inaugurated for his second term on the 4th of March, 1865. On the night of April 14th, President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre, in Washington City, by John Wilkes Booth.

ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 15th of April, 1865-4th of March, 1869. Upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, the Vice-President, by the terms of the Constitution, became President of the United States. He took the oath of office on the 15th of April, and at once entered upon the discharge of his duties. His first act was to retain all the members of the Cabinet appointed by Mr. Lincoln.

Mr. Johnson was a native of North Carolina, having been born in Raleigh, on the 29th of December, 1808. At the age of ten he was bound as an apprentice to a tailor of that city. He was at this time unable to read or write. Some years later, being determined to acquire an education, he learned the alphabet from a fellow-workman, and a friend taught him spelling. He was soon able to read, and pursued his studies steadily, working ten or twelve hours a day at his trade, and studying two or three more. moved to Greenville, Tennessee. quently chosen alderman of his this election entered upon his political career. Studying law he abandoned tailoring, and devoted himself to legal pursuits and politics. He was

In 1826 he re

He was subsetown, and with

successively chosen Mayor, Member of the Legislature, Presidential elector, and State Senator. He was twice elected Governor of Tennessee, and three times a Senator of the United States from that State. Upon the secession of Tennessee from the Union, he refused to relinquish his seat in the Senate, and remained faithful to the cause of the Union throughout the war, winning considerable reputation during the struggle by his services in behalf of the national cause. He was an earnest, honest-hearted man, who sincerely desired to do his duty to the country. His mistakes were due to his temperament, and proceeded from no desire to serve his own interests or those of any party. In his public life he was incorruptible. A man of ardent nature, strong convictions, and indomitable will, it was not possible that he should avoid errors, or fail to stir up a warm and determined opposition to his policy.

The first duty devolving upon the new administration was the disbanding of the army, which at the close of the war numbered over a million of men. It was prophesied by foreign nations and feared by many persons at home, that the sudden return of such a large body of men to the pursuits of civil life would be attended with serious evils, but both the Union and the Confederate soldiers · went back quietly and readily to their old avocations. Thus did these citizen-soldiers give to the world a splendid exhibition of the triumph of law

and order in a free country, and a proof of the stability of our institutions.

The restoration of the Southern States to their places in the Union was the most important work of Mr. Johnson's administration.

In the fall of 1868 another Presidential election was held. The Republican party nominated General Ulysses S. Grant for the Presidency, and Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, for the Vice-Presidency. The Democratic party nominated Horatio Seymour, of New York, for the Presidency, and Frank P. Blair, of Missouri, for the Vice-Presidency. The election resulted in the choice of General Grant by a popular vote of 2,985,031 to 2,648,830 votes cast for Mr. Seymour. In the electoral college Grant received 217 votes and Seymour 77. The States of Virginia, Mississippi and Texas were not allowed to take part in this election, being still out of the Union.

ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S.
GRANT.

4th of March, 1869-4th of March, 1877. Ulysses S. Grant, the eighteenth President of the United States, was inaugurated at Washington with imposing ceremonies on the 4th of March, 1869. He was born at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, on the 27th of April, 1822. His father was a tanner, and wished him to follow his trade, but the boy had more ambitious hopes, and at the age of seven

teen a friend secured for him an appointment as a cadet at West Point, where he was educated. Upon graduating he entered the army. Two years later he was sent to Mexico, and served through the war with that country with distinc

tion. He was specially noticed by his commanders, and was promoted for gallant conduct. Soon after the close of the war he resigned his commission, and remained in civil life and obscurity until the breaking out of the civil war, when he volun