se of Jefferson Davis occurred while
Johnson was President.

THE PROBLEM OF RECONSTRUCTION.

Reconstruction was the grave problem that confronted the country at the
close of the war. The question was as to the status of the States lately
in rebellion. It would not do to restore them to their full rights, with
the same old governments, for they might make better preparations and
secede again. Nothing was clearer than that slavery was the real cause
of the war, and the safety of the nation demanded that it should be
extirpated forever. The Emancipation Proclamation was a war measure and
simply freed the slaves, but did not prevent the re-establishment of
slavery. In December, 1865, therefore, the Thirteenth Amendment, having
been adopted by three-fourths of the States, was declared a part of the
Constitution. By it slavery was forever abolished, and one of the
gravest of all perils was removed.

President Johnson was a man of strong passions and prejudices. He had
been a "poor white" in the South, whose condition in some respect was
worse than that of slaves. He held a bitter personal hatred of the
aristocratic Southerners, who had brought on the war. His disposition at
first was to hang the leaders, but after awhile he swung almost as far
in the opposite direction. At the same time, he was not particularly
concerned for the welfare of the freed slaves, who were called
"freedmen."

THE PRESIDENT'S POLICY.

President Johnson termed his plan "my policy," and briefly it was: To
appoint provisional or temporary governors for each of the States lately
in rebellion. These governors called conventions of delegates, who were
elected by the former white voters of the respective States. When the
conventions met they declared all the ordinances of secession void,
pledged themselves never to pay any debt of the Southern Confederacy,
and ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, as proposed by Congress early in
1865, and which abolished slavery. Before the close of the year named,
each of the excluded States had been reorganized in accordance with this
plan. Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas took the step while Lincoln was
President.

The vexatious question was as to the treatment of the freedmen. The
South had no faith that they would work, except when compelled to do so
by slave-overseers. The new governments passed laws, therefore, to
compel them to work, under the penalty of being declared vagrants and
sent to jail, where the