te slaves of these masters; that the gold they dug out of
our soil was sent to China; that they could not become citizens; and
that they worked for wages so low that no American could compete
with them.

The legislature promptly acted, and repeatedly attempted to stop their
immigration by taxing them. But the Supreme Court declared such taxation
illegal, whereupon, the state having gone as far as it could, an appeal
was made to Congress. That body was deaf to all entreaties; but the
President through Anson Burlingame in 1868 secured some new articles to
the old Chinese treaty of 1858. Henceforth it was to be a penal offense
to take Chinamen to the United States without their free consent. This
was not enough, and in order to force Congress to act, the question was
made a political issue.

%505. The Prohibition Party.%--The temperance cause in the United
States dates back to 1810. But it was not till Maine passed a law
forbidding the sale of liquor, in 1851, and her example was followed by
Vermont and Rhode Island in 1852, by Connecticut in 1854, and by New
York, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Iowa, in 1855, that prohibition
became an issue. The war turned the thoughts of people to other things.
But after the war, prohibition parties began to appear in several
states, and in 1869 steps were taken to unite and found a national
party. In that year, the Grand Lodges of Good Templars held a convention
at Oswego, N.Y., and by these men a call was issued for a national
convention of prohibitionists to form a political party. The delegates
thus summoned met at Chicago in September, 1869, and there founded the
"National Prohibition Reform party." The first national nominating
convention was held at Columbus, O., in 1872, when James Black of
Pennsylvania was nominated for President, and John Russell of Michigan
for Vice President.

%506. Campaign of 1872.%--At the beginning of the campaign there were
thus seven presidential candidates before the people. But some refused
to run, and others had no chance, so that the contest was really between
General Grant and Horace Greeley, who was caricatured unmercifully. The
benevolent face of the great editor, spectacled, and fringed with a
snow-white beard, appeared on fans, on posters, on showcards, where, as
a setting sun, it might be seen going down behind the western hills. "Go
west," his famous advice to young men, became the slang phrase of the
hour. He was defeated, for Grant carrie