348 INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. for roads, and the rest for miscellaneous objects. Much of this money was borrowed from foreign capitalists. Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware, North Carolina and Georgia were the only States without debts. The rush for internal improvements was stayed by the crisis of 1837. Many enterprises that had been undertaken in the preceding fifteen years had been wholly unnecessary and were extravagantly carried out. Much money had been sunk in them and, to make matters worse, some States repudiated their debts. Most of the works owned by the States were sold to private investors, the States withdrawing from the business. Agitation in favor of having the National government assume the debts of the States sprang up, but came to naught. As indicating the public opinion at the time, it should not be overlooked that in nearly all the State constitutions adopted in that period, provisions were inserted prohibiting the use of State funds or the State credit for internal improvements. How completely this work was then suspended is shown by the decrease of State indebtedness in 1838-1840 to about 18 per cent. (9 per cent. a year) from the 105 per cent. increase in 1835-1838 (50 per cent. a year) and the 150 per cent. increase in 1830-1835 (50 per cent. a year). * * Albert Gallatin, Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the Subject of Public Roads and Canals, in American State Papers, Miscellaneous, vol. i.; Emory R. Johnson, Ocean and Inland Water Transportation (New York, 1906); Preliminary Report of the Inland Waterways Commission (Washington, 1908); Report of the United States Industrial Commission (19 vols., Washington, 1900-1902); A. R. Hulbert, The Historic Highways of America (15 vols., Cleveland, 1902-1905); J. L. Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States (Philadelphia, 1888). SERIES SIXTEEN LECTURES EIGHTY-SIX TO NINETY-TWO The Reconstruction Era, 1865-1877 86. Early Reconstruction and the Impeachment of President Johnson 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. Financial Affairs Foreign Relations The Ku Klux and Enforcement Acts Internal Affairs The Hayes-Tilden Dispute and the Undoing of Reconstruction THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER I. 1865. SOCIAL CONDITIONS AFTER WAR: THEORIES OF RECONSTRUCTION. Problem of status -- - Suffering Business revival in North-Corruption in government Ruin in South among whites and negroes - Confederate finances Negro desertions Military orders - Confiscation frauds - Religious organizations - Teachers sent from North - Irritating to South Elements composing political parties Lincoln's plan of reconstruction Plans of Sumner, Stevens, Shellabarger, and others - Lincoln's plan in operation — Amnesty proclamation — “Ten per cent." governments - Lincoln's offer to pay for slaves - Movements in Maryland, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and Louisiana Sumner opposes admission Congress passes Wade-Davis bill - Lincoln's death prevents quarrel with Congress. T HE collapse of the Confederacy ended all organized resist-ance to the authority of the United States, but the nation was now confronted with a problem, the solution of which was eventually to tax the statesmanship and wisdom of its officials to the utmost. This problem not only concerned the question of restoring the Confederate States to their former places in the Union and determining the status of those who had fought against Federal authority, but there was also the question of the legal, 350 PROSPERITY IN THE NORTH. The enacting of the law enfranchising the freedman had been an easy matter, but the solution of his economic problems and difficulties was a far different proposition. As Dr. DuBois says, "it seemed plain that this was no ordinary matter of temporary relief, but a national crisis; for here loomed a labor problem of vast dimensions. Masses of Negroes stood idle, or, if they worked spasmodically, were never sure of pay; and if perchance they received pay, squandered the new thing thoughtlessly.' Before going into details concerning the reconstruction of the South, we must glance at the social and economic conditions existing after the war. After the armies of the North had been disbanded and there was no further need for great quantities of military supplies, the former soldiers and those engaged in the manufacture of war materials were forced to secure employment in other channels of industry. The great and burdensome war taxes must be reduced and a general economic readjustment accomplished. In addition, the railways of the country and particularly those of the South† needed extension of ship she may assume over this race, she must deal justly with them and protect them in all their rights of person and property. The highest degree their lines in order to more quickly and easily settle and develop the uncultivated lands. * In the North, after the disasters of 1861 and 1862, a revival of business began and continued throughout the war.* In some localities and in some trades the wages of labor advanced, but that advance was not commensurate with the advance in the cost of living. Nevertheless the demand for labor was constant, manufacturing plants were plants were busy and prosperity seemed general, even a large amount of money being spent during 1863 and 1864 for luxuries. Gaiety was manifest throughout the country toward the close of the war and theatres and places of public amusement were liberally patronized. But with this prosperity there "was a prevalent impression that in the midst of this speculation, extravagance and luxury, morals declined," as witnessed by editorials and comments of the New York Times (April 21, 1864), the Columbus (Ohio)· Crisis (May 4, 1864), the Springfield Republican, and other journals, and also by the public speeches of many prominent men. The same situation obtained in the South.† On the other hand the public sense. of morality in the North had been sadly shaken by the revelations of corruption among government officials. of elevation in the scale of civilization to which training, but they cannot be admitted to political or social equality with the white race." * W. E. B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk, p. 17 (A. C. McClurg & Co.). John C. Schwab, The Confederate States of America, Financial and Industrial History, pp. 272-275. tration of the war department, a com * James F. Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850, vol. v., chap. xxvii. and authorities cited (The Macmillan Co.). Schwab, pp. 280-283, and authorities cited. |