Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-05-12
Five Minutes A Day
With Our Presidents
Blowing ON the Embcls of War
BY JAMES MORGAN.

took the oath the next morning, StrOnk
men were laying plans. with unseen .
" haste. TO have him reverse Lin
coins generous policy toward the con-
Iquered South.
Secretary stanton turned directly
from the death bed to order the Inn
-prisonment OF Jacob Thompson, the
fleeing Confederate emiSsary. whose
arrest Lincoln had refused to sanction
only the evening before. and he OFFER
ed a reward for the capture of Jefcr-
son Davis as an a~ccomplice in the
Presidents assassination.
At the same time radical Republl-
leans in caucus at Washington were
hailing the change OF leaders as a
godSend. by the godsl there will be
no trouble now IN running the Gov
eminent" exclaimed senator Wade Of
Ohio. as he grasped the hand of the
new President.
Meanw lille. as the Southern people
saw this poor white" of the South
enthroned owe them. they sank to a
still lower level of despair than they
had fallen when their armies surren-
dered. When Davis heard OF the
monstrous charge that he had con-
spired with Booth, he made the bit
ter retort that there was at least one
man who knew It was not true;
johnson knows that l would have
- 81 A@AAAlhAh " A4AAA
Power quickly cooled the vindictive
passions kindled in Johnson by his
long. bitter feu in Johnson by his
leaders. and he returned to Lincoln's
policy OF reconciliation. Wisely. no
one vas punished for treason. Hap
PLY. vengeance for a great war was
not wreaked on any individual.
The radicals. who secretly rejoiced
IN Johnson's accession. turned upon
Il him ftIrf0nGlN Il ryns gaay~ fer n "
10 excite the doubt of the North in
this Southerner, and 10 estrange the
Republicans from this Democrat.
For the first time even the sobriety
OF a President was called into ques-
ton. Johnson's unfortunate condi-
ton at his Inauguration as Vice-Presi-
dent had shocked Charles Sumner in
TO starting a whispered discussion of
his enforced resignation. When he
became President his intemperance in
speech lent color to exaggerated re-
ports of his intemperance in drink.
1t Is an u~nanSwerable question in
history whether even Lincoln could
have mastered the rising opposition
TO him in Congress and restored the
Union on the plan TO which he had
adopted. That plan had small chance
of success in Johnson's hands. with
his lack of Lincoln's good-humored
tact, modesty. forbearance and hold
on the public confidence.
For two years before Lincoln died.
the radical leaders mad been insist
ing that Congress, not the President,
should fix the terms of peace for the
lsouthern States. They had angrily
denounced him as a despot. an auto
crat and a usurper. because of his
policy of reconstruction. And Con-
gress had persistently refused to ad-
NIT the Senators and Representatives
from the States which he had recon-
structed on his liberal plan.
There were patriotic men who hon
estIy shrank from ~entrusting the lib
erty n welfare of the millions of
freed slaves to the rule of their old
masters. There also We're calculating
politicians who were troubled only
by the thought that if the Southern
states should have white
the votes of those States in Congress
and the Electoral College would i'm
peril the eRpublican party.
The conflict between Lincoln and
congress, was forced to an issue on,
the last day of the session in 1864.
when Congress adopted a reconstruc-
non plan of its own, under which
IL was to be the final Judge of the
state Governments in the South. But
the President defeated the bill by a
pocket Veto" that Is TO say, he took
no ocllon on IL before adjournment.
which left it lifeless. {
With the ending OF the war. Lincoln
was hoping TO complete the work of
| reconstruction before Congress met
again n could new its interference
with him. Instead, the assassin in
tervened, and when Johnson attempt
ca 10 carry. out the same policy. with
the approval of Lincoln's CabinN
Whlch ne retained, Congress broke
l lnfD oman ynNra1t =
people to stand by him, but his sswing
around h circle" as he described
ms tour of the East and Middle West
IN 1866. destroyed the last shred of
MS influence in the North.
ace to face with hostile. iecrinc
lcrowds. johnson east aside President
ial dignity and let loose the fiery pas
SONS OF the Tennessee mountaineer.
General Grant who unWillinelv ae-
companied him. had to step forth to
quiet a riotous crowd in Lincoln's
own town of Springfield. The Cen
leral recalled the disturbers to a sense
of propriety simply by waving his
hand toward the target of their boot
ings and saying, THE President OF
the United States" In the presence
of a still wilder mob at Indianapolis,
Grant felt it prudent to order the
President to retreat. For he hat
been greeted by a storm of bullets
tbut which were probably fired in the
air.
Apart from the Republican politi.
clans and a mere faction of extremist:
the North was in favor of Lincoln.
moderate policies. But when it be
came a question between johnson
and the radicals, the radicals wo,
Overwhelmingly in the Congressional
ELECTION of 1866.
With a two-thirds majority in tn
Inew House and Senate, the Republi
leans OVERRIDE the Presidents vetoes
and Congress took command of tn
Government. The reconstructed State
were outlawed. The South was divid
ed into military provinces. The bal
Hot was thrust into the unskillful ham
of the freedmen, Notwithstanding
was still denied the negro in all bu
lsix States of the North. Al the am
| time a large class of Southern white
was DISTINGUISHED for d~isloyaIty 1
the war. which left several States t
lpass under the corrupt Government c
Northern carpet baggers' and South
ern ~"scalawags." who gained powe
by manipulating the ignorant blac
vote and who held it by force
Federal ~bayonets.
As Northern fire eaters pressed I
1.-THE front, on one side of the Maso
land Dixon line. Southern fire eaters
took the lead on the other side. Il
might h Ku Klux Khan rode the