637. The End of the War. - President Johnson, soon after his accession, issued a proclamation that the war was over. Peace, however, brought its difficulties, greater almost than those of war. In North and South new and untried problems presented themselves for solution. Of these questions some were social, some political, and some financial.

638. The Army. What was to be the future of the soldiers composing the two armies? Such vast military forces had never been called into actual service in the history of modern warfare. More than two and a half million men had been enrolled in the Union army during the war and nearly one and a half million in the army of the Confederacy. There were more than a million soldiers in the service of the War Department, in the spring of 1865.

639. The Review. The close of the war found the two great Union armies under Grant and Sherman within a short distance of each other. A great military review was held in Washington, near the end of May. For two days, the column, thirty miles in length, moved along Pennsylvania Avenue past the reviewing stand, where was the President, with members of his Cabinet and of Congress. These one hundred and fifty thousand patriots, many having served for four years, marched through throngs of people, amid enthusiastic expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving. It was a wonderfu sight.

640. Disbanding. Within a few months this multitude of soldiers was honorably discharged and returned to their homes. Only a small army of about fifty thousand men remained, to "execute the laws of the Union." Many expressions of fear were heard that the

Andrew Johnson.

disbandment could not quietly take place. Great anxiety was felt as to the future occupations of these men, who, for so long a time, had known no service but that of war.. But the fears proved groundless, as the soldiers returned to their homes and quietly took up their various occupations, as though no war had called them away. This was one of the greatest victories for our free government and its principles.

641. The Debt. It is impossible to estimate the cost of this great civil war. Enormous taxes had been collected, and an immense debt had been incurred. The revenue of the United States had been nearly a thousand million dollars, while the debt in 1865 was more than three times as much. The nation had been spending two, three, and four million dollars a day during a portion of the war. What was to be the financial future of the country? This was settled as quietly as the other question. The government simply adopted the honorable method of paying the debt as fast as possible. Within twenty years, one billion, two hundred million dollars had been paid, besides the one hundred and fifty million dollars, annually, of accruing interest. The debt has not been lessened as fast since 1886, because the creditors prefer to leave their money in such safe hands, and to receive the interest.

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642. The South. This debt was only a portion of the cost of the Millions of dollars are being paid every year for pensions. The destruction of property was enormous, and a large proportion of this fell upon the Southern States. In fact, the South was completely ruined at the end of the war. The slave property was gone, there was no money, and manufactures they had never had. Here

was a third great question. What was to become of the South? Again this was answered by quiet attention to business. The "New South" is a sufficient reply to the croaks of the pessimists. Had there been no political question and no social questions, the prosperity of the South would have been easily assured.

Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth President of the United States, was born in North Carolina in 1808. He was without educational advantages in his earlier life, and is said to have learned to write after his marriage. In spite of these drawbacks, he was elected to Congress in 1843, where he spent ten years. After serving as Governor of Tennessee for four years, he was chosen to represent that State in the Senate. He strongly opposed the secession of his State, and in 1862 was made its military governor, after the capture of Nashville. His activity in this position led to his nomination as the Republican candidate for VicePresident in 1864 After his Presidential term, he remained in active life. He was again chosen to the Senate in 1875, but died July 31st of that

643. The Results of the War. — The object of the war must not be forgotten. By it freedom was attained for four million human beings. But this was an incident, and not the reason for the war. The struggle decided the question that the States had not the right to secede from the Union. The nation was to be "one and indivisible," and the United States was to be one great power, and not two parts always at enmity with each other. This, the greatest war in all history, also proved the wonderful strength of the Republic, and placed it in the front rank of the nations of the world.

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644. Emancipation. - President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (¶ 600) had not freed all the slaves. It did not apply to the States which had permitted slavery, but had not joined the Confederacy. Certain portions of the "seceding" States also were exempted from its application. An amendment was proposed by Congress, and, when ratified by three-fourths of the States, was declared a portion of the Constitution, December 18th, 1865. This, the Thirteenth Amendment, forever forbade slavery within the limits of the United States. 645. Southern States. As soon as the Southern States had laid down their arms, the question as to their future political status presented itself. Were these States in or out of the Union? Could they still be reckoned as States, or should they be classed as territories conquered by the Union armies? These questions were never answered, though the method of reconstruction seems to imply the latter. A less theoretical question was, whether the Southern States, under their former leaders, should be allowed to take their old place in the Union.

646. Freedmen. The President's plan was to permit the States to send senators and representatives to Congress, as soon as they repealed their acts of secession and ratified the Thirteenth Amend ment. The action taken by the new governments in these reorganized States in regard to the freedmen prevented Congress from accepting this plan. The South had no faith that the negro would be willing to labor except under compulsion, and therefore many of the States passed laws compelling the freedmen to work. The penalties proposed were very severe, and many Northern leaders felt that the condition of the negro would be practically as bad as under slavery.

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647. Reconstruction. In spite of the President's opposition, Congress passed certain "Acts of Reconstruction," as they were called. These provided that the States should be admitted to Congress only when new governments should be formed, of a character which would pledge safety to the negroes. For this purpose, Congress put the districts under military governors, and voted that freedmen should be allowed to assist in forming the new governments. When these were formed and had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, the States might be again represented in Congress.