the scar of such a struggle. The state of society at the South
that produced the war will remain and trouble the land until freedom and
democracy and the spirit of the nineteenth century takes its place. Only
then can we grapple the Union together with hooks of steel, and make it
as lasting as the granite that underlies the continent."

These were the brave words of a Southern newspaper, the Galveston
_Bulletin_, in January, 1867, in the mid-throes of reconstruction. So it
was that the best minds of the reunited nation foresaw and accepted the
path on which we still are slowly mounting; often slipping, stumbling,
falling, but still getting upward.

When, on January 31, 1865, the vote of the House completed the
ratification by Congress of the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing
slavery, a burst of jubilant cheering swept the whole assembly, and a
wave of joy went through the North. Universal freedom seemed close at
hand. Two months more, and the Confederate capital fell, on April 3, and
still higher rose the triumph. Another week, and the North woke at
midnight, to forget sleep and rejoice as over the final
consummation,--Lee had surrendered! In those days it seemed to ardent
souls that all the sacrifices of the past four years were repaid, and
freedom and Union were completely won.

But real freedom of men, true union of a nation, are not achieved by
votes of Congress alone, or victories of the sword. The first and worst
was over, yet the work was only begun. And these first steps had been by
a rough and bitter road, of which the next stage could not be smooth or
sweet. The plow of slavery had been followed by the harrow of
war,--blossoms and fruitage could not instantly follow.

Lincoln practically made his own the motto ascribed to the Jesuits, "The
goal of to-day, the starting-point of to-morrow." Even before to-day's
goal was reached, his eye was measuring the next stage. While his
patient shoulders were still bowed under the weight of war, his hands
were reaching out to the work of reconstruction. In December, 1863, a
year after the Emancipation Proclamation, he issued another
proclamation. In this he offered full amnesty to all who had taken arms
against the government, on condition simply of an oath to support the
Constitution, and all laws and proclamations concerning slavery until
such were legally overruled. From this amnesty were excepted those who
had held diplomatic or high military offices in the Confedera