Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, taking effect from December 18, 1865, was opposed by the Democrats in Congress. Other measures disapproved by them were the bill to enlarge the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau; the Fourteenth Amendment (1866), assuring civil rights to the freedmen; the act giving suffrage to negroes in the District of Columbia and the territories; measures aimed at the power of the President, who was antagonized by the party, and the impeachment of the President for alleged violation of an act-"Tenure of Office"-intended to curtail his authority.

Horatio Seymour (Democrat), nominated in 1868, received eighty electoral votes. The popular vote cast for him was 2,709,613 against 3,015,017 for General Ulysses S. Grant (Republican).

The contest in this election was chiefly upon issues growing out of the war and the reconstruction policy of Congress. During Grant's administration the Democrats opposed the passing of an act to suppress the "Ku-Klux Klan," a southern organization antagonistic to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.

The Democratic party, in 1872, accepted Horace Greeley, the candidate of the "Liberal Republicans" as their nominee for President. His death occurred before the meeting of the Electoral College, and the vote was scattered, forty-two being given to Thos. A. Hendricks. The popular vote cast for Greeley was 2,834,079, against 3,597,070 for Grant. During Grant's second term the reconstructed Confederate states regained control of nearly all their state governments.

The bill for resumption of specie payments (1875), to take effect from January 1, 1879, met with opposition from the Democrats.

Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat), nominated in 1876, received one hundred and eighty-four electoral votes.

The popular vote officially recorded for him was 4,284,875, against 4,033,975 for Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican. The electoral vote was disputed; Florida, with four votes, and Louisiana, with eight, were contested. An electoral commission appointed by Congress finally decided in favor of Hayes by a majority of one. Federal interference with elections in the state was a fiercely fought issue of the Democrats during the Hayes administration.

The Forty-sixth Congress (1879-1880), for the first time since 1856, had a Democratic majority in Senate and House. The Hayes administration was uneventful, so far as Democratic partisan plans and measures were concerned. General Winfield Scott Hancock (Democrat), nominated in 1880, received one hundred and fifty-five electoral votes. The popular vote cast for him was 4,444,952, against 4,454,416 for James Abram Garfield (Republican).

The National Democratic Convention included in its platform "Home Rule," honest money, consisting of gold and silver and paper, convertible into coin, on demand; the strict maintenance of public faith, state and national; a tariff for revenue only; the subordination of the military to the civil power; and a general and thorough reform of the civil service. The defeat of Hancock and the election of Garfield, followed by the untimely death of the latter, in 1881, at the hands of an assassin, and the succession of Chester Alan Arthur, led to the postponement of many contemplated reforms.

Grover Cleveland (Democrat), nominated in 1884, received two hundred and nineteen electoral votes. The popular vote cast for him was 4,874,986, against 4,851,981 for James Gillespie Blaine (Republican). Measures passed during the Cleveland administra-' tion (1885-'89) included the Alien Landlord's Bill, limiting the holding of land and mines in territories

by foreigners; the Interstate Commerce Bill, providing for the appointment of five commissioners, with large powers, over railway charges; a bill for the suppression of polygamy among the Mormons; the Chinese Exclusion Bill; the Nicaragua Canal Bill, and enabling acts for the framing of state Constitutions for South Dakota, Montana, and Washington, and for their admission into the Union, also for the division of Dakota. When near the end of his term, the President sent to the House a tariff message, in which he agreed with the views of the Democratic tariff reformers of the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congress.

Cleveland was renominated in 1888, and received one hundred and sixty-eight electoral votes. The popular vote cast for him was 5,536,242, against 5,440,708 for Benjamin Harrison (Republican). The defeat of the Democratic nominee for President carried with it the defeat of the Democratic House. The Democratic platform of 1888 endorsed the views of Cleveland on the tariff, and advocated the admission as states of Washington, Dakota, Montana, and New Mexico. In 1890 the Sherman Law was passed, directing the purchase each month of 4,500,000 ounces of silver bullion at the market prices, and the issuing of the same volume of Treasury notes, which should be legal tender in all cases.

Cleveland was nominated for a third term in 1892, and received two hundred and seventy-seven electoral votes. The popular vote cast for him was 5,554,267, against 5,175,201 for Harrison. The Democratic party was pledged by its platform of 1892 to repeal the Sherman Law and the McKinley Tariff Bill; to secure repose for the Southern states; to repeal all laws allowing Federal interference with elections. In the Fifty-third Congress the President and Congress were Democratic.

During Cleveland's second term, the Sherman Silver Bill was repealed, the Wilson Tariff Bill was substituted for the McKinley Bill, and the Federal election laws were annulled. In 1893 a financial panic occurred. As a result of aggressive British policy with reference to Venezuela, the President announced officially to the British Government the intention of the United States to enforce the Monroe Doctrine to the fullest extent. In order to suppress labor troubles arising from strikes among railroad men in Chicago, the government issued an injunction restraining strikers from interfering with trains carrying the mail.

William Jennings Bryan was the Democratic nominee in 1896. He received one hundred and seventysix electoral votes. The popular vote cast for him was 6,502,925, against 7,104,779 for William McKinley (Republican). In the Democratic platform the money question was predominant. Bryan was endorsed by the regular Democratic Free Silver men and the People's Party. He was repudiated by the National or Gold Democrats, who nominated General John M. Palmer.

During the first McKinley administration (18971901), the Dingley Tariff Bill became a law (1897), taking the place of the Wilson Bill. In 1898, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming-all for Bryan in 1896-became Republi

can.

Bryan was renominated by the Democratic party in 1900. He was also the candidate of the People's Party and the Silver Republicans. He received one hundred and fifty-five electoral votes. The popular vote cast for him was 6,351,008, against 7,215,696 for McKinley. The platform declared against imperialism; the Porto Rico Law; the administration policy in the Philippines; militarism; private mono

polies, trusts; and the Dingley tariff. It called for the evacuation of Cuba by United States officials; the upholding of the Monroe Doctrine; the election of United States senators by the people; the construction of the Nicaragua Canal; the establishing of a Department of Labor; statehood for the territories; irrigation of arid lands; the exclusion of Chinese; avoidance of alliances with foreign powers; and the repeal of the Spanish war taxes.

The Congressional election of 1902 gave one hundred and seventy-eight Democrats to the House of Representatives, the Fifty-eighth Congress consisting of three hundred and eighty-six members. In the Fifty-seventh Congress there were one hundred and forty-four Democrats, one hundred and ninetyeight Republicans, and nine Fusionists, in the House. The Senate, 1902-'03, contains thirty-two Democrats and fifty-six Republicans. There were two vacancies. The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1902, also an act to repeal war revenue taxation. These measures were called for in the Democratic platform of 1900.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

The modern Republican party, first organized in 1854, had its origin in the fierce political fight precipitated by Stephen A. Douglas when he introduced in the Senate a measure known as the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, for the organization of two new territories and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. The Douglas bill was widely condemned as an assault upon freedom. It was bitterly assailed from pulpit and platform, and also by the press. The anti-slavery element arose in great strength to oppose its passage. Men of all parties joined hands in the movement.