Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-08-25

and intrenched within the social,
political and ecclesiastical organiza-
tions and affiliations of life. BY a
series Of executive and legislative
acts it broke the chains and lifted
from the depths Of chattelhood up to
the SUBMITS of manhood four and a
half millions of hapless bondmen,
and stood before the nations with
their riven letters in one hand and
their title deeds to freedom in the
other.
The war ended, the Rebellion sb-
dued, the bondmen emancipatetl, the
Republican party entered upon the
third era of its eventful history.
Though conquered by arms the Reb-
els did not accept the just, humane
and generous ideas Of the victors, nor
did they return to their proper allegi-
ance and loyalty to the Government,
but still bemoaning the "lost cause"
they remained unsubdued in will
and unrepentant in spirit and pur-
pose. Though made free the bond
men were homeless, without proper
ty, without employment, subject to
the cruel laws against free people of
color which had always disgraced
Southern legislation, and in the midst
of a people exasperated by defeat and
maddened by their loss Of power still
longer to hold and Cypress. Property
was swept away, industry disorgan-
lied, society disintegrated, and States
were without lawful governments.
Upon the Republican party de-
volved the task of reconstruction.
To its intrinsic difficulties were add
ed the intense hostility of the ex-
Rebels, the lingering prcjudices long
engendered by the slave system, the
timid counsels of Conservatism, and
the apostacy of the Executive. Great
interests and powerful combinations
sought to so reconstruct the South as
to place the power in the hands Of
the late slaveholding class, and leave
the helpless freedmen in the AFFECT
condition of practical serfdom. Sell
dom in history has there been i'm
posed upon any body of men a work
of greater magnitude or difficulty.
The Republicans might have shrunk
from and avoided it. They We're
sorely tempted to do so. But they
resisted the temptation of official
power and patronage, the threats of
Executive dictation, and all other
adverse influences, and with sublime
fidelity and courage addressed them
selves to the herculean task.
To aid in recognizing disordered
industries, caring for, proceedings and
instructing the emancipated bond
men in the new duties of their
changed condition, the Republicans
established the Freedmen's Bureau,
which, by the wise expenditure Of a
few million of dollars, did an meal
culable work for order, peace, and
Decentralization of Southern society.
To reconstruct rebellious States on
the solid basis of equal rights, they
gave suffrage to the freedmen in the
reconstruction measures. To secure
citizenship and civil rights to a
wronged and hated race, they pro-
posed and adopted the Fourteenth
Amendment, and enacted the bill of
Civil Rights. To establish by ire
versible guarantees equal political
rights and privileges, they adopted
the Fifteenth Amendment, and as a
browning act for freedom they pro-
vided by law for the enforcement of
those amendments thus newly en-
shrined within Constitution. Thus
the Republicans, against the sternest
opposition, against misrepresenta-
ton, against appalling obstacles,
have struggled on until the Rebel
States, reconstructed on the basis Of
impartial liberty, have been restored,
and the sublime doctrines Of the
Declaration Of Independence made
assured and practical realities. In
the progress Of the ages it has been
given 70 few, in any form or by any
modes, to achieve a work so vast, so
grand, so beneficent, SO sure to be
recorded by history, and applauded
and remembered by coming genera
tions.
Having achieved this grand work,
having passed through these three
eras Of its history, the Republican
party, entering on its fourth era, was
summoned to deal with questions
relating to the national debt, the
currency, finances, and taxation, to