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Justice, not Expediency, should be the rule in the readjustment of the affairs of the
Republic; and it was demanded, as an act of National honor, that the freedman, when made a citizen by the
Constitution, should have equal civil and political rights and privileges with other citizens, such as the elective franchise, and the use of courts of justice.
It soon became evident that the
President was willing to take issue, upon vital points of principle and policy, with the party which had carried the country triumphantly through the great
Civil War, and had given him the second office in the
Republic.
1 And, at the close of the year, it was plain to sagacious observers that the
Chief Magistrate was more friendly to the late enemies of his country than consistency with his profession, or the safety of the
Republic, would allow.
As a consequence of that friendliness, it was perceived that the politicians who had worked in the interest of the rebellion, and newspapers which had advocated the cause of the Conspirators, had assumed a belligerent tone toward Congress and the loyal people, which disturbed the latter by unpleasant forebodings.
Meanwhile measures for perfecting peaceful relations throughout the
Republic had been taken.
The order for a blockade of the
Southern ports was rescinded;
more of the rigid restrictions on internal commerce were removed;
State prisoners were paroled,
and the act suspending the privilege of the writ of
Habeas Corpus was annulled.
The provisional governors appointed by the
President were diligent in carrying out his policy of reorganization, and before Congress met, in December, conventions in five of the disorganized States had ratified the Amendment of the
Constitution concerning slavery, formed new Constitutions for their respective States, and caused the election of representatives in Congress.
The President had hurried on the work by directing the
provisional governors of the five States to resign their power into the hands of others elected under the new Constitutions.
Some of the latter had been active participants in the rebellion, and some of the Congressmen elect, in those States, had been hard workers, it was said, in the service of the enemies of the
Republic.
The loyal people were filled with anxiety because of these events, and the assumptions of powers by the
President in doing that which, as prescribed by the
Constitution, belongs exclusively to the representatives.
of the people to do. Yet they waited with the quieting knowledge that
