teers, and rose rapidly until he was made lieutenant-general with the command of all the armies in the field, March 2, 1864. In 1868 he was elected president, and again in 1872.

After his retirement Grant made a voyage around the world, which added to his fame both abroad and at home. In 1880 he was a candidate for a third term, but failed to receive the Republican nomination. The latter years of his life were employed in the writing of his "Personal Memoirs," a work creditable to his reputation as a soldier and as an author.

Grant was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822, and died July 23, 1885, at Mount McGregor, New York.

612. The Union Pacific Railroad. It had long been the opinion of the people of the United States that a railroad should be built to the Pacific coast so that the country might be bound firmly together. As it was impossible to get anyone to build this road without assistance, the government loaned large sums of money and gave liberal grants of western land to the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific companies for the building of the road. With the help of these grants which the companies sold at a large profit, and by using Chinamen as laborers, the road was finished in 1869. Great was the rejoicing over the completion of this gigantic task.

613. The Fifteenth Amendment.-Just before Grant's inauguration, on the 26th of February, 1869, congress proposed another amendment to the constitution which declared that the right to vote should "not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." By the addition of this amendment it was expected that the right of the freedman to vote could never be taken away. The ratification of the amendment was then made a condition of the reconstruction of the four southern states, Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas, which were still out of the union. The amendment was declared in force March 30, 1870.

614. The Ku-Klux Klan.-Many white people of the south, dissatisfied with the disturbed condition of southern politics under reconstruction, sought to defeat the party in power by the organization (1866) of a secret society known as the Ku-Klux Klan. Its members were bound by oath to obey the orders of their superiors, and an organized attempt was made to prevent the freedman from voting. Superstitious colored people were terrified by the appearance at night of ghostly figures masked and robed in white, who went groaning and howling about their cabins. Those who could not be scared by this mummery were dragged out of their huts, flogged severely, and sometimes killed. Later the Klan treated white men who assisted freedmen in the same way. Notices to leave the country were sent to such men, with a threat of death if the notice was not obeyed. Many murders resulted; by 1870 the society had established a reign of terror over a great part of the south, with the result that colored voters refrained from going to the polls.

615. Force Bills.-The Ku-Klux became extremely violent in 1870 and 1871. In May, 1870, without knowing who committed the outrages, congress passed a force bill to carry out the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. By this law the United States courts were to try all cases of intimidation and bribery of voters, frauds at the ballot box, and all interference with elections or election officers. This was not sufficient, and in April, 1871, a second force bill was passed. Congress had now learned about the Ku-Klux, and this act was aimed against the dreaded society. Severe punishments were to be inflicted upon those who committed the outrages, and the president was allowed to use the army and navy to carry out the law. The authorities acted with decisive energy. Many men were arrested, tried, and sentenced to prison. treatment the Ku-Klux quickly disappeared.

Under this

616. Reconstruction Completed. The year 1871 saw the end of unreconstructed states. Virginia was admitted in

January, Mississippi in February, Texas in March, 1870; and Georgia in January, 1871. This completed the work of reconstruction by congress.

617. Military Authority Continued in the South. The southern states, however, were not yet left to work out their own problems. Under the force bills the president had the power to keep troops in the south and to interfere in public affairs. As it was believed with only too much reason that the freedmen would not be fairly treated, the rule of the bayonet was still continued. The result was constant turbulence, riots, and at times something like civil war in those states. 618. The Treaty of Washington.-President Grant's first term was largely devoted to the settlement of foreign questions. The most important problems were those involved in our relations with England. There were three: the fishery question; the water boundary on the northwest; and the Alabama question or the claim for damages by the United States for the injuries inflicted by confederate war vessels built in England, the most important of which was the Alabama. Reverdy Johnson, minister to England, had tried to settle these points in 1869, but the treaty he made was so unsatisfactory that it was rejected with indignation, and not a few Americans began to talk excitedly of war with England. In 1870, however, the question was taken up peaceably, and in 1871 England and the United States signed the Treaty of Washington, by which the Americans received satisfaction in regard to the fisheries, and the other questions were to be settled by arbitration. The emperor of Germany was selected to decide upon the boundary dispute. The question at issue was as to the line down the straits between Vancouver Island and the mainland. If this boundary line passed through "the channel" to the west of San Juan Island, it would leave that island to America; if it passed through the channel to the east, the island would go to Great Britain. In 1872 the German emperor gave his decision in favor of the United States.

619. The Alabama Claims: The Geneva Award. The Ala

bama dispute was harder to settle. Our government claimed that as Great Britain had allowed the Alabama and other confederate privateers to be fitted out in her ports, she was responsible for the damage done by these privateers. Great Britain replied that no such rule of international law existed. The matter was left to five arbitrators, one each from Great Britain, the United States, Italy, Brazil, and Switzerland. In 1872 the court of arbitration, sitting at Geneva, Switzerland, decided by a vote of four to one that Great Britain was responsible and should pay $15,500,000 in gold to the United States. The English were much displeased at the result. The verdict of the court was that a neutral nation must observe "due diligence" to prevent its territory from being made the base of armed expeditions against another power and that the nation failing to use such "due diligence" must pay damages.

620. Cuba: The Virginius-1873.-In 1868 a rebellion broke out in the island of Cuba, and much sympathy was expressed in the United States for the Cubans. President Grant insisted that Americans should take no part in the contest, but many young men stole away to assist the Cubans, while arms and ammunition were sent from the United States. Naturally the Spaniards were enraged. In October, 1873, the captain of a Spanish man-of-war captured the Virginius, an American vessel, hauled down the American flag, and proceeded to shoot the captain and fifty-six of the crew, nine of whom were American citizens. The excuse for all this was that the Virginius was a filibuster. This was probably true, but the seizing of an American vessel, the summary and brutal slaughter of American citizens, provoked great resentment in the United States. It required all the president's diplomacy and firmness to keep off war. He straightway demanded from Spain a humble apology and money damages. These the Spaniards gave, declaring that they had no intention of insulting the United States in seizing the Virginius.

621. The Campaign of 1872.-During Grant's administration, much corruption in the management of public affairs had come to light. Although the president was thoroughly honest and was known to be opposed to dishonest men and methods, still dissatisfaction with this condition of affairs led many Republicans to break away from their party. Many were displeased, too, with the continued military control of the south. In 1872 these Republicans, taking the name Liberal Republicans, opposed the renomination of General Grant as president to succeed himself. When they found that they could not hinder his renomination, they put forward a candidate of their own, selecting Horace Greeley, editor of the New York "Tribune," a very able but eccentric man. He was a staunch Republican, had been a bitter enemy of slavery and secession, and was a prominent supporter of a protective tariff. He was supposed to be a strong candidate, since for years many farmers of the country had taken their views of politics from what the able editor had to say in the weekly "Tribune." His nomination by the Liberal Republicans, therefore, led the Democrats to hope that Grant could be beaten, and they, too, named Greeley as their candidate. But Greeley had been too pronounced a Republican to be pleasing to most Democrats. Grant was elected by a vote in the electoral college of 286 votes to 63 cast for Greeley.

622. The First Civil Service Reform Bill.-To check corruption in office, and secure good men for the offices, congress passed in March, 1871, a civil service bill. In accordance with this, the smaller places in the government service, such as clerkships, were to be given to candidates on their merit, and not because of political favoritism. Unfortunately, congress was not in earnest in wanting reform. President Grant wished to carry out the measure, but in 1874 congress refused to vote money for the payment of the civil service board, and the reform perished for the time being.