he
loyal or the disloyal--the victorious Union or the defeated Confederacy
--should prescribe the terms of Reconstruction.

The Northern States were thus compelled to consider whether they
would unconditionally surrender to the Rebel element of the South or
devise some other plan of reconstruction. At that point, in the order
of time and in the order of events, and not until then, the just
resolve was made by the Republicans to reconstruct the South on the
basis of Loyalty, regardless or race or color. By refusing to
co-operate with the Republicans in the work of rehabilitating their
States, the Southern rebels forced the Northern States to make
impartial suffrage the corner-stone of the restored Union. The South
had its choice, and it deliberately and after fair warning decided to
reject the magnanimous offer of the North and to insist upon an
advantage in representation against which a common sense of justice
revolted. The North, foiled in its original design of reconstruction
by the perverse course of the South, was compelled, under the
providence of the Ruler of Nations, to deal honestly and justly with
the colored people. It was the insane folly of the South, in drawing
the sword against the life of the Nation, that led irresistibly to the
abolition of slavery. In a minor degree the folly was now repeated,
in resisting the mode of Reconstruction first tendered, and thus
forcing Congress to confer civil rights and suffrage upon the
emancipated slave. A higher than human power controlled these great
events. The wrath of man was made to praise the righteous works of
God. Whatever were the deficiencies of the negro race in education,
for the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, they had exhibited
the one vital qualification of an instinctive loyalty, and as far as
lay in their power a steadfast helpfulness to the cause of the National
Union.

As the strife between the Executive and Legislative Departments had
grown in intensity, President Johnson naturally sought to increase his
own prestige by the use of the patronage of the Government. To this
end he had already removed certain conspicuous Republicans from office,
especially those who had been recommended and were now sustained by
senators and representatives prominently engaged in frustrating his
plan of reconstruction. The wonder in the political world was, that
the President had not resorted to this form of attack more promptly,
and pursued it