Contents. APPENDIX:-REPUBLICAN PARTY PRESS-NATIONAL REPUB- LICAN LEAGUE-AMERICAN PROTECTIVE-TARIFF LEAGUE -HOME-MARKET CLUB-MCKINLEY'S LAST SPEECH- V THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. CHAPTER I. THE LIBERAL-REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT—CONVENTIONS, PLATFORMS, CAMPAIGN, AND ELECTION OF 1872. A LTHOUGH the work of reconstructing the Southern States had been nearly concluded before General Grant became President in 1869, still there was quite enough left to be done to necessitate legislation and bring both approval and criticism. Every State in the Union was fully represented in the Forty-first Congress, yet much of the Southern question was far from being settled. The Ku-Klux-Klan must in some way be thwarted, and to this end the so-called Ku-Klux act was passed. The Ku-Klux-Klan was a secret organization which sprung up about 1867 in all parts of the South, and with the same end in view in the various locations where it existed. A Congressional investigation, made in 1871, dislosed some of the workings of this famous organization. From its constitution or prescript, as it was termed, the following was learned: Their local lodges were called dens; the masters, cyclops; the members, ghouls. A county was a province; governed by grand giant and four goblins. A congressional district was a dominion, governed by a grand Titan and six furies. A State was a realm, governed by a grand dragon and eight hydras. The whole country was the empire, governed by a grand wizard and ten genii. Their VOL. II.-I. banner was triangular, a black dragon on a yellow field with a red border; their mysteries were never to be written, but only orally communicated; the distinctive feature of their dress was a covering for the head descending to the breast, holes being cut for eyes and mouth; the covering being decorated in any startling or fantastic manner. The order succeeded in its purpose; the midnight raids of men thus clad, who administered whippings or other punishment, had the effect intended, and the Ku-Klux became a terror to all negroes, keeping them either from exercising their political rights or else causing them to act with their persecutors. The order, however, outran its original purpose, and where mere whippings did not accomplish the desired end, as with Northern whites that had come South and with the bolder negroes, murder was resorted to.' President Grant made particularly emphatic his insistence that the Fourteenth Amendment should be enforced, even though the military arm of the Government was necessary in its execution. The Democratic party was quick to take advantage of the opportunity to criticise the administration for not having been able to bring about complete peace in the South without resorting to the army. A large number of the so-called War Democrats, and even men who had left the Democratic party to join the Republican party during the war and the early reconstruction period were now restless and eager to build up again their old party on the lines which existed before the war. Besides these Democrats many Republicans were becoming dissatisfied with President Grant and certain of his acts. He gave himself openly and persistently to the scheme of annexing Santo Domingo to the United States. In 1869 the President had sent General Babcock to Santo Domingo for the purpose of reporting on the project of annexing it to the United States. The result was that a treaty of annexation was made on November 20th of the same year and was approved by a popular vote in Santo Domingo. The United States Senate was urged to ratify this treaty, some of the arguments being that it would secure a fine harbor for a coaling-station; would prevent the acquisition of that harbor by any foreign power; would free the slaves A Dictionary of American Politics. The Santo Domingo Affair. 3 there and also, perhaps, the slaves in Cuba and Brazil; and would secure a profitable possession for the United States. Soon, however, charges were made that all the promoters of the plan were private speculators, and it at once became discredited. In May, 1870, after the treaty had been modified somewhat, the President sent a special message to Congress urging ratification. On June 30th the Senate refused to ratify the treaty, and in January, 1871, in accordance with a message of the President of December 5, 1870, Congress agreed to the appointment of a commission to visit Santo Domingo and make a report upon the whole matter. The commission, which consisted of B. F. Wade, Andrew D. White, and S. G. Howe, visited Santo Domingo and made a favorable report, but the whole scheme was now so unpopular that it was practically abandoned. By his persistence in the matter the President had alienated Senator Sumner and Horace Greeley, both of whom had many followers in the Republican party. Another objection made to the President by certain Republicans was the matter of appointments, both in number and name. The President had adopted the custom, which has been prevalent since, of making his appointments upon the recommendation of State leaders. Of course disappointments were many, and his plan was bitterly denounced by those who were not successful. The great mass of Republicans, however, supported the President, and even some who were ready to admit that he had made mistakes and errors of judgment still believed that he was the best man to continue in his office and carry out the task that remained to be completed regarding the complete restoration of the South, and the execution of the laws which had been made to govern the reconstructed States. The first nominating convention of 1872 was held in February at Columbus, Ohio. On the 21st of that month the socalled "Labor Reformers" from seventeen States assembled for the purpose of adopting a platform and nominating candidates for President and Vice-President. The permanent president of the convention was Mr. E. N. Chamberlain of Massachusetts. A platform of considerable length was finally |