648. The Fourteenth Amendment. In 1866 Congress passed another amendment, which was ratified by three-fourths of the States, and became a part of the Constitution, July 28th, 1868. This amendment consisted of several distinct parts. It declared that no State should deprive any citizen of his rights; that those who, having once sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States, had taken up arms against it, should be ineligible to office; and that the United States debt should be valid, while that of the Confederacy should never be paid (Appendix B, Amend. xiv.).

649. Readmission. One by one the Southern States were readmitted, as soon as they accepted the plan which Congress had proposed. Tennessee was the first to respond, and its representation in Congress was regained in 1866. By the summer of 1868 six others had become reconstructed. Georgia, Virginia,

Texas, and Mississippi refused for a time to make State governments in which the ex-slaves should be the political equals of the former slave-owners, and not until 1870 did they fulfil the conditions for readmission. For nearly ten years these States were without representation in Congress.

650. The President. — During all the contest over reconstruction, the quarrel between the President and Congress grew more and more bitter. The Presi

Atlantic Cable. - To Cyrus W. Field is due the honor for the success of the Atlantic Cable. In 1856 a telegraph line was built from New York to Newfoundland, and a company was organized to lay a telegraph cable from Newfoundland to Ireland. After two unsuccessful attempts, in July, 1858, a message was sent by Queen Victoria to President Buchanan, and a reply was received. On September 1st, for some unaccountable reason, the cable ceased to work, but Mr. Field was not dismayed. He formed a new company and, after another failure, finally succeeded. The "Great Eastern" laid the third cable in 1866, and repaired the second, which had parted the year before. Ever since, Europe and America have had instantaneous communication with each other.

dent was a War Democrat, and could no more agree with the Republican Congress than President Tyler could with the Whigs. Johnson vetoed many of the important bills sent to him, but, as the Republicans had a two-thirds majority, they passed them over the veto. Finally the quarrel culminated in the "Tenure of Office" act, which forbade the President's removing certain officials without the consent of the Senate.

651. Impeachment.

President Johnson believed that the authority for removals was vested in him alone, and that the Senate had no right to interfere. He removed Edwin M. Stanton from his

position as Secretary of War, and refused to pay attention to the Senate's action in the matter. The House of Representatives voted in February, 1868, to impeach the President, as having broken the laws. The Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment, proceeded to try the President, and came to a vote, May 26th. Thirty-five declared him guilty, and nineteen not guilty. Inasmuch as, by the Constitution, a two-thirds vote of the Senate is necessary for conviction, President Johnson was acquitted. One vote more against him would have resulted in conviction.

652. Foreign Affairs. When the Civil War began, Napoleon III., Emperor of France, determined to make an attempt to revive the power of France on this continent. He sent an army into Mexico and conquered the country in 1863. The next year he made

Nebraska, or "Black Water," was first settled in 1847. The Territory was organized in 1854. Like Kansas, it was a portion of Louisiana, and made famous by the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. The size of the Territory was twice reduced until, at present, it is purely a prairie State. The building of railroads led immigrants into this fertile Territory. Cereals and fruits form the basis of its agriculture and its soil is unusually adapted to stockraising. The population is a little over a million.

Maximilian, an Austrian, Emperor of Mexico. The United States protested, but was unable to do more at the time. When the war was ended, the protest was changed to a demand that the French troops should be withdrawn from the country. Napoleon complied, but Maximilian refused to abdicate. After the French troops were gone, the Mexicans rose, defeated, and captured the Emperor, who was shot, June 19th, 1867. The same year, a purchase of territory was made by the United States. Russia was only too glad to dispose of her possessions in North America, and sold Alaska for the sum of seven million two hundred thousand dollars. This purchase added nearly six hundred thousand to the three million square miles of area previously possessed. The products of Alaska in lumber, fish, and furs have more than repaid its cost. Rich gold discoveries were made along the Yukon, at Circle City and in the Klondike region, in 1896 and 1897.

653. Domestic Affairs. In 1866, an organization of Irish-Americans, called Fenians, thought to aid their native country by fighting the English in Canada. Several hundred crossed the line from Buffalo, and others from St. Albans, Vermont, but the disturbance was soon quieted by the prompt action of the President, who issued a proclamation condemning the movement.

The same year saw the first successful laying of the Atlantic cable. Several attempts had been made previous to this time, but not until July 27th, 1866, was permanent communication opened under the ocean. This and subsequent ocean cables have done much to bring the ends of the earth nearer, and "make the world akin."

Nebraska, the thirty-seventh State, was admitted to the Union, March 1st, 1867.

654. Presidential Election. The question of reconstruction was the great issue before the people in 1868. The Republicans nominated for President the great general, Ulysses S. Grant, and associated with him Schuyler Colfax of Indiana. The Democratic candidate was Horatio Seymour, ex-Governor of New York. Three States were not allowed to participate in this election, and but 294 electoral votes were cast. Of these, Grant and Colfax received 214, and were declared elected.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

GRANT'S ADMINISTRATIONS.

655. The Treaty of Washington.-Several grounds of controversy had arisen between the United States and Great Britain during the ten years previous to 1870. After some futile attempts to settle these difficulties, a commission consisting of five men to represent England, and five to present the claims of the United States, met at Washington, in 1871. The treaty which was finally signed, May 8th, referred all the matters in dispute to arbitration: This method of settlement proved vastly superior to the more common method of issuing a declaration of war.

656. The "Alabama" Claims. In 1862 certain vessels were fitted out in England to aid the Confederacy in its war with the United States. Great Britain had declared neutrality in the contest, and the United States claimed that she should have prevented the sailing of these vessels, and that she was partially responsible for the evils which had resulted. Many citizens brought suits for damages done by the

"Alabama," one of these vessels, and the United States took up the cause of the "Alabama" claims. By the Treaty of Washington, these claims were left to a commission of five men, one each to be appointed by Great Britain, the United States, Switzerland, Italy, and Brazil. This commission met in Geneva, in September, 1872, and, by the so-called "Genevan Awards," Great Britain paid fifteen and a half million dollars for the injuries. resulting from her remissness in allowing the "Alabama" to sail.

General Ulysses Simpson Grant, the eighteenth President of the United States, was born in Ohio, April 27th, 1822, and died at Mount McGregor, New York, July 23d, 1885. He was graduated from West Point in 1843, and served in the Mexican War, first under General Taylor, and afterwards under General Scott. He was not a politician, but preferred the Repub lican party, because of his strong unionist sentiments. He entered the Union army at the outset of the war, and was at once made brigadier-general. His capture of Fort Donelson won for him a major-generalship. In 1864 he was made lieutenant-general, a grade which had been previously held only by Washington and Scott. In 1866 he was raised to the rank of general. President Grant has been usually considered one of the greatest generals the world has ever seen. "His deeds as general, his statesmanship as President, and his example as an American citizen, have raised his country to a still higher position in the regard of the civilized world."

657. Other Disputes. The Treaty of Washington made the Emperor of Germany the arbitrator of the dispute as to the Northwest boundary. Emperor William decided that the channel, spoken of in the Treaty of 1846 (1485), was the one to the west of the San Juan Island in Puget Sound, thus conceding that island to the United States, as she had claimed. For the first time, the entire boundary of the United States was without dispute.

Another arbitration commission investigated the disputes between Canadian and American fishermen. This payment of five and a half million Some difficulties as to the fisheries

difficulty was settled by the dollars by the United States. were not settled, however, and have not been up to the present time (1896).

658. The Indians. What to do with the Indians has been a troublesome question ever since the white man came to this continent. During the Civil War Minnesota was invaded by the Sioux to avenge injuries. Many skirmishes occurred in Dakota and Montana. Fetterman with eighty men was surprised and massacred in 1866. President Grant did not find the matter any easier to settle than had his predecessors. In 1872 the Modocs, of Southern Oregon, refused to be moved from one reservation to another, and a year's hard fighting was necessary before the Modoc War was ended. In 1876

Sitting Bull, a chief of the Sioux Indians, also objected to a removal from the Black Hills, and the Sioux War followed. The Indians were finally conquered, but not until after an incident occurred which sent a feeling of horror over the country. General Custer met, at Big Horn, a band of the Sioux, which was ten times as large as his own force. Custer and his entire regiment were killed in the attack, the Indians allowing them no quarter whatever.

659. Railroads. During the four years from 1868 to 1872, thousands of miles of railways were built within the United States. In 1869 the first railroad across the continent was completed. May

10th, the Union Pacific Railroad, more than one thousand miles long, was joined to the Central Pacific, nearly nine hundred miles in length, thus making a continuous line from New York to San Francisco, a distance of three thousand three hundred miles. The government gave great aid to these railroads, especially by presenting to them vast stretches of land, which they could sell to pioneers. Since then the Northern Pacific, the Southern Pacific, the Oregon Short Line, the Santa Fé, and the Great Northern railroads have been completed to the Pacific coast.