country and reconstructing the Southern State governments upon the basis of impartial justice and equal rights, are received back into the communion of the loyal people; and we favor the removal of the disqualifications and restrictions imposed upon the late rebels in the same measure as the spirit of disloyalty will die out, and as may be consistent with the safety of the loyal people.

14. That wo recognize the great principles laid down in the immortal Declaration of Independance, as the true foundation of democratic government; and we hail with gladness every effort toward making these principles a living reality on every inch of American soil.

2. The Democratic Party held its National Convention in Tammany Hall, New York City, on the 4th of July. Hon. Henry L. Palmer, of Wisconsin, was made temporary, and Hon. Horatio Seymour, of New York, permanent presiding officer. The party platform was adopted on the 7th, and the selection of candidates took place on the 9th, when the convention adjourned. Gov. Horatio Seymour, much against his will, was selected on the 22d, and Gen. Frank P. Blair, unanimously on the first ballot. The following platform was adopted:

The Democratic Party, in National Convention assembled, reposing its trust in the intelligence, patriotism, and discriminating justice of the people, standing upon the Constitution as the foundation and limitation of the powers of the Government, and the guarantee of the liberties of the citizen, and recognizing the questions of salvery and secession as having been settled, for all time to come, by the war or the voluntary action of the Southern States in constitutional conventions assembled, and never to be renewed or re-agitated, do with the return of peace, demand:

1. Immediate restoration of all the States to their rights in the Union under the Constitution, and of civil government to the American people.

2. Amnesty for all past political offences and the regulation of the elective franchise in the States by their citizens.

3. Payment of the public debt of the United States as rapidly as practicable; all moneys drawn from the people by taxation, except so much as is requisite for the necessities of the Government, economically administered, being honestly applied to such payment, and where the obligations of the Government do not expressly state upon their face, or the law under which they were issued does not provide that they shall be paid in coin, they ought, in right and in justice, to be paid in the lawful money of the United States.

4. Equal taxation of every species of property according to its real value, including Government bonds and other public securities.

5. One currency for the Government and the people, the laborer and the office-holder, the pensioner and the soldier, the producer and the bondholder.

6. Economy in the administration of the Government; the reduction of the standing army and navy; the abolition of the Freedmen's

Bureau and all political instrumentalities designed to secure negro supremacy; simplification of the system and discontinuance of inquisitorial modes of assessing and collecting internal revenue, so that the burden of taxation may be equalized and lessened; the credit of the Government and the currency made good; the repeal of all enactments for enrolling the State militia into national forces in time of peace; and a tariff for revenue upon foreign imports, and such equal taxation under the internal revenue laws as will afford incidental protection to domestic manufactures, and as will, without impairing the revenue, impose the least burden upon and best promote and encourage the great industrial interests of the country.

7. Reform of abuses in the administration, the expulsion of corrupt men from office, the abrogation of useless offices, the restoration of rightful authority to, and the independence of, the executive and judicial departments of the Government, the subordination of the military to the civil power, to the end that the usurpations of Congress and the despotism of the sword may cease.

8. Equal rights and protection for naturalized and native-born citizens at home and abroad, the assertion of American nationality which shall command the respect of foreign powers, and furnish an example and encouragement to people struggling for national integrity, constitutional liberty, and individual rights, and the maintenance of the rights of naturalized citizens against the absolute doctrine of immutable allegiance and the claims of foreign powers to punish them for alleged crime committed beyond their jurisdiction.

m

In demanding these measures and reforms, we arraign the Radical party for its disregard of right, and the unparalleled oppression and tyranny which have marked its career.

After the most solemn and unanimous pledge of both Houses of Congress to prosecute the war exclusively for the maintenance of the Government and the preservation of the Union under the Constitution, it has repeatedly violated that most sacred pledge under which alone was rallied that noble volunteer army which carried our flag to victory. Instead of restoring the Union, it has, so far as in its power, dissolved it, and subjected ten States, in time of profound peace, to military despotism and negro supremacy. It has nulified there the right of trial by jury; it has abolished the habeas corpus, that most sacred writ of liberty; it has overthrown the freedom of speech and the press; it has substituted arbitrary seizures and arrests, and military trials and secret starchamber inquisitions, for the constitutional tribunals; it has disrogarded in time of peace the right of the people to be free from searches and seizures; it has entered the post and telegraph offices, and even the private rooms of individuals, and seized their private papers and letters without any specific charge or notice of affidavit, as required by the organic law; it has converted the American Capitol into a bastile; it has established a system of spies and official espionage to which no constitutional monarchy of Europe would now dare to resort; it has abolished the right of appeal on important constitutional questions to the supreme judicial tribunals, and threatens to curtail or destroy its original jurisdiction, which is irrevocably vested by the Constitution, while the learned Chief Justice has been subjected to the most atrocious calumnies, merely because he would not prostitute his high office to the support of the false and partisan charges preferred against the President. Its corruption and extravagance have exceeded anything known in history, and, by its frauds and monopolies it has nearly doubled the burden of the debt created by the war. It has stripped the President of his constitutional power of appointmeut, even of his own cabinet. Under its repeated assaults, the pillars of the Government are rocking on their base, and should it succeed in November next and inaugurate its President, we will meet as a subjected and conquered people amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered fragments of the Conatitution.

And we do declare and resolve that ever since the people of the United States threw off all subjection to the British crown, the privilege and trust of suffrage have belonged to the several States, and have been granted, regulated, and controlled exclusively by the political power of each State respectively, and that any attempt by Congress, on any pretext whatever, to deprive any State of this right, or interfere with its exercise, is a flagrant usurpation of power which can find no warrant in the Constitution, and, if sanctioned by the people, will subvert our form of government, and can only end in a single centralized and consolidated government, in which the separate existence of the States will be entirely absorbed, and an unqualified despotism be established in place of a Federal union of coequal States.

And that we regard the reconstruction acts (so called) of Congress, as such, as unsurpations and unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void, That our soldiers and sailors, who carried the flag of our country to victory against a most gallant and determined foe, must ever be grate. fully remembered, and, all the guarantees given in their favor must be faithfully carried into execution.

That the public lands should be distributed as widely as possible among the people, and should be disposed of either under the pre-emption of homestead land, or sold in reasonable quantities, and to none but actual occupants, at the minimum price established by the Government. When gracts of public lands may be allowed, necessary for the encouragement of important public improvements, the proceds of the sale of such lands, and not the lands themselves, should be so applied.

That the President of the United States, Andrew Johnson, in exercising the power of his high office in resisting the aggressions of Congress upon the constitutional rights of the States and the people, is entitled to the gratitude of the whole American people, and in behalf of the Democratic party we tender him our thanks for his patriotic efforts in that regard.

Upon this platform the Democratic party appeal to every patriot, including all the Conservative element and all who desire to support the Constitution and restore the Union, forgetting all past differences of opinion, to unite with us in the present great struggle for the liberties of the people; and that to all such, to whatever party they may have heretofore belonged, we extend the right hand of fellowship, and hail all such co-operating with us as friends and brethren.

m

Resolved, That this convention sympathize cordially with the workingmen of the United States in their efforts to protect the rights and interests of the laboring classes of the country.

Resolved, That the thanks of the convention are tendered to Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, for the justice, dignity, and impartiality with which he presided over the court of impeachment on the trial of President Andrew Johnson.

At the time of holding the Conventions in Chicago and New York, the Soldiers and Sailors met at the same time and in the same cities, and one body passed a set of resolutions endorsing the nomination of Gen. Grant and pledging their support to secure his election, while the other body denounced the administration and resolved to work for the election of Seymour and Blair.

X. FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The expenses of the last year of the war were greater than the entire expenditures of all the administrations from Washington to Buchanan. As high as $3,500,000 were required by the government at one time for its daily expenditures. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the public debt should run into the billions.

Year. Public Debt..

Expenditures.

Exports.

Imports.

1861 $ 90,867,828 $ 85,387,313 $243,971,277 $286,598,135 1862 514,211,371| 570,841,700 229,938,985 1863 1,098,796,181 805,796,630 322.359,254 1864 1,740,690,489 1,298,144,656 301,984,561 1865 2,682,593,026 1,897,674,224 336,697,123 1866 2,783,425,879 1,141,072,666 550,684,299 1867 2,692,199,215 1,093,079,655 438,577,312 1868 2,636,320,964 1,069,889,970 454,301,713 372,409,448

275,357,051 252,919,920 329,562,895 234,339,810 445,512,158 411,733,309

XI. OUTLINE OF CONCURRENT EVENTS.

England: Death of Prince Albert, Dec. 14, 1861; Prince of Wales and Alexandra of Denmark married, March 10, 1863; Arrest and trial of Fenians in Ireland, 1865-66; Debates on the Irish Church and union of Liberal Party under lead of Mr. Gladstone, resulting in the Disestablishment of the Irish Church; War with Abyssinia in 1868.

Denmark: Agitation in favor of a Scandinavian Union of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, in June; the king of Denmark visited Sweden and was received with great enthusiasm, July 17, 1862. The Schleswig-Holstein war with Prussia and allies, begun in 1863, was concluded Oct. 30, 1864.

CHAPTER XV.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF UYLSSES S. GRANT.

Republican, Two Terms, 1869 to 1877.

1. CABINET.

PRESIDENT.

1869. Ulysses S. Grant, Illinois.

VICE PRESIDENTS.

1869. Schuyler Colfax, Indiana. 1873. Henry Wilson, Massachusetts.

SECRETARIES OF STATE.

1869. Elihu B. Washburne, Illinois. 1869. Hamilton Fish, New York.

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY

1869. Alexander T. Stewart, of New York, (ap't. withdrawn.

1869. George S. Boutwell, Massachusetts. 1873. William A Richardson, Massachusetts.

SECRETARIES OF WAR.

1869. John A. Rawlins, Illinois. 1869. William T. Sherman, Ohio. 1869. William W. Belknap, Iowa.

SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY.

1869. Adolph E. Borie, Pennsylvania. 1869. George M. Robeson, New Jersey.

SECRETARIES OF THE INTERIOR.

1869. Jacob D. Cox, Ohio.

1870. Columbus Delano, Ohio.