feeling
of kindliness towards her had been manifest from the first among
Republicans. It was evident therefore to the least observing, that
no other State which had been engaged in the Rebellion would be
permitted to resume the privilege of representation on less exacting
conditions than had been imposed on Tennessee. It might be that their
own conduct would cause more exacting conditions to be imposed.

Congress adjourned on the 28th of July. Elections were to be held
in the ensuing autumn for representatives to the Fortieth Congress,
and an opportunity was thus promptly afforded to test the popular
feeling on the issue raised by the President's plan of Reconstruction.
The appeal was to be made to the same constituency which two years
before had chosen him to the Vice-Presidency,--augmented by the vote
of Tennessee, now once more authorized to take part in electing the
representatives of the nation. Seldom in the history of the country
has a weightier question been submitted to popular arbitrament;
seldom has a popular decision been evoked which was destined to
exercise so far-reaching an influence upon the progress of the nation,
upon the prosperity of the people. It was not an ordinary political
contest between partisans of recognized and chronic hostility. It was
a deadly struggle between the Executive and Legislative Departments of
the Government, both of which had been chosen by the same party. This
peculiar fact imparted to the contest a degree of personal acrimony
and political rancor never before exhibited in the biennial election
of representatives in Congress.

[(1) The following is the form in which the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution (consolidated from various propositions previously
discussed) was originally reported from the Committee on Reconstruction
by Mr. Stevens:--

"ARTICLE XIV.

"SECT. 1. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor
shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property
without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

"SECT. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
States which may be included within this Union according to their
respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State,
excluding Indians not taxed. But whenever in any State the elective
franchise shall be den