22. On the 1st of July, 1876, the constitution of Colorado was ratified by the people of the territory. A month later the President issued his proclamation, and the new commonwealth took her place as the thirty-eighth member of the Union. The population of the State already numbered forty-five thousand. Until 1859, Colorado constituted a part of Kansas. In that year a convention was held at Denver, and a distinct territorial government was organized. At the close of 1875, the yield of gold in "the Centennial State" had reached the sum of seventy millions of dollars.

23. The twenty-third presidential election was one of the most exciting and critical in the history of the nation. General Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and William A. Wheeler, of New York, were chosen as candidates by the Republicans; Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, by the Democrats. The Independent Greenback party presented as candidates Peter Cooper, of New York, and Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio. The canvass began early and with great spirit. The real contest lay between the Republicans and the Democrats. The election was held. The general result was ascertained, and both parties claimed the victory! The election was so evenly balanced between the candidates; there had been so much irregularity in the elections in South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Oregon; and the power of Congress over the electoral proceedings was so poorly defined,—that no certain result could be announced. For the first time in the history of the country, there was a disputed presidency.

24. When Congress convened in December, the whole question came before that body for adjustment. After much debating, it was agreed that the disputed election returns should be referred for decision to A JOINT HIGH COMMISSION, consisting of five members chosen from the United States Senate, five from the House of Representatives, and five from the Supreme Court. The Commission was accordingly constituted. The returns of the disputed States were referred to the tribunal; and on the 2d of March a result was reached. The Republican candidates were declared elected. One hundred and eighty-five electoral votes were cast for Hayes and Wheeler, and one hundred and eighty-four for Tilden and Hendricks.

RECAPITULATION.

Sketch of President Grant.-The Pacific Railroad is completed.-The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments are adopted.-The Southern States are restored to the Union.--The ninth census and its lesson.--The Santo Domingo business.-The Alabama Claims are adjusted by the Geneva Court.-The burning of Chicago.-The Presidential election.-The candidates.-Grant is reëlected.Character and death of Greeley.-Great fire in Boston.-The Modoc War.-Murder of the peace commissioners.-The savages are subdued.-The Louisiana imbroglio. The Credit Mobilier investigation.-The financial crisis of 1873-74.— Death-roll of eminent men.-The Centennial Exhibition.-The Sioux War breaks out. The Custer massacre.-The Indians are overpowered.-Sitting Bull and his band escape to Canada.-The conference with them.-Admission of Colorado.-The great election of 1876.—A disputed presidency.-The result.

Ꭱ.

CHAPTER LXVII.

HAYES'S ADMINISTRATION, 1877–1881.

In

UTHERFORD B. HAYES, nineteenth President of the United States, was born in Delaware, Ohio, on the 4th of October, 1822. His ancestors were soldiers of the Revolution. His primary education was received in the public schools. Afterward, at the age of twenty, he was graduated from Kenyon College. 1845 he completed his legal studies, and began the practice of his profession, first at Marietta, then at Fremont, and finally as city solicitor, in Cincinnati. During the Civil War he performed much honorable service in the Union cause, rose to the rank of majorgeneral, and in 1864, while still in the field, was elected to Congress. Three years later, he was chosen governor of his native State and was reëlected in 1869, and again in 1875.

2. In his inaugural address, delivered on the 5th of March,* President Hayes indicated the policy of his administration. The patriotic and conciliatory utterances of the address did much to quiet the bitter spirit of partisanship which for many months had disturbed the country. The distracted South was assured of right

*The 4th of March fell on Sunday. The same thing has happened in the following years: 1753, 1781, 1821 (Monroe's inauguration, second term), 1849 (Taylor's inauguration), 1877 (Hayes's inauguration);-and the same will hereafter occur as follows: 1917, 1945, 1973, 2001, 2020, 2057, 2085, 2125, 2153.

purposes and honest plans on the part of the new chief-magistrate; a radical reform in the civil service was avowed as a part of his policy; and a speedy return to specie payments was recommended as the final cure for the deranged finances of the nation.

3. On the 8th of March, the President named the members of his cabinet. William M. Evarts, of New York, was chosen secretary of state; John Sherman, of Ohio, secretary of the treasury; George W. McCrary, of Iowa, secretary of war; Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana, secretary of the navy; Carl Schurz, of Missouri, secretary of the interior; Charles E. Devens, of Massachusetts, attorney-general; and David M. Key, of Tennessee, postmaster-general. These nominations were duly ratified by the Senate, and the new administration and the new century of the Republic were ushered in together.

4. In the summer of 1877 occurred what is known as THE GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE. The managers of the leading railways from the seaboard to the West had declared a reduction in wages, and the measure was violently resisted by the employes of the companies. On the 16th of July, the workmen of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad left their posts and gathered such strength in Baltimore and at Martinsburg, West Virginia, as to prevent the running of trains and set the authorities at defiance. The militia was called out by Governor Matthews and sent to Martinsburg, but was soon dispersed by the strikers. The President then ordered General French to the scene with a body of regulars, and the blockade of the road was raised. On the 20th of the month, a terrible tumult occurred in Baltimore; but the troops succeeded in scattering the rioters, of whom nine were killed and many wounded.

In less than a

5. Meanwhile, the strike spread everywhere. week the trains had been stopped on all the important roads between the Hudson and the Mississippi. Travel ceased, freights perished. en route, business was paralyzed. In Pittsburgh the strikers, rioters, and dangerous classes, gathering in a mob to the number of twenty thousand, obtained complete control of the city and for two days held a reign of terror unparalleled in the history of the country. The Union Depot and all the machine shops and other railroad buildings of the city were burned. A hundred and

twenty-five locomotives, and two thousand five hundred cars laden with valuable cargoes were destroyed. The insurrection was finally suppressed by the regular troops and the Pennsylvania militia, but not until nearly a hundred lives had been lost and property destroyed to the value of more than three millions of dollars.

6. A similar but less terrible riot occurred at Chicago on the 25th of the month. In this tumult fifteen of the insurgents were killed. On the next day St. Louis was for some hours in peril of the mob. San Francisco was at the same time the scene of a dangerous outbreak, which was here directed against the Chinese immigrants and the managers of the lumber yards. Cincinnati, Columbus, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne were for a while in danger, but escaped without serious loss of life or property. By the close of the month, the alarming insurrection was at an end. Business and travel flowed back into their usual channels; but the sudden outbreak had given a great shock to the public mind, and revealed a hidden peril to American institutions.

7. In the spring of 1877, a war broke out with the Nez Percé Indians of Idaho. This tribe of natives had been known to the Government since 1806, at which time a treaty was made with them by the explorers, Lewis and Clarke. In 1854 the national authorities purchased a part of the Nez Percé territory, large reservations being made in Northwestern Idaho and Northeastern Oregon; but some of the chiefs refused to ratify the compact, and remained at large. This was the beginning of difficulties.

8. The war began with the usual depredations by the Indians. General Howard, commanding the Department of the Columbia, marched against them with a small force of regulars; but the Nez Percés, led by their noted chieftain Joseph, fled first in this direction and then in that, avoiding battle. During the greater part of summer the pursuit continued; still the Indians could not be overtaken. In the fall they were chased through the mountains into Northern Montana, where they were confronted by other troops commanded by Colonel Miles.

9. The Nez Percés were next driven across the Missouri River, near the mouth of the Musselshell, and were finally surrounded in their camp north of the Bear Paw Mountains. Here, on the

4th of October, they were attacked by the forces of Colonel Miles. A hard battle was fought, and the Indians were completely routed. Only a few, led by the chief White Bird, escaped. All the rest were either killed or made prisoners. Three hundred and seventyfive of the captive Nez Percés were brought back to the American post on the Missouri. The troops of General Howard had made forced marches through a mountainous country for a distance of sixteen hundred miles! The campaign was crowned with complete

success.

10. During the year 1877, the public mind was greatly agitated concerning THE REMONETIZATION OF SILVER. By the first coinage regulations of the United States, the standard unit of value was the American Silver Dollar. From 1792 until 1873, the quantity of pure metal in this unit had never been changed, though the amount of alloy contained in the dollar was several times altered. In 1849 a gold dollar was added to the coinage, and from that time forth the standard unit of value existed in both metals. In 1873-'74 a series of acts were adopted by Congress bearing upon the standard unit of value, whereby the legal-tender quality of silver was abolished, and the silver dollar omitted from the list of coins to be struck at the national mints.

11. In January, 1875, THE RESUMPTION ACT was passed by Congress. It was declared that on the 1st of January, 1879, the Government should begin to redeem its outstanding legal-tender notes in coin. The question was now raised as to the meaning of the word "coin" in the act; and, for the first time, the attention of the people was aroused to the fact that the privilege of paying debts in silver had been taken away. A great agitation followed. The cry for the remonetization of silver reached the Government, and in 1878 a measure was passed by Congress for the restoration of the legal-tender quality of the old silver dollar, and for the compulsory coinage of that unit at a rate of not less than two millions of dollars a month. The President returned the bill with his objections, but the veto was crushed under a tremendous majority, and the old double standard of values was restored.

12. In the summer of 1878, several of the Gulf States were scourged with a YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC. The disease made its