But again, the question may be asked, if the reconstructed State
Governments that were organized and brought into existence under the
Congressional Plan of Reconstruction were not a disappointment and a
failure, why is it that they could not and did not stand the test of
time? The author hopes and believes that the reader will find in one of
the chapters of this book a complete and satisfactory answer to that
question.

It will be seen that the State of Mississippi is made the pivotal one in
the presentation of the facts and historical points touched upon in this
work; but that is because Mississippi was the field of the author's
political activities. That State, however, was largely typical, hence
what was true of that one was, in the main, true of all the other
reconstructed States.

The author was a member of Congress during the settlement of the
controversy between Hayes and Tilden for the Presidency of the United
States, resulting from the close and doubtful election of 1876,--a
controversy that was finally decided through the medium of the
Electoral Commission. The reader will find in the chapter on that
subject many important facts and incidents not heretofore published.

Why was it that the able and brilliant statesman from Maine, James G.
Blaine, died, as did Henry Clay, without having reached the acme of his
ambition,--the Presidency of the United States? Why was he defeated for
the Republican Presidential nomination in 1876,--the only time when it
was possible for him to be elected, and defeated for the election in
1884,--the only time when it was possible for him to be nominated? The
answer to these questions will be found in this book.