The election of 1876; Hayes ends the reconstruction period.The corruption in government caused the people to desire reform. The Democrats nominated for President, in 1876, Samuel J. Tilden, the governor of New York, who had helped to break up the Tweed Ring. Their campaign cry was “Tilden and Reform." The Republican nominee was Rutherford B. Hayes, the governor of Ohio, and a man of as high character as his opponent. There was a very hard contest between the two parties. The election gave neither candidate an undisputed majority of the electoral vote. The result depended on the way the votes from South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana and one electoral vote from Oregon were counted. Opposing officials in each of these states issued two sets of certificates. One set claimed that the Tilden electors had won. The other set made the same claim for Hayes.

The Constitution had made no provision for deciding between two such opposing claims to the vote of a state. There were threats of civil war over the matter, but Congress decided to leave the decision to a commission of fifteen, made up of five senators, five representatives, and five justices of the Supreme Court. By a vote of eight to seven they decided the election in favor of Hayes, two days before the time for his inauguration.

Hayes promptly ended the period of reconstruction by withdrawing all Federal soldiers from the South (1877). The so-called "carpetbag" governments at once lost control. Twelve years. after the close of the Civil War the South was free to manage its own affairs.

Summary of Points of Emphasis for Review.—(1) Upholding the Monroe Doctrine in Mexico, (2) Alaska Purchase, (3) why reconstruction was difficult, (4) the presidential plan, (5) why Congress opposed it, (6) the congressional plan, (7) the reconstruction amendments, (8) the negro, (9) character of reconstruction government, (10) Ku Klux Klan, its object, (11) impeachment of Johnson, (12) election of Grant, (13) progress of reconstruction, (14) Grant's greatest success, (15) political corruption, (16) panic of 1873, (17) election of 1876 and end of reconstruction.

Activities. Find in your geographies or encyclopedias facts that prove the wisdom of the purchase of Alaska.

Write a hundred words to describe the difference between the presidential and the congressional plans of reconstruction.

In three minutes explain to the class the difficulty of the problem of caring for the negro.

Why was the North so anxious to have the Constitution amended to protect the negro?

Give a clear statement of the difference between the steps necessary to make a change in the Constitution and the steps necessary to make a change in a national law.

(The teacher should read to the class a New York editor's account of "carpetbag" rule in South Carolina from James, Readings in American History, 493–497. Members of the class should give two-minute talks on the evils of "carpetbag" rule and should then explain how the South overthrew that government.)

Make a three-minute speech on the advantage of a court of arbitration, like that at Geneva, over war to settle a dispute.

Prove that the world is rendered poorer by war, although it may make certain individuals or classes richer.

References for Teachers.-Fish, Development of Am. Nationality, 407450; Fleming, The Sequel of Appomattox (Chron. of Am.); Dunning, Reconstruction, Political and Economic, I.-XXI.; Rhodes, Hist. of the U. S., Vol. VI., Chs. XXXI., XXXVII., XXXIX.; Vol. VII., Chs. XL.-XLIV.; Paxson, New Nation, II.-IV.; Oberholzer, Hist. of U. S. Since the Civil War, Vol. II.; Wilson, Division and Reunion, 254-275, 286; Andrews, The U.S. in Our Own Time, I.-VI.; Haworth, U. S. in Our Own Times, 1865– 1920, 1-73; Hart, Am. Hist. Told by Contemporaries, Vol. IV., Chs. XXIII., XXV.

For Pupils.-Elson, Side Lights on Am. Hist., II., 58–62, 148–284; Booker Washington, Up from Slavery, 77-91; Hart, Source Book of Am. Hist., 336-358; Page, Red Rock (fiction).

CHAPTER XXVIII

A NEW PERIOD, 1877 TO 1897

Why this is called a new period. From the Missouri Compromise (1820) until the end of the period of reconstruction (1877), the questions of slavery and of the condition of the negro were disturbing the nation. During the forty years preceding the Civil War, every addition of foreign territory and the admission of every new state were considered from the point of view of how they would affect slavery.

The beginning of this new twenty-year period (1877-1897) saw the end of reconstruction. Slavery and the negro dropped into the background. New problems occupied the attention of the nation.

Five Presidents. During this period the country had Republican Presidents for twelve of the twenty years and a Democratic President for the other eight. All of these men gave the country good administrations.

The first two Republican Presidents of the period, Rutherford B. Hayes (term of office, 1877-1881) and James A. Garfield (term of office, March, 1881, to September, 1881), were both Ohio men, college graduates and valedictorians, Civil War generals, and members of the national House of Representatives during the war.

The third President was a Republican, Chester A. Arthur, a lawyer from New York. He was Vice President when Garfield was assassinated. Arthur served as President for the remainder of Garfield's term (September, 1881, to March, 1885). Like Hayes and Garfield, Arthur was a college graduate who took very high standing in his class. Like them, he served in the Civil War, where he won the rank of quartermaster-general. Unlike them, he had never reached the national Congress.

The other two Presidents during these twenty years were Grover Cleveland (terms of office, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897), a Democrat from New York, and Benjamin Harrison (term of office, 1889-1893), a Republican from Indiana.

Unlike the other four Presidents of this period, Cleveland was not a college graduate nor did he serve in the Civil War.

INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT CLEVELAND

After taking the oath of office, at noon March 4, it is the custom for the new President to deliver an inaugural address from the steps of the Capitol. This picture, made from a photograph, shows only a small part of the audience.

He was a lawyer who was elected (1882) governor of New York by one of the largest majorities ever given a governor. His contest for the presidency with James G. Blaine, the most popular man in the Republican party, was exciting. Both parties waged a campaign of abusing the opposing candidate. The day after the election, both sides saw that the result depended on a few hundred votes in New York. The country was in fever heat for more than a week until a recount of the vote showed that Cleveland had carried New York and won. He was the first Democratic President elected since the Civil War.

HAYES, GARFIELD, ARTHUR, CLEVELAND, HARRISON 425

After serving for four years, Cleveland was defeated by Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana. Like Hayes and Garfield, Harrison was valedictorian of his class and helped to answer the question: "What becomes of the valedictorians?" Like them he had been a general in the Civil War and a member of the national Congress. He was a grandson of General William Henry Harrison, a former President. After Harrison's one term (1889-1893), Cleveland defeated him for reëlection and served his second term, which ended this period.

Aims of the Presidents. We can more easily remember this period of peace with foreign powers when we have our attention called to the fact that the aims of all five of these Presidents and their greatest successes were very much alike. The people of the opposing parties at that time did not realize this; hence this period seemed a tangle to them. They often thought that their Presidents wanted the wrong things. Fair-minded men in both parties to-day admit that there was nothing unworthy in the chief aims of any of these five Presidents, and that their goals were much the same.

The most important political battles of this time were fought over the tariff, civil service reform, and the money question. Every one of the five Presidents fought for civil service reform and for honest money; but there was a striking difference in their views concerning the tariff. Cleveland believed in a low tariff that would yield only enough money to pay the expenses of government. The others thought there should be a tariff sufficiently high to protect American manufactures.

Men in the same party thought differently on all these questions. Republican and Democratic politicians both disliked civil service reform. Many in both parties wanted cheap money. Though a tariff for protection was usually a Republican measure, many Democrats favored it.

The civil service of the United States.-The civil service includes nearly all positions of trust or employment under our government except those in the army and navy. All post office