nd the constitutions,
with such minor differences and adaptations as circumstances required,
were in all essential points the same. All were ordained in the spirit
of liberty, all prohibited the existence of any form of slavery, and
all heartily recognized the supreme sovereignty of the National
Government as having been indisputably established by the overthrow of
the Rebellion which was undertaken to confirm the adverse theory of
State-rights.

These proceedings in the South were in full progress when the second or
long session of the Fortieth Congress began, on the first Monday of
December, 1867. While President Johnson had not interposed any
obstructions to the working of the Reconstruction Act which had not
been effectively cured by the two supplementary Acts, he had neither
concealed nor abated his utter hostility to the policy of Congress,--a
form of hostility that grew in rancor in proportion as he had been
thwarted and rendered powerless by the enactment of the laws over his
veto. When Congress came together he seemed to have gathered all his
strength for a final assault upon its Reconstruction work and for a
final vindication of his own policy. His message was laden with every
form of attack which ingenuity could devise to throw discredit upon
Congress, and if possible to affright the people by the dismal
consequences destined in his judgment to follow the flagrant violation
of the Constitution which he saw in the Reconstruction policy. He
appealed to the people on the ground of patriotism, public safety, and
personal interest. He pictured anew the advantage and the grandeur of
having the old Union fully restored; he warned the people of the danger
of sowing the seeds of another rebellion by allowing continued
maltreatment of the Southern people; and he appealed to the commercial
and financial interests of the country by pointing out how every form
of property was endangered by the chaotic conditions of affairs to
which, in his belief, the policy of Congress was steadily tending.
Beyond these considerations he endeavored to arouse among the people
all possible prejudice against negro suffrage. He declared that "of
all the dangers which our Nation has yet encountered, none are equal
to those which must result from the success of the effort now making
to Africanize the half of our country." "We must not," said he,
"delude ourselves. It will require a strong standing army, and
probably more than two hun