593. The Submarine Telegraph. Cyrus W. Field (1866), after several unsuccessful attempts, finally laid the first Atlantic cable, which established telegraphic communication between the Old and the New World. His first attempted Atlantic cable (1858) extended from Heart's Content, Newfoundland, to Valencia Bay, Ireland. It carried, however, only about three hundred messages and ceased to work after three weeks of service. His second attempt (1865) also failed, . the cable parting in midocean. With the help of the steamship Great Eastern he eventually (1866) laid a successful cable.

594. A New State-The Purchase of Alaska. During Johnson's administration, Nebraska was admitted (1867), over the President's veto, as the thirty-seventh state, just in time to take part in the presidential election of 1868.

ALASKAN TRADING POST

Through the diplomacy of Secretary Seward, the United States (1867) concluded a treaty with the Russian government by which it secured possession of the vast territory of Alaska (over five hundred and ninety thousand square miles) for $7,200,000. By this purchase another European power was removed from the American continent. The carrying out of the Monroe Doctrine was thus rendered easier. From the tire of its discovery and exploration by Russians under Vitus Bering (1728-1741) until it was ceded to the United States, Alaska had been known as "Russian-America." Secretary

Seward was loudly denounced for paying so great a sum of money for what was believed to be only a large field of icebergs. Since then, however, Alaska has come to be known as wonderfully rich in minerals, forests, fisheries, and furs.

595. The Burlingame Treaty. By the influence of Anson Burlingame, our minister to China, the first embassy ever sent from that empire, to any foreign power arrived in the United States. The result was a treaty between China and the American Republic which promised security of life, liberty, and property to the people of either nation while in the territory of the other.

596. Reconstruction Is the Issue of the Campaign of 1868. Although all the Confederate states except three-Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas-had been reconstructed, and their representatives had taken their places in Congress, many Democrats denounced the reconstruction work of Congress as unconstitutional and declared that if their party should win in the election and get control of Congress they would overthrow it as null and void. Consequently, reconstruction was again the chief issue in the presidential election of 1868.

The Republican convention at Chicago (May) nominated General Grant for President. Its platform demanded the payment of the public debt in sound money (coin), advocated an amendment to the Constitution establishing manhood suffrage throughout the land, promised liberal pensions to soldiers, and denounced President Johnson in violent language.

The Democratic convention at New York (July) nominated Horatio Seymour of New York for President. Its platform condemned in strong terms the reconstruction policy of the Republicans, favored the payment of war bonds, or debts, in greenbacks, demanded the immediate restoration of all the states to their rights in the Union under the Constitution, and lauded President Johnson for his course during the controversy.

As the greenbacks, or paper notes, were below par, the Democrats thought the payment of the war bonds in greenbacks

instead of gold would increase the stock of money in the country, since the government would thus be obliged to issue a very large amount of paper money. Thus the period of high prices might be prolonged. The party, furthermore, reasoned that the government had borrowed money from the rich people, who consequently held the government bonds. Now, these rich people could sell their bonds for gold, and with this coin purchase greenbacks amounting apparently to double the value of their gold; hence the demand of the Democratic party that all bonds be made payable, principal and interest, in greenbacks. The Republicans claimed that the payment of the war debt in greenbacks would repudiate a part of the debt, since the bondholders in purchasing bonds had expected payment in gold, and legal tenders were not yet at par.

597. The Second Plenary Council. The Second Plenary Council of the Church in the United States convened (1866) at Baltimore and was presided over by Archbishop Spalding as Delegate Apostolic. Seven archbishops, thirty-nine bishops, two mitred abbots, and one hundred and twenty theologians took part in its proceedings. It enacted measures providing for the greater uniformity of discipline and the general wellordering of the affairs of the Church in America. The session continued for two weeks and closed with a scene of solemn grandeur, at which President Andrew Johnson was present.

CHAPTER XXXIII

ULYSSES S. GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION

REPUBLICAN-1869-1877

598. Grant and Colfax Are Elected. At the election of 1868, "Unconditional Surrender" Grant of Civil War fame, the Republican candidate, was elected President by the great majority of one hundred and thirty-four electoral votes over Horatio Seymour, the Democratic nominee. Schuyler Colfax was chosen Vice-president.

Ulysses Simpson [originally Hiram Ulysses] Grant (18221885) was a native of Mount Pleasant, Ohio. He spent four years at West Point and later served in the Mexican and Civil Wars. Although Grant was absolutely honest in the discharge of his duties, his administration as President was not wholly successful, owing largely to the fact that some of his advisers proved most unworthy.

599. Three Classes of People Control the South. As a consequence of the reconstruction policy of Congress, there was a complete revolution in the political conditions in the South. The party formerly in control was now devoid of power, and the government was in the hands of three classes of people: (a) negroes, who composed the majority of voters and held the places in the legislatures and in Congress once occupied by the able statesmen of the South;

(b) southern white leaders, termed "scalawags," who exerted an influence for evil over ignorant and excitable negroes; (c) northern politicians, contemptuously termed "carpetbaggers," because it was said they carried their possessions in earpet-bags. Though many of these northerners were men of integrity, interested in the negro

and in the welfare of the South, the greater number were unscrupulous adventurers intent on gain. They had hastened south to buy at low figures estates of insolvent or dead planters, or to secure public offices. It was an easy matter for them to persuade the negro that the Republicans had set them free, that the southern white men, who were Democrats, wished to put them back into slavery, and that, therefore, their only hope was to vote for Republicans.

600. Carpet-bag and Negro Rule. Under this new rule of carpet-baggers, scalawags, and negroes, known in history as the period of carpet-bag government (1868-1876):

(a) money was borrowed on state bonds and used corruptly; (b) enormous debts were piled up which were expected to be paid by the southern whites;

(c) heavy taxes were levied, which fell chiefly on the disfranchised classes, since negroes, scalawags, and carpetbaggers possessed scarcely any taxable property; (d) taxes, appropriations, and loans all flowed into the hands of the fraudulent legislatures, contractors, and politicians;

(e) other unbearable indignities were heaped upon the whites. Not infrequently ignorant and vicious negroes, filling local and state offices, used their power to obtain vengeance upon their former masters and political enemies. In brief, the degradation and suffering of the South was even greater than in the days of war. How changed were the scenes in the legislative halls where once the voices of Hayne, Calhoun, and other brilliant southern statesmen resounded! Ignorant negroes sat in the Speaker's chair; negro clerks read the resolutions to the legislatures; important committees were composed of a negro chairman and a majority of negro members. The granting of suffrage to the negro before he was educated for the purpose was a great mistake, and was rendered still