States for their action. He was of opinion, and so expressed himself
in his first message to Congress, that its ratification should be
required of the insurgent States on resuming their places in the
family of the Union; that it was not too much, he said, to ask of them
"to give this pledge of perpetual loyalty and peace." "Until it is
done," he added, "the past, however much we may desire it, will not be
forgotten. The adoption of the amendment re-unites us beyond all power
of disruption. It heals the wound that is still imperfectly closed; it
removes slavery, the element which has so long perplexed and divided
the country; it makes of us once more a united people, renewed and
strengthened, bound more than ever to mutual affection and support."

It would have been most fortunate for the country had this condition
been deemed sufficient and been accepted as such. But the North was in
no mood for a course so simple and just. Its leaders clamored for
more stringent measures, on the ground that they were needed for the
protection of the freedmen, and the defeat of possible schemes for
a new insurrection. It was not long, therefore, before a system of
measures was adopted, which resulted in the establishment at the South
of temporary governments, subject to military control, the offices of
which were filled chiefly by men alien to the States and indifferent
to their interests. The misrule and corruption which followed are
matters of public history. It is no part of my purpose to speak of
them. I wish merely to refer to the state of feeling existing upon the
close of the civil war as introductory to what I have to say of the
unfriendly disposition manifested at the North towards the Supreme
Court and some of its members, myself in particular.

Acts of the military officers, and legislation of some of the States
and of Congress, during and immediately succeeding the war, were soon