8. The year 1867 was signalized by THE PURCHASE OF ALASKA. Two years previously, the territory had been explored by a corps of scientific men with a view of establishing telegraphic communication with Asia. The explorers found that the coast-fisheries were of great value, and that the forests of white pine and yellow cedar were among the finest in the world. Negotiations for the purchase were at once opened, and on the 30th of March, 1867, a treaty was concluded by which, for the sum of seven million two hundred thousand dollars, Russia ceded Alaska to the United States. The territory embraced an area of five hundred and eighty thousand square miles, and a population of twenty-nine thousand souls.

9. Very soon after his accession, a serious disagreement arose between the President and Congress. The difficulty grew out of the question of reörganizing the Southern States. The point in dispute was as to the relation which those States had sustained to the Federal Union during the civil war. The President held that the ordinances of secession were null and void, and that the seceded States had never been out of the Union. The majority in Congress held that the acts of secession were illegal and unconstitutional, but that the seceded States had been actually detached from the Union, and that special legislation was necessary in order to restore them to their former relations.

10. In 1865, measures of reconstruction were begun by the President. On the 9th of May, a proclamation was issued for the restoration of Virginia to the Union. Twenty days later a provisional government was established over South Carolina; and similar measures were adopted in respect to the other States of the Confederacy. On the 24th of June, all restrictions on trade and intercourse with the Southern States were removed. On the 7th of September, a second amnesty proclamation was issued, by which all persons who had upheld the Confederate cause-excepting the leaders-were unconditionally pardoned. Meanwhile, Tennessee had been reörganized, and in 1866 was restored to its place in the Union. When Congress convened, a committee of fifteen members was appointed, to which were referred all questions concerning the reörganization of the Southern States. In accordance with measures reported by this committee, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana,

North Carolina, and South Carolina were reconstructed, and in June and July of 1868, reädmitted into the Union. Congress had, in the meantime,

passed THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, by which the privileges of citizenship were conferred on the freedmen of the South. All of these congressional enactments were effected over the veto of the President.

11. Meanwhile, a difficulty had arisen in the President's cabinet which led to his impeachment. On the 21st of February, 1868, he notified Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war, of his dismissal

from office. The act was regarded by Congress as a usurpation of authority and a violation of law. On the 3d of March, articles of impeachment were agreed to by the House of Representatives, and the President was summoned before the Senate for trial. Proceedings began on the 23d of March and continued until the 26th of May, when the President was acquitted. Chief-Justice Salmon P Chase, one of the most eminent of American statesmen and jurists, presided during the impeachment.

12. The time for another presidential election was already at General Ulysses S. Grant was nominated by the Republicans, and Horatio Seymour, of New York, by the Democrats. The canvass was one of great excitement. The questions most discussed by the political speakers were those arising out of the civil

war. The principles advocated by the majority in Congress furnished the Republican platform of 1868, and on that platform General Grant was elected by a large majority. As Vice-President, Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, was chosen.

RECAPITULATION.

Johnson in the presidency.-Slavery is formally abolished.-The Amnesty Proclamation.-A struggle with the war-debt.-Napoleon's empire in Mexico.Maximilian is captured and shot.-Final success of the Atlantic telegraph.-The Territories assume their final form.-Alaska is purchased from Russia.-The difficulty between the President and Congress.-The reconstruction imbroglio.Second amnesty.-The Southern States are reädmitted.-The President removes Stanton.-Is impeached.-And acquitted.-General Grant is elected President.

ULYSS

CHAPTER LXVI.

GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION, 1869–1877.

LYSSES S. GRANT, eighteenth President of the United States, was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27th, 1822. At the age of seventeen he entered the Military Academy at West Point, and was graduated in 1843. He served with distinction in the Mexican war; but his first national reputation was won by the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson. From that time he rapidly rose in rank, and in March, 1864, was appointed lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief of the Union army.

2. The first great event of the new administration was the com pletion of THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. The first division of the road extended from Omaha, Nebraska, to Ogden, Utah, a distance of a thousand and thirty-two miles. The western division reached from Ogden to San Francisco, a distance of eight hundred and eighty-two miles. On the 10th of May, 1869, the work was completed with appropriate ceremonies.

3. Before the inauguration of President Grant two additional

amendments to the Constitution had been adopted. The first of these, known as the Fourteenth Amendment, extended the right of citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United

ULYSSES S GRANT.

States, and declared the validity of the public debt. Early in 1869, the Fifteenth Amendment was adopted by Congress, providing that the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This clause was proclaimed by the President as a part of the Constitution, on the 30th of March, 1870.

4. In the first three months of the same

year, the reörganizaOn the 24th of Jan

tion of the Southern States was completed. uary, the senators and representatives of Virginia were reädmitted to their seats in Congress. On the 23d of February a like action was taken in regard to Mississippi; and on the 30th of March the work was finished by the reädmission of Texas.

5. In 1870 was completed the ninth census of the United States. Notwithstanding the ravages of war, the last ten years had been a period of growth and progress. During that time the population had increased to thirty-eight million five hundred and eighty-seven thousand souls. The national debt was rapidly falling off. The products of the United States had grown to a vast aggregate. American manufacturers were competing with those of England in the markets of the world. The Union now embraced thirty-seven

States and eleven Territories. The national domain had spread to the vast area of three million six hundred and four thousand square miles. Few things have been more wonderful than the territorial growth of the United States. The nature of this development will be easily understood from the accompanying map.

6. In January of 1871, President Grant appointed Senator Wade of Ohio, Professor White of New York, and Dr. Samuel Howe of Massachusetts, to visit Santo Domingo and report upon the desirability of annexing that island to the United States. The measure was earnestly favored by the President. After three months spent abroad, the commissioners returned and reported in favor of annexation; but the proposal was met with opposition in Congress, and defeated.

7. The claim of the United States against the British government for damages done by Confederate cruisers during the civil war still remained unsettled. After the war Great Britain grew anxious for an adjustment of the difficulty. On the 27th of February, 1871, a joint high commission, composed of five British and five American statesmen, assembled at Washington city. From the fact that the cruiser Alabama had done most of the injury complained of, the claims of the United States were called THE ALABAMA CLAIMS. After much discussion, the commissioners framed a treaty, known as the Treaty of Washington. It was agreed that all claims of either nation against the other should be submitted to a board of arbitration to be appointed by friendly nations. Such a court was formed, and in the summer of 1872 convened at Geneva, Switzerland. The cause of the two nations was heard, and on the 14th of September, decided in favor of the United States. Great Britain was required to pay into the Federal treasury fifteen million five hundred thousand dollars.

8. The year 1871 is noted in American history for the burning of Chicago. On the evening of the 8th of October a fire broke out in De Koven street, and was driven by a high wind into the lumber-yards and wooden houses of the neighborhood. All day long the flames rolled on, sweeping into a blackened ruin the most valuable portion of the city. The area burned over was two thousand one hundred acres, or three and a third square miles. Nearly