of appeals sustained the lower courts. The first was against Garrett Davis, then ably representing Kentucky in the United States Senate, a stanch Union man and a large owner of slaves. The effect of the Freedmen's Bureau was: (1) to irritate the people against the Republican party, the party in power in the nation; (2) to strengthen the Democratic party; (3) to retard the advancement of the negro.

The organization assumed the guardianship of the race. It awoke an opposition on the part of the slave to his former owner, and thereby prevented the friendly relations which to-day exist between the two races. By 1870, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States constitution were ratified and the rights of citizenship and suffrage were conferred upon the negroes of the nation.

Another cause of the disturbance of the peace was the terror created in various counties of the State—especially Marion, Boyle, Lincoln, and Mercer-by Kuklux bands of men at first called Regulators and afterward Kuklux. These men took it upon themselves to punish the offenders against the laws of the State. When a crime was committed, a large number of them would go out together in the dead of night, thoroughly armed, and disguised by masks, proceed to the home of the culprit, drag him out of bed, take him to the woods, and whip him or inflict some other torture upon him. The members of the Kuklux pretended that such acts. were done by them in order to intimidate evildoers, and thereby improve the moral condition of the State; but in reality these men made themselves criminals of the most dangerous order. Their conduct was wrong enough when their cruelties fell upon the guilty; it was horrible when

the innocent became their victims. The Kuklux were suppressed by 1873, but the lawless spirit which animated them has not yet wholly died out in Kentucky. Sometimes, particularly in the hill country, lynchings still occur - the speedy executions of mob law.

Negroes vote for the first

time

Governor Stevenson, having been elected to the United States Senate in February, 1871, resigned the position of governor, and Preston H. Leslie, acting lieutenant governor, assumed the duties of the office. The following August he was elected governor. His opponent was the eminent Republican, John M. Harlan. John G. Carlisle was elected lieutenant governor. The Democratic majority was greatly reduced, because of the addition to the Republican numbers for the first time of the negro vote. Whereas, in the presidential vote of 1868 the Democratic majority in the State had been seventy-six thousand, at this time it was scarcely more than thirty-seven thousand.

Educational affairs

At the close of the war was begun a much-needed reform in the public school system of the State. We have noticed that Kentuckians had never been indifferent to education; nevertheless, the facilities for public education had never been of the very highest. Old Transylvania University had now passed away. Center College, chartered by the Presbyterians in 1819, still existed, and retained somewhat of that picturesque interest which had formerly belonged to it. Its distinguished presidents were from some of the most prominent families of the State, — Reverends Jeremiah Chamberlin, Gideon Blackburn, John C. Young, Lewis W. Green, and William L. Breckinridge. Other denominational colleges existed in various parts of the State, but Kentucky was beginning to realize that it is

upon the public schools that the educational life of a State depends.

The financial condition of the Commonwealth at the close of the war was good. In 1873, there occurred a financial panic which was the greatest ever Period of known in the history of this nation. Though quietude much individual loss was endured in Kentucky, as a Commonwealth she suffered less than many of the other States of the Union.

A bill having passed the legislature to establish a geological survey in Kentucky, in 1873, Governor Leslie appointed Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, then filling the chair of Geology in Harvard University, as chief of the corps of survey. Professor Shaler, a Kentuckian, brought into the work an earnest enthusiasm, as well as exceptional scholarship. Vast sums of money were expended, and the wealth which lies hidden in the depths of Kentucky was discovered and made known. The richness of many counties, the mineral resources of others, and the fineness of the timber regions were all pointed out as offering a splendid opportunity for the investment of home and foreign capital. But the reaction which followed the cessation of war had reduced the Kentuckians to a state of temporary inactivity. They were not yet ready for commercial enterprise.

RECAPITULATION

Conservatives still in power.
Legislature passes resolutions of par-

don to Confederates.
Return of the Confederate soldiers.
Confederates do not desire party har-
mony with Conservatives.

The State made more extreme through suffering caused by the war.

A reaction against Conservatisın en

sues.

Large growth of the Democratic party.

CHAPTER XX

THE ERA OF TRANSITION, 1875-1896

Public educa

THE future greatness of Kentucky must largely depend upon education. The reform in the public instruction of the State, begun after the war, has been steadily progressing toward a more elevated stand- tion in the ard. The State has also made provision for higher education, and now possesses an institution, the graduates of which take rank, in post-graduate honors and degrees, with those of the best colleges in the country.

State

The State College of Kentucky (Agricultural and Mechanical College) owes its origin to the act of Congress. of 1862 donating public lands for its endowment. From 1865 to 1878 it was attached to Kentucky University. In 1880 it was placed upon an independent basis, under the management of a Board appointed by the State. It now owns grounds and buildings valued at $350,000, and chemical, biological, botanical, physiological, geological, and mechanical engineering laboratories valued at $75,000. Its income is $44,900, besides the proceeds of the half-cent tax levied by the legislature of 1880. Its courses of study comprise the following: Agriculture, Mechanical and Civil Engineering, three scientific courses, a course in Pedagogy, a classical course, and a veterinary course. There is also an academy attached to the college. To James K. Patterson, its learned and efficient president since 1869, and to