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American-born; at the South nearly all were so. age, at enlistment, of those who entered the Union army is said to have not exceeded twenty-two.' 1257 The expense of the war to the national Government, above the ordinary expenses, was about $3,250,000,000; 1258 but allowance must be made for the fact that the Government paid most of its bills, including the army and navy, in "greenbacks" which were worth much less than gold.

The United States, says Colonel Dodge, 129 paid its soldiers more liberally than any other nation ever paid its troops; besides this it gave them $300,000,000 in bounties, and has since paid them over $2,000,000,000 in pensions; if we add the pensions which will continue to be disbursed, the sum may reach a total of nearly $3,000,000,000. If we could add the amounts spent by States and towns for the war, the grand total would exceed $8,000,000,000 or more than the entire assessed valuation of the loyal States at the outbreak of the contest (§ 453).

The expenditure on the secession side cannot be reckoned; but it may be said with entire truth that the people of the South stripped themselves bare, and spent their last dollar in their desperate effort to tear the Union asunder. In addition to these losses, the Union armies had destroyed property in that section to an incalculable amount.

509. Results of the war. But however enormous the cost of life and treasure, the economic, political, and moral results of the war have justified the cost. It is true that this

President Lincoln issued the following calls for troops, during the war: On April 15, 1861, he called for 75,000 three-months men; between May and July, 1861, he called for 500,000 men for from six months to three years; in July, 1862, he called for 300,000 three-years men, and in August, 1862, for 300,000 militia for nine months' service, but obtained only 87,588; in June, 1863, a call for militia for six months' service brought 16,361. In October, 1863, and February, 1864, he called for 500,000 men, in the aggregate for three years. In these calls the men raised by draft in 1863 are included. In March, 1864, he called for 200,000 three-years men; in July, 1864, for 500,000, and finally in December, 1864, for 300,000.

struggle, like every other, entailed serious evils on the country, extravagance, speculation, political corruption, the disorganization of regular labor to a considerable extent, and the temporary increase of pauperism; but the good achieved offset these evils.

1. The war freed the whole country, but especially the South, from the burden and curse of slavery. It made it possible to develop the immense natural resources of that section, which had in great measure lain dormant since the colonization of the country. New energy, new life, new enterprises have sprung up, which have stimulated industry, disseminated education, and re-created the South. These influences are fast making it one of the most prosperous and wealthy parts of the Republic. The negro shares in this new life. A little more than a generation ago, he was so poor that he did not own himself; to-day he is a free laborer- the maker of his own future, and the possessor of property assessed at many millions.

2. The war not only saved the Union, but perfected it. It prohibited the secession principle forever, and stamped that prohibition ineffaceably upon the Constitution "by blood and iron." ? 1260 The South accepts this fact, and nine of the States which seceded have adopted new constitutions or amended old ones, repudiating disunion as treason.1261 Thus the terrible struggle completed the work of the founders of the Republic, and, in the words of the Supreme Court (1868), it made the nation "an indestructible Union" of "indestructible States." 1262 In doing this the war showed the world that there is nothing stronger or more stable than what President Lincoln called "Government of the people, by the people, and for the people."

3. Finally, the contest lifted the whole nation to a higher moral level. It did away with slavery and with the evils which slavery inflicted on black and white alike. It made the Declaration of Independence true, not of one favored race, but of all who to-day claim the name and the rights of American citizens.

In accomplishing this great work, the war has made North and South one in purpose, in patriotism, in brotherhood it has established a Union resting on mutual respect, and on heart and conscience, which will stand as long as heart and conscience are obeyed.

VII.

RECONSTRUCTION, THE NEW NATION.

(1865 to the Present Time.)

For Authorities for this Chapter, see Appendix, page xxiv.

The small figures in the

text refer to Authorities cited on page xxx of the Appendix.

510. President Johnson; his previous record; attitude toward the South. A few hours after the death of Lincoln (April 15, 1865), Vice-President Johnson took the oath of office which made him head of the Republic. Like Lincoln, Johnson sprang from the class then known at the South as "Poor Whites." He began the practical work of life at the tailor's board in a log-cabin in eastern Tennessee. He had never attended school, but taught himself to read, and his wife taught him to write. His ambition and force of character led him to enter the field of local politics. He became one of the leaders of the workingmen in his section in their contest with the slaveholding aristocracy. He rose step by step until he became Governor of his State; soon afterward the Democrats elected him (1857) to the United States Senate. He was the only Southern man in the Senate who stood resolutely by the Union and openly denounced secession as "unholy rebellion." 1263

In the spring of 1862 President Lincoln appointed Senator Johnson military governor of Tennessee. He greatly strengthened the Union cause in that State, and when the Republicans renominated Lincoln to the presidency (1864), they recognized the services of the "War Democrats " by putting Johnson on the ticket as Vice-President. When the assassination of the

President raised him to the highest office in the nation, he entered upon its duties with the declaration: "The American people must be taught to know and understand that treason is a crime." "It must not be regarded as a mere difference of political opinion.' Again he said: "Treason must be made infamous, and traitors must be impoverished.'

'' 1264

"1265

511. The "freedmen"; plans for reconstruction. — Two political questions of prime importance pressed for settlement: 1. What should be done to aid and protect the "freedmen"? 2. What action should be taken respecting the restoration or reconstruction of the seceded States?

At the close of the war the Government was confronted with the stupendous problem of providing for several millions of negroes. Tens of thousands of them had followed the Union armies and had been gathered into camps at different points. These poor people were legally free; but that was all. They were "landless, homeless, helpless," and there was danger that many of them would sink into a state of permanent pauperism. One of President Lincoln's last acts was to sign a bill (March 3, 1865) creating the "Freedmen's Bureau." The bureau was to continue for one year; its object was to place the freedmen, as far as practicable, on abandoned or confiscated lands at the South, and render them self-supporting. General O. O. Howard was appointed commissioner, and was invested, he says, with "almost unlimited authority."

The second problem — that of reconstruction was even more formidable than the negro question, which was necessarily closely bound up with it.

The Constitution was silent in regard to secession and civil war; it threw no light on the delicate, difficult, and dangerous work of restoring or reconstructing the Southern States. Three questions arose: 1. What was the condition of the seceded States, were they still members of the Union, as a dislocated arm is still a member of the body, or had secession put them wholly out of the Union and were they now simply conquered

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