfield 's majority, 10,935. State ticket : Republican 
 candidate for Secretary of State, 19,202 : Democratic candidate, 
 8313. Republican majority, 10,889. In 1874, Garfield 's vote 
 for Congress was 12,591 ; opposition vote, 6245, Garfield's ma- 
 jority, 6346 ; Noyes's (Rep.) vote for Governor, 12,543 ; Allen's 
 (Dem.) vote for Governor, 6021 ; Noyes's majority 6524 ; Gar- 
 field's vote more than Noyes's, 47. Garfield 's falling off from 
 1872, 6598 ; Noyes's falling off from vote for State ticket in 
 1872, 6659. Garfi eld's decrease less than Noyes's, 61. 
 
 These figures are a perfect refutation of the charge that General 
 Garfield's district, gave any credence to the slanders so widely 
 circulated against him. His constituents fully vindicated him, 
 and in 1876 and 1878 nominated him by acclamation and elected 
 him by increased majorities. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LEADING THE MINOKITT. 
 
 THE result of the elections of 1874 was to give the Democrats 
 fetrol of the House which met in December, 1875. Hitherto the 
 legislative work of General Garfield had been constructive. The 
 impress of his thought, study, and genius had been given to all 
 the measures for closing the war, restoring popular government 
 in the South, conferring suffrage and citizenship on The emanci- 
 pated slaves, reorganizing the army, funding the national 
 debt, and placing the currency on a sound basis. Now he was
 
 L1FJ-: OF JAMES A. VARF1ELD. 
 
 caller! upon to defend this work against ihe assaults of the party 
 which step by step had opposed its accomplishment, and which 
 l>y the aid of the solid support of the late rebel element had 
 gained power in Congress. One of the first movements of the 
 Democrats was for universal amnesty. Mr. Elaine offered an 
 amendment to their bill excluding Jefferson Davis. Then fol- 
 lowed the famous debate about the treatment of prisoners of 
 war, opened by Elaine's dashing attack on Hill, continued by 
 Hill's reply defending the South, and charging that Confeder- 
 ates had been starved in Northern prisons, and closing with 
 Garficld's response to Hill. Gai field, by a brilliant stroke of 
 parliamentary strategy, forced a Democrat to testify to the fa! 
 sity of Hill's charge. He said that the Elmira, New York, dis- 
 trict, where was located, during the war the principal prison for 
 captured rebels, was represented in the House by a Democrat, 
 lie did not know him, but he was willing to rest his case wholly 
 on his testimony. ' lie called upon the member from Elmira to 
 inform the House whether the good people of his city had per- 
 mitted the captured Confederate soldiers in their midst to suffer 
 for want of food. The gentleman thus appealed to rose 
 promptly and said that to his knowledge the prisoners had re- 
 ceived exactly the same rations as the Union soldiers guarding 
 them. While this statement was being made, a telegraphic dis- 
 patch was handed to General Garfield. Holding it up he said, . 
 ' The lightnings of heaven are aiding me in this controversy." 
 The dispatch was from General Elwell-, of Cleveland, Avho had 
 i)! < 11 the quartermaster at the Elmira prison, and who tele- . 
 graphed that the rations issued to the rebel prisoners were in. 
 ijuantity and quality exactly the same as those issued to their 
 .Hards. Garfield's spcei h killed the Democrats' bill. They 
 withdrew it rather than risk a vote. 
 
 Mr. Elaine's transfer to the Senate soon after this debate left 
 <!arlield the recogni/.ed leader of the Republicans in the House- 
 Mr.-Kerr, the Democratic Speaker, died in the midst of his term, I
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 231 
 
 ami in tlic election for his successor General Gai field received 
 the. unanimous Republican vote. A II his party associates tUrned 
 to him with one accord ;is tlie man bust fitted by experience, 
 tiilent, and judgment to lead them. Soon after, in August, 
 1S7G, came the dispute with Lamar, in which Garfield's ability 
 as an orator and a party chief shone with new brilliancy. La- 
 mar was the greatest orator the Democrats had, and was selected 
 by them to make a key-note campaign speech. In order to pre- 
 vent, if possible, an effective rcply^his effort was postponed to 
 the end of the session. Four days before the adjournment La- 
 mar got the floor and delivered the speech so long prepared. 
 It was a sharp attack upon the Republican party, an appeal for 
 sympathy for the " oppressed South," and an argument to show 
 that peace and prosperity could come only through Democratic 
 rule. General Garficld took notes of the speech. All his col- 
 leagues insisted that he alone was competent to break the force 
 of Lamar 1 s masterly effort. This speech is usually accounted 
 the greatest of his life. It created a furor in the House. All 
 business was suspended for ten minutes after he finished, so 
 great was the excitement. One hundred thousand copies of the 
 speech were subscribed for at once by members who wanted to 
 circulate it in their districts, and during the campaign over a 
 million copies were distributed. It contributed powerfully to 
 the success of the Republican party in the Presidential cam- 
 paign of that year. 
 
 After the election arose the dispute about the count of the 
 votes of South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. President 
 Grant telegraphed to General Garlield under date of November 
 10th, as follows : "I would be gratified if you would goto 
 Xe\v Orleans and remain until the vote of Louisiana is counted. 
 Governor Kellogg requests that reliable witnesses be sent to 
 see that the canvass of the vote is a fair one. U. S. GRANT." 
 
 Garfield went to Washington, consulted with the President, 
 and then proceeded to New Orleans in company with John Slier-
 
 232 LIVE Or JAMh'S .!. HARFIELD. 
 
 man, Stanley Matthew^,, and a number of other prominent Re- 
 publicans. The Democratic National Committee had already 
 dispatched a committee then- to look after the interests of their 
 party. Neither in the newspapers at the time, nor in the subse- 
 quent report of the Potter Committee, was there any charge of 
 unfairness brought against General Garticld on account of his 
 actions in Louisiana. The special work was assigned him of 
 taking up the official testimony in relation to the Parish of 
 West Feliciana and reporting upon it. So conscientious was he 
 in the matter that he was not content with the written testi- 
 mony, but sent for the witnesses themselves and examined them 
 personally, in order to satisfy himself of their credibility. He- 
 wrote a full account of the conduct of the campaign and dec 
 tion in West Felieiana which was embodied in Sherman's letter 
 to President Grant. While on his way to Washington, return- 
 ing from New Orleans, he was again chosen by the unanimous 
 vote of the Republicans of the House as their candidate for 
 Speaker, 
 
 General Garfield opposed the Electoral Commission bill. In 
 common with many of the best constitutional lawyers in the 
 country, he held that the terms of the Constitution and the 
 practice of the first forty years after its adoption made it the 
 duty of the Vice-President to count the Electoral votes, Con- 
 gress being present as official witnesses, and not as participants 
 in the transaction. He did not object to a commission as a 
 mere committee to examine and report upon the facts, but he 
 maintained that it could have no judicial authority. In support 
 of his position he made a strong legal argument to the House. 
 In spite of his opposition to the commission scheme, when 
 the bill passed he was selected as a member of the tribunal. 
 The Republicans of the House were to have two members. 
 They met in caucus, and were about to ballot, when Mr. Me 
 Creary, of Iowa, said that there was one name on which the} 
 were all agreed, and which need not be submitted to the for-
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIKLI). 
 
 nullity of a vote that, of James A. Oarfield. Garfleld was 
 ' hoseu by acclamation. The second Commissioner was George 
 V. Floar, of Massachusetts, who afterward presided over the 
 Chicago Convention, which nominated General Garfleld for the 
 , Presidency. 
 
 As a member of the Electoral Commission, General Garfleld 
 delivered two opinions, in which he brought out with great 
 clearness the point that the Constitution places in the hands of 
 the Legislatures of the States the power of determining how 
 Iheir Electors shall be chosen, and that Congress had no right to 
 go behind the final decision of a State. If there was nothing 
 in the Constitution or laws of a State touching the matter, its 
 legislature could appoint Electors, as Vermont had done after 
 her admission to the Union. This position, although in accord 
 with the unbroken practice and the long line of constitutional 
 authorities from the foundation of the Government, was antago- 
 nized by the Democrats, who tried to make Congress a great 
 returning board, to canvass the returns of the election and take 
 testimony as to the fairness of the action of local boards and 
 State authorities. 
 
 Immediately after President Hayes's inauguration the Repub- 
 licans in the Ohio Legislature desired to elect General Gartield 
 in the United States Senate in place of John Sherman, who had 
 resigned his seat to enter the Cabinet. Mr. Hayes made a per- 
 mial appeal to him to decline to be a candidate and remain in 
 the House to lead the Republicans in support of the Adminis- 
 tration. General Garfield acceded, in the belief that his services 
 would be of more value to the party in the House than in the 
 Senate, and withdrew his name from the canvass, greatly to the 
 disappointment of his friends in Ohio, who had already obtain- 
 ed pledges of the support of a large majority of the Republican 
 members of the Legislature. 
 
 When Congress met in December, 1877, the reaction against 
 Hayes, on account of his Southern policy, wa-; in full force, and
 
 234 LIFE OF JAMES A. GA11FIELD. 
 
 there was imminent danger of a split in the Republican Party 
 on this question which would cripple if not destroy it. General 
 Garfield threw himself into the breach as a pacificator, to keep 
 the party together. He saw that if Republicans quarrelled 
 among themselves in the face of a united enemy, they could 
 have no hope of future success. lie prevented by his influence 
 the holding of caucuses which would develop antagonisms ami 
 lead to bitter debates, and by his " Louisiana Pacification 
 Speech,' 1 threw oil on the troubled waters. With rare sagacity 
 and judgment, he succeeded in preventing a public outbreak of 
 the feeling against the adminstration until the Potter Committee 
 was raised by the Democrats to reopen the Electoral dispute 
 and try the President's title That committee united the Re- 
 publicans like a closed fist. They rallied as one man to the de- 
 fence of the President's right to be President. Mr. Haj'es's 
 subsequent conduct in upholding the election laws by his ve- 
 toes and in courageously asserting Republican doctrine in re- 
 gard to the supremacy of the national authority, cemented the 
 party by the strong tie of principle and all old controversies 
 within itself were soon forgotten. 
 
 In the session of 1878, Genera] Garfield led the long struggle 
 in defence of the resumption act, which was assailed by the 
 Democrats with a vigor born of desperation. His speech in 
 support of the law was accepted by Republicans throughout the 
 country as the financial gospel of the time. Tic also made a 
 remarkable speech on the tariff question, in opposition to 
 Wood's bill, which sought to break down the protective system. 
 
 During the extra session of 1879, forced by the Democrats, 
 for the purpose of bringing the issue of the repeal of the Fed- 
 eral election laws prominently before the country, General Gar- 
 field led the Republican minority wilh consummate tact ami 
 judgment. The plan of the Democrats '"was to open the debate 
 with a general attack on the Republican Party in order to throw 
 their adversaries upon the defensive as apologists for the course 

 
 LIFE OF JAMKS A. OARFIELD 23n 
 
 of their party. McMahon, of Ohio, was selected to make the 
 opening speech. Garfield did not wait, for him to make his ar- 
 gument, but securing the floor ahead, of him, delivered his fa- 
 mous " Revolution in Congress " speech, in which ho attack-'! 
 the Democrats with such vigor and exposed with so much 
 force their scheme for Avithholding appropriations for the sup- 
 port of the Government, to compel the President to sign their 
 political measures, that they were thrown into confusion, and 
 instead of taking the offensive, were obliged to resort to a weak, 
 defensive campaign. Driven from position to position by suc- 
 cessive vetoes and by the persistent assaults of the Republican 
 mi n ority, they ended with a ridiculous fiasco. Instead of refusing 
 : : .!">.( 100, 000 of appropriations, as they threatened at the begin 
 niiig, they ended by appropriating $44,600,000 of the amount, 
 leaving only $400,000 unprovided for. 
 
 Last winter the Democrats recommenced the fight, but in a 
 feeble, disheartened way. They set out to refuse all pay to the 
 United States Marshals unless the President would let them 
 wipe out the election laws. General Gai field mot them with 
 a powerful speech on " Nullification in Congress/' in which he 
 showed that while it was clearly the foremost duty of the law- 
 makers in Congress to obey the laws, the Democrats had be- 
 come leaders in an attempt to disobey them and break them 
 down. 
 
 General Garfield 's last work in Congress was a report on the 
 Tucker Tariff Bill. An attempt was made by an adver- 
 tising agency in New York last spring to prejudice the presr 
 of the country against him by making him appear as the 
 friend of the paper- makers' monopoly, because he oppose* 
 the repeal of the tariff on paper pulp. The paper-maker^ 
 wanted the duty abolished and managed to make the news- 
 papers believe that it alone was the cause of the high price of 
 paper. General Garfield investigated the matter with his ac- 
 customed thoroughness, and found that when it cost seven cents
 
 236 LIFE OF JAMEti A. UARFIKLJ). 
 
 to make a pound of paper, the value of the pulp was only one 
 cent, and as the duly was twenty per cent., the difference it 
 made in the cost of a pound of paper, was only four-tenths of a 
 cent. The manufacturers had nearly doubled the price of 
 paper and were pretending that this trifling duty was the cause 
 of their exorbitant demands. General Garfield favored the 
 reduction of the pulp tariff to ten per cent, but was not willing 
 to break down an important industry and depart from the pro 
 tective system in the case of a single article by repealing it alto 
 gether. 
 
 Tn January, 1880, General Garfield was chosen to the Senate by 
 the Legislature of Ohio for the term of six years beginning 
 March 4th, 1881. He received the unanimous vote of the 
 Republican caucus, an honor never before conferred upon a 
 citizen of Ohio by any party. The Republicans of his State 
 with one accord demanded his promotion to the upper house, 
 of Congress, as a fitting reward for his long and faithful service 
 in the lower branch, but the Republicans of the nation soon 
 after selected him for a still greater promotion, and made him 
 their candidate for the Presidency. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 
 
 GENERAT, GAKFIKLD went to the Republican National Con- 
 vention at Chicago as a delegate at large from the State of 
 Ohio. His great experience and prominence in national polities 
 made him very naturally the leader of the delegation. Ohio 
 had agreed to present the name of General Sherman to the 
 convention as its candidate for President. General Garfield 
 entered heartily into the Sherman movement, and labored 
 earnestly for the success of the candidate of his State; Plis
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. QARFIELD. 23? 
 
 speech, presenting Sherman's name was universally applauded 
 as a model of dignified oratory, and as a timely effort to pre- 
 vent the sharp differences of feeling in the convention from 
 weakening the party in the approaching campaign. His wise 
 utterances in favor of harmony were in such decided contrast 
 to the heated declamation indulged in by many partisans of 
 other candidates that the convention instinctively turned to 
 him as the peacemaker who could bring harmony out of the 
 troubled sea of contention. His short speeches on questions 
 arising before the convention during its long and turbulent 
 session were all couched in the same vein of wise moderation, 
 while adhering firmly to the principle of district representation 
 and the right of every individual delegate to cast his own vote. 
 When the balloting began, a single delegate from Pennsyl- 
 vania voted for Garfield. No attention was paid to this vote, 
 which was thought to be a mere eccentricity on the part of the 
 man who cast it. Later on a second Pennsylvania delegate 
 joined the solitary Garfield man. So the balloting continued, 
 the fight being a triangular one, between Grant, Elaine and 
 Sherman, with Washburne, Edmunds, and Windom in the field, 
 ready for possible compromises. General Garfield'' s plan, as the 
 leader of the Sherman forces, was to keep his candidate steadily 
 in the field, in the belief that in the end the Elaine men, seeing 
 the impossiblity of the success of their favorite, would come to 
 Sherman and thus secure his nomination. After a whole day's 
 voting, however, it became plain that a union of the Elaine 
 and Sherman forces in favor of Sherman could not be effected, 
 and that an attempt in that direction would throw enough 
 additional votes to Grant to give him the victory. Some un- 
 successful efforts were made on the second day's voting to rally 
 on Edmunds and Washburne. Finally, on the 34th ballot, tiic 
 Wisconsin men determined to make an effort in an entirely 
 new direction to break the dead-lock. They threw their 17 
 votes for Garfield. General Garfield sprang to his feet and
 
 238 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 protester! against this proceeding, making the point of order 
 that nobody had a right to vote for any member of the con- 
 vention without his consent, and that consent, he said, " I 
 refuse to give." The chairman declared that the point of order 
 was not well taken, and ordered the Wisconsin vote to be 
 counted. On the next ballot nearly the whole Indiana dele- 
 gation swung over to Garfleld, and a few scattering votes were 
 changed to him from other States, making a total of fifty votes 
 cast for him in all. Now it became plain that, by a happy 
 inspiration, a way out of the difficulty had been found. On 
 the 36th ballot, State after State swung over to Garfield amid 
 intense excitement, and he was nominated by the following 
 vote : Garfield, 399 ; Grant, 306 ; Sherman, 3 ; Washburne, 
 5. The nomination was accepted on all hands as an exceed- 
 ingly fortunate one, and both the friends and opponents of 
 General Garfield vied with each other in the enthusiasm with 
 which they endorsed it. Congratulations poured in from all 
 parts of the country, and on his way from Chicago to his farm 
 in Ohio, General Garfield was the recipient of a popular ova- 
 tion, which repeated itself at every town and railroad station. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 GENERAL OARFIELD AS AN ORATOR. 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD'S reputation as a stump-speaker was, as 
 we have seen in a preceding chapter, an affair of steady 
 growth, beginning in the immediate vicinity of his home in 
 Hi rain, spreading in a few years to the neighboring counties, 
 ( Mending in 1860 to the State of Ohio, and afterward widen- 
 ing so as to embrace the whole country. At present there is 
 probably no living political orator whose efforts before large 
 audiences are so effective. He appeals directly to the reason
 
 LIFE OF JAMKS A. GAKFIELD. 239 
 
 of men, and only after he has carried his hearers along on a 
 strong tide of argument to irresistible conclusions, does he 
 address himself to their feelings. The emotions he arouses are 
 all the more intense, from the fact that he has first convinced 
 the mind that they are just and timely. He has a powerful 
 voice, great personal magnetism, and a style of address that wins 
 confidence at the outset, and he is a master of the art of bind 
 in" 1 together facts and logic into a solid sheaf of argument. 
 
 n o o o 
 
 At times he seems to lift his audience up and shake it with 
 strong emotion, so powerful is his eloquence ; but he loves best 
 to reason with his hearers, calmly but emphatically. He never 
 reads a speech from manuscript ; he never writes one to com- 
 mit to memory. His method of preparation is first to study his 
 subject with great care, and then make a few head notes. With 
 these notes to refer to, he speaks extemporaneously, and so well 
 thought out is his matter that when reported verbatim it reads 
 as if carefully written out in advance. 
 
 During the war General Garfield made but one speech a 
 Fourth of July oration delivered to five thousand soldiers from 
 an army wagon in Alabama. In the campaign of 1864 he made 
 a series of addresses in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, speaking 
 sixty-five times and travelling 7,500 miles. The same year, 
 before Congress adjourned, he went over to the eastern shore 
 of Maryland, on the invitation of Postmaster- General Creswell, 
 and spoke in Chestertown. This was the only time he ever 
 met with a demonstration of mob spirit. Some rebel sym- 
 pathizers in the crowd threw rotten eggs at him. He broke 
 off the current of his discourse to say to them : "I have just 
 come from fighting brave rebels at Chickamauga ; I shall not 
 flinch before cowardly rebels like you." Then he went on with 
 his speech and was not again assailed. Every year from 1864 
 to 1879. save one he spoke almost every day while the campaign 
 lasted, either in his own or other States. In 1865 he took the 
 lead of his party in advocating manhood suffrage in Ohio. A
 
 240 LTFE OF JAMES A. OARFIEtD. 
 
 sentence from an address on this subject, delivered at Ravenna 
 on July 4th, was kept standing as a motto in many of the Re- 
 publican papers. It was, " Suffrage and safety, like liberty and 
 union, are one and indivisible." 
 
 He has always regarded the stump as a great educating influ- 
 ence, and has felt a conscientious duty to offer to his audience 
 the whole truth and the best thoughts he could command on 
 the subject in hand. He is scrupulously careful in his statement 
 of facts, and never gives as a fact what is only an opinion, or 
 garbles an authority to gain support for an argument. His first 
 speech in every campaign has for many years past been issued 
 as a national campaign document. 
 
 Five years ago he began to go to the Maine canvass, and hi 
 kept up the custom regularly ever since. He has made three 
 stumping tours of Michigan, one of New Hampshire, one of 
 New Jersey, one of New York, one of Kansas, three of Indiana, 
 two of Illinois, and he has also spoken in Wisconsin, Iowa. 
 Pennsylvania, and other States. In Ohio there is scarcely a 
 county where his voice has not repeatedly been heard before' 
 large assemblies. In 1868 he held a joint debate at Newark, O., 
 with General George W. Morgan. In 1878 he carried on two 
 joint discussions in Ohio with the present Senator Pendleton. 
 In the first of these encounters, Pendleton supposed Garfield was 
 going to make the same speech he had been making elsewhere 
 in the canvass, and to this he thought his own stock speech 
 for the campaign a sufficient reply, but Garfield surprised him 
 by milking an entirely fresh extemporaneous speech, consist in- 
 of a tremendous attack on the Democratic Party. Pendleton had 
 nothing prepared to meet this, and was forced to make his old 
 speech, which was an arraignment of the Republican Party. As 
 Garfield had half an hour to close the debate, he was able to re- 
 fute all of Pendleton's points, leaving his own to stand un- 
 answered. His remarkable power of thinking on his legs was 
 admirably exemplified on this occasion.
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 241 
 
 Outside of his political work, General Garfield has been a fre- 
 quent platform speaker on topics connected with education, 
 finance, and social science. In 1878 he delivered a notable ad- 
 dress in Fauueil Hall, Boston on "Honest Money." In 1S74 
 he delivered six lectures on social science at Hiram College. In 
 1869 he spoke on the value of statistics before the American 
 Social Science Association in New York. In late years he has 
 been an occasional contributor to the pages of the Atlantic 
 Monthly and the North American He-view. 
 
 A striking- instance of General Garfield' s power over a vast, 
 excited multitude is related by a correspondent of the Cincinnati 
 Gazette : 
 
 " I shall never forget the first time I saw General Garfield. It 
 was the morning after President Lincoln's assassination. The 
 country was excited to its utmost tension, and New York city 
 seemed ready for the scenes of the French Revolution. The 
 intelligence of Lincoln's murder had been flashed by the wires 
 over the whole land. The newspaper head-lines of the transac- 
 tion were set up in the largest type, and the high crime was on 
 every one's tongue. Fear took possession of men's minds as to 
 the fate of the Government, for in a few hours the news came 
 on that Seward's throat was cut and that attempts had been 
 made upon the lives of others of the Government officers. 
 Posters were stuck up everywhere, in great black letters, calling 
 upon the loyal citizens of New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City and 
 neighboring places, to meet around the Wall Street Exchange 
 and give expression to their sentiments. It was a dark and 
 terrible hour. What might come next no one could tell, and 
 men spoke with bated breath . The wrath of the workingmen 
 was simply uncontrollable, and revolvers and knives were in the 
 hands of thousands of Lincoln's friends, ready at the first 
 opportunity to take the law into their osvn hands and avenge 
 the death of the martyred President upon any and all wiio 
 dared to utter a word ayainst him.
 
 -42 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 "Eleven o'clock A.M. was the hour set for the rendezvous. 
 Fifty thousand people crowded around the Exchange Building, 
 (ramming and jamming the streets, and wedged in tight as men 
 could stand together. With a few to whom a special favor was 
 extended, I went over from Brooklyn, at 9 A.M., and, even then, 
 with the utmost difficult}', found way to the reception room for 
 (lie speakers in the front of the Exchange Building, and looking 
 out upon the high and massive balcony, whose front was pro- 
 tected by a heavy iron railing. We sat in solemnity and silence, 
 waiting for General Butler, who, it was announced, had started 
 from Washington and was either already in the city or expect- 
 . d every moment. Nearly a hundred generals, judges, states- 
 men, lawyers, editors, clergymen, and others, were in that room 
 .\ ailing Butler's arrival. We stepped out to the balcony to 
 \vatch the fearfully solemn and swaying mass of people. Not 
 a hurrah was heard, but for the most part dead silence, or a 
 deep, ominous muttering ran like a rising wave up the street 
 toward Broadway, and again down toward the river on the 
 right. 
 
 " At length the batons of the police were seen swinging in 
 the air, far up on the left, parting the crowd and pressing it 
 back to make way for a carriage that moved slowly and with 
 difficult jogs, through the compact multitude. Suddenly Hie 
 ilence was broken, and the cry of ' Butler ! Butler ! Butler !' 
 rang out with tremendous and thrilling effect, and was taken 
 ;i|> by the people. But not a hurrah ! Not one ! It was the 
 i i v of a great people, asking to know how their President died. 
 The blood bounded in our veins, and the tears ran like streams 
 down our faces. How it was done I forget, but Butler was 
 pulled through, and pulled up, and entered the room, where we 
 had just walked back to meet him. A broad crape, a yard 
 long, hung from his left arm terrible contrast with the count- 
 less flags that were waving the nation's victory in the breeze. 
 We first realized then the truth of the sad news that Lincoln
 
 LIFE OF JAMK8 A. OARFIELD. 243 
 
 was dead. When Butler entered the room we shook hands. 
 Some spoke, some couldn't. All were in tears. The only word 
 Butler hud for us all at the first break of the silence was : 
 ' Gentlemen, he died in the fulness of his fame ! ' and as he 
 spoke it his lips quivered, and the tears ran fast down his 
 cheeks. 
 
 " Then, after a few moments, came the speaking. And you 
 can imagine the effect, as the crape fluttered in the wind, while 
 his arm was uplifted. Dickinson, of New York State, was fairly 
 wild. The old man leaped over the iron railing of tli^ balcony 
 and stood on the very edge overhanging the crowd, gesticulat- 
 ing in the most vehement manner, and next thing to bidding 
 the crowd ' burn up the rebel seed, root and branch,' while a 
 bystander held on to his coat-tails to keep him from falling 
 over. By this time the wave of popular indignation had swelled 
 to its crest. Two men lay bleeding on one of the side streets, 
 the one dead, the other next to dying ; one on the pavement, 
 the other in the gutter. They had said a moment before that 
 * Lincoln ought to have been shot long ago ! ' They were not 
 allowed to say it again! Soon two long pieces of scantling 
 stood out above the heads of the crowd, crossed at the top like 
 the letter X, and a looped halter pendent from the junction, a 
 dozen men following its slow motion through the masses, while 
 ' Vengeance !' was the cry. 
 
 " On the right, suddenly, the shout rose, ' The World f 
 4 The World T 'The office of The World." ' World! World!" 
 and a movement of perhaps 8,000 or 10,000 turning their faces 
 in the direction of that building began to be executed. It was 
 a critical moment. What might come no one could tell, did 
 that crowd get in front of that office. Police and military 
 would have availed little or been too late. A telegram had 
 just been read from Washington, ' Seward is dying. ' Just then 
 it that juncture a man stepped forward with a small flag in his 
 hand, and beckoned to the crowd. 'Another telegram from
 
 ^44 LIFE OF JAMES A. OAR FIELD. 
 
 Washington ! ' And then, in the awful silence of the crisis, 
 taking advantage of the hesitation of the crowd, whose steps 
 had been arrested a moment, a right arm was lifted skyward, 
 and a voice clear and steady, loud and distinct, spoke out : 
 Fellow-citizens ! Clouds and darkness are round about Him ! 
 His pavilion is dark waters and thick clouds of the skies ! 
 Justice and judgment are the establishment of His throne ! 
 Mercy and truth shall go before His face ! Fellow-citizens ! 
 <Iod reigns and the Government at Washington still lives !' 
 
 ' ' The etfect was tremendous. The crowd stood riveted to 
 the ground in awe, gazing at the motionless orator, and think- 
 ing of God and the security of the Government in that hour. 
 As the boiling wave subsides and settles to the sea when some 
 strong wind beats it down, so the tumult of the people sank 
 and became still. All took it as a divine omen. It was a tri- 
 umph of eloquence, inspired by the moment, such as falls to 
 but one man's lot, and that but once in a century. The genius 
 of \Vebtser, Choate, Everett, Scward, never reached it. 
 Demosthenes never equalled it. What might have happened 
 had the surging and maddened mob been let loose, none can 
 tell. The man for the crisis was on the spot, more potent than 
 Napoleon's guns at Paris. I inquired what was his name. The 
 answer came in a low whisper, ' It is General Garfield, of 
 Ohio !' " 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD AS A LAWYER. 
 
 GARFIELD formed the intention of studying law while in col-, 
 lege, but his poverty and his debt for his college expenses made 
 it necessary for him to earn money at once, and for many years, 
 while teaching in the Hiram Institute he saw no way of carry- 
 ing out his plan. He managed to read law books, however, ;
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. G AR FIELD. 245 
 
 and his election to the State Senate giving him more time for 
 study, he entered his name in a Cleveland law olhYe, and began 
 a systematic course while serving in the Legislature. In 1861, 
 as stated in a foregoing chapter, he was admitted to the bar of 
 the Supreme Court of the State. His army service and his sub- 
 sequent busy career in Congress prevented him from practising 
 for a long time, but he always entertained the idea of settling 
 in Cleveland when his public career should close, *and devoting 
 'himself to the legal profession. His constituents refused to re- 
 tire him from public life, however, and kept on returning him 
 to Congress term after term, by unanimous nominations and 
 large majorities at the polls. Being always a working member, 
 giving up his time during the sessions to the business of legis- 
 lation, and spending most of the vacations of Congress helping 
 his party by his efforts upon the stump, he has found little 
 opportunity for making briefs and pleas. Some business that 
 was pressed upon him and that he could attend to without in- 
 terfering with his public duties, he has accepted. His first case 
 was that of the Indiana conspirators, Bowles and Mulligan, who 
 were tried and convicted by a military commission in 1864 for 
 treason. The case was brought before the Supreme Court on a 
 question involving the right of a military tribunal to try civil- 
 ians in a State not the theatre of actual war. General Garlield 
 undertook the defense of the men, not from any desire to shield 
 them from punishment, but because he believed the civil law 
 should be supreme where not necessarily suspended by the op- 
 erations of hostile armies. He made an argument of great abilty 
 and won the case. For his action in defending the conspirators, 
 he was severely criticised by many of his Republican friends at 
 home. In reference to these criticisms he said in a speech at 
 Warren, Ohio, that he argued the case " in defense of what I 
 believe to be a most vital and important principle, not only to 
 the Republican Party, but to the nation namely : that in no 
 part of our civil community must the military be exalted above
 
 246 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 
 
 the civil authority. ... I believe that all over this lanrl 
 one of the great landmarks of civilization anil civil liberty is 
 the self-restraining liberty of the American people, curbing 
 themselves and governing themselves by the limitation of the 
 civil law. 1 ' 
 
 In the spring of 18G8 he was engaged to defend the will of 
 Alexander Campbell, the founder of the sect of Disciples and of 
 their college at Bethany, West Virginia. This case he also won. 
 P-iiice Ihen he has been engaged in fifteen cases belore the 
 United States Supreme Court, most of them of considerable im- 
 portance, one case in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, one in 
 the United States Circuit Court at Mobile, Ala., and one in the 
 Equity Court of Lawrence County, Pa. In these cases he h;i 
 been associated with several of the leading lawyers of the coun - 
 iry. His powers of analysis, his habit of going to the bottom 
 of a subject at no matter what cost of hard study, and his 
 ability to carry on a closely-interwoven logical argument, make 
 him a formidable advocate. If he had devoted his life to the 
 law, there is 113 doubt that he would rank with the five or six 
 lawyers who by the general verdict of their confreres stand at 
 the head of the profession in this country. He has an immense 
 capacity for work, and his remarkable intellect, always kept in 
 harness by his will, together with his oratorical powers, peculiar- 
 ly fit him for the higher walks of the legal calling. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIH. 
 
 HOME AND FAMILY LIFE. 
 
 THE first years of General Garfield's married life were passed 
 in Hiram, boarding with families of friends, and it was not until 
 he went to the war that he saved money enough to buy a home. 
 In 1862 he purchased a small frame cottage facing the college
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 24? 
 
 green, paying for it $800. About $1000 more were spent in en- 
 larging it by a* wing and fitting it up. It had a small front 
 yard ornamented with a few shade trees and evergreen shrubs, 
 and at the back of the lot was a barn and kitchen garden. The 
 rooms were small and the ceilings low, as was the fashion in 
 village houses of moderate pretensions, but the young house- 
 wife soon made the place cosey and homelike. This was the 
 only home of the family for many years. While in Washington 
 they livnl in apartments. The lack of a settled home at the 
 capital, where the children conld grow up amid wholesome in- 
 fluences, was seriously felt early in General Garfield's Congres- 
 sional career, but it was not until he had been three times elect- 
 ed that he began to regard that career as likely to continue for 
 ;tu indefinite period, and sought the means of escaping from 
 the disagreeable features of hotel and board ing- house life. He 
 bought a lot on the corner of Thirteenth and I Streets, facing 
 Franklin Square, and with money loaned him by an old army 
 friend put up a plain, square, substantial brick house, big 
 enough to hold his family and two or three guests. Some 
 years later the wing of the house was extended to. enlarge the 
 dining-room and library, the requirements of the household 
 liaving outgrown the capacity of the one and those of the 
 (Mineral's library that of the other. The cottage in Hiram was 
 sold and the family life for several years centred in the Wash- 
 ington house ; but in order not to be without a foothold in his 
 own district General Garfield built a small cottage on Little 
 Mountain, in Lake Count} 7 , for a summer sojourning place. 
 
 As the boys grew older, however, and needed more range for 
 their activities than a city house could afford, the desire to own 
 a farm which he had always felt increased upon him. When 
 he had paid off the mortgage on his house and had a little 
 money ahead, he thought he could safely gratify his desire, and 
 after a good deal of thought about localities, decided to settle in 
 the vicinity of the Lake Shore Railioad on one of the hand-
 
 248 LJFE OF JAM EH A. GARF1ELD. 
 
 some productive ridges that run parallel to Lake Erie. A farm 
 of 160 acres was bought in the town of Men Lor,* Lake County, a 
 mile from a railway and telegraph station and half a mile from 
 a post-office. The buildings consisted of a tumble-down barn 
 and an ancient farm-house a story and a half high ; but the land 
 was fertile, the summer climate, tempered by breezes from the 
 neighboring lake, was delightful, and the people in the vicinity 
 were of the best class of farmers to be found in Ohio. The old 
 house was somewhat modernized with paint and paper and a 
 new piax./.a, a barn was built, and the family migrated to the 
 new homo. All were delighted with the change. The chil- 
 dren ran wild in the orchards and hay-fields, the mother took 
 pleasure in the new duties of a farmer's household, the good old 
 grandmother rejoiced to get back to rural scenes like those 
 amid which her early years had been spent, and the General re- 
 vived all the farming skill of his boyhood days, holding the 
 plow or loading the hay wugon or driving the ox team. Drain- 
 age, fencing, and other improvements absorbed all the money 
 the place brought in, but the time spent upon it was highly en- 
 joyed by all the members of the household, and every winter 
 they looked forward to the adjournment of Congress and their 
 release from Washington with pleasant anticipations. 
 
 After three summers in the cramped, low-ceiled little house 
 it was resolved that it must be enlarged. Plans were made last 
 winter, mainly by Mrs. Garfield, who has considerable natural 
 talent for architecture, and in the spring a new house grew 
 around and over the old one, just in time for the throng of old 
 frchds and new that poured in after the nomination of its 
 owner for the Presidency. The house faces the Ridge Road 
 which runs from Cleveland eastward to Erie, through a string 
 of pretty towns and villages. It is broad, high, and spacious. 
 Its two stories are capped by a steep red roof, which shelters a 
 big garret lighted by dormer windows. A wide piazza extend' 
 the whole length of the front a wide hall runs through to a
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 240 
 
 hack porch. Below is the parlor, dining-room, kitchen and two 
 large bed-rooms, the pleasantest being the room of " grandma," 
 the venerable mother of the General, who is now nearly eighty 
 years old. Above are numerous sleeping-rooms and the study 
 of the master of the house. A few steps from the house, in the 
 edge of the orchard is a little building of a single room, called 
 the library, with its walls lined with bookcases, its windows 
 on all sides through which the lake breeze pours* A pleasanter 
 working place for a summer day could not be desired. 
 
 The farm raises good crops of wheat, oats, corn, hay, and 
 potatoes, and the big barns hardly hold the products of the 
 harvest. There is a good orchard, a little vineyard, and a large 
 vegetable garden which comes up unabashed beside the croquet 
 lawn and crowds its cabbage-heads and pea-vines against the 
 roadside fence. The railroad runs through the meadows on the 
 lower end of the farm ; the village of Mentor, with a score of 
 neat white houses, three little churches, and a fine brick school-' 
 house, is half a mile distant ; Painesville, the county town, with 
 a population of 5000, is six miles eastward by an excellent 
 gravel road ; Willoughby, a village where the census-taker has 
 found just 999 inhabitants, is four miles westward on the high 
 road to Cleveland ; over the wooded hills to the southward, 
 three miles distant is the half-deserted village of Kirtland, where 
 the first temple built by the Mormons is still standing, an en- 
 during monument to folly and superstition ; Lake Erie is three 
 miles north, and on the southeastern horizon that dark green 
 elevation is the hemlock-covered summit of Little Mountain, 
 and the white fleck on its brow is the hotel from whose portico 
 can be seen thirty miles of the blue waters and fertile shores of 
 Lake Erie. The County of Lake is strongly Republican, every 
 town in it giving a heavy Republican majority. The people are 
 of New England descent an unmixed race of Yankees modified 
 in their characteristics only by the influence of a climate less 
 severe and conditions of life less rigorous than prevail in rural
 
 250 LIFE OF JAMES A. QARFIKLl). 
 
 New England. A thriftier or more intelligent farming popu- 
 lation cannot be found in the United States. "With all these 
 pleasant surroundings, it is no wonder that the Garlields are 
 greatly attached to their farm. Whatever may be the result of 
 the next election, they will keep it as a permanent home. 
 
 General Garfield has hud seven children and five are living. 
 The oldest, Mary, died when he was in the army and the young- 
 est, Edward, died in Washington about four years ago. Of the 
 surviving children, the oldest, Harry, is fourteen ; after him 
 come James, Molly, Irwin (named after General McDowell), 
 and Abram. Harry and James are preparing for college at St. 
 Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. Harry is the 
 musician of the family and plays the piano Avcll. James, who 
 more resembles his father, is the mathematician. Molly, a 
 handsome girl of thirteen, is ruddy, sweet-tempered, vivacious, 
 ami blessed with perfect health. The younger boys are still iu 
 fhe period of boisterous animal life. All the children have 
 quick brains and are strongly individualized. All learned to 
 read young except Abe, who hearing that his father had years 
 ago said in a lecture on education, that no child of his should 
 be forced to read until he was seven years old, took refuge be- 
 hind the parental theory and declined to learn his letters until 
 he had reached that age. 
 
 Mrs. Gartiekl superintends all the duties of the household and 
 helps in its active labors during a portion of each day. Her 
 tastes are for a quiet domestic life, brightened by reading and 
 study and by the society of a few intimate friends. Few women 
 have as wide a range of culture. She reads Greek and Latin, 
 German and French, has considerable knowledge of the natural 
 sciences, and keeps up with the best of the literature of the 
 day. She is the companion of her husband's intellectual life as 
 well as the devoted mother of his children, the skilful manager 
 of his household, and the cordial hostess of the many guests 
 attracted by his fame and his social qualities.
 
 LIVE OF JAM1M A. OAliFIELD. 251 
 
 The manner of life in the Garlic-Id household, whether in 
 Washington or on the Mentor farm, is simple and quiet. The 
 long table is bountifully supplied with plainly-cooked food, and 
 there is always room for any guest who may drop in at meal- 
 time. No alcoholic drinks are used. There is no effort at fol 
 lowing fashions in furniture or table service. No carriage is 
 kept in Washington, but on the farm there are vehicles of vari- 
 ous sorts and two teams of stout horses. Comfort, neatness, 
 and order prevail without the least attempt at keeping up with 
 styles of dress and living, or any desire to sacrifice the health- 
 ful regularity of household customs adopted before the General 
 won fame and position, to the artificial usages of what is called 
 good society. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD^S RELIGION. 
 
 AT the centre of Mentor Township stands a little white 
 church surmounted by a little white steeple. Within, the plain, 
 straight-backed pews give seating accommodations for about 
 nvo hundred people. There is no pulpit. Upon a broad car- 
 peted platform stands an old-fashioned mahogany table, which, 
 with the aid of a big red curtain, forms a reading-desk. After 
 the sermon is over, the cushion and the Bible which it sup 
 ports are removed. A white cloth is spread upon the table, 
 tin- communion service is brought out from a cupboard m-ar 
 at hand, and the sacrament, called by the Disciples the 
 Lord's Supper, is partaken of by all the congregation who 
 are so disposed. The choir sit in the centre of the auditorium, 
 in the midst of the pews. A large framed motto" P.lessed I..- 
 the Peacemakers" hangs on the wall near the platform. The 
 windows of common glass are screened by green shutters, :m>! 
 the place suggests a simple, primitive form of worship, without
 
 2o3 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
 
 t 
 
 ritual, ceremonial, or adjuncts of any sort to impress the imagi- 
 nation. This is the home church of General Garfield, where 
 he and his family attend worship regularly, while living upon 
 their farm. Garfield joined the Disciples when a lad of eigh- 
 teen, and has been a member of that denomination ever since. 
 
 The full name of the sect is Disciples of Christ. Members of 
 other denominations frequently call them Campbellites. They 
 number about 500,000, and have the centre of their strength in 
 Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and In- 
 diana, within the radius of the labors of their founder, Alexan- 
 der Campbell, of Bethany, West Virginia. In the East they 
 are almost unknown, but they have scattered churches through- 
 out the Gulf States, are numerous in Illinois and Missouri, and 
 are pretty well organized in other States west of the Mississippi. 
 Campbell was a Presbyterian preacher of remarkable force of 
 mind and powers of oratory, who came from Ireland, in 1809, 
 with his father, and settled in Washington County, Pennsylva- 
 nia. He established an independent chinch at Brush Run, in 
 that county, on the theory that all creeds were human, and, 
 therefore, without authority, and that every Christian was his 
 own judge of the meaning of the Scriptures. It was an epoch 
 of intense doctrinal differences, when Protestantism in this coun- 
 try seemed to have degenerated into a battle of creeds. This 
 sturdy reformer, preaching no creed but the Bible, and claiming 
 for all believers liberty of conscience and judgment with regard 
 to the meaning of the sacred book, struck a responsive chord 
 in the public mind. Hundreds joined his standard wherever 
 he preached, and within a few years after he commenced his in- 
 dependent ministry in 1827, a new sect had arisen ackiii wledg- 
 ing him as its leader. His discourses formed a body of doc- 
 trine for this sect, although its members, owning no authority 
 but the Bible itself, did not acknowledge them as in any sense 
 authoritative. To all intents and purposes, however, he was 
 the founder of Disci plefsm, as much as Calvin was of Presbv-
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 253 
 
 terianism and "Wesley of Methodism. In 1841 he established a 
 college at Bethany, near Wheeling, which soon became the ed- 
 ucational and doctrinal centre of the new denomination, and 
 began to publish a periodical called the Millennial Harlnnyer, 
 which was everywhere received as its organ, and is still in ex- 
 istence. 
 
 The Disciples endeavored to restore the spirit and methods 
 of primitive Christianity. They admit to their membership 
 any one who will receive the rite of baptism by immersion and 
 answer in the affirmative the following question : " Do you 
 believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and your Saviour ?" 
 Nothing is asked about doctrinal points. Indeed, it is difficult 
 to ascertain the precise points of difference between the Disci- 
 ples and other denominations, because few of them can be got 
 to formulate their faith. The New Testament, they say, is 
 their guide of faith and practice, and they have no catechism or 
 books of reference to settle questions of dispute. Practically, 
 they agree on a few general doctrines, such as the necessity of 
 immersion for the remission of sins, but on most controverted 
 theological points they allow a wide latitude for individual 
 opinion. They are not Calvinists. They believe in the power 
 of every human -soul to obtain salvation. They do not, as a 
 rule, believe in the elernal Sonshipof Christ, although agreeing 
 with Trinitarians respecting His divine nature. They do not in- 
 vest the Lord's Supper with a sacramental idea, but regard it 
 only as a memorial festival designed to quicken their love of 
 Christ and strengthen the ties of brotherhood between them- 
 selves. Sunday they call the Lord's Day, and they do not ap- 
 ply to it the law of the Jewish Sabbath to the extent that most 
 of the older sects do. In church government they are purely 
 Congregational, recognizing no authority either to direct or 
 advise, superior to the individual congregation. They support 
 a missionary society, have a book concern, with branches at Cin 
 i-innati and at Oskaloosa, Iowa, and maintain a large number 'of
 
 ->4 LIFE OF JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 
 
 colleges and seminaries. Indeed, they claim that they have 
 more institutions of learning in proportion to their membership 
 than any other denomination. 
 
 The Disciples are a friendly, sociable people. They are fond 
 of calling each other by their first names, prefaced often by the 
 affectionate term brother or sister, and are very cordial in their 
 personal intercourse "with fellow-members. They care less for 
 the Old Testament than do the Calvinists and Methodists, and 
 do not speculate much about the Book of Bevelations, The Gos- 
 pels, the Acts, and the Epistles are studied closely. They are 
 very hospitable and entertain travelling brethren at their houses 
 in the manner of the apostolic times. They have communion 
 service in their churches every Sunday after the morning dis- 
 course. Of late years they have supported a settled ministry, 
 hut their early successes were achieved by travelling preachers 
 speaking in the woods, or in tents which were transported in 
 big wagons around the country. Any member can speak in 
 their pulpits, administer the communion, and baptize converts. 
 The ministry is not a peculiar class, although there is a form of 
 ordination for men who wish to devote themselves to it. 
 
 General Garfield's father and mother sat under the powerful 
 preaching of Alexander Campbell, when he visited their locality 
 during one of his tours, and were converted to the new faith 
 without creed or catechism, discipline, or formulated statement. 
 if belief of any sort. It was natural that their son should con 
 iH'i-t himself with the same denomination. Most of his early 
 .duration before he went to college was got at a new struggling 
 (Disciples' school at Hiram. His gift of public speaking soon 
 drew him into the w r ay of talking at religious meetings, and h. j 
 >.\. -is constantly encouraged in this habit by the members of the 
 denomination, who saw that his powerful intellect and unusual 
 .::sii>rioal powers would be of great help to them. Although 
 !re spoke regularly in the churches of Hiram, Solon, and N-w- 
 
 ng for nearly three years, he never had the thought of do-
 
 LIFE OF JAMES A. OARFIELD. 255 
 
 voting himself to the ministry. Law was then his chosen pro- 
 fession, lie was never ordained, but was what might be call- 
 ed a lay preacher, filling pulpits on Sundays while teaching 
 week-days. Those who remember his preaching say that it was 
 characterized by the vigor, magnetism, wealth of illustration, 
 and intellectual force of his later political addresses. The war 
 put a stop to both his teaching and his pulpit work. .He ha-; 
 since kept up his association with the church of his boyhood, 
 but. has not taken an active part in its religious services, save 
 now and then to offer a prayer in the church at Mentor, in re- 
 sponse to a call from the minister. 
 
 With General Garfield's breadth of mind and keen interest in 
 scientific research and philosophical discussion, it would be im- 
 possible for him to run in any narrow rut of sectarianism. 
 His religious views are characterized by great tolerance and lib- 
 erality. His Christianity is of a very broad pattern, and is 
 without a trace of bigotry. In form it is the religion of his 
 parents ; in spirit it is enlightened, elevated, and imbued with 
 the progressive thought of the age ; a Christianity not of cere- 
 monies and statements, but of humanity and the heart.
 
 STATESMAN AND ORATOR.
 
 PARAGRAPHS 
 
 FROM 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD'S SPEECHES. 
 
 THE DEATH OF SLAVERY. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, Jan. 13, 1865, on the 
 Constitutional Amendment to abolish slavery.] 
 
 WE shall never know why slavery dies so hard in this Republic 
 and in this hall until we know why sin has such longevity and Satan 
 is immortal. With marvellous tenacity of existence, it has outlived 
 the expectations of its friends and the hopes of its enemies. It has 
 been declared here and elsewhere to be in all the several stages of 
 mortality wounded, moribund, dead. The question was raised 
 by my colleague [Mr. Cox] yesterday, whether it was indeed dead 
 or only in a troubled sleep. I know of no better illustration of its 
 condition than is found in Sallust's admirable history of the great 
 conspirator, Catiline, who when his final battle was fought and lost, 
 his army broken and scattered, was found far in advance of his own 
 troops, lying among the dead enemies of Rome, yet breathing a 
 little, but exhibiting in his countenance all that ferocity of spirit 
 which had characterized his life. So, sir, this body of slavery lies 
 before us among the dead enemies of the Republic, mortally 
 wounded, impotent in its fiendish wickedness, but with its old 
 ferocity of look, bearing the unmistakable marks of its infernal 
 origin. 
 
 Who does not remember that thirty years ago a short period in 
 the life of a nation but little could be said with impunity in these 
 halls on the subject of slavery ? How well do gentlemen here re- 
 member the history of that distinguished predecessor of mine,
 
 260 GARF1ELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 Joshua R. Giddings, lately gone to his rest, who, with his forlorn 
 hope of faithful men, took his life in his hand, and in the name of 
 justice protested against the great crime, and who stood bravely in 
 his place until his white locks, like the plume of Henry of Navarre, 
 marked where the battle for freedom raged fiercest ! 
 
 We can hardly realize that this is the same people, and these the 
 same halls, where now scarcely a man can be found who will ven- 
 ture to do more than falter out an apology for slavery, protesting 
 in the same breath that he has no love for the dying tyrant. None 
 I believe, but that man of supernal boldness from the City of New 
 York [Mr. Fernando Wood], has ventured this session to raise his 
 voice in favor of slavery for its own sake. He still sees in its feat- 
 ures the reflection of beauty and divinity, and only he. " How art 
 thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning ! How art 
 thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations !" 
 
 Many mighty men >have been slain by thee, many proud ones 
 have humbled themsrfves at thy feet ! All along the coast of our 
 political sea these victims of slavery lie like stranded wrecks, broken 
 on the headlands of freedom. How lately did its advocates, with 
 impious boldness, maintain it as God's own, to be venerated and 
 cherished as divine ! It was another and higher form of civiliza- 
 tion. It was the holy Evangel of America dispensing its mercies 
 to a benighted race, and destined to bear countless blessings to the 
 wilderness of the West. In its mad arrogance it lifted its hand to 
 strike down the fabric of the Union, and since that fatal day it has 
 been a " fugitive and a vagabond on the earth." Like the spirit 
 Jesus cast out, it has since then been " seeking rest and finding 
 none." 
 
 It has sought in all the corners of the Republic to find some hid- 
 ing place in which to shelter itself from the death it so richly de- 
 serves. 
 
 It sought an asylum in the untrodden Territories of the West, but 
 with a whip of scorpions indignant freemen drove it thence. T do 
 not believe that a loyal man can now be found who would consent 
 that it should again enter them. It has no hope of harbor there. 
 It found no protection or favor in the hearts or consciences of the 
 freemen of the Republic, and has fled for its last hope of safety 
 behind the shield of the Constitution. We propose to follow it 
 there, and drive it thence as Satan was exiled from heaven. 
 
 SUPREMACY OF THE CIVIL LAW. 
 
 [From an Argument made in the Supreme Court, March 6, 1866, in the Indiana 
 Conspiracy Case.] 
 
 YOUR decision will mark an era in American history. The just 
 and final settlement of this great question will take a high place
 
 GARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND OUATOR. 2CI 
 
 among the great achievements which have immortalized this decade. 
 It will establish forever this truth, of inestimable value to us and to 
 mankind, that a Republic can wield the vast enginery of war 
 without breaking down the safeguards of liberty ; can suppress in- 
 surrection and put down rebellion, however formidable, without 
 destroying the bulwarks of law ; can by the might of its armed mill- 
 ions preserve and defend both nationality and liberty. Victories 
 on the field were of priceless value, for they plucked the life of the 
 Republic out of the hands of its enemies ; but 
 " Peace hath her victories 
 
 No less renowned than war ;" 
 
 and if the protection of law shall, by your decision, be extended 
 over every acre of our peaceful territory, you will have rendered 
 the great decision of the century. 
 
 When Pericles had made Greece immortal in arts and arms, in 
 liberty and law, he invoked the genius of Phidias to devise a monu- 
 ment which should symbolize the beauty and glory of Athens. That 
 artist selected for his theme the tutelar divinity of Athens, the Jove- 
 born goddess, protectress of arts and arms, of industry and law, who 
 typified the Greek conception of composed, majestic, unrelenting 
 force. 
 
 He erected on the heights of the Acropolis a colossal statue of 
 Minerva, armed with spear and helmet, which towered in awful 
 majesty above the surrounding temples of the gods. Sailors on 
 far-off ships beheld the crest and spear of the goddess and bowed 
 with reverent awe. To every Greek she was the symbol of power 
 and glory. But the Acropolis, with its temples and statues is now 
 a heap of ruins. The visible gods have vanished in the clearer light 
 of modern civilization. We cannot restore the decayed emblems of 
 ancient Greece ; but it is in your power, O judges, to erect in this 
 citadel of our liberties a monument more lasting than brass ; invisi- 
 ble indeed to the eye of flesh, but visible to the eye of the spirit as 
 the awful form and figure of Justice, crowning and adorning the 
 Republic ; rising above the storms of political strife, above the din 
 of battle, above the earthquake shock 01 rebellion ; seen from afar 
 and hailed as protector by the oppressed of all nations ; dispensing 
 equal blessings, and covering with the protecting shield of law the 
 weakest, the humblest, the meanest and, until declared by solemn 
 law unworthy of protection, the guiltiest of its citizens. 
 
 RESTORATION OF THE REBEL STATES. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, Feb. i, 1866.] 
 AND first, we must recognize in all our action the stupendous facts 
 of the war. In the very crisis of our fate God brought us face to
 
 2G2 QAEFIELI) AS STATESMAN AXD ORATOR. 
 
 face with the alarming truth that we must lose our own freedom or 
 grant it to the slave. In the extremity of our distress we railed 
 upon the black man to help us save the Republic, and amid the 
 very thunder of battle we made a covenant with him, sealed both 
 with his blood and ours, and witnessed by Jehovah, that when the 
 nation was redeemed he should be free and share with us the glories 
 and blessings of freedom. In the solemn words ofthe great proc- 
 lamation of emancipation, we not only declared the slaves forever 
 free, but we pledged the faith of the nation " to maintain their free- 
 dom" mark the words, " to maintain their freedom." The omnis- 
 cient witness will appear in judgment against us if we do not fulfil 
 that covenant. Have we done it ? Have we given Ireedom to the 
 black man ? What is freedom ? Is it a mere negation the bare 
 privilege of not being chained, bought and sold, branded and 
 scourged ? If this be all, then freedom is a bitter mockery, a cruel 
 delusion, and it may well be questioned whether slavery were not 
 better. 
 
 But liberty is no negation. It is a substantive, tangible reality. 
 It is the realization of those imperishable truths of the Declaration 
 " that all men are created equal," that the sanction of all just gov- 
 ernment is "the consent of the governed." Can these truths be 
 realized until each man has a right be to heard on all matters relat- 
 ing to himself ? 
 
 Mr. Speaker, we did more than merely to break off the chains of 
 the slaves. The abolition of slavery added four million citizens to 
 the Republic. By the decision of the Supreme Court, by the de- 
 cision of the Attorney-General, by the decision of all the depart- 
 ments of our Government, those men made free are, by the act of 
 freedom, made citizens. As another has said, they must be " four mill 
 ion disfranchised, disarmed, untaught, landless, thriftless, non-pro 
 ducing, non-consuming, degraded men, or four million land-holding, 
 industrious, arms-bearing, and voting population. Choose between 
 the two !" 
 
 Mr. Speaker, let us learn a lesson from the dealing of God with 
 the Jewish nation. When his chosen people, led by the pillar of 
 cloud and fire, had crossed the Red Sea and traversed the gloomy 
 wilderness with its thundering Sinai, its bloody batiles, disastrous 
 defeats, and glorious victories ; when near the end of their perilous 
 pilgrimage they listened to the last words of blessing and warning 
 from their great leader before he was buried with immortal honors 
 by the angel' of the Lord ; when at last the victorious host, sadly 
 joyful, stood on the banks of the Jordan, their enemies drowned in 
 the sea or slain in the wilderness, they paused and made solemn 
 preparation to pass over and possess the land of promise. By the 
 i-ommand of God, given through Moses and enforced by his great
 
 GARF1ELD A3 STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 263 
 
 successor, the ark of the covenant, containing the tables of the law 
 and the sacred memorials of their pilgrimage, was borne by chosen 
 men two thousand cubits in advance of the people. On the further 
 shore stood Ebal and Gerizim, the mounts of cursing and blessing, 
 from which, in the hearing of all the people, were pronounced the 
 curses of God against injustice and disobedience, and his blessing 
 upon justice and obedience. On the shore, between the mountains 
 and in the midst of the people, a monument was erected, and on it 
 were written the words of the law, " to be a memorial unto the chil- 
 dren of Israel forever and ever." Let us learn wisdom from this 
 illustrious example. We have passed the Red Sea of slaughter ; 
 our garments are yet wet with its crimson spray. We have crossed 
 the fearful wilderness of war, and have left our four hundred thou- 
 sand heroes to sleep beside the dead enemies of the Republic. We 
 have heard the voice of God amid the thunders of battle command- 
 ing us to wash our hands of iniquity, to " proclaim liberty through- 
 out all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." When we spurned 
 his counsels we were defeated, and the gulfs of ruin yawned before 
 us. When we obeyed his voice, he gave us victory. And now 
 at last we have reached the confines of the wilderness. Before us 
 is the land of promise, the land of hope, the land of peace, filled 
 with possibilities of greatness and glory too vast for the grasp of the 
 imagination. Are we worthy to enter it ? On what condition may 
 it be ours to enjoy and transmit to our children's children ? Let us 
 pause and make deliberate and solemn preparation. Let us, as 
 representatives of the people, whose servants we are, bear in 
 advance the sacred ark of republican liberty, with its tables of the 
 law inscribed with the " irreversible guaranties" of liberty. Let 
 us here build a monument on which shall be written not only the 
 curses of the law against treason, disloyalty, and oppression, but 
 also an everlasting covenant of peace and blessing with loyalty, 
 liberty, and obedience ; and all the people will say, Amen. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 [Remarks at the Memorial Services in the House of Representatives, 
 April 14, 1865.] 
 
 IT was no one man who killed Abraham Lincoln ; it was the em- 
 bodied spirit of treason and slavery, inspired with fearful and 
 despairing hate, that struck him down, in the moment of the nation's 
 supremest joy. 
 
 Sir, there are times in the history of men and nations when they 
 stand so near the veil that separates mortals and immortals, time
 
 ^64 GARF1ELD Ati STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 from eternity, and men from their God, that they can almost hear 
 the beatings and feel the pulsations of the heart of the Infinite. 
 
 Through such a time has this nation passed. When two hundred 
 and fifty thousand brave spirits passed from the field of honor, 
 through that thin veil, to the presence of God, and when at last 
 its parting folds admitted the martyr President to the com- 
 pany of these dead heroes of the Republic, the nation stood so near 
 the veil that the whispers of God were heard by the children of men. 
 Awe-stricken by his voice, the American people knelt in tearful 
 reverence and made a solemn covenant with him and with each 
 other, that this nation should be saved from its enemies, that all its 
 glories should be restored, and on the ruins of slavery and treason 
 the temples of justice and freedom should be built and should sur- 
 vive forever. 
 
 It remains for us, consecrated by that great event and under a 
 covenant with God, to keep that faith, to go forward in the great 
 work until it shall be completed. Following the lead of that great 
 man, and obeying the higher behests of God, let us remember that 
 
 " He has sounded forth a trumpet that shall never call retreat : 
 He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat. 
 Be swift my soul to answer Him, be jubilant my feet ; 
 For God is marching on.-' 
 
 PUBLIC DEBT AND SPECIE PAYMENTS. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, March 16, 1866.] 
 
 I PROPOSE, sir, to let the House take the responsibility of adopt- 
 ing or rejecting this measure. On the one side it is proposed to 
 return to solid and honest values ; on the other, to float on the 
 boundless and shoreless sea of paper money, with all its dishonesty 
 and broken pledges. We leave it to the House to decide which 
 alternative it will choose. Choose the one, and you float away into 
 an unknown sea of paper money that shall know no decrease until 
 you take just such a measure as is now proposed to bring us back 
 again to solid values. Delay the measure, and it will cost the 
 country dear. Adopt it now, and with a little depression in busi- 
 ness and a little strigency in the money market the worst will be 
 over, and we shall have reached the solid earth. Sooner or later 
 such a measure must be adopted. Go on as you are now going on, 
 and a financial crisis worse than that of 1837 will bring us to the 
 bottom. I for one am unwilling that my name shall be linked to 
 the fate of a paper currency. I believe that any party which com- 
 mits itself to paper money will go down amid the general disaster, 
 covered with the curses of a ruined people.
 
 AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 265 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I remember that on the monument of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, where her glories were recited and her honors summed up, 
 among the last and the highest, recorded as the climax of her 
 honors, was this that she had restored the money of her king- 
 dom to its just value. And when this House shall have done its 
 work, when it shall have brought back values to their proper stand 
 ard, it will deserve a monument. 
 
 A NATIONAL BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, June 8, 1866.] 
 
 WHEN the history of the Thirty-ninth Congress is written it will 
 be recorded that two great ideas inspired it, and made their impress 
 upon all its efforts, viz., to build up free States on the ruins of 
 slavery, and to extend to every inhabitant of the United States the 
 lights and privileges of citizenship. 
 
 Before the divine Architect builded order out of chaos, he said, 
 " Let there be light." Shall we commit the fatal mistake of building 
 up free States without first expelling the darkness in which slavery 
 had shrouded their people ? Shall we enlarge the boundaries of 
 citizenship and make no provision to increase the intelligence of the 
 citizen ? I share most fully in the aspirations of this Congress, 
 and give my most cordial support to its policy ; but I believe its 
 work will prove a disastrous failure unless it makes the schoolmas- 
 ter its ally, and aids him in preparing the children of the United 
 States to perfect the work now begun. 
 
 The stork is a sacred bird in Holland, and is protected by her 
 laws, because it destroys those insects which would undermine the 
 dikes and let the sea again overwhelm the rich fields of the Nether- 
 lands. Shall this Government do nothing to foster and strengthen 
 those educational agencies which alone can shield the coming gen- 
 eration from ignorance and vice, and make it the impregnable bul- 
 wark of liberty and law ? 
 
 REFUSAL TO RETURN FUGITIVE SLAVES. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, Feb. 8, 1867.] 
 
 I CANNOT forget that less than five years ago I received an order 
 from my superior officer in the army commanding me to search my 
 camp for a fugitive slave, and if found to deliver him up to a Ken- 
 tucky captain, who claimed him as his property, and I had the honor
 
 266 GAHFTELT) AS KTA TEAMAN AND ORATOH. 
 
 to be perhaps the first officer in the army who peremptorily refused 
 to obey such an order. We were then trying to save the Union 
 without hurting slavery. I remember, sir, that when we undertook 
 to agitate in the army the question of putting aims into the hands 
 of the slaves, it was said. " Sush a step will be fatal : it will alienate 
 half our army and lose us Kentucky." By and by, when our neces- 
 sities were imperious, we ventured to let the negroes dig in the 
 trenches, but it would not do to put muskets into their hands. We 
 ventured to let the negro drive a mule team, but it would not do to 
 have a white man or a mulatto just in front of him, or behind him ; 
 all must be negroes in that train : you must not disgrace a white 
 soldier by putting him in such company. " By and by," some one 
 said, " rebel guerillas may capture the mules ; so for the sake of the 
 mules let us put a few muskets in the wagons, and let the negroes 
 shoot the guerillas if they come." So for the sake of the mules we 
 enlarged the limits of liberty a little. By and by we allowed the 
 negroes to build fortifications and armed them. 
 
 TAXATION OF UNITED STATES BONDS. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, July 5, 1868.] 
 
 THERE was a declaration made by an old English gentleman in 
 the days of Charles the Second which does honor to human nature. 
 He said he was willing, at any time, to give his life for the good 
 of his country, but he would not do a mean thing to save his coun- 
 try from ruin So, sir, ought a citizen to feel in regard to our finan- 
 cial affairs. The people of the United States can afford to make 
 any sacrifice for their country, and the history of the last war has 
 proved their willingness ; but the humblest citizen cannot afford to 
 do a mean or dishonorable thing to save even this glorious Republic. 
 
 For my own part I will consent to no act of dishonor. And I 
 look upon this proposition though I cannot think the gentleman 
 meant it to be so as having in itself the very essence of dishonor. 
 I shall, therefore, to the utmost of my ability, resist it. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I desire to say, in conclusion, that in my opinion 
 nil these efforts to pursue a doubtful and unusual, if not dishonora- 
 ble policy in reference to our public debt, spring from a lack of 
 faith in the intelligence and conscience of the American people. 
 Hardly an hour passes when we do not hear it whispered that some 
 snrh policy as this must be adopted, or the people will by and by 
 repudiate the debt. For my own part I do not share that distrust. 
 The people of this country have shown by the highest proofs 
 human nature can give that, wherever the path of honor and duty
 
 AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 2-0? 
 
 
 
 may lead, however riteep and rugged it may be, they are ready to. 
 walk in it. They feel the burden of the public debt, but they re- 
 member that it is the price of blood the precious blood of half a 
 million brave men who died to save to us all that makes life desir- 
 able or property secure. I believe they will, after a full hearing, 
 discard all methods of paying their debts by sleight of hand, or by 
 any scheme which crooked wisdom may devise. If public morality- 
 did not protest against any such plan, enlightened public selfishness 
 would refuse its sanction. Let us be true to our trust a few years 
 longer, and the next generation will be here with its seventy-five 
 millions of population and its sixty billions of wealth. To them 
 the debt that then remains will be a light burden. They will pay 
 the last bond according to the letter and spirit of the contract, with 
 the same sense of grateful duty with which they will pay the pen- 
 sions of the few surviving soldiers of the great war for the Union. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, April 4, 1871.] 
 
 Now, Mr. Speaker, to review briefly the ground travelled over : 
 The changes wrought in theConstitution by the last three amendments 
 in regard to the individual rights of citizens are these : that no per- 
 son within the United States shall be made a stave ; that no citizen 
 shall be denied the right of suffrage because of his color or because 
 he was once a slave ; that no State, by its legislation or the enforce- 
 ment thereof, shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens 
 of the United States ; that no State shall, without due process of 
 law, disturb the life, liberty, or property of any person within its 
 jurisdiction ; and finally, that no State shall deny to any person 
 within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the Laws. 
 
 Thanks to the wisdom and patriotism of the American people, 
 these great and beneficent provisions are now imperishable ele- 
 ments of the Constitution, and will, I trust, remain forever amonr 
 the irreversible guaranties of liberty. 
 
 THE TARIFF. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, April i, 1870.] 
 
 I STAND now where I have always stood since I have been a 
 member of this House. I take the liberty of quoting, from the
 
 268 GARPIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATQfi 
 
 Congressional Globe of 1866, the following remarks which I then 
 made on the subject of the tariff : 
 
 " We have seen that one extreme school of economists would 
 place the price of all manufactured articles in the hands of foreign 
 producers by rendering it impossible for our manufacturers to com- 
 pete with them ; while the other extreme school, by making it im- 
 possible for the foreigner to sell his competing wares in our market, 
 would give the people no immediate check upon the prices which 
 our manufacturers might fix for their products. I disagree with 
 both these extremes. I hold that a properly adjusted competition 
 between home and foreign products is the best gauge by which to 
 regulate international trade. Duties should be so high that our 
 manufacturers can fairly compete with the foreign product, but not 
 so high as to enable them to drive out the foreign article, enjoy a 
 monopoly of the trade, and regulate the price as they please. This 
 is my doctrine of protection. If Congress pursues this line of policy 
 steadily, we shall, year by year, approach more nearly to the basis 
 of free trade, because we shall be more nearly able to compete with 
 other nations on equal terms. I am for a protection which leads to 
 uitimate free trade. I am for that free trade which can only be 
 achieved through a reasonable protection." 
 
 Mr. Chairman, examining thus the possibilities of the situation, I 
 believe that the true course for the friends of protection to pursue 
 is to reduce the rates on imports wherever we can justly and safely 
 do so, and, accepting neither of the extreme doctrines urged on this 
 floor, endeavor to establish a stable policy that will commend itself 
 to all patriotic and thoughtful people. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE REBELLION. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, March 14, 1870.] 
 
 MY friend from Indiana [Mr. Niblack] is not himself an extreme 
 partisan. But he has said some things just now which deserve an 
 answer. He says that if the glory of the war belongs to the Repub- 
 lican party, then the results of the war, the expenditures of the war, 
 and the burdens laid upon the people in consequence of the war, 
 fall also to our share. A part of this statement I indorse. But, 
 Mr. Chairman, I desire to ask that gentleman and his party a ques- 
 tion. Suppose that in the year 1861 every Democrat north of the 
 Potomac and the Ohio had followed the lead o'f Grant, and Douglas, 
 and Dickinson, and Tod, and all the other great lights of the Dem- 
 ocratic party, had thrown away the Democratic name and said that 
 they would be Democrats no longer, as we said we would be Re-
 
 GARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 269 
 
 publicans no longer, but all would be Union men, and stand to- 
 gether around the flag until the rebellion had been put under our 
 feet. I desire to ask the gentlemen, if these things had happened, 
 how long the war would have lasted, how much the war would 
 have cost ? I do not hesitate to say that it could not have lasted a 
 month, and the expenditures of the war would never have exceeded 
 $10,000,000. I say, as a matter of current history, that it was the 
 great hope of the rebels of the South that the assistance of the 
 Democratic party of the North would divide our forces and over- 
 come all our efforts ; that at the ballot-box the Democrats at home 
 would help the cause which they were maintaining in the field. It 
 was that, and that alone, which protracted the war and created our 
 immense debt. 
 
 I come, therefore, to the door of your party, gentlemen on the 
 other side, and I lay down at your threshold every dollar of the 
 debt, every item of the stupendous total which expresses the great 
 cost of the war ; and I say if you had followed Douglas there would 
 have been no debt, no blood, no burden. 
 
 THE WOMAN QUESTION. . 
 
 [From an Address before the Business College, Washington, D. C., June ag, 1869.] 
 
 LAUGH at it as we may, put it aside as a jest if we will, keep it 
 out of Congress or political campaigns, still, the woman question 
 is rising in our horizon larger than the size of a man's hand ; and 
 some solution, ere long, that question must find. I have not yet 
 committed my mind to any formula that embraces the whole ques- 
 tion. I halt on the threshold of so great a problem ; but there is 
 one point on which I have reached a conclusion, and that is, that 
 this nation must open up new avenues of work and usefulness to 
 the women of the country, so that everywhere they may have some- 
 thing to do. This is, just now. infinitely more valuable to them 
 than the platform or the ballot-box. Whatever conclusion shall be 
 reached on that subject by and by, at present the most valuable gilt 
 which can be bestowed on women is something to do, which they 
 can do well and worthily, and thereby maintain themselves. There- 
 fore I say that every thoughtful statesman will look with satisfaction 
 upon such business colleges as are opening a career for our young 
 women. On that score we have special reason to he thankful for 
 the establishment of these institutions.
 
 270 GARFIELD A8 STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 BANK-NOTES AND GREENBACKS. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, June 7, 1870.] 
 
 IN the first place, it is the experience of all nations, and it is the 
 almost unanimous opinion of all eminent statesmen and financial 
 writers, that no nation can safely undertake to supply its people with a 
 naper currency issued directly by the government. And, to apply 
 that principle to our own country, let me ask if gentlemen think it 
 safe to subject any poliucal party who may be in power in this gov- 
 ernment to the great temptation of overissues of paper money in lieu 
 of taxation ? In times of high political excitement, and on the eve 
 of a general election, when there might be a deficiency in the rev- 
 enues of the country, and Congress should find it necessary to levy 
 additional taxes, the temptation would be overwhelming to supply 
 the deficit by an increased issue of paper money. Thus the whole 
 business of the country, the value of all contracts, the prices of all 
 commodities, the wages of labor, would depend upon a vote in 
 Congress. For one, I dare not trust the great industrial interests 
 of this country to such uncertain and hazardous chances. 
 
 But even if Congress and the administration should be always 
 superior to such political temptations, still I affirm, in the second 
 place, that no human legislature is wise enough to determine how 
 much currency the wants of this country require. Test it in this 
 House to-day. Let every member mark down the amount which 
 he believes the business of the country requires, and who does not 
 know that the amounts will vary by hundreds of millions ? 
 
 But a third objection, stronger even than the last, is this : that 
 such a currency possesses no power of adapting itself to the busi- 
 ness of the country. Suppose the total issues should be five hun- 
 dred millions, or seven hundred millons, or any amount you please ; 
 it might be abundant for spring and summer, and yet when the 
 great body of agricultural products were moving off to market in 
 the fall that amount might be totally insufficient. Fix any volume 
 you please, and if it be just sufficient at one period it may be re- 
 dundant at another, or insufficient at another. No currency can 
 meet the wants of this country unless it is founded directly upon 
 the demands of business, and not upon the caprice, the ignorance, 
 the political selfishness of the party in power. 
 
 What regulates now the loans and discounts and credits of our 
 national banks ? The business of the country. The amount in- 
 creases or decreases, or remains stationary, as business is fluctuat- 
 ing or steady. This is a natural form of exchange, based upon the 
 business of the country and regulated by its changes. And when 
 that happy day arrives when the whole volume of our currency is 
 icJcernable in gold at the will of the holder, and recognized by all
 
 &ARFIELD AS STATESMAN AftD ORATOR. Wl 
 
 nations as equal to money, then the whole business of banking, the 
 whole volume of currency, the whole amount of credits, whether in 
 the form of checks, drafts, or bills, will be regulated by the same gen- 
 eral law, the business of the country. The business of the country 
 is like the level of the ocean, from which all measurements are 
 made of heights and depths. Though tides and currents may for a 
 time disturb, and tempests vex and toss its surface, still, through 
 calm and storm the grand level rules all its waves and lays its meas- 
 uring-lines on every shore. So the business of the country, which, 
 in the aggregated demands of the people for exchange of values, 
 marks the ebb and flow, the rise and fall of the currents of trade, 
 and forms the base line from which to measure all our financial leg- 
 islation, is the only safe rule by which the volume of our cur- 
 rency can be determined. 
 
 A NON-EXPORTABLE CURRENCY. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, June 15, 1870.] 
 
 COULD anything but a predetermined purpose to defend, main- 
 tain, and increase our irredeemable paper money lead so able and 
 distinguished a statesman as the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
 [Mr. Kelley] to say, as he did the other day, concerning the green- 
 back currency : 
 
 " Beyond the sea, in foreign lands, it fortunately is not money ; 
 but, sir, when have we had such a long and unbroken career of 
 prosperity in business as since we adopted this non-exportable cur- 
 rency ?" 
 
 It is reported of an Englishman who was wrecked on a strange 
 shore that, wandering along the coast, he came to a gallows with 
 a victim hanging upon it, and that he fell down on his knees and 
 thanked God that he at last beheld a sign of civilization. But this 
 is the first time I ever heard a financial philosopher express his grati- 
 tude that we have a currency of such bad repute that other nations 
 will not receive it ; he is thankful that it is not exportable. We 
 have a great many commodities in such a condition, that they are 
 not exportable. Mouldy flour, rusty wheat, rancid butter, damaged 
 cotton, addled eggs, and spoiled goods generally are not export- 
 able. But it never occurred to me to be thankful for this putres- 
 cence. It is related in a quaint German book of humor, that the 
 inhabitants of Schildeberg, finding that other towns, with more pub- 
 lic spirit than their own, had erected gibbets within their precincts, 
 resolved that the town of Schildeberg should also have a gallows , 
 and one patriotic member of the town council offered a resolution
 
 272 QARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 that the benefits of this gallows should be reserved exclusively for 
 the inhabitants of Schildeberg. 
 
 The gentleman from Pennsylvania would reserve for our exclu- 
 sive benefit all the blessings of a fluctuating, uncertain, and dishon- 
 ored paper currency. In his view this irredeemable, non-exportable 
 currency is so full of virtue that for the want of it California is 
 falling into decay. That misguided State has seen fit to cling to 
 the money that all nations receive, and ruin impends over her 
 golden shores. I doubt if the business men of California will ask 
 my friend to prescribe for their financial maladies. Quite in keep- 
 ing with the gentleman's other opinions on this subject is the fol- 
 lowing. He says " the volume of currency does not, as has often 
 been asserted, regulate the price of commodities." According to 
 this we have not only a non- exportable currency, but one regulated 
 by some trick of magic, so as to defy the universal laws of value, 
 of supply and demand, and that neither the increase or decrease of 
 its volume can affect the price of commodities. Argument on such 
 a doctrine is useless. 
 
 A FIXED STANDARD OF VALUE. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, April 8, 1874. ] . 
 
 WITH what care has our government protected its standards ! 
 The gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Butler] sneeringly asked, 
 Why does not some one argue in favor of redeeming the yard -stick, 
 the quart-pot, or the Fairbanks scales ? In that paragraph he uses 
 words without significance. We do not redeem these standards, but 
 we do in regard to them what is analogous to the redemption of our 
 standard of value. Our yard-stick is a metallic bar copied from the 
 standard yard of England, which is nearly three hundred years old. 
 It is deposited in the office of the Coast Survey, and is sacredly 
 guarded from diminution or injury. The best efforts of science 
 have been brought to bear to make the yard-stick as little liable as 
 possible to mutilation or change. 
 
 Two methods have been adopted by science to test the accuracy 
 of the standard and preserve it from loss. One is to find a pendu- 
 lum which, swinging in vacua, will make one vibration a second, at 
 a given altitude from the level of the sea ; the other was a method 
 adopted by France, when in the last century she sent her surveyors 
 to measure six hundred miles of a meridian line, from Dunkirk to 
 Barcelona. Thus she made her metre a given aliquot part of the 
 earth's circumference, so that should her standard be lost the meas- 
 ure of the globe itself would furnish the means of restoring it. Both 
 these standards are deposited in the Coast Survey, and together
 
 GARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 273 
 
 with the standard measures of capacity are furnished to the several 
 States as the standards to which all our State and municipal laws 
 refer. Every contract for the sale and delivery of anything that can 
 be weighed or measured is based upon these standards, and the 
 citizen who changes the weight or the measurement commits a mis 
 demeanor for which he is punished by the law. The false weight 
 and balance are still an abomination. 
 
 Sir, we do not redeem our yard-stick ; but we preserve it, and by 
 the solemn sanctions of the law demand that it shall be applied to 
 all transactions where extension is an element. Let us with equal 
 care restore and preserve our standard of value, which must be 
 applied to every exchange of property between man and man. An 
 uncertain and fluctuating standard is an evil whose magnitude is 
 too vast for measurement. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF HISTORY. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, August 4, 1876.] 
 
 PEACE from the shock of battle ; the higher peace of our streets, 
 of our homes, of our equal rights, we must make secure by making 
 the conquering ideas of the war everywhere dominant and perma- 
 nent. With all my heart I join with the gentleman in rejoicing that 
 the war-drums throb no longer and the battle-flags are furled ; and 
 I look forward with joy and hope to the day when our brave people, 
 one in heart, one in their aspirations for freedom and peace, shall 
 see that the darkness through which we have passed was a part of 
 that stern but beneficent discipline by which the Great Disposer of 
 events has been leading us on to a higher and nobler national life. 
 
 But such a result can be reached only by comprehending the 
 whole meaning of the revolution through which we have passed 
 and are still passing. I say still passing ; for I remember that after 
 the battle of arms comes the battle of history. The cause that tri- 
 umphs in the field does not always triumph in history. And those- 
 who carried the war for union and equal and universal freedom to 
 a victorious issue can never safely relax their vigilance until the 
 ideas for which they fought have become embodied in the enduring 
 forms of individual and national life. 
 
 Has this been done ? Not yet. I ask the gentleman, in all plain- 
 ness of speech, and yet in all kindness, Is he correct in his statement 
 that the conquered party accept the results of the war ? Even if 
 they do, I remind the gentleman that accept is not a very strong 
 word. I go further : I ask him if the Democratic party have adopt, ,/ 
 the results of the war ? Is it not asking too much of human nature 
 to expect such unparalleled changes to be not only accepted, bi:t
 
 274 GARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 in so short a time adopted by men of strong and independent opin 
 ions ? The antagonisms which gave rise to the war and grew out 
 of it were not born in a day, nor can they vanish in a night. 
 
 THE EVIL GENIUS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, August 4, 1876.] 
 
 I HOPE my public life has given proof that I do not cherish a spirit 
 of malice or bitterness toward the South. Perhaps they will say I 
 have no right to advise them ; but at the risk of being considered 
 impertinent I will express my conviction that the bane oi the South- 
 ern people, for the last twenty- five years, has been that they have 
 trusted the advice of the Democratic party. The very remedy 
 which the gentleman from Mississippi offers for the ills of his peo- 
 ple has been and still is their bane. The Democratic party has 
 been the evil genius of the South in all these years. They yielded 
 their own consciences to you on the slavery question, and led you 
 to believe that the North would always yield. They made you 
 believe that if we ever dared to cross the Potomac or Ohio to put 
 down your rebellion, we could only do so across the dead bodies 
 of many hundred thousands of Northern Democrats. They made 
 you believe that the war would begin in the streets of our Northern 
 cities ; that we were a community of shopkeepers, of sordid money- 
 getters, and would not stand against your fiery chivalry. You 
 thought us cold, slow, lethargic ; and in some respects we are. 
 There are some differences between us that spring from origin and 
 influences of climate differences not unlike the description of the 
 poet, that 
 
 " Bright and fierce and fickle is the South, 
 
 And dark and true and tender is the North" 
 
 differences that kept us from a good understanding. 
 
 You thought that our coldness, our slowness, indicated a lack of 
 spirit and of patriotism, and you were encouraged in that belief by 
 most of the Northern Democracy ; but not by all. They warned 
 you at Charleston in 1860. 
 
 And when the great hour struck there were many noble Demo- 
 crats in the North who lifted the flag of the Union far above the flag 
 of party ; but there was a residuum of Democracy, called in the 
 slang of the time " copperheads," who were your evil genius from 
 the beginning of the war till its close, and ever since. Some of 
 them sat in these seats, and never rejoiced when we won a victory, 
 and never grieved when we lost one. They were the men who sent
 
 GARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. ^',j 
 
 your Vallandigharns to give counsel and encouragement to your re- 
 bellion, and to buoy you up with the false hope that at last you would 
 conquer by the aid of their treachery. I honor you, gentlemen of 
 the South, ten thousand times more than I honor such Democrats of 
 the North. 
 
 NO STEPS BACKWARD. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, Aug. 4, 1876.] 
 I WILL close by calling your attention again to the great problem 
 before us. Over this vast horizon of interest North and South, 
 above all party prejudices and personal wrong-doing, above our 
 battle hosts and our victorious cause, above all that we hoped for 
 and won, or you hoped for and lost, is the grand onward movement 
 of the Republic to perpetuate its glory, to save liberty alive, to pre- 
 serve exact and equal justice to all, to protect and foster all tnese 
 priceless principles, until they shall have crystallized into the form 
 of enduring law, and become inwrought into the life and habits of 
 our people. 
 
 And until these great results are accomplished it is not safe to 
 take one step backward. It is still more unsafe to trust interests of 
 such measureless value in the hands of an organization whose mem- 
 bers have never comprehended their epoch, have never been in 
 sympathy with its great movements, who have resisted every step 
 of its progress, and whose principal function has been " To lie 
 in cold obstruction " across the pathway of the nation. It is most 
 unsafe of all to trust that organization, when for the first time 
 since the war it puts forward for the first and second place 
 of honor and command men who in our days of greatest danger 
 esteemed party above country, and felt not one throb of patriotic 
 ardor for the triumph of imperilled Union, but from the beginning 
 to the end hated the war and hated those who carried our eagles to 
 victory. No, no. gentlemen ; our enlightened and patriotic people 
 will not follow such leaders in the rearward march. Their myriad 
 faces are turned the other way, and along their serried lines still 
 rings the cheering cry, " Forward ! till our great work is fully and 
 worthily accomplished." 
 
 REBELLION IN THE REAR. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, Jan. 12, 1876.] 
 AND now, Mr. Speaker, I close as I began. Toward those men 
 who gallantly fought on the field I cherish the kindest feeling. I 
 feel a sincere reverence for the soldierly qualities they displayed on
 
 2i<; GARFIELD AS STATESMAN A.\D ORATOR. 
 
 many a well-fought battle-field. I hope the day will come when 
 their swords and ours will be crossed over many a doorway of our 
 children, who will remember the glory of their ancestors with pride. 
 The high qualities displayed in that conflict now belong to the 
 whole nation. Let them be consecrated to the Union and its future 
 peace and glory. I shall hail that consecration as a pledge and 
 symbol of our perpetuity. 
 
 But there is a class of men referred to in the speech of the gentle- 
 man yesterday, for whom I have never yet gained the Christian grace 
 necessary to say the same thing. The gentleman said that amid 
 the thunder of battle, through its dim smoke and above its roar, 
 they heard a voice from this side, saying, " Brothers, come." I do 
 not know whether he meant the same thing, but I heard that voice 
 behind us. I heard that voice, and I recollect that I sent one of 
 those who uttered it through our lines a voice owned by Vallan- 
 digham. General Scott said, in the early days of the war, " When 
 this war is over, it will require all the physical and moral power of 
 the Government to restrain the rage and fury of the non-combatants." 
 
 It was that non-combatant voice behind us that cried " Halloo ?" 
 to the other side ; that always gave cheer and encouragement to the 
 enemy in our hour of darkness. I have never forgotten and 
 have not yet forgiven those Democrats of the North whose hearts 
 were not warmed by the grand inspirations of the Union, but who 
 Mood back finding fault, always crying disaster, rejoicing at our 
 defeat, never glorying in our victory. If these are the voices the 
 gentleman heard, I am sorry he is now united with those who 
 uttered them. But to those most noble men, Democrats and Repub- 
 licans, who together fought for the Union, I commend all the les- 
 sons of charity that the wisest and most beneficent men have (aught. 
 I join you all in every aspiration that you may express to stay in 
 this Union, to heal its wounds, to increase its glory, and to forget 
 the evils and the bitternesses of the past ; but du not for the sake of 
 the three hundred thousand heroic men who, maimed and bruised, 
 drag out their weary lives, many of them carrying in their hearts 
 horrible memories of what they suffered in the prison-pen do not 
 ask us to vote to put back into power that man who was the cause 
 of their suffering that man still unaneled, unshrived, unforgiven, 
 undefended. 
 
 POPULAR SUFFRAGE MADE SAFE BY EDUCATION. 
 
 [From an Address on the Future of the Republic, delivered before the Literary 
 Societies of Hudson College.] 
 
 WE are apt to be deluded into false security by political catch- 
 words, devised to natter rather than instruct. We have happily
 
 GARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 277 
 
 escaped the dogma of the divine right of kings. Let us not fall into 
 the equally pernicious error that multitude is divine because it is 
 a multitude. The words of our great publicist, the late Dr. Lieber, 
 whose faitb in republican liberty was undoubted, should never be 
 forgotten. In discussing the doctrine of " Vox populi, vox Dei,'" 
 he said : 
 
 " Woe to the country in which political hypocrisy first calls the 
 people almighty, then teaches that the voice of the people is divine, 
 then pretends to take a mere clamor for the true voice of the people, 
 and lastly, gets up the desired clamor." 
 
 This sentence ought to be read in every political caucus. It 
 would make an interesting and significant preamble to most of our 
 political platforms. It is only when the people speak truth and 
 justice that their voice can be called ' the voice of God." Our 
 faith in the democratic principle rests upon the belief that intelli- 
 gent men will sec that their highest political good is in liberty, 
 regulated by just and equal laws ; and that in the distribution of 
 political power it is safe to follow the maxim, " Each for all. and all 
 for each." We confront the dangers of the suffrage by the bless- 
 ings of universal education. We believe that the strength of the 
 state is the aggregate strength of its individual citizens ; and that 
 the suffrage is the link, that binds in a bond of mutual interest and 
 responsibility, the fortunes of the citizen to the fortunes of the state. 
 Hence, as popular suffrage is the broadest base ; so, when coupled 
 with intelligence and virtue it becomes the strongest, the most en- 
 during base on which to build the superstructure of government. 
 
 THE DEMOCRACY CONVICTED OF A REVOLUTIONARY 
 PURPOSE. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, April 26, 1879.] 
 
 GENTLEMEN, I took upon myself a very grave responsibility in 
 the opening of this debate when I quoted the declarations of lead- 
 ing members on the other side and said that the programme was 
 revolution and, if not abandoned, would result in the destruction of 
 this Government. I declared that you had entered upon a scheme 
 which if persisted in would starve the Government to death. I say 
 that I took a great risk when I made this charge against you, as a 
 party. I put myself in your power, gentlemen. If I had misconceived 
 your purposes and misrepresented your motives, it was in your power 
 to prove me a false accuser. It was in your power to ruin me in the 
 estimation of fair-minded, patriotic men, by the utterance of one sen- 
 tence. The humblest or the greatest of you could have over-
 
 278 OARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 whelmed me with shame and confusion in one short sentence. You 
 could have said, " We wish to pass our measures of legislation in 
 reference to elections, juries, and the use of the army ; and we will, 
 if we can do so constitutionally ; but if we cannot get these meas- 
 ures in accordance with the Constitution we will pass the appropri- 
 ation bills like, loyal representatives ; and then go home and appeal 
 to the people." 
 
 If any man, speaking for the majority, had made that declaration, 
 uttered that sentence, he would have ruined me in the estimation of 
 fair-minded men, and set me down as a false accuser and slanderer. 
 Forty-five of you have spoken. Forty-five of you have deluged the 
 ear of (his country with defeat ; but that sentence has not been 
 spoken by any one of you. On the contrary, by your silence, as 
 well as by your affirmation, you have made my accusation over- 
 whelmingly true. 
 
 A PARTY OF POSITIVE IDEAS. 
 
 [From a Debate with Geo. H. Pendleton, at Springfield, Ohio, Sept. 27, 1877.] 
 
 AND now, in looking over this long discussion, let me say that the 
 Republican party, though it has made mistakes, has been a party of 
 great courage, a party of great faith. It has had positive ideas 
 ideas it was willing to stand up by, and, if need be, die by. It 
 believed in the Union ; it believed in the public faith ; it believed in 
 a public trust ; it believed in enlarging the borders of liberty ; it 
 believed in paying the public obligations, and it believes now in 
 sustaining all it has so worthily achieved. It dares appeal to the 
 country, as it is deserving of the confidence of the country. It 
 dares appeal to the country as against a vacillating and uncertain 
 and unwise and in many cases the unpatriotic spirit of the Demo- 
 cratic party. 
 
 -THE DEMOCRATIC CREED. 
 
 [From a Speech at London, Ohio, Sept. 19, 1877.] 
 
 THERE was a time when the Democratic party was a party of 
 ideas. No party ever did any good unless it was a party of ideas. 
 While it had ideas the Democratic party prospered. But twenty 
 years ago an explosion occurred in its camp. From then until the 
 present time it has not been a party of ideas. For twenty years it 
 has been a party simply of opposition, of obstruction. Its creed 
 may be summed up in one little word of two letters No! The
 
 G-ARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 279 
 
 Democratic party for twenty years has said no. It has built nothing, 
 but against all progress it has pulled back and snarled its opposition 
 Xo. The Republican party is a party that builds something ; it is a 
 party of aggressive ideas ; it believes in the Union and its perpetu- 
 ity ; it believes in freedom against slavery ; it believes in the equality 
 of all against class ; it believes in the public faith, in the public 
 credit, .in the payment of the public debt. It is the exponent of all 
 great national things that make our country respected and prosper- 
 ous. And to all this there has come one grumbling voice No from 
 the Democracy. I hold myself open to debate this assertion with 
 any Democratic speaker in Ohio. The Democracy have not in 
 twenty years advanced one great national idea of public polity that 
 they have held to for three consecutive years. Like an army build- 
 ing a bridge and burning each span behind it, they have builded 
 and burned until at last they stand out isolated in the swamp, 
 unable to get to either shore. 
 
 THE SAVINGS OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, Nov. 16, 1877.] 
 
 GENTLEMEN assail the bondholders of the country as the rich 
 men who oppress the poor. Do they know how vast an amount of 
 the public securities are held by poor people ? I took occasion, a 
 few years since, to ask the officers of a bank in one of the counties 
 of my district- a rural district to show me the number of holders 
 and amounts held of United States bonds on which they collected 
 the interest. The total amount was $416,000. And how many 
 people held them ? One hundred and ninety six. Of these, just 
 eig'it men held from $15,000 to $20,000 each ; the other one hun- 
 dred and eighty-eight ranged from $50 up to $2500. 1 found in that 
 list, fifteen orphan children and sixty widows, who had a little left 
 them from their fathers' or husbands' estates, and had made the 
 nation their guardian. And I found one hundred and twenty-one 
 laborers, mechanics, ministers, men of slender means, who had 
 saved their earnings and put them in the hands of the United States 
 that they might be safe. And they were the bloated "bondhold- 
 ers," against whom so much eloquence is fulminated in this House. 
 There is another way in which poor men dispose of their money. 
 A man says, I can keep my wife and babies from starving while I 
 live and have my health ; but if I die they may be compelled to go 
 over the hill to the poorhouse ; and, agonized by that thought, he 
 saves of his hard earnings enough to take out and keep alive a small 
 life-insurance policy, so that, if he dies, there may be something 
 I'.'ft, provided the insurance company to which he intrusts his money
 
 260 GARFTELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 is honest enough to keep its pledges. And how many men do you 
 ihink have done that in the United States? I do not know the 
 number for the whole country ; but 1 do know this, that from a 
 late report of the insurance commissioners of the State of New 
 York it. appears that the companies doing business in that State 
 had 774,625 policies in force, and the face value of these policies was 
 $1,922,000,000. I find, by looking over the returns, that in my State 
 there are 55,000 policies outstanding ; in Pennsylvania, 74,000 ; in 
 Maine, 17,000 ; in Maryland, 25,000, and in the State of New York, 
 160,000. There are, of course, some rich men insured in these com- 
 panies, but the majority are poor people, for the policies do not 
 average more than $2200 each. What is done with the assets of 
 these companies, which amount to $445,000,000? They are loaned 
 out. Here again the creditor class is the poor, and the insurance 
 companies are the agents of the poor to lend their money for them. 
 It would be dishonorable for Congress to legislate either for the 
 debtor class or for the creditor class alone. We ought to legislate 
 for the whole country. But when gentlemen attempt to manufacture 
 sentiment against the Resumption act, by saying it will-help the rich 
 and hurt the poor, they are overwhelmingly answered by the facts. 
 Suppose you undo the work that Congress has attempted to 
 resume specie payment what will result? You will depreciate the 
 value of the greenback. Suppose it falls ten cents on the dollar. 
 You will have destroyed ten per cent of the value of every deposit 
 in the savings-banks, ten per cent of every life-insurance policy and 
 fire-insurance policy, of every pension to the soldier, and of every 
 day's wages of every laborer in the nation. 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC PROGRAMME OF COERCING THE 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, March 29, 1879 ] 
 
 OUR theory of law is free consent. That is the granite founda- 
 tion of our whole superstructure. Nothing in this Republic can be 
 law without consent the free consent of the House, the free con- 
 sent of the Senate, the free consent of the Executive, or, if he refuse 
 it, the free consent of two thirds of these bodies. Will any man 
 deny that ? Will any man challenge a line of the statement that 
 free consent is the foundation of all our institutions ? And yet the 
 programme announced two weeks ago was that, if the Senate re- 
 fused to consent to the demand of the House, the Government should 
 stop. And the proposition \vas then, and the programme is now,
 
 GAEFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 281 
 
 that, although there is not a Senate to be coerced, there is still a 
 third independent branch in the legislative power of the Government 
 whose consent is to be coerced at the peril of the destruction of 
 this Government ; that is, if the President, in the discharge of his 
 duty, shall exercise his plain constitutional right to refuse his con 
 sent to this proposed legislation, the Congress will so use its volun- 
 tary powers as to destroy the Government. This is the proposition 
 which we confront ; and we denounce it as revolution. 
 
 It makes no difference, Mr. Chairman, what the issue is. If it 
 were the simplest and most inoffensive proposition in the world, 
 yet if you demand, as a measure of coercion, that it shall be adopted 
 against the free consent prescribed in the Conslitution, every fair- 
 minded man in America is bound to resist you as much as though 
 his own life depended upon his resistance. 
 
 Let it be understood that I am not arguing the merits of any one 
 of the three amendments. I am discussing the proposed method of 
 legislation ; and I declare that it is against the Constitution of our 
 country. It is revolutionary to the core, and is destructive of the 
 fundamental principle of American liberty, the free consent of all 
 the powers that unite to make laws. 
 
 In opening this debate I challenge all comers to show a single 
 instance in our history where this consent has been thus coerced. 
 This is the great, the paramount issue which dwarfs all others into 
 insignificance. 
 
 EFFECTS OF RESUMPTION. 
 
 [From an Address in Chicago, Jan. 2, 1879.] 
 
 SUCCESSFUL resumption will greatly aid in bringing into the 
 murky sky of our politics what the signal service people call 
 "clearing weather." It puts an end to a score of controversies 
 which have long vexed the public mind, and wrought mischief to 
 business. It ends the angry contention over the difference between 
 the money of the bondholder and the money of the plough-holder. 
 It relieves enterprising Congressmen of the necessity of introducin- 
 twenty-five or thirty bills a session to furnish the people with cheap 
 money, to prevent gold-gambling, and to make custom duties pay- 
 able in greenbacks. It will dismiss to the limbo of things forgotten 
 such Utopian schemes as a currency based upon the magic circle of 
 interconvertibility of two different forms of irredeemable paper, 
 and the schemes of a currency "based on the public faith," and 
 Secured by " all the resources of the nation" in genera!, but upon 
 no particular part of them. We shall still hear echoes of the ull 
 conflict, such as " the barbarism and cowardice of gold and sUv- r "
 
 282 QARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 and the virtues of " fiat money ;" but the theories which gave them 
 birth will linger among us like belated ghosts, and soon find rest in 
 the political grave of dead issues. All these will take their places 
 in history alongside of the resolution of Vansittart, in 1811, that 
 " British paper had not fallen, but gold had risen in value," and the 
 declaration of Castlereagh, in the House of Commons, that " the 
 money standard is a sense of value in reference to currency as 
 compared with commodities," and the opinion of another member, 
 who declared that "the standard is neither gold nor silver, butsome- 
 thing set rip in the imagination to be regulated by public opinion." 
 
 When we have fully awakened from these vague dreams, public 
 opinion will resume its old channels, and the wisdom and experi- 
 ence of the fathers of our Constitution will again be acknowledged 
 and followed, 
 
 We shall agree, as our fathers did, that the yard-stick shall have 
 length, the pound must have weight, and the dollar must have value 
 in itself, and that neither length, nor weight, nor value can be 
 created by the fiat of law. Congress, relieved of the arduous task 
 of regulating and managing all the business of our people, will 
 address itself to the humbler but more important work of preserv- 
 ing the public peace, and managing wisely the revenues and ex- 
 penditures of the Government. Industry will no longer wait for 
 the legislature to discover easy roads to sudden wealth, but. will 
 begin again to rely upon labor and frugality as the only certain road 
 to riches. Prosperity, which has long been waiting, is now ready 
 to come. If we do not rudely repulse her she will soon revisit our 
 people, and will stay until another periodical craze shall drive her 
 away. 
 
 THE ABSURDITY OF FIAT MONEY. 
 
 [From a Speech at Flint, Michigan, Oct. 22, 1878.] 
 
 Now, fellow-citizens, to sum up all I have tried to say thus far, 
 when you can have more cloth by shortening your yard-stick ; when 
 you can have more wheat by reducing the size of your bushel ; when 
 you can have more land by changing the figures of your deed, and 
 having it read " 200" where it read " too ;" when your dairyman 
 can make more butter and cheese by watering his milk then, and 
 not till then, can you make wealth in this country by printing pieces 
 of paper and calling them dollars. Why, I met a gentleman on your 
 streets to-day, a man hardly past middle age. that told me he was 
 here when there were but two log-cabins in this place. And I say 
 that this beautiful city, with its beautiful gardens and its circling 
 river, with its homes and happiness I say that all that has been done
 
 GARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 283 
 
 here since the time that man first came, has hoen done by the hard 
 struggling and earnest toil of courageous men, who have for a gen- 
 eration back battled with the wilderness and brought it up to the 
 glory of to-day. Well, friends, what fools these people were, to 
 speak plainly, to have endured so much when they might have set 
 up a printing-press and just printed themselves rich, if this idea of 
 fiat money be true. Why, fellow-citizens, do you really believe 
 (hat if we should in Washington print pieces of paper saying, " This 
 is 1,000,000," and send one to each man, woman, and child in the 
 United States, that we should all in fact be millionaries the next 
 morning ? Now does anybody believe that ? It is the wildest hal- 
 lucination that ever struck upon a people. It is wholly wild, and 
 wholly without foundation. 
 
 A REPLY TO THE DEMOCRATIC THREAT TO DESTROY 
 THE ARMY. 
 
 [Remarks in the House of Representatives, April 4, 1879.] 
 
 I SAY, if the gentleman from Virginia puts that proposition before 
 the American people, we will debate it in the forum of every patriotic 
 heart, and will abide the result. If the party which, after eighteen 
 years' banishment from power, has come back, as the gentleman 
 from Kentucky [Mr. Blackburn] said yesterday, to its " birthright 
 of power," or " heritage," as it is recorded in the record of this 
 morning, is to signalize its return by striking down the gallant and 
 faithful army of the United States, the people of this country will 
 not be slow to understand that there are reminiscences of that army 
 which these gentlemen would willingly forget, by burying both the 
 army and the memories of its great service to the Union in one 
 grave. 
 
 We do not seek to revive the unhappy memories of the war ; but 
 we are unwilling to see the army perish at the hands of Congress, 
 even if its continued existence should occasionally awaken the 
 memory of its former glories. 
 
 Now, let it be understood, once for all, that we do not deny, we 
 have never denied your right to make such rules for this House as 
 you please. Under those rules, as you make or construe them, 
 you may put all your legislation upon these bills as " riders." But 
 we say that, whatever your rules may be, you must make or repeal 
 a law in accordance with the Constitution, by the triple consent to 
 which I referred the other day, or you must do it by violence. 
 
 Now, as my friend from Connecticut [Mr. Hawley] well said, if 
 you can elect a President and a Congress in 1880, you have only to 
 wait two years, and you have the three consents. You can then,
 
 284 GARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 without revolution, tear down this statute and all the rest. You can 
 follow out the programme which some of your members have sug- 
 gested, and tear out one by one the records oi the last eighteen 
 years. Some of them are glorious with the unquenchable light of 
 liberty ; some of them stand as the noblest trophies of freedom. 
 With full power in your hands, you can destroy them. But we ask 
 you to restrain you rage against them until you have the lawful 
 power to smite them down. 
 
 PROTECTION OF THE NATIONAL BALLOT-BOX. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, March 29, 1879.] 
 
 LET it be remembered that the avowed object of this new revolu- 
 tion is to destroy all the defences which the nation has placed 
 around its ballot-box to guard the fountain of its own life. You say 
 that the United States shall not employ even its civil power to keep 
 peace at the polls. You say that the marshals shall have no power 
 either to arrest rioters or criminals who seek to destroy the freedom 
 and purity of the ballot-box. 
 
 I remind you that you have not always shown this great zeal in 
 keeping the civil officers of the General Government out of the 
 States. Only six years before the war your law authorized marshals 
 of the United States to enter all our hamlets and households to hunt 
 for fugitives slaves. Not only that, it empowered the marshals to 
 summon the posse comitatus, to command all bystanders to join in 
 the chase and aid in remanding to eternal bondage the fleeing slave. 
 And your Democratic Attorney-General, in his opinion published 
 in 1854, declared that the marshal of the United States might sum- 
 mon to his aid the whole able-bodied force of his precinct, a\\ by- 
 standers, including not only the citizens generally, " but any and 
 all organized armed forces, whether militia of the State, or officers, 
 soldiers, sailors, and marines of the United States," to join in the 
 chase and hunt down the fugitive. Now, gentlemen, if, lor the pur- 
 pose of making eternal slavery the lot of an American, you could 
 send your marshals, summon your posse, and use the armed force 
 of the United States, with what face or grace can you tell us that 
 this Government cannot lawfully employ the same marshals with 
 their armed posse of citizens, to maintain the purity of our own elec- 
 tions and keep the peace at our own polls. You have made the 
 issue and we have accepted it. In the name of the Constitution and 
 on behalf of good government and public justice, we make the 
 appeal to our common sovereign.
 
 GARFIELD AS STATESMAN A^D ORATOR. 285 
 THE NEW REBELLION. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, March 29, 1879.] 
 
 LET it be understood that I am not discussing the merits of this 
 law. I have merely turned aside from the line of my argument to 
 show the inconsistency of the other side in proposing to stop the 
 Government if they cannot force the icpeal of a law which they 
 themselves made. I am discussing a method of revolution against 
 the Constitution now proposed by this House, and to that issue I 
 hold gentlemen in this debate, and challenge them to reply. 
 
 And now, Mr. Chairman, I ask the forbearance of gentlemen on 
 the other side while I offer a suggestion, which I make with reluc- 
 tance. They will bear me witness that I have, in many ways, 
 shown my desire that the wounds of the war should be healed ; 
 that the grass which has grown green over the graves of the dead 
 of both armies might symbolize the returning spring of friendship 
 and peace between citizens who were lately in arms against each 
 other. 
 
 But I am compelled by the conduct of the other side to refer to a 
 chapter of our recent history. The last act of Democratic domina- 
 tion in this Capitol, eighteen years ago, was striking and dramatic, 
 perhaps heroic. Then the Democratic party said to the Republi- 
 cans, " If you elect the man of your choice as President of the 
 United States we will shoot your Government to death ;" but the 
 people of this country, refusing to be coerced by threats or violence, 
 voted as they pleased, and lawfully elected Abraham Lincoln as 
 President of the United States. 
 
 Then your leaders, though holding a majority in the other branch 
 of Congress, were heroic enough to withdraw from their seats and 
 fling down the gage of mortal battle. We called it rebellion : but 
 we recognized it as courageous and manly to avow your purpose, 
 take all the risks, and fight it out in the open field. Notwithstand- 
 ing your utmost efforts to destroy it, the Government was saved. 
 Year by year, since the war ended, those who resisted you have 
 come to believe that you have finally renounced your purpose to 
 destroy, and are willing to maintain the Government. In that belief 
 you have been permitted to return to power in the two Houses. 
 
 To-day, after eighteen years of defeat, the book of your domina- 
 don is again opened, and your first act awakens every unhappy 
 memory, and threatens to destroy the confidence which your pro- 
 fessions of patriotism inspired. You turned down a leaf of the his- 
 tory that recorded your last act of power in 1861, and you have now 
 signalized your return to power by beginning a second chapter at 
 the same page, not this time by a heroic act that declares war on 
 the battle-field, but you say, if all the legislative powers of-the Gov-
 
 286 QARFIELI) AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 ernment do not consent to let you tear certain laws out of the stat- 
 ute-book, you will not shoot our Government to death as you tried 
 to do in the first chapter, but you declare that if we do not consent 
 against our will, if you cannot coerce an independent branch of this 
 Government, against its will to allow you to tear from the statute- 
 book some laws put there by the will of the people, you will starve 
 the Government to death. [Great applause on the Republican side.] 
 Between death on the field and death by starvation I do not 
 know that the American people will see any great difference. The 
 end if successfully reached, would be death in either case. Gentle- 
 men, you have it in your power to kill this Government ; you have 
 it in your power, by withholding these two bills, to smite the nerve- 
 centres of our Constitution with the paralysis of death ; and you 
 have declared your purpose to do this, if you cannot break down 
 lhat fundamental principle of free consent which, up to this hour 
 has always ruled in the legislation of this Government. 
 
 AN APPEAL TO YOUNG MEN. 
 
 [From a Speech at Cleveland, on the Saturday evening before the Ohio election 
 
 of 1870.] 
 
 Now, fellow-citizens, a word before I leave you, on the very eve 
 of the holy day of God a fit moment to consecrate ourselves finally 
 to the great work of next Tuesday morning. I see in this great audi- 
 ence to-night a great many young men -young men who are about 
 to cast their first vote. I want to give you a word of suggestion 
 and advice. I heard a very brilliant thing said by a boy the other 
 day, up in one of our northwestern counties. He said to me, 
 " General, I have a great mind to vote the Democratic ticket." That 
 was not the brilliant thing. I said to him, "Why?" "Why," 
 said he, " my father is a Republican, and my brothers are Republi- 
 cans, and I am a Republican all over : but I want to be an inde- 
 pendent man, and I don't want anybody to say, ' That fellow votes 
 the Republican ticket just because his dad does,' and I have half a 
 mind to vote the Democratic ticket just to prove my indepen- 
 dence." I did not like the thing the boy suggested, but I did admire 
 the spirit of the boy that wanted to have some independence of his 
 own. 
 
 Now, I tell you, young man, don't vote the Republican ticket 
 just because your father votes it. Don't vote the Democratic ticket, 
 even if he does vote it. But let me give you this one word of 
 Advice, as you are about to pitch your tent in "one of the great po- 
 litical camps. Your life is full and buoyant with hope now, and I
 
 GARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 287 
 
 beg you, when you pitch your tent, pitch it among the living and 
 not among the dead. If you are at all inclined to pitch it among 
 the Democratic people and with that party, let me go with you for 
 a moment while we survey the ground where I hope you will not 
 shortly lie. It is a sad place, young man, for you to put your 
 young life into. It is to me far more like a graveyard than like a 
 camp for the living. Look at it ! It is billowed all over with the 
 graves of dead issues, of buried opinions, of exploded theories, of 
 disgraced doctrines. You cannot live in comfort in such a place. 
 Why, look here ! Here is a little double mound. I look down on 
 it and I read, " Sacred to the memory of Squatter Sovereignty and 
 the Dred Scott Decision." A million and ahalf of Democrats voted 
 for that, but it has been dead fifteen years died by the hand of 
 Abraham Lincoln, and here it lies. Young man, that is not the 
 place for you. 
 
 But look a little further. Here is another monument, a black 
 tomb, and beside it, as our distinguished friend said, there towers 
 to the sky a monument of four million pairs of human fetters taken 
 from the arms of slaves, and I read on its little headstone this : 
 " Sacred to the memory of Human Slavery." For forty years of its 
 infamous life the Democratic party taught that it was divine God's 
 institution. They defended it, they stood around it, they followed 
 it to its grave as a mourner. But here it lies, dead by the hand of 
 Abraham Lincoln ; dead by the power of the Republican party ; 
 dead by the justice of Almighty God. Don't camp there, young man. 
 
 But here is another a little brimstone tomb and I read across 
 its yellow face, in lurid, bloody lines, these words: "Sacred to 
 the memory of State Sovereignty and Secession." Twelve millions 
 of Democrats mustered around it in arms to keep it alive ; but here 
 it lies, shot to death by the million guns of the Republic. Here it 
 lies, its shrine burned to ashes under the blazing rafters of the 
 burning Confederacy. It is dead ! I would not have you stay in 
 there a minute, even in this balmy night air, to look at such a place. 
 
 But just before I leave 't I discover a new-made grave, a little 
 mound short. The grass has hardly sprouted over it, and all 
 around I see torn pieces of paper with the word " fiat" on them, 
 and I look down in curiosity, wondering what the little grave is, 
 and I read on it : " Sacred to the memory of the Rag Baby ;" 
 nursed in the brain of all the fanaticism of the world ; rocked by 
 Thomas Ewing, George H. Pendleton, Samuel Gary, and a few 
 others throughout the land. But it died on the 1st of January, 1879, 
 and the one hundred and forty millions of gold that God made, and 
 not fiat power, lie upon its little carcass to keep it down forever. 
 
 Oh, young man, come out of that ! That is no place in which to 
 put your young life. Come out, and come over into this camp of
 
 388 GARF1ELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 liberty, of order, of law, of justice, of freedom, of all thai is glori- 
 ous under these night stars. 
 
 Is there any death here in our camp ? Yes ! yes ! Three hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand soldiers, the noblest band that ever trod the 
 earth, died to make this camp a camp of glory and of liberty for- 
 ever. But there are no dead issues here. There are no dead ideas 
 here. Hang out our banner from under the blue sky this night, 
 until it shall sweep the green turf under your feet. It hangs over 
 our camp. Read away up under the stars the inscription we have 
 "written on it, lo ! these twenty-five years. 
 
 Twenty- five years ago the Republican party was married to liberty, 
 and this is our silver wedding, fellow-citizens. A worthily married 
 pair love each other better on the day of their silver wedding than 
 on the day of their first espousals ; and we are truer to liberty to- 
 day and dearer to God than we were when we spoke our first word 
 of liberty. Read away up under the sky across our starry banner 
 that first word we uttered twenty-five years ago ! What was it? 
 " Slavery shall never extend over another foot of the territory of 
 i he great West." Is that dead or alive? Alive, thank God, for- 
 evermore ! And truer to-night than it was the hour it was written. 
 Then it was a hope, a promise, a purpose. To-night it is equal 
 with the stars immortal history and immortal truth. 
 
 Come down the glorious steps of our banner. Every great record 
 we have made we have vindicated with our blood and with our 
 truth. It sweeps the ground, and it touches the stars. Come here, 
 young man, and put in your young life where all is living, and where 
 nothing is dead but the heroes that defended it. I think these 
 young men will do that. 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC GRAVEYARD. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, Aug. 4, 1876.] 
 
 I WALK across that Democratic camping-ground as in a graveyard. 
 Under my feet resound the hollow echoes of the dead. There lies 
 Slavery ; a black marble column at the head of its grave, on which I 
 read, Died in the flames of the civil war ; loved in its life, lament- 
 ed in its death ; followed to its bier by its only mourner, the Demo- 
 cratic party, but dead ! And here is a double grave : Sacred to the 
 memory of Squatter Sovereignty. Died in the campaign of 1860. 
 On the reverse side : Sacred to the memory of the Dred Scott- 
 Breckinridge doctrine. Both dead at the hands of Abraham Lin- 
 coin. And here a monument of brimstone : Sacred to the memory 
 of the Rebellion ; the war against it is a failure ; Tilden et Vallan- 
 digham fececunt, A.D. 1864. Dead on the field of battle ; shot to
 
 GAEFIELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 289 
 
 death by the million guns of the Republic. The doctrine of Seces- 
 sion, of State Sovereignty. Dead ; expired in the flames of civil 
 war, artn'd the blazing ratters of the Confederacy, except that the 
 modern ^Eneas, fleeing out of the flames of that ruin, bears on his 
 back another Anchiscs i-f "State Sovereignty, and brings it here in 
 the person of the honorable gentleman from the Appomattox district 
 of Virginia. All else is dead. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, are you sad, are you sorry for these deaths ? 
 Are you not glad that secession is dead ? that slavery is dead ? that 
 squatter sovereignty is dead ? that the doctrine of the failure of the 
 war is dead ? Then you are glad that you were outvoted in 1860, 
 1864, in 1868, and in 1872. If you have tears to shed over these 
 losses, shed them in the graveyard, but not in this House of living 
 men. I know that many a Southern man rejoices that these issues 
 are dead. The gentleman from Mississippi has clothed his joy with 
 eloquence. Now, gentlemen, if you yourselves are glad that you 
 have suffered defeat during the last sixteen years, will you not be 
 equally glad when you suffer defeat next November ? 
 
 RELATION OP CURRENCY TO PRICES. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, May 15, 1868.] 
 
 LET us examine more minutely the effect of such a currency upon 
 
 rices. Suppose that the business transactions of the country at 
 
 le present time require $350,000,000 in gold. It is manifest that 
 
 there are just 8350,000,000 of legal-tender notes, and no other 
 
 noney in the country, each dollar will perform the full functions of 
 
 gold dollar, so far as the work of exchange is concerned. Now, 
 
 usiness remaining the same, let .$350,000,000 more of the same 
 
 ind of notes be pressed into circulation. The whole volume, as 
 
 lus increased, can do no mure than all the business. Each dollar will 
 
 ccomplish just half the work that a dollar did before the increase, 
 
 ut as the nominal dollar is fixed by law, the effect is shown in 
 
 rices being doubled. It requires two of these dollars to make the 
 
 same purchase that one dollar made before the increase. It would 
 
 require some time for the business of the country to adjust itself to 
 
 jew conditions, and great derangement of values would ensue ; 
 
 ' ut the result would at last be reached in all transactions which are 
 
 "ontrolled by the law of demand and supply. 
 
 No such change of value can occur without cost. Somebody 
 
 - pay for it. Who pays in this case ? We have seen that 
 
 ;: the currency finally results in reducing the purchasing powe-.
 
 290 &ARFIELD AS STATESMAN AND OP. A TOE. 
 
 of each dollar one half ; hence every mail who held a legal-tender 
 note at the time of the increase, and continued to hold it till the full 
 effect of the increase was produced, suffered a loss of fifty per cent 
 of its value ; in other words, he paid a tax to the amount oi half of 
 all the currency in his possession. This new issue, therefore, by 
 depreciating the value of all the currency, cost the holders of the 
 old issue $175,000,000 ; and if the new notes were received at their 
 nominal value at the date of issue, their holders paid a tax of 
 >> 1 7 5, 000,000 more. No more unequal or unjust mode of taxation 
 could possibly be devised. It would be tolerated only by being so 
 involved in the transactions of business as to be concealed from 
 observation ; but it would be no less real because hidden. 
 
 SURPLUS AND DEFICIT IN THE TREASURY. 
 
 [From a Speech in the House of Representatives, March 5, 1874.] 
 
 REVENUES and expenditures may be considered from two points 
 of view in relation to Che people and their industries, and in rela- 
 tion to the government and the effective working of its machinery. 
 So far as the people are concerned, they willingly bear the burdens 
 of taxation, when they see that their contributions are honestly and 
 wisely expended to maintain the government of their choice, and 
 to accomplish those objects which they consider necessary for the 
 general welfare. So far as the government is concerned the sound- 
 ness of its financial affairs depends upon the annual surplus of its 
 revenues over expenditures. A steady and constant revenue drawn 
 from sources that represent the prosperity of the nation a revenue 
 that grows with the growth of national wealth and is so adjusted to 
 the expenditures that a constant and considerable surplus is annually 
 left in the treasury above all the necessary current demands ; a 
 surplus that keeps the treasury strong, that holds it above the fear 
 of sudden panic ; that makes it impregnable against all private com- 
 binations ; that makes it a terror to all stock jobbing and gold- 
 gambling this is financial health. This is the situation that wise 
 statesmanship should endeavor to support and maintain. 
 
 Of course in this discussion I leave out the collateral though im- 
 portant subject of banking and currency. The surplus, then, is the 
 key to our financial situation. Every act of legislation should be 
 studied in view of its effects upon the surplus. Two sets of forces 
 are constantly acting upon the surplus. It is increased by the 
 growth of the revenue and by the decrease of expenditure. It is 
 decreased by the repeal or reduction of taxation, and by the increase 
 of expenditures When both forces conspire against it, when taxes
 
 QARF1ELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 291 
 
 are diminished and expenditures are increased, the surplus disap- 
 pears. 
 
 With the disappearance of the surplus comes disaster disaster to 
 the treasury, disaster to the public credit, disaster to all the public 
 interests. In times of peace, when no sudden emergency has made 
 a great and imperious demand upon the treasury, a deficit cannot 
 occur except as the result of unwise legislation or reckless and un- 
 warranted administration. That legislation may consist in too 
 great an increase of appropriations, or in too great a reduction of 
 taxation, or in both combined. 
 
 HEROES IN POLITICS. 
 
 [From an Oration delivered at Ravenna, Ohio, July 4, 1860.] 
 As a people we are brimfull of enthusiasm and excitement. To 
 Europeans our Presidential campaigns are a source of profound as- 
 tonishment. Mackay in his late tour among us expressed his won- 
 der that such an intensely exciting mass meeting should be held in 
 the City of New York without the restraining influence of military 
 force. But they do not understand the orrlnipotence of majorities 
 among us. Let a contest rage never so fiercely, with all the inten- 
 sity which excited partisans can feel, and though each will fight for 
 his man or party to the bitter end yet, when once the voice of the 
 majority has been clearly and fairly expressed, the waves of strife 
 are still, and ninety-nine in the hundred of that fiery throng would 
 fight to their death to sustain the will of that majority. This strong 
 element of national enthusiasm has given a peculiar character to our 
 hero-worship. We are never without a man or a motto to shout 
 over. Still our Hosannas are not so much for the man as for the 
 doctrine he represents. Our political heroes we very appropriately 
 call " standard-bearers." We applaud the motto inscribed on the 
 banner rather than him who bears it. He may soon pass out of 
 sight, but the motto is preserved. And here we are reminded of 
 that proverbial ingratitude charged upon republics for their treat- 
 ment of their great men. It must be conceded that for the last 
 quarter of a century few of our first men have been elevated to the 
 highest positions. This has at least demonstrated the virtue and 
 strength of the Government, that with only mediocre men at the 
 helm its functions could be so easily and well discharged. It may 
 be fairly questioned whether the welfare of the whole people does 
 not demand that the power and control of great men should be 
 jealously watched and in a measure abridged. As a giant tree 
 absorbs all the elements of growth within its reach, and leaves only 
 a sickly vegetation in its shadow, so do towering great men absorb 
 all the strength and glory of their surroundings.
 
 QARF1ELD AS STATESMAN AND ORATOR. 
 
 TREASON IN CONGRESS. 
 
 [From Remarks in the House Jan. 1874 ln answer to a speech by Alexander Long 
 in favor of recognizing the Southern Confederacy.] 
 
 FIRST of all, the gentleman tells us that the right of secession is a 
 constitutional right. I do not propose to enter into the argument. 
 I have expressed myself hitherto upon State sovereignty and State 
 rights, of which this proposition is the legitimate child. But the 
 gentleman takes higher ground, and in that I agree with him, 
 namely, that five million or eight million people possess the right 
 of revolution. Grant it : we agree there. If fifty-nine men can 
 make revolution successful, they have the right of revolution. If 
 one Stale wishes to break its connection with the Federal Govern- 
 ment, and does it by force, maintaining itself, it is an independent 
 nation. If the eleven Southern States are determined and resolved 
 to leave the Union, to secede, to revolutionize, and can maintain 
 that revolution by force, they have the revolutionary right to do so. 
 Grant it. I stand on that platform with the gentleman. 
 
 And now the question comes, Is it our constitutional duty to let 
 them do it ? That is the question, and in order to reach it I beg to 
 call your attention, not to an argument, but to the condition of 
 affairs which would result from such action, the mere statement of 
 which becomes the strongest possible argument. What does this 
 gentleman propose ? Where will he draw the line of division ? If 
 the rebels carry into successful secession what they desire to carry ; 
 if their revolution envelops as many States as they intend it shall 
 envelop ; if they draw the line where Isharn G. Harris, the rebel 
 Governor of Tennessee, in the rebel camp near our lines, old Mr. 
 Vailandigham they would draw it along the line of the Ohio and 
 the Potomac ; if they make good their declaration to him that they 
 will never consent to any other line, then I ask, what is this thing 
 that the gentleman proposes to do ? I tell you, and I confess it 
 h^-re, that while I hope I have something of human courage, I have 
 not enough to contemplate such a result. I am nol brave enough 
 to go to the precipice of successful secession and look down into its 
 damned abyss. If my vision were keen enough to pierce to its bot- 
 tom, I would not dare to look. If there be a man here who dare 
 contemplate such a spectacle, I look upon him as the bravest of the 
 sons of women or as a downright madman. Secession to gain 
 peace ! Secession is the tocsin of eternal war. There can be no 
 end to such a war as will be inaugurated of this thing be done, and 
 leave a dearth of greatness for a whole generation. A monopoly 
 of popular honors is as much a tyranny as a monopoly of wealth. 
 The good, of the many should be dearer to the American heart than 
 i:ic irood of the few.
 
 GEN, GARFIELD'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 MENTOR, 0., July 12. 
 
 DEAR SIR : On the evening of the 8th of June last I had the 
 honor to receive from you, in the presence of the committee of 
 which you were chairman, the official announcement that the 
 Republican National Convention at Chicago had that day nom- 
 inated me as their candidate for President of the United States. 
 I accept the nomination with gratitude for the confidence it im- 
 plies, and with a deep sense of the responsibility it imposes. I 
 cordially endorse the principles set forth in the platform 
 adopted by the Convention. On nearly all the subjects of which 
 it treats, my opinions are on record among the published pro- 
 ceedings of Congress. I venture, however, to make special 
 mention of some of the principal topics which are likely to be- 
 come subjects of discussion. 
 
 Without reviewing the controversies which have been settled 
 during the last twenty years, and with no purpose or wish to 
 revive the passions of the late war, it should be said that while 
 the Republicans fully recognize and will strenuously defend 
 all the rights retained by the people and all the rights reserved 
 to the States, they reject the pernicious doctrine of State suprem 
 acy which so long crippled the functions of the National Gov- 
 ernment, and at one time brought the Union very near to de- 
 struction. They insist that the United States is a nation, with 
 ample power of self-preservation ; that its Constitution and the 
 laws made in pursuance thereof are the supreme law of tin- 
 land ; that the right of the Nation to determine the method 
 by which its own Legislature shall be created cannot be surren-
 
 2'J-l GARFIELD'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 dered without abdicating one of the fundamental powers of 
 government ; that the national laws relating to the election of 
 Representatives in Congress shall neither be violated nor evaded ; 
 that every elector shall be permitted freely and without intimi- 
 dation to cast his lawful ballot at such election and have it hon- 
 estly counted, and that the potency of his vote shall not be de- 
 stroyed by the fraudulent vote of any other person. 
 
 The best thoughts and energies of our people should be di- 
 rected to those great questions of national well-being in which 
 all have a common interest. Such efforts will soouest restore 
 perfect peace to those who were lately in arms against each 
 other ; for justice and good-will will outlast passion. But it is 
 certain that the wounds of the war cannot be completely healed, 
 and the spirit of brotherhood cannot fully pervade the whole 
 country, until every citizen, rich or poor, white or black, is se- 
 cure in the free and equal enjoyment of every civil and political 
 right guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws. Wherever 
 the enjoyment of these rights is not assured, discontent will 
 prevail, immigration will cease, and the social and industrial 
 forces will continue to be disturbed by the migration of la- 
 borers and the consequent, diminution of prosperity. The Xa- 
 tional Government should exercise all its constitutional author- 
 ity to put an end to these evils, for all the people and all the 
 States are members of one body, and no member can suffer 
 without injury to all. The most serious evils which now afflict 
 the South arise from the fact that there is not such freedom 
 and toleration of political opinion and action thnt the minority 
 party can exercise an effectve and wholesome restraint upon the 
 party in power. Without such restraint party rule becomes 
 tyrannical and corrupt. The prosperity which is made possible 
 in the South by its great advantages of soil and climate will 
 never be realized until every voter can freely and safely support 
 any party he pleases. 
 
 Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular edura-
 
 GARFIELD'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 295 
 
 tion, without which neither freedom nor justice can be perma- 
 nently maintained. Its interests are entrusted to the States and 
 to the voluntary action of the people. Whatever help the Na- 
 tion can justly afford should be generously given to aid the 
 States in supporting common schools ; but it would be unjust 
 to our people and dangerous to our institutions to apply any 
 portion of the revenues of the Nation, or of the States, to the 
 support of sectarian schools. The separation of the Church and 
 the State in everything relating to taxation should be absolute. 
 On the subject of national finances my views have been so 
 frequently and fully expressed that little is needed in the way 
 of additional statement. The public debt is now so well secured 
 and the rate of annual interest has been so reduced by refund- 
 ing, that rigid economy in expenditures and the faithful appli- 
 cation of our surplus revenues to the payment of the principal 
 of the debt \vill gradually but certainly free the people from its 
 burdens, and close with honor the financial chapter of the war. 
 At the same time the Government can provide for all its ordi- 
 nary expenditures and discharge its sacred obligations to the 
 soldiers of the Union, and to the widows and orphans of those 
 who fell in its defence. The resumption of specie payments, 
 which the Republican Party so courageously and successfully 
 accomplished, has removed from the field of controversy many 
 questions that long and seriously disturbed the credit of the 
 Government and the business of the country. Our paper cur- 
 rency is now as national as the flag, and resumption has not 
 only made it everywhere equal to coin, but has brought into 
 use our store of gold and silver. The circulating medium is 
 more abundant than ever before, and \ve need only to maintain 
 the equality of all our dollars to insure to labor nnd capital a 
 measure of value from the use of which no one can suffer loss. 
 Tlie great prosperity which the country is now enjoying should 
 not be endangered by any violent changes or doubtful financial 
 experiments.
 
 -v ; J GAR FIELD'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 In reference to our customs laws a policy should be pursued 
 which will bring revenues to the Treasury, and will enable the 
 labor and capital employed in our great industries to compete 
 fairly in our own markets with the labor and capital of foreign 
 producers. We legislate for the people of the United States, 
 and not for the whole world, and it is our glory that the Amer- 
 ican laborer is more intelligent and better paid than his foreign 
 competitor. Our country cannot be independent unless its 
 people, with their abundant natural resources, possess the re- 
 quisite skill at any time to clothe, arm, and equip themselves 
 for war, and in time of peace to produce all the necessary im- 
 plements of labor. It was the manifest intention of the found- 
 ers of the Government to provide for the common defence, not 
 by standing armies alone, but by raising among the people a 
 if i eater army of artisans whose intelligence and skill should 
 powerfuly contribute to the safety and glory of the nation. 
 
 Fortunately for the interests of commerce, there is no longer 
 any formidable opposition to appropriations for the improvement 
 of our harbors and great navigable rivers, provided that the ex- 
 penditures for that purpose are strictly limited to works of na- 
 tional importance. The Mississippi River, with its great tribu- 
 taries, is of such vital importance to so many millions of people 
 that the safety of its navigation requires exceptional considera- 
 tion. In order to secure to the Nation the control of all its 
 waters, President Jeflerson negotiated the purchase of a vast 
 territory, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific 
 Ocean. The wisdom of Congress should be invoked to devise 
 some plan by which that great river shall cease to be a terror to 
 those who dwell upon its banks, and by whioli its shipping may 
 safely carry the industrial products of 25,000,000 of people. 
 The interested of agriculture,, which is the basis of all our material 
 prosperity, and in which seven-twelfths of our population are 
 engaged, as well as the interests of manufactures and commerce,
 
 GARFIELD'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 297 
 
 demand that the facilities for cheap transportation shall be in- 
 creased by the use of all our great water-courses. 
 
 The material interests of this country, the traditions of its 
 settlement, and the sentiment of our people have led the Govern- 
 ment to offer the widest hospitality to immigrants who seek our 
 shores for new and happier homes, willling to share the burdens 
 as well as the benefits of our society, and intending that their 
 posterity shall become an undistinguishable part of our popula- 
 tion. The recent movement of the Chinese to our Pacific Coast 
 partakes but little of the qualities of such an immigration either 
 in its purpose or its result. It is too much like an importation to 
 be welcomed without restriction ; too much like an invasion to 
 be looked upon without solicitude. We cannot consent to al- 
 low any form of servile labor to be introduced among us under 
 the guise of immigration. Recognizing the gravity of this sub- 
 ject, the present Administration, supported by Congress, has 
 sent to China a commission of distinguished citizens for the pur- 
 pose of securing such a modification of the existing treaty as 
 will prevent the evils likely to arise from the present situation. 
 It is confidently believed that these diplomatic negotiations will 
 be successful without the loss of commercial intercourse be- 
 tween the two Powers, which promises a great increase of re- 
 ciprocal trade and the enlargement of our markets. Should 
 these efforts fail, it will be the duty of Congress to mitigate the 
 evils already felt, and prevent their increase by such restrictions 
 its, without violence or injustice, will place upon a sure founda- 
 tion the peace of our communities and the freedom and dig- 
 nity of labor. 
 
 The appointment of citizens to the various executive and judi- 
 cial offices of the Government is, perhaps, the most difficult of 
 all duties which the Constitution has imposed on the Executive. 
 The Convention wisely demands that Congress shall co-operate 
 with the executive departments in placing the Civil Service on a 
 better basis. Experience has proved that with our frequent
 
 298 QARfflELirS LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 changes of administration no system of reform can be made 
 effective and permanent without the aid of legislation. Ap- 
 pointments to the military and naval service are so regulated by 
 law and custom as to leave but little ground for complaint. It 
 may not be wise to make similar regulations by law for the Civil 
 Service. But without invading the authority or necessary dis- 
 cretion of the Executive, Congress should devise a method that 
 will determine the tenure of office, and greatly reduce the un- 
 certainty which makes that service so uncertain and xinsatisfac- 
 tory. Without depriving any officer of his rights as a citizen, 
 the Government should require him to discharge all his official 
 duties with intelligence, efficiency, and faithfulness. To select 
 wisely from our vast population those who are best fitted for 
 the many offices to be filled, requires an acquaintance far be- 
 yond the range of any one man. The Executive should, there- 
 fore seek and receive information and assistance of those whose 
 knowledge of the communities in which the duties are to be 
 performed best qualifies them to aid in making the wisest choice. 
 
 The doctrines announced by the Chicago Convention are not 
 the temporary devices of a party to attract votes and carry an 
 election ; they are deliberate convictions resulting from a care- 
 ful study of the sphit of our institutions, the events of our his- 
 tory, and the best impulses of our people. In my judgment 
 these principles should control the legislation and administra- 
 tion of the Government. In any event, they will guide my 
 conduct until experience points out a better way. 
 
 If elected, it will be my purpose to enforce strict obedience 
 to the Constitution and the laws, and to promote, as best I may, 
 the interest and honor of the whole country, relying for support 
 upon the wisdom of Congress, the intelligence and patriotism 
 of the people, and the favor of God. With great respect, 1 am 
 very truly yours, J. A. GAKFIELD. 
 
 To the Hon. GEORGE F. HOAR, Ohairman of Committee.
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 CHESTER A/ARTHUR 
 
 OF NEW YORK. 
 
 BY 
 
 E. L. M U R L I N.
 
 A
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 CHESTER A. ARTHUR 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BOYHOOD AND COLLEGE LIFE. 
 
 THK traveller through Washington County, New York, and 
 the bordering counties of Southwestern Vermont finds a land 
 that has many of the characteristics of a mountain region. There 
 are long and narrow valleys adorned with rich meadows, shut 
 in by hills approaching the height of mountains their bases 
 covered with farms and their crests hidden by dense forests. 
 To the northward the dwellers on these hills see, low-lying on the 
 horizon line, the Adirondacks ; at the south t.ie curving line of 
 the blue Catskills ; while cleaving their land is a great mountain 
 range, a huge ridge of rock and forest lifted high in the air 
 the Green Mountains. The inhabitants of this region, as in all 
 mountainous countries, have always been a liberty-loving people 
 and very energetic in their action when they thought it endan- 
 gered. From them went forth Ethan Allen to conquer Ticon- 
 derogn, " in the name of God and the Continental Congress." 
 From them again, in 1851, there came forth a young man who 
 loved liberty and believed in .human freedom, and who, from 
 these native traits, was to take a great part in the liberation and 
 enfranchisement of four million slaves then in bondage. 
 
 Chester Alan Arthur was born in Franklin County, Vermont, 
 on the 5th day of October, 1830. He was the eldest of two
 
 302 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 sons ; he had four sisters older and one younger than himself. 
 His father, the Rev. Dr. William Arthur, was a Baptist clergy- 
 man, who came to the United States from Ballymena, County 
 Antrim, Ireland, when only 18 years old, and died at an 
 advanced age in Newtonville, near Albany, on October 27th, 
 1875. Dr. Arthur was a finely-educated man ; a graduate of 
 Belfast University, Ireland. For several years he published 
 The Antiquarian, a journal devoted, as its title indicates, to anti- 
 quarian research. A work of his own, " Family Names," is still 
 highly esteemed by the collectors of this kind of literature. 
 While devoting himself to literature, he yet fulfilled faithfully 
 all the duties of his special calling. He was pastor of the 
 Calvary Baptist Church, Albany ; and also of Baptist churches 
 at Bennington, Hinesburg, Fairfield and Williston, in Vermont ; 
 and at York, Perry, Greenwich, Schenectady, Lansingburg, 
 Hoosic, West Troy, and Newtonville, in New York State. The 
 second son, William Arthur, highly distinguished himself in the 
 Union army during the war of the Rebellion. He is now a pay- 
 master of the regular army with the rank of major. 
 
 Chester A. Arthur found his father's fine knowledge of the 
 Latin and Greek classics of great advantage to him when he- 
 came to prepare for college. His preparation first began in 
 Union Village, now Greenwich, a beautiful village of Washing- 
 ton County, New York ; and was concluded at the grammar 
 school at Schenectady. Thanks to his fine training young 
 Arthur took a high position in Union College, which he entered 
 in 1845, when only 15 years old. Every year of his college 
 course he was declared to be one of those who had taken 
 "maximum honors"^ and at the conclusion of his college 
 course, out of a class of one hundred members he was one 
 of six who were elected members of the Phi Beta Kappa 
 Society, the condition of entrance to which is the highest schol- 
 arship. This was the more creditable to him as he was compelled 
 to obsent himself from Union two winters during his course, to
 
 LTFE Of CHESTER A. ARTHUR* 303 
 
 :'.rn money to go on with his education. His father was receiv- 
 ing a salary of only $500, and with a large family to support 
 with it, found that he could not aid his eldest son through col- 
 lege. When 16 years old, therefore, and a Sophomore, young 
 Arthur left college, and obtaining a school at Schaghticoke, 
 Rensselaer County, taught there throughout the winter. He had 
 " to board around " and received only $15 a month compensa- 
 tion. He also had to keep up his studies in college. In the 
 last year of his college course he again taught during the winter 
 at Schaghticoke. He was graduated, at 18 years of age, from 
 Union College in the class of 1848. In college he had been very 
 popular with his fellow-students and had become a member of 
 the Psi Upsilon fraternity in whose welfare he ever after took 
 a keen interest. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AT WORK FOR THE SLAVE. 
 
 AT college he had determined to become a lawyer. Accord- 
 ingly, upon graduation he went to a law school at Ballston 
 Springs, and there remained diligently studying for several 
 months. He then returned to Lansingburg, where his father 
 then resided and there studied law. In 1851 he obtained a situ- 
 ation as principal of an academy at North Pownal, Bennington 
 County, Vermont. He prepared boys for college, all the while 
 studying law. Two years after he left North Pownal, or in 
 1853, a student from Williams College named James A. Garfield 
 came to the place, and in the same academy bin Id ing taught pen- 
 manship throughout one winter. It was a singular circumstance 
 that after nearly a quarter of a century both these men should 
 meet at a great political convention and unexpectedly to them- 
 selves be picked out as the candidates of the Republican Party 
 for President and Vice-President.
 
 304 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 Mr. Arthur came to New York in 1853 and entered the 
 office of E. D. Culver as a law student. By the strictest econ- 
 omy he had saved $500, and with this determined to start out 
 in business life. He had known Mr. Culver when the latter 
 was a Congressman from Washington County and when Mr. 
 Arthur's father was pastor of the Baptist Church in the village. 
 Mr. Culver was celebrated in Congress for his firm anti-slavery 
 principles, and his law office in New York was one of the depots 
 of " The Underground Railway " patronized by runaway slaves. 
 It was from Mr. Culver that Mr. Arthur imbibed his anti-slavery 
 ideas. Admitted to the Bar in 1853 he became, at once a mem- 
 ber of the firm of Culver, Parker & Arthur, where he remained 
 until the dissolution of that firm in 1857. He then formed a law 
 partnership with Henry D. Gardiner, an intimate friend, the 
 firm being Arthur & Gardiner. They had intended to practice 
 law in the West, but after a three months' tour through the 
 A\ 7 est they concluded that their prospects were better in New 
 York City. They accordingly returned to New York, and very 
 soon acquired a very lucrative practice. 
 
 Already there were tokens of the coming struggle over 
 slavery. Mr. Arthur's fame as a lawyer had begun earlier with 
 his management of a very celebrated slave case. In 1852, a 
 slaveholder of Virginia named Jonathan Lemmon determined 
 to take eight slaves to Texas. He brought them by steamer 
 from Norfolk to New York, intending to reship them from 
 New York for Texas. While in New York these slaves were 
 discovered by a free colored man named Louis Napoleon. He 
 had been told that slaves could not legally be held in the State 
 of- New York. He accordingly presented a petition to Elijah 
 Paine, a Justice of the Superior Court of New York, asking 
 that a writ of habeas corpus be issued to the persons having the 
 slaves in charge, commanding them to bring the slaves into 
 court at once. Mr. Culver and John Jay appeared as counsel 
 for the slaves, and II. D. Lapaugh and Henry L. Clinton for
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 305 
 
 Leinmon. Judge Paine, after hearing long arguments, ordered 
 the slaves released, affirming that the fugitive-slave law did 
 not apply to them and that no human creature could be held in 
 bondage in the State, except under that national law. This 
 decision created great excitement in the slave States, as it prac- 
 tically made every slave free who should put foot on the soil of a 
 free State. Governor Cobb of Georgia thought the decision would 
 be " a just cause for war." Governor Johnson, of Virginia said : 
 " In importance it is of the first magnitude, and in spirit it is 
 without a parallel. If sustained, it will not only destroy that 
 comity which should liave subsisted between the several States 
 composing this Confederacy, but must seriously affect the value 
 of slave property wherever found." Inspired by this message, 
 the Legislature of Virginia directed the Attorney-General of the 
 State to employ counsel to appeal from the decision of Judge 
 Paine to the higher courts of New York. Mr. Arthur went to 
 Albany and after persistent effort induced the Legislature of 
 New York to take up the challenge ; and he procured the 
 passage of a joint resolution requesting the Governor to appoint 
 counsel to defend the interests of the State. Ogden Hoffman, 
 then Attorney-General, E. D. Culver, and Joseph Blunt were 
 appointed the counsel of the State. Mr. Arthur was the State's 
 attorney in the matter, and upon the death of Ogden Hoffman 
 at the suggestion he associated with him William M. Evarts as 
 counsel. The Supreme Court sustained Judge Paine's decision. 
 Thereupon to strengthen their cause the slaveholders engaged 
 Charles O' Conor to argue the case before the Court of Appeals. 
 But there again, the counsel for the State were successful in de- 
 fending Judge Paine's decision ; and thenceforth no slaveholder 
 dared venture with his slaves into the State of New York. 
 
 Mr. Arthur became such a champion of their interests in the 
 eyes of the colored people by his connection with this case that 
 it was natural they should seek his aid when next in trouble. 
 The street car companies of New York, cringing to the senti-
 
 306 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 ments of the slaveholders, made almost no provision for the 
 transportation of colored people. Upon several of the lines 
 occasionally there could be seen passing by an old and shabby- 
 looking car labelled, " Colored persons allowed in this car." 
 Several of the lines did not make even this provision. This was 
 the case with the rich Fourth Avenue line. One Sunday in 
 1855 a neatly-dressed colored woman named Lizzie Jennings, 
 who had jusjb come from fulfilling her duties as superintendent 
 of a colored Sunday-school, hailed a Fourth Avenue car. The 
 car stopped, she took a seat, and the conductor took her fare 
 thus silently acknowledging her right to ride on the car. The 
 car went on a block and then a drunken white man said to the 
 
 conductor : " Are you going to let that nigger ride in 
 
 this car ?" 
 
 " Oh, I guess it won't make any difference," said the con- 
 ductor. 
 
 " Yes, but it will," answered the pro-slavery man ; "I have 
 paid my fare, and I want a decent ride, and I tell you you've 
 got to give me a decent ride." 
 
 Thereupon the conductor went to Lizzie Jennings and asked 
 her to leave the car, offering to return her fare. She refused 
 to comply with the request. The car was stopped and the 
 conductor attempted to put her off by force. She strenuously 
 resisted, all the while crying : "I have paid my fare and I am 
 entitled to ride." Her clothing was almost torn from her body, 
 but still she resisted, and resisted successfully. Finally, the 
 conductor had to call in several policemen, and by their efforts 
 she was finally removed from the car. Influential colored peo- 
 ple soon heard of her treatment, and going to the office of Cul- 
 ver, Parker & Arthur told them all about it. They at once told 
 them that her wrongs should be righted. A suit was brought 
 against the railway company in her behalf in Judge Rockwell's 
 court in Brooklyn. Public sentiment waa still on the side of 
 the slaveholder, however, and even the judge was prejudiced.
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 307 
 
 When Mr. Arthur handed him the papers in the case he said : 
 " Pshaw ! do you ask me to try a case against a corporation for 
 the wrongful act of its agent ?" Mr. Arthur immediately pointed 
 out a section of the Revised Statutes under which the action 
 had been brought, making the corporation liable for the acts of 
 its servants. It could not be disputed, and upon trial of the 
 case, judgment in favor of Lizzie Jennings to the amount of 
 $500 was rendered. Without further contest the railroad com- 
 pany paid the $500. It then issued orders to its conductors 
 that colored people should be allowed to ride on the cars. All 
 the city railroad companies followed the example. The 
 " Colored People's Legal Rights Association " annually for 
 years celebrated the anniversary of the day on which Mr. Arthur 
 conducted and won this celebrated case. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 FIRST STEPS IN POLITICS. 
 
 IT was in the year 1856 that Mr. Arthur began to be prominent 
 in politics in New York City. He had taken an active interest 
 in politics at a very early age. He sympathized with the Whig 
 Party and was an ardent admirer of Henry Clay. It is related 
 of him that during the contest between Polk and Clay, he was 
 the leader of the boys of Whig parentage in Greenwich village, 
 who determined to raise an ash pole iu honor of Henry Clay. 
 They were attacked by the boys of Democratic parentage while 
 doing so, and for a time driven off the village green. But they 
 were rallied by young Arthur, and he leading a desperate 
 charge, the Democrats were driven with broken heads from the 
 field. Then, with a shout of triumph, the Whig boys raised the 
 ash pole. His first vote was cast in 1852 for Winfield Scott 
 for President. In New York City Mr. Arthur icK'uf !"<-;] him-
 
 308 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 self with the " practical men" in politics by joining political 
 associations of his party and sitting at the polls and acting as 
 inspector of election on election day. A far higher class of men 
 then served as inspectors at most of the polls in New York City 
 on election days than do now in any part of the city. They 
 were regularly elected each year, and prominent ctizens then 
 were willing to serve. For many years Mr. Arthur served as an 
 inspector of elections at a polling-place in a carpenter's shop at 
 Broadway and Twenty-third Street, New York, the Hippo- 
 drome being on the lower corner of the same block. The car- 
 penter's shop and the Hippodrome were removed to give place 
 to the present Fifth Avenue Hotel. In tho formation of the Re- 
 publican Party Mr. Arthur took a very prominent part. His 
 name can be found appended to many calls like the following, 
 which was printed in the New York Herald at the opening of 
 the campaign of 1856 : 
 
 " Eighteenth Ward Young Men's Fremont Vigilance Com- 
 mittee. Grand rally. The first public meeting under the auspices 
 of the Eighteenth Ward Young Men's Fremont Vigilance Com- 
 mittee will be held at the Deruilt Dispensary, corner of Twenty- 
 third Street and Second Avenue, on Wednesday evening, the 8th 
 inst., at 7.30, which will be addressed by A. Oakey Hall, Esq.. of 
 this city, and Joseph,!. Couch, Esq., of Brooklyn. The Fremont 
 and Dayton Glee Club will be in attendance. A 11 are invited to 
 attend. Executive Committee : John H. Burleson, William D. 
 Chase, George T. Strong, Henry D. Sedgwick, Joseph Wales, 
 Samuel Brown, Chester A. Arthur, Richard T. Deming, John 
 A. Foster, Henry G. Hallock, Curtis Beane, Benjamin F. Ma- 
 nierre, Peter T. Woodbury, Charles E. Strong.'' 
 
 He was a delegate to the convention at Saratoga that founded 
 the Republican Party. During these political labors he became 
 acquainted with Edwin D. Morgan and gained his ardent 
 friendship. Mr. Morgan, when re-elected Governor in 1860. 
 testified to his high esteem for Mr/ Arthur by nriking him E;;-
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 309 
 
 gineer-in-Chief on his staff. Mr. Arthur had for several years 
 previously taken a great interest in the militia organization of 
 the State and had been appointed Judge Advocate General of 
 the Second Brigade. In this position he was associated with 
 many men who took part in the War of the Rebellion after- 
 ward and held high positons. Brigadier-General Yates, who 
 commanded the Second Brigade, was a very thorough discipli- 
 narian, and for several years required all the brigade and staff 
 officers to meet every week for instruction. They in this manner 
 became very proficient in military tactics and regulations, and 
 the instruction proved to be of inestimable advantage to Gen- 
 eral Arthur in the great and exceedingly responsible duties to 
 which he was soon to be called. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NEW YORK'S SECRET AKT OF "WAS. 
 
 THE breaking out of the War of the Rebellion in April, 
 1861, found him still Engineer-in-Chief. It was a merely orna- 
 mental office, and he probably never imagined he would do a 
 day's duty in the position. The day after Fort Sumter was 
 fired upon, while on his way to his law office, he received a 
 dispatch from Governor Morgan summoning him to Albany. 
 IJpon reaching there Governor Morgan directed him to open a 
 branch Quartermaster's Department in New York City, and to 
 fulfil all the duties there of Quartermaster General. General 
 Arthur was young, strong, and as Governor Morgan saw, of a 
 vigorous nature. The Governor put in his hands the duty of 
 quartering, subsisting, uniforming, equipping, and arming New 
 York's soldiers for the war. It was not only a herculean task, 
 but was one of special difficulty, for there was no broad road 
 of experience to guide the young man. There had been no war
 
 310 LIFE OF CHP:STER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 for many years, and moreover, this one was palpably to be pros- 
 ecuted on a scale, in regard to the number of men engaged in it, 
 of "which no American could have a conception who had not 
 been an eye-witness of some recent European war. Men who 
 had been trained in the small regular army, or in the Btill 
 smaller State militia regiments, were staggered by the enor- 
 mous tasks set before them in the equipment and forwarding of 
 several hundred thousand men to the seat of war. There was 
 nothing for which General Arthur afterward received higher 
 praise than the way he rose to the height of the occasion in all 
 difficulties that beset him in the toilsome years which followed. 
 He was the brains, the organizing force; that took the raw 
 levies of New York, put uniforms on their backs, muskets in 
 their hands, and sent them on to the war. Governor Morgan 
 practically made him the "War Minister of the State, shifting 
 him from place to place on his staff, and from time to time trans- 
 ferring to him the dutes of other military officers of the State, 
 in order that the work might be properly done. He was vir- 
 tually the centre round which all the military operations of the 
 State revolved. He did not go near his law office during the 
 first two years of the war. It was the creation of a great de- 
 partment for the provision of an army, out of nothing ; but he 
 succeeded and had the proud satisfaction of seeing that New 
 York had sent one-fifth of all the soldiers that marched to sub- 
 due the Rebellion a splendid contingent of 690,000 men. 
 
 It is well to relate what he did in detail. When he began in 
 New York, in April, 1861, to perform the work of Quartermaster 
 General, there were thousands of enlisted men in the city to be 
 fed and equipped, the militia regiments were departing for the 
 war from this State, and New England regiments were passing 
 through the city. All these regiments had to be fed and quar- 
 ters provided for them where none existed. Wealthy citizrns 
 of New York aided General Arthur generously ; giving him the 
 rurht to occupy their buildings. Mr. Astor, Mr. Devlin, and
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 311 
 
 Mr. Goclet were conspicuous in this service. The number of 
 troops passing through the city finally became so great that it 
 was found necessary to provide more quarters for them. Then 
 it was that barracks were erected in the City Hall Park. To 
 get them ready for the troops, workmen under General Arthur's 
 direction worked night and day. The populace thought that 
 the war would be over in thirty days, and the bai racks be re- 
 moved. But the barracks remained there four year?, 01 till 
 the end of the war, the latter part of the time being used as a 
 hospital. Meanwhile the work of creating a Quartermaster's 
 Department went on. General Arthur advertised for proposals 
 for subsistence for the troops, and succeeded in making a con- 
 tract at rates one-third lower than those of the United States 
 Government. This saved the State many thousands of dollars. 
 Everything was done in a business-like way ; the quarter- 
 master's stores were issued on regular army requisitions and re- 
 ceipts were demanded for everything. The result of his care 
 was that although the accounts of the State of New York with 
 the United States Government were very much greater than 
 those of any other State, his accounts were the first audited 
 :md allowed at Washington. Not a dollar was deducted from 
 them, whereas the accounts of some other States were cut down 
 fi m $1,000,000 to $10,000,000. It was natural that contract- 
 ors should seek to ingratiate themselves with a man who was 
 buying such enormous quantities of supplies. But every present 
 that reached him with this motive was at once returned to the 
 sender. A great clothing firm proffered him a costly saddle 
 and trappings they were contemptuously returned. He was a 
 comparatively poor man when he became Quartermaster Gen- 
 eral he was far poorer when he gave up the office. Some of 
 the greatest contracts ever made in America were under his di- 
 rection and control. The interests of the Government, how- 
 ever, were treated as though they were his interests. A friend 
 describing his course at this period says : "So jealous was he
 
 C12 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR.- 
 
 of his integrity that I have known instances where he could have 
 made thousands of dollars legitimately, and yet he refused to 
 do it on the ground that he was a public officer and meant to 
 be like Caesar's wife, ' above suspicion.' " 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WAR DIFFICULTIES MASTEKED. 
 
 THE troops poured into New York by the thousand, and it 
 was found necessary every day to provide additional quarters. 
 General Arthur built more barracks at various places on Long 
 Island, on Staten Island, and Riker's Island. The first quota 
 of the State, outside of the militia regiments, was for thirty- 
 eight regiments. These regiments were organized in different 
 parts of the State in the spring of 1861. The work of quarter- 
 ing, subsisting, uniforming, equipping, and arming these regi- 
 ments went on without regard to Sunday or the hours of sleep. 
 For several months General Arthur did not sleep over three 
 hours a night. Whoever had any business connected with the 
 army came to the State headquarters in Elm Street (afterward 
 in Walker Street), and consequently General Arthur's office was 
 constantly besieged by crowds. All sorts of adventurers 
 went on to Washington, obtained commissions to raise troops, 
 and returning to New York, began their work. All these classes 
 required supervision from General Arthur, as they would en- 
 deavor to act independently of his office. His ability to deal with 
 these men, many of whom were of a very rough character, was 
 highly praised at the time. Several instances of his energetic 
 action are remembered to this day. One of the adventurers was 
 " Billy " Wilson, who had been the representative in the New 
 York Board of Aldermen of the roughest element of the city 
 population, and who had been authorized at Washington to raise
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 313 
 
 a regiment from this class. The regiment at one time refused to 
 eat the Government rations and supported itself by raiding on 
 the restaurants in the vicinity of its barracks. General Arthur, 
 hearing of these outrages, sent for Wilson, and told him that he 
 must put an end to them. Wilson thereupon said, in an impu- 
 dent manner : 
 
 " Neither you nor the Governor has anything to do with me. 
 I am a colonel in the United States service, and you've got no 
 right to order me." 
 
 " You are not a colonel," indignantly replied General Ar- 
 thur, " and you will not be until you have raised your regiment 
 to its quota of men and received your commission." 
 
 "Well, I've got my shoulder-straps, anyway," said Wilson, 
 " and as long as I wear them, I don't want no orders from any 
 of you fellows." 
 
 He had scarcely made this insolent reply, when General Ar- 
 thur, who is a very strong man, sprang toward him, saying : 
 
 " We'll make short work of your shoulder-straps," and tear- 
 ing the straps from Wilson's shoulders, put him under arrest. 
 
 General Arthur had a similar experience with Colonel Ells- 
 worth's Fire Zouaves, who were quartered in Devlin's building 
 on Canal Street. One day the members of the regiment re- 
 fused to unpack their muskets. General Arthur having been 
 applied to by Colonel Ellsworth, went among the throng with 
 several policemen, had the ringleaders in the revolt pointed 
 out to him, and said : " Arrest that man, and that one, and 
 that one." Hia orders were obeyed, the regiment was cowed, 
 and there were no more revolts of that nature. The regiment 
 had an amusing experience on starting for the war. It was or- 
 ganized on the very original plan of having attached to it a 
 batter} 7 of light artillery and a troop of cavalry. Furthermore, 
 it had 120 men to the company, being more than the regulation 
 complement. The War Department sent orders to Governor 
 Morgan that the regiment should not be mustered into the ser-
 
 314 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 vice or leave the city until it had equalised or reduced its com- 
 panies. But that very day the regiment, 1300 strong, had re- 
 ceived a stand of colors from Mrs. Astor, in Canal Street, and 
 was on its way to the Baltic steamer to take passage for the 
 South. General Wool had reviewed the regiment, and induced 
 by the persuasion of the officers of the regiment, had rescinded 
 the order for its detention. The regiment had then marched 
 proudly to the troop-ship, which soon afterward steamed 
 down the harbor. An hour after the steamer had sailed an 
 officer strolled into the Elm Street headquarters and said acci- 
 dentally : 
 
 " Well, the Fire Zouaves have got off at last." 
 "Got off!" said General Arthur, in amazement; "that's 
 not possible. Orders have been received from Washington, 
 forbidding them to leave, and there is not a pound of pvovi, 
 sions of any sort on the troop-ship, as I countermanded the 
 order which had been given." 
 
 It was clear that the regiment must be fed at short notice. 
 General Arthur jumped into a carriage, drove to an army con- 
 tractor, and ordered the rations. " Impossible to supply them 
 at such short notice," said the contractor. " It is not impos- 
 sible, and you must do it. I will pay you fifty cents, instead 
 of the usual rate of thirty-five cents a ration, and will have 
 them transported myself to the Baltic." Stimulated by this 
 reward, the contractor got together five days' rations for 1300 
 men in two hours. General Arthur, meanwhile, had hired 
 every tug he could obtain. He put the rations on these tugs, 
 caught up with the Baltic at the Narrows where the regimental 
 officers had discovered the deficiency, and stopped the ship 
 and provisioned the ship. The ship sailed the same night. 
 The regiment was again insubordinate, when it was encamped 
 at Washington after the battle of Bull Run, and was ordered 
 back to New York, and quartered in tents on the Battery. 
 There the men refused to obey the officers, and wandered
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 315 
 
 about the city like marauders, stealing food in the restaurants, 
 as had Wilson's Zouaves. General Arthur (then Inspector 
 General) was directed to disband them ; but he thought some- 
 thing could yet be done with them. With the aid of the police 
 he arrested every soldier of the regiment found wandering 
 about the city and had him taken on board a transport ship 
 which he had procured to be placed in the harbor, and impris- 
 oned. When he had thus " hived " four hundred of them, the 
 ship sailed for Hampton Roads. There the regiment was con- 
 solidated with another and put under the strict discipline of 
 General Wool, and subsequently did good service in the war. 
 
 The " Ulster County Guards,'' in which the present General 
 George H. Sharpe was a captain, was a regiment of far higher 
 character. It was composed of rrfen from the finest families of 
 Ulster County. On their way to Washington they occupied the 
 Park Barracks on the night they were completed. They had 
 hardly got possession before orders came from the War Depart- 
 ment to Governor Morgan that the regiment should return home, 
 as no more three-months regiments were to be accepted. The 
 regiment was almost beside itself with rage and disappoint- 
 ment. Thereupon General Arthur took a night train for 
 Albany, described to Governor Morgan the martial character of 
 the regiment, and the damaging effect of its being compelled to 
 return home, and insisted upon its being sent on to Washington. 
 He obtained the necessary permission and returned to New 
 York by a special train. He reached the barracks at one A.M. 
 and told the good news. The joy of the regiment was inde- 
 scribable. A volunteer regiment was thus saved the service, 
 for nearly all re-enlisted for three years at the end of their three 
 months' service. The regiment, throughout the war, named its 
 camps " Camp Arthur " in gratitude for this service of General 
 Arthur. It was his ivadiness to deal with such matters that 
 led Governor Morgan to intrust General Arthur with the manage- 
 ment of the war affairs of the State. As the immediate repre-
 
 316 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 sentative of Governor Morgan he became known to army officers 
 from every section and this was the foundation of his lurge 
 personal acquaintance in the State. 
 
 In the fall of 1861, after 38 regiments had been furnished, it 
 was seen that the Government would be glad to accept troops 
 without limit ; and as the State had furnished the full quota of 
 those regularly called for through the Governor, numbers of men 
 of desperate fortunes, adventurers, went on to Washington and 
 obtained authority to raise regiments. They came to New 
 York and began to raise troops, claiming to be independent of 
 State authority. There wer,e parts of over a hundred regiments 
 being raised at one time. General Arthur made an investiga- 
 tion as to the character of these adventurers, and found that 
 many of them were men of bad antecedents. One of them who 
 afterward adorned Ludlow Street Jail, advertised for " young 
 gentlemen of pious character " for his regiment, and sold com- 
 missions in the regiment. Another hired the old New York 
 Club House, then vacant ordered a service of plate, furnished 
 the house handsomely, and ran into debt to tradesmen all over 
 the city, ostensibly in behalf of the regiment. These men defied 
 the authority of the State officers. General Arthur advised 
 Governor Morgan to claim from the United States Government 
 supervision over all the troops raised in New York ; and for 
 this purpose to obtain the office of major-general in the United 
 States service. Governor Morgan, accompanied by General 
 Arthur, went on to Washington. There General Arthur depict- 
 ed to the War Department officials the character of the men 
 they had commissioned. The officials were amazed and readily 
 consented to the suggestion that Governor Morgan should be 
 made a major-general, that a Department of New York should 
 be established, and that all the independent organizations 
 should be put under Governor Morgan's authority. Thenceforth 
 there were no more disputes as to authority in New York ; and 
 the example set by this State, was followed by all the other
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 31? 
 
 loyal States in raising troops for the war. At this time General 
 Arthur was acting Adjutant-General of New York ; and was 
 also actually doing the work of the Engineer-in-Chief, Inspector 
 General, and Quartermaster-General. As Inspector General, he 
 afterward consolidated the odds and ends of regiments spoken 
 of before. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TERRORS OF WAR TIMES. 
 
 IT was while Inspector General that he had an exciting and 
 amusing experience. One Sunday in March, 1862, there came 
 hurrying into his office, almost breathless, and flushed a deep red, 
 General Gustavus Loomis, the oldest regular infantry officer in 
 the service. 
 
 " What in the world has happened, General ?" said General 
 Arthur, offering the aged officer a chair. 
 
 " The rebel ram Merrimac ! the rebel ram Merrimac, " faintly 
 said General Loomis. 
 
 " Well, what about her ?" 
 
 " I have a despatch from General McClellan saying that she 
 has sunk two United States ships that she is coming to New 
 York to shell the city may be expected at any moment I'm 
 so out of breath running to tell you the news I can hardly 
 speak." 
 
 " Running to tell me the news ! Why on earth didn't you 
 hire a carriage ?' ' 
 
 " Hire a carriage," answered Loomis with apparent horror ; 
 " hire a carriage ! why that would cost me $2.50. I can't afford 
 to spend so much out of my own pocket, and if I made such an 
 extraordinary expenditure on account of the Government it 
 would take all the rest of my official life to explain why I did
 
 318 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 General Arthur thought that General Loomis did not realize 
 " that time was worth a million an hour at such a time," and 
 sent out for several carriages while reading the following 
 dispatch from General M'Clellan : 
 
 "WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, March 9, 1862. 
 ' ' Commanding Officer, New York Harbor : 
 
 " The rebel iron-clad steamer Merrimac has destroyed two of 
 our frigates near Fortress Monroe, and finally retired tast night to 
 Craney Island. She may succeed in passing the batteries and go 
 to sea. It is necessary that you at once place your post in the 
 best possible condition for defence and do your best to stop 
 her should she endeavor to run by. Anything that can be 
 effected in the way of temporary batteries should be done at 
 once. 
 
 " G. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General." 
 
 He then took a carriage and speeding to General Sandford, 
 got him to detail artillerists from the militia regiments in the 
 city who had been trained to the use of heavy guns to the forts 
 in the harbor, General Loomis having reported that the forts 
 were filled with recruits who didn't know how to handle the 
 guns. It was reported also that there was no powder in the 
 forts ; but fortunately a schooner arrived from Connecticut 
 loaded with powder that day, and General Arthur sent it down 
 the harbor to the forts. He also went to the house of Mayor 
 Opdyke, to inform him of the situaton. As General Arthur 
 drove up Fifth AT, enue to the Mayor's residence on that pleas- 
 ant Sunday afternoon and saw the gayly-dressed throngs going 
 to church, he thought with horror of what might be their fate if 
 the city should be bombarded by the Merrimac. Mayor Opdyke. 
 on receiving General Arthur's alarming news, summoned to his 
 house many eminent citizens. They proposed to sink ships 
 loaded with stone in the Narrows, and thus bar the approach of 
 the Merrimac to the city. General Arthur protested that he 
 would have nothing: to do with such a scheme. The council
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 319 
 
 broke up without adopting any plan for the protection of the 
 city. Fortunately for New York, news came during the night 
 that the Monitor had reached Hampton Roads that day and 
 had sunk the Merrimac. 
 
 This was not the first occasion when General Arthur had to 
 do with the defence of the seaport of New York during the 
 war. When Mason and Slidell were taken from the Trent by 
 Captain Wilkes, and war seemed imminent with England, one 
 day in December, 1861, General Arthur was summoned to 
 Albany in his capacity of Engineer-in-Chief. He knew that he 
 had been summoned to receive orders regarding the defence of 
 New York. He also knew that the forts of masonry in New- 
 York harbor were practically obsolete before modern naval can- 
 non ; that most of the cannon in them were " shell guns," i.e., 
 unsafe to fire. On reaching Albany he stated to Governor Mor- 
 gan that, not being an engineer, he came to resign his position in 
 order that some eminent engineer might be appointed. Gover- 
 nor Morgan replied that there were plenty of engineers, but that 
 for the present duty he preferred to keep a man of the energy, 
 skill, and executive ability of his present Engineer-in-Chief, 
 Governor Morgan insisting upon his keeping the office, General 
 Arthur set about his task. On December 24th, 1861, he sum- 
 moned together a Board of the most eminent engineers in the 
 State ; requesting them to meet him in New York two days 
 later to consult about the defences of the harbor. For two 
 months this board, of which General Arthur was a member, 
 labored constantly, and at the end of that time produced a plan 
 for the defence of the harbor which won universal praise. The 
 plan is still in existence and may be of great value to New York 
 in some emergency. Before its completion, war with England 
 seeming at hand, the erection of a temporary barrier across the 
 harbor was proposed. Colonel Delafield, of the United States 
 Engineers, had suggested that it would be practicable to con- 
 struct a barrier consisting of floats loaded with stone, and con-
 
 3*0 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR 
 
 nected and held iu place by chain cables. An immense amount 
 of timber was needed for such a barrier and there was no State 
 .appropriation with which to buy it. General Arthur took upon 
 himself the responsbility of buying it. He went to Albany and 
 in a day had the refus.al of all the timber there and along the 
 river. The purchase was made so quietly and secretly that the 
 price of lumber did not advance. He also made a contract for 
 the timber being rafted down the Hudson. Unluckily, the day 
 after the purchase was made the Hudson froze up, and it was 
 therefore plain that it would be impossible to deliver it before 
 spring. Undaunted, General Arthur returned immediately to 
 New York and bought up most of the timber there. 'Before the 
 barrier could be erected, however, Mason and Slidell were sur- 
 rendered to England and all danger of war passed away. But 
 the State had upon its hands the immense quantity of timber 
 General Arthur had bought, and grumblers severely criticised 
 the purchase in the State Senate. General Arthur having been 
 sent for by the Governor to advise about the disposition of the 
 timber, went to Albany and had a bill then before the Legis- 
 lature in regard to war expenditures amended so as to provide 
 for the sale of unused war material. The bill passed, was at 
 once signed by Governor Morgan, and the timber was sold soon 
 afterward at a profit to the State. 
 
 Immediately after his convening of the Board of Engineers to 
 consider the defence of the harbor of New York, General Arthur 
 made a thorough, while rapid, inspection of all the forts and 
 defences in the State, both on the seacoast and inland border. 
 He wrote an admirable report to the Legislature of this inspec- 
 tion, which was submitted to that body January 18th, 1862, or a 
 little more than three weeks after his attention was called to 
 the subject by Governor Morgan. In this report the armament 
 of every fort is described, and its condition for defence stated 
 with the minutest details. The New York Herald, of January 25th, 
 1862, says editorially : " The report of the Engineer-in-Chief,
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 321 
 
 General Arthur, which appeared in yesterday's Herald, is one of 
 the most important and valuable documenits that has been this 
 year presented to our Legislatxire. It deserves perusal, not only 
 an account of the careful analysis it contains of the condition 
 of the forts, but because the recommendations with which it 
 closes coincide precisely with the wishes of the administration 
 with respect to securing a full and complete defence of the 
 entire Northern coast. 
 
 In February, 1862, General Arthur was appointed Inspector 
 General, there being duty to do in the array In May, 1862, he 
 went to Fredericksburg, and inspected the New York troops there 
 under the command of General McDowell. From there he went 
 to the Army of the Potomac, then on the Chickahominy, and 
 carefully inspected the New York troops there, with a view of 
 having the depleted regiments then in service filled by enlist- 
 ments to their proper strength, instead of having new 
 regiments raised. As an advance on Richmond was then 
 daily expected, General Arthur volunteered for duty on the 
 staff of his friend, Major-General Hunt, commander of the 
 reserve artillery. It is well to state here that shortly after 
 the commencement of the w r ar General Arthur was elected Col- 
 onel of the Ninth New York Militia, which enlisted in the 
 United States service for two years, and desired to accept the 
 post, but Governor Morgan would not release hjm from the more 
 important work. The year afterward, when four regiments 
 had been formed through the efforts of the Metropolitan Police 
 Commissioners of the City of New York, in which they were 
 largely aided by General Arthur, the colonels of the regiments 
 offered him the command of the brigade, known as the " Metro- 
 politan Brigade." He thereupon made formal application to 
 the Governor for permission to accept the command, saying 
 that it had long been his desire to have active service in the 
 field. Governor Morgan replied that he could not be spared 
 from the service of the State, and that while he appreciated
 
 322 IJFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 General Arthur's desire for war service, he knew he would do 
 far more valuable service for the country by continuing at his 
 post of duty in New York State. 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 ABMING SIXTY THOUSAND MEN. 
 
 IN June, 1862, the affairs of the country looked desperate. 
 There had been defeats, regiments were getting thinned out, 
 and it was evident a great levy would have to be made. Govev 
 nor Morgan telegraphed General Arthur, then with the Army of 
 the Potomac, to return to New York. He did so, and was im- 
 mediately requested to act as secretary at a secret meeting of 
 the Governors of loyal States, held at the Astor House on July 
 28th, 1862. At this meeting President Lincoln was requested 
 by the Governors to call for more men. President Lincoln, on 
 July 1st, issued a proclamation thanking the Governors for their 
 patriotism and calling for 300,000 volunteers and 300,000 mi- 
 litia for nine months' service. Private knowledge, that such a 
 call was to be issued would have enabled contractors to have 
 made millions. General Arthur was approached by one of 
 these men, and an interest offered him in immense contracts if 
 he would reveal what had been done. The secret was kept by 
 all, however, till the proclamation was issued. The quota of 
 New York under the call for 300,000 volunteers was 59,705. 
 It was desired that these sixty regiments should be. recruited 
 and got to the seat of war at the earliest possible moment. In 
 view of the fact that the greater part of the labor would fall 
 upon the Quartermaster's Department, the request was made 
 by Governor Morgan to General Arthur that he should take his 
 old post as Quartermaster General. General Arthur complied 
 on July 7th, 1S62, and set energetically to work. He devised
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 323 
 
 a new system for enlisting and caring for the troops, which was 
 found to work very successfully. He established a camp in 
 each one of the thirty-two Senatorial districts of the State. The 
 Governor had provided for the appointment of committees 
 of prominent citizens from both political parties, in each dis- 
 trict, to stimulate recruiting. This the committees did by hold- 
 ing public meetings. The State fairly resounded with the din 
 of war-meetings. At this time a new system for the recruiting 
 and organization of the regiments enlisted at the several camps 
 was suggested to the War Department by General Arthur, 
 which was approved and put in operation. All previous regiments 
 recruited had been for months during the enlistment, a disor- 
 ganized body of men dressed in civilian garb until mustered 
 into the United States service. General Arthur now changed all 
 this. He recommended that the executive officers of each regi- 
 ment being raised the adjutant, quartermaster, and surgeon 
 be at the outset mustered into the service of the United States, 
 and so have complete authority and control in their respective 
 departments to enforce military regulations, order, and disci- 
 pline in the camp. The men, as soon as enlisted were put in 
 uniform and subjected to the restraint and drill of military life. 
 The camps immediately had a military appearance and became 
 attractive places of resort to the population surrounding them 
 for miles. So attractive were they to young men that in many 
 cases half a second regiment was enlistrd before the first left 
 the camp. The quartermasters of all regiments, as soon as ap- 
 pointed, were required by General Arthur to come to New York 
 and were there, at the office of the Quartermaster General, taught 
 their duties. They were informed of their great responsibilities 
 and shown how to keep their accounts. Large amounts were 
 thus saved the State, for in other States the accounts of the un- 
 instructed quartermasters were so badly prepared that there 
 \vas great loss. General Arthur also had many of the barrack 
 buildings at the various camps constructed by the enlisted
 
 324 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 men, thus saving a great deal of money. The barracks erected 
 in the whole State for this levy of troops thus cost altogether 
 only $27,000. General Arthur made special contracts with the 
 railroads for transporting the soldiers to the front, and in this 
 way saved $43,144 to the State from the rates allowed by the 
 Government. In his annual report, dated January 27th, 1863, 
 he says : 
 
 " In summing up the operations of the department during 
 the last levy of troops, I need only state as the result the fact 
 that through the single office and clothing department of this 
 Department in the City of New York, from August 1st to De- 
 cember 1st, the space of four months, there were completely 
 clothed, uniformed, and equipped, supplied with camp and gar- 
 rison equipage, and transported from this State to the seat of 
 war, 68 regiments of infantry, 2 battalions of cavalry, and 4 bat- 
 talions and 10 batteries of artillery.' 
 
 The incoming of a Democratic State Administration deprived 
 him of his office in December, 1863. His Democratic successor 
 made the following comment upon General Arthur's administra- 
 tion in his annual report to Governor Seymour : 
 
 " STATE OF NEW YORK, Q. M. G. DEPARTMENT, ) 
 NEW YORK, December 31, 1863. \ 
 
 " To Ms Excellency HORATIO SEYMOUR, Governor, Commander- 
 in- Chief, State of New TorTc : 
 
 ' ' GOVERNOR : I have the honor to submit the following report 
 of the operations of this department since the 1st day of Janu- 
 ary last. 
 
 u I found, .upon entering on the discharge of my duties, a well- 
 organized system of labor and accountability, for which the 
 State is chiefly indebted to my predecessor, General Chester A. 
 Arthur, who, by his practical good sense and unremitting exer- 
 tion, at a peiiod when everything was in confusion, reduced the 
 operations of the department to a matured plan, by which large
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. o25 
 
 amounts of money were saved to the Government, and great 
 economy of time secured in carrying out the details of the same. 
 ******* 
 " [Signed.] S. V. TALCOTT, 
 
 " Quartermaster- General." 
 
 CHAPTER VHI. 
 
 COLLECTOR OF NEW YORK. 
 
 UPON his retirement from office General Arthur resumed the 
 active duties of his profession. His partnership with Mr. Gar- 
 diner ceased only with that gentleman's" death in 1866. Alone 
 for over five years he carried on his business. It then became 
 so large that he formed, in 1871, the now well-known firm of 
 Arthur, Phelps, Knevals & Ransom. He became counsel to 
 the Department of Taxes and Assessment, at a salary of $10,000 
 yearly ; but abruptly resigned the position when the Tammany 
 Hall officials at the head of the New York departments attempt- 
 ed to coerce the Republicans connected with those depart- 
 ments. 
 
 Gradually he was drawn into political life again. He was 
 very much interested in promoting the first election of Presi- 
 dent Grant, being chairman of the Central Grant Club of New 
 York. He also served as chairman of the Executive Committee 
 of the Republican State Committee of New York. He re-en- 
 tered official life on November 20th, 1871, being appointed Col- 
 lector of the Port of New York by President Grant. The post 
 of Collector came to him unsought and unexpectedly, and was 
 accepted with much hesitation. 
 
 The appointment met with the general approval of the busi- 
 ness community, many of the merchants having become person- 
 ally acquainted with General Arthur during the war. He insti- 
 tuted many reforms in the management of the Custom House,
 
 326 LIVE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 all calculated to render contact with the institution less vexa- 
 tious than it ordinarily is to the mercantile classes. He also 
 executed the work of a Collector in the matter of appointments 
 and removals in the Custom House in such a manner as to cause 
 less than the usual amount of commotion among politicians. 
 The number of removals during his administration was far less 
 than during the rule of any other Collector, since 1857. New 
 appointees were put in the loAvest grades of Custom House 
 service and compelled to work their way up to higher positions,. 
 So satisfactory was his work that upon the close of his term of 
 office, in December, 1875, he was renominated by President 
 Grant. The nomination was unanimously confirmed by the 
 Senate without referring it to a committee a compliment never 
 given before except to ex-Senators. He was the first Collector 
 of the Port ever reappointed for a second term, and was, with 
 only one or two exceptions, the only one who in fifty years ever 
 held the office for more than the whole term of four years.' The 
 administration of President Hayes was deeply interested in civil 
 service reform, and sent a commission headed by John Jay to 
 learn the operation of the principle in the New York Custom 
 House. Commenting upon their report in a letter to John 
 Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury, Collector Arthur said : 
 
 " The essential elements of a correct civil service I understand 
 to be : First, permanence in office, which, of course, prevents 
 removals, except for cause. Second, promotion from the lower 
 to the higher grades, based upon good conduct and efficiency. 
 Third, prompt and thorough investigation of all complaints and 
 prompt punishment of all misconduct. In this respect I chal- 
 lenge comparison with any department of the Government, 
 either under the present or under any past national administra- 
 tion. I am prepared to demonstrate the truth of this state- 
 ment on any fair investigation.' 1 In a table which was ap- 
 pended to this letter, Collector Arthur showed that during 
 rhe six years he hud managed the office the yearly per-
 
 LIFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 327 
 
 centage of removals for all causes had been only 2 per 
 cent, against an annual average of 28 per cent under his three 
 immediate predecessors, and an annual average of about 24 per 
 cent, since 1857, when Collector Schell took office. Out of 923 
 persons who held office when he became Collector on December 
 1st, 1871, there were 531 still in office on May 1st, 1877, having 
 been retained during his entire term. Concerning promotions, 
 the statistics of the office show that during his entire term the 
 uniform practice was to advance men from the lower to the 
 higher grades, and almost without exception on the recommen- 
 dation of heads of departments. All the appointments, except 
 two, to the 100 persons receiving over $2,000 salary a year, 
 were made on this method. The expense of collecting the 
 revenue was also kept low. . Under Collector Schell, from 1857 
 to 1861, the expense was an average of about .59 per cent. ; 
 under Mr. Barney, from 1861 to 1865, about .87^ per cent. ; un- 
 der Mr. Draper, in 1864 and 1865, 1.30 per cent. ; under Mr. 
 Smythe, from 1866 to 1869, about .74 per cent. ; under Mr. Grin- 
 nell, iu 1869 and 1870, about .85 per cent. ; under Mr. Murphy, 
 in 1870 and 1871, about .60 per cent. ; under Mr. Arthur, from 
 1871 to 1877, about .62 per cent. Mr. Arthur was succeeded as 
 Collector in 1878 by General E. A. Merritt, and has since been 
 engaged in the practice of law. In the fall of 1879 he was 
 elected chairman of the Republican State Committee, and con- 
 ducted the victorious campaign which ended in the election of 
 all but one of the candidates of the Republican Party for six 
 State offices. 
 
 In June, 1880, he was nominated for Vice-President by 
 the National Republican Convention, held at Chicago. Gene- 
 ral Stewart L. Wood ford proposed his name in the conven- 
 tion ; and the nomination was seconded by ex-Governor 
 Dennison, of Ohio ; General Kilpatrick, of New Jersey ; Emery 
 A. Storrs, of Illinois ; Denis McCarthy, of New York, and 
 many others. Vice-President Wheeler in a speech afterward
 
 328 LTFE OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 
 
 said : "It is my good fortune to know well General Arthur, the 
 nominee for Vice-President. In unsullied character and in de- 
 votion to the principles of the Republican Party no man in the 
 organization surpasses him. No man has contributed more of 
 time and means to advance the just interests of the Republican 
 Party than he." 
 
 General Arthur was married in 1859 to Ellen Lewis Herndon. 
 of Fredericksburg, Virginia. She was a daughter of Captain 
 William Lewis Herndon, U. S. N., whose heroic death, in com- 
 mand of the ill-fated Central America in 1857, is remembered as 
 one of the deeds of Avhich the American Navy is proud. Cap- 
 tain Herndon discovered that his ship was sinking, loaded his 
 boats with women and children, and calmly went down with his 
 ship. Over three hundred lives were lost. Mrs. Arthur became 
 the mother of two children : Chester Alan Arthur, now aged 
 15, and Ellen Herndon Arthur, now aged 8. It was few 
 women's fortune to inspire such ardent friendships. She had a 
 winning manner, a charming voice, and a finely-cultivated mind. 
 She was the centre of a refined circle of friends in New York 
 when, to the great grief of her husband, she died in the early 
 part of January, 1880. Her funeral in New York was attended 
 by some of the most distinguished men in the nation.
 
 GENERAL ARTHUR'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 NEW YORK, July 15, 1880. 
 
 DEAR SIR : I accept the position assigned me by the great 
 party whose action you announce. . This acceptance implies 
 approval of the principles declared by the convention, but 
 recent usage permits me to add some expression of my own 
 views. The right and duty to secure honesty and order in 
 popular elections is a matter so vital that it must stand in front. 
 The authority of the National Government to preserve from 
 fraud and force elections at which its own officers are chosen is 
 a chief point on which the two parties are plainly and intensely 
 opposed. Acts of Congress for ten years have, in New York and 
 elsewhere, done much to curb the violence and wrong to which 
 the ballot and the count have been again and again subjected 
 sometimes despoiling great cities, sometimes stifling the voice 
 of a whole State, often seating, not only in Congress, but on 
 the Bench and in Legislatures, numbers of men never chosen 
 by the people. The Democratic Party, since gain ing possession 
 of the two houses of Congress, has made these just laws the ob- 
 ject of bitter, ceaseless assault, and, despite all resistance, has 
 hedged them with restrictions cunningly contrived to baffle and 
 paralyze them. This aggressive majority boldly attempted to 
 extort from the Executive his approval of various enactments 
 destructive of these election laws by revolutionary threats that 
 a constitutional exercise of the veto power would be punished 
 by withholding the appropriations necessary to carry on the 
 Government. And these threats were actually carried out by 
 refusing the needed appropriations, and by forcing an extra ses- 
 sion of Congress, lasting for months and resulting in conces- 
 sions to this usurping demand which are likely, in many States, 
 to subject the majority to the lawless will of a minority. Omi-
 
 330 ARTHUR' '/>' LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 nous signs of public disapproval alone subdued this arrogant 
 power into a sullen surrender for the time being of a part of its 
 demands. The Republican Party has strongly approved the 
 stern refusal of its representatives to suffer the overthrow of 
 statutes believed to be salutary and just. It has always insist- 
 ed, and now insists, that the Government of the United States 
 of America is empowered and in duty bound to effectually pro- 
 tect the elections denoted by the Constitution as national. 
 
 More than this, the Republican Party holds, as a cardinal 
 point in its creed, that the Government should, by every means 
 known to the Constitution, protect all American citizens every- 
 where in the full enjoyment of their civil and political rights. 
 As a great part of its work of reconstruction, the Republican 
 Party gave the ballot to the emancipated slave as his right and 
 defence. A large increase in the number of members of Con- 
 gress and of the Electoral College, from the former slavehold- 
 ing States, was the immediate result. The history of recent 
 years abounds in evidence that in many ways and in many 
 places especially where their number has been great enough to 
 endanger Democratic control the very men by whose elevation 
 to citizenship this increase of representation was effected have 
 been debarred and robbed of their voice and their vote. It is 
 true that no State statute or Constitution in so many words de- 
 nies or abridges the exercise of their political rights ; but the 
 modes employed to bar their way are no less effectual. It is a 
 suggestive and startling thought that the , increased power de- 
 rived from the enfranchisement of a race now denied its share 
 in governing the country wielded by those who lately sought 
 the overthrow of the Government is now the sole reliance to 
 defeat the party which represented the sovereignty and nation- 
 ality of the Amerioan people in the greatest crisis of our history. 
 Republicans cherish none of the resentments which may have 
 animated them during the actual conflict of arms. They long 
 for a full and real reconciliation between the sections which
 
 ARTHUR'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 331 
 
 were needlessly and lamentably at strife ; they sincerely offer 
 the hand of good-will, but they ask in return a pledge of good 
 faith. They deeply feel that the party whose career is so illus- 
 trious in great and patriotic achievement will not fulfil its des- 
 tinyuntil peace and prosperity are established in all the land, 
 nor until liberty of thought, conscience and action, and 
 equality of opportunity shall be not merely cold formalities of 
 statute, but living birthrights, which the humble may confi- 
 dently claim and the powerful dare not deny. 
 
 The resolution referring to the public service seems to me de- 
 serving of approval. Surely, no man should be the encumbent 
 of an office the duties of which he is, for any cause, unfit to 
 perform, who is lacking in the ability, fidelity, or integrity 
 which a proper administration of such office demands. This 
 sentiment would doubtless meet with general acquiescence, but 
 opinion has been widely divided upon the wisdom and practi- 
 cability of the various reformatory schemes which have been 
 suggested, and of certain proposed regulations governing 
 appointments to public office. The efficiency of such regula- 
 tions has been distrusted, mainly because they have seemed to 
 exalt mere educational and abstract tests above general business 
 capacity, and even special fitness for the particular work in 
 hand. It seems to me that the rules which should be applied 
 to the management.of the public service may properly conform, 
 in the main, to such as regulate the conduct of successful 
 private business. Original appointments should be based upon 
 ascertained fitness. The tenure of office should be stable 
 Positions of responsibility should, so far as practicable, be fillet 
 by the promotion of worthy and efficient officers. The invest i 
 gation of all complaints, and the punishment of all official mis- 
 conduct, should be prompt and thorough. These views, whid. 
 I have long held, repeatedly declared, and uniformly Applied 
 when called upon to act, I find embodied in the resolution, 
 which, of course, I approve. I will add that by the acceptance
 
 332 ARTHUR'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 of public office, whether high or low, one does not, in my judg- 
 ment, escape any of his responsibilities as a citizen, or lose or 
 impair any of his rights as a citizen, and that he should enjoy 
 absolute liberty to think and speak and act in politica 1 matters 
 according to his own will and conscience, provided only that he 
 honorably, faithfully, and fully discharges all his official duties. 
 
 The resumption of specie payments one of the fruits of 
 Republican policy has brought the return of abundant pros- 
 perity, and the settlement of many distracting questions. The 
 restoration of sound money, the large reduction of our public 
 debt and of the burden of interest, the high advancement of the 
 public credit, all attest the ability and courage of the Republi- 
 can Party to deal with such financial problems as may hereafter 
 demand solution. Our paper currency is now as good as gold, 
 and silver is performing its legitimate function for the purpose 
 of change. The principle which should govern the relations of 
 these elements of the currency are simple and clear. There 
 must be no deteriorated coin, no depreciated paper. And every 
 dollar, whether of metal or paper, should stand the test of the 
 world's fixed standard. 
 
 The value of popular education can hardly be overstated. 
 Although its interests must of necessity be chiefly confided to 
 voluntary effort and the individual action of the several States, 
 they should be encouraged, so far as the Constitution permits, 
 by the generous co-op-ration of the National Government. The 
 interests of the whole country 'demand that the advantages of 
 our common school system should be brought within the reach 
 of every cifeen, and that no revenues of the nation or of the 
 States should be devoted to the support of sectarian schools. 
 
 Such changes should be made in the present tariff and system 
 of taxation as will relieve any overburdened industry or class, 
 and enable our manufacturers and artisans to compete success- 
 fully with those of other lands. 
 
 The Government should aid works of internal improvement
 
 ARTHUR'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 333 
 
 national in their character, and should promote the develop- 
 ment of our water-courses and harbors wherever the general in- 
 terests of commerce require. 
 
 Four years ago, as now, the nation stood at the threshold of 
 a Presidential election, and the Republican Party, in soliciting 
 a continuance of its ascendency, founded its hope of success, 
 not upon its promises, but upon its history. Its subsequent 
 course has been such as to strengthen the claims which it then 
 made to the confidence and support of the country. On the 
 other hand, considerations more urgent than have ever before 
 existed forbid the accession of its opjxments to power. Their 
 success, if success attends them, must chiefly come from the 
 united support of that section which sought the forcible disrup- 
 tion of the Union, and which, according to all the teachings of 
 our past history, will demand ascendency in the councils of the 
 party to whose triumph it will have made by far the largest 
 contribution. 
 
 There is the gravest reason for apprehension that exorbitant 
 claims upon the public Treasury, by no means limited to the 
 hundreds of millions already covered by bills introduced in 
 Congress within the past four years, would be successfully 
 urged if the Democratic Party should succeed in supplementing 
 its present control of the National Legislature by electing the 
 Executive also. 
 
 There is danger in intrusting the control of the whole law- 
 making power of the Government to a party which has in almost 
 every Southern State repudiated obligations quite as sacred as 
 those to which the faith of the nation now stands pledged. 
 
 I do not doubt that success awaits the Republican Party, and 
 that its triumph will assure a just, economical, and patriotic 
 administration. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 C. A. ARTHUR. 
 
 "7b the Hon. GEORGE F. HOAR, President of the Republican 
 National Convention.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ABANDONED 
 
 SELECTED FROM THE 
 
 National Platforms of the Democratic Party 
 
 SINCE 1856.
 
 APPENDIX. 33? 
 
 FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM OF 1856 ; RE- 
 ADOPTED IN 1860. 
 
 INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. 
 
 THE Constitution does not confer upon the General Govern- 
 ment the power to commence and carry on a general system of 
 internal improvements. 
 
 SLAVERY NOT TO BE INTERFERED WITS. 
 
 That all efforts of the Abolitionists or others, made to induce 
 Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take in- 
 cipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the 
 most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that a.' such 
 efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness 
 of the people and endanger the stability and permanence of the 
 Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our 
 political institutions. 
 
 THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE LAW NOT TO BE REPEALED OR CHANGED. 
 
 The foregoing proposition covers and was intended to em- 
 brace the whole subject of slavery agitation in Congress, and 
 therefore the Democratic Party of the Union, standing on this 
 national platform, will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution 
 of the acts known as the Compspmise Measures, settled by the Con- 
 gress of 1850, l< the act for reclaiming fugitives from service or 
 labor " included, which act being designed to carry out an 
 express provision of the Constitution, cannot, with fidelity 
 thereto, be repealed or so changed as to destroy or impair its 
 efficiency.
 
 888 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTHING TO BE SAID AGAINST SLAVERY. 
 
 The Democratic Party will resist all attempts at renewing, in 
 Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, un- 
 der whatever shape or color the attempt may be made. 
 
 EXTREME STATE BIGHTS DOCTRINE ENDORSED. 
 
 The Democratic Party will faithfully abide by and uphold 
 the principles laid down in the Kentucky and Virginia resolu- 
 tions of 1798 and 1799, and in the report of Mr. Madison to the 
 Virginia Legislature in 1799 that it adopts these principles as 
 constituting one of the main foundations of its political creed 
 and is resolved to carry them out in their obvious meaning and 
 import. [NOTE. The Kentucky and Virginia resolutions 
 affirmed the right of each State to judge for itself of the con- 
 stitutionality of the acts of the General Government, and to re- 
 fuse to submit if it deems those acts unconstitutional. These 
 resolutions formed the basis of the doctrine of secession.] 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES AND THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 
 
 The American Democracy recognize and adopt the principles 
 contained in the organic laws establishing the Territories of 
 Kansas and Nebraska, as embodying the only sound and safe 
 solution of the slavery question upon which the great national 
 idea of the people of this whole country can repose in its deter- 
 mined conservation of the Union ; and non-interference of Con- 
 gress with slavery in the District of Columbia. 
 
 FROM BOTH DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS OF 1860. 
 
 LAWS AGAINST KIDNAPPING DENOUNCED. 
 
 THE enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faithful 
 execution of the fugitive-slave law are hostile in character.
 
 APPENDIX. 389 
 
 subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect. 
 [NOTE. This refers to laws passed by several Northern States 
 to protect persons from being captured on their soil by slave- 
 hunters, and carried to the South without a trial by jury to de- 
 termine whether they were slaves or not.] 
 
 PROTECTION TO CITIZENS. 
 
 It is the duty of the United States to afford ample and com- 
 plete protection to all its citizens, whether at home or abroad, 
 and whether native or foreign. [NOTE. The Democracy never 
 applied this principle to colored people or to white people who 
 opposed human slavery. Of late years it has abandoned it alto- 
 gether, and has vehemently resisted the enactment and enforce- 
 ment of laws to protect the civil rights of citizens.] 
 
 FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM OF 1864. 
 
 THE WAR A FAILURE. 
 
 THIS convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the 
 American people, that after four years of failure to restore the 
 Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pre- 
 text of a military necessity of a war power higher than the 
 Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in 
 every part, and public and private liberty alike trodden down, 
 and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, 
 justice, humanity, liberty and the public welfare demand that 
 immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a 
 view to an ultimate convention of all the States or other peace- 
 able means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment 
 peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the 
 States.
 
 340 APPENDIX. 
 
 FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM OF 1868. 
 
 TAXATION OF GOVERNMENT BONDS, IN VIOLATION OP THE CON- 
 TRACT. 
 
 EQUAL taxation of every species of property including Govern- 
 ment bonds and other public securities. 
 
 PAYMENT OF THE BONDS IN GREENBACKS. 
 
 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 justice to be paid in the lawful money of the United 
 
 States. 
 
 A DISMAL PROPHECY. 
 
 Under its [the Republican Party's] 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. 
 
 THE RECONSTRUCTION ACTS DENOUNCED AS REVOLUTIONARY 
 AND VOID. 
 
 We regard the reconstruction acts (so-called) of Congress, as 
 such, as usurpations and as unconstitutional, revolutionary, and 
 void. . 
 
 THB REPUBLICAN PARTY FALSELY ACCUSED. 
 
 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.
 
 APPENDIX. 341 
 
 FROM THE PLATFORM OF 1876. 
 
 THE RESUMPTION LAW DENOUNCED. 
 
 WE denounce the resumption clause of the Act of 1875, and 
 demand its repeal. 
 
 THE PROTECTIVE TAKIFP CONDEMNED. 
 
 We denounce the present tariff levied upon nearly 4,000 arti- 
 cles, as a masterpiece of injustice, inequality and fraud. 
 [NOTE. This is probably the only one of the doctrines here 
 quoted which the Democratic Party avows to-day. Its present 
 platform demands a tariff for revenue only.]
 
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