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HAND-BOOK OF POLITICS

FOR 1872:

BEING A RECORD OP

IMPORTANT POLITICAL ACTION,

NATIONAL AND STATE,

FEOM JULY 15, 1870, TO JULY 15, 1872.

BY
Hon. EDWAKD Mopherson, LL. D.,

CLERK OF THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES OP THE UNITED STATES,

FOURTH EBITION.

WASHINGTON CITY:

PHILP & SOLOMONS.
1872.

PREFACE.

The purpose of this Volume is to present, in distinct and classified form, the chief political facts of the last two years, and thereby to trace the direction and progress of political thought throughout the country during that period. Prepared on the same plan as my previous volumes on the Rebellion and on Reconstruction, and constituting with them a continuous series, the three will be found to exhibit with clearness the astounding changes in Constitution and laws which have marked the last twelve years, and the shifting relations of men and parties to them.

This Volume begins the record at the date at which that on Reconstruction closed—July 15, 1870—and includes the two years which have since elapsed. Among its contents will be found the Messages, Annual and Special, of President Grant touching all the topics which have engaged the attention and energies of his Administration; the votes in both Houses of Congress on all controverted political issues, such as Amnesty, "KuKlux" legislation, (which involved the old question of a suspension of the Habeas Corpus,) and the various phases of the 'iCivil Rights'' agitation; the status of Female Suffrage as a constitutional claim; the various steps and votes taken in the direction of Civil Service Reform; the wrestling with the Labor Question, the Education Question, and the Land Grant Question <; and the late decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on the constitutionality of "legal-tender" notes, in reversal of the previous decision of 1869; which, with the usual lists of Cabinet and Congress, and an extended variety of miscellaneous matter, will, it is hoped, stamp the work with other value than belongs to a political compendium merely convenient for temporary use.

The chapters containing the actual changes recently made in State Constitutions, and those proposed in the last Congress and the present to the National Constitution by those most familiar with its practical operation, will engage attention. The former indicates the new necessities of State life; the latter is a curious illustration of the variety of view which able men entertain of the need of further amendment of our common charter.

The Tabular Statements are very complete. Chief among them may be remarked those which give an analyzed statement of the Revenues and Expenditures of the Government from 1860 to 1871, inclusive, and the copious explanatory pages which follow them, affording the means for exhaustive comparisons in every direction. The interesting tables showing the amount of the National Debt from 1857 to 1872, the Population, the Manufactures, the Agricultural Products, the Wealth, and the amounts of Debt and Taxation, by States, are a mine of information, and give pleasing contrasts with the same classes of facts developed by the iii

census of 1860. The startling and reliable figures respecting the grants of Public Land, for whatever purpose made, go far to vindicate the increasing sensitiveness shown by the public and by Congress on this subject, while the elaborate statement of the rate of duty levied upon every article by the respective Tariffs of 1870 and 1872 will be found to be the only authentic publication yet made of the important changes about to affect every industrial interest of the Nation. All which are additional to full tables of the returns of the last Presidential and late State elections, of the representation of each State in Congress as fixed by the census of 1870, contrasted with that of 1860, and of the strength of each State and of the various sections of the country in the Electoral College.

A chapter is given to the relations of Great Britain to the United States, which contains the Johnson-Clarendon Convention concluded under President Johnson, but not ratified by the Senate, as well as the Treaty of Washington, with the proposed supplemental article as originally proposed by Great Britain and as amended by the Senate, together with the names of the Arbitrators now sitting at Geneva for the settlement of all the differences between the two Governments.

An unusual space is devoted to the Political Platforms adopted in 1871 and 1872 by State Conventions, that the various shades of current sentiment might be fairly reflected. The national declarations of the great parties of the country, with the letters of acceptance of their candidates, are, of course, fully given.

It is hoped that the Volume will, on examination, satisfy, both by its scope and its detail, the expectations formed of it, and prove permanently useful in elucidating the remarkable political phenomena of this period.

In the votes given the names of Republicans are printed in Roman letters; of all others in italics,

EDWARD McPHERSON. Washington, D. C, July 15, 1872.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I. IList of Members of Forty-First Con-

gress.... 1-3

II. Enforcement Legislation of Forty-First
Congress 3-8

III. Proclamations of President

Grant 8-16

Enjoining Neutrality—Declaring Neutral-

ity—Warning Against Illegal Military En-

terprises—Commanding Dispersion of Armed

Men in South Carolina—Calling Attention

to Ku Klux Act—Commanding Dispersion

of Unlawful Conspiracies in Certain Coun- ,ties in South Carolina—Suspending the

Writ of Habeas Corpus in Certain Coun-

ties in South Carolina—Revoking Suspen-

sion as to Marion County—Suspending Ha-

beas Corpus in Union County—Discontinuing

Discriminating Duties on Merchandise Im-

ported in Spanish Vessels.

IV. President Grant's Second and Third

Annual Messages. 16-37

V. President Grant's Special Mes-

sages 37-33

On Territorial Government for Indians—On

the Union of the States of Germany—On the

"Test-Oath"—On the Condition of the

Lately Insurrectionary States—On Trans-

mitting the Report of the San Domingo

Commission—On Transmitting the Report

of the Civil Service Commission—On Law-

lessness in South Carolina—On Treatment of

Immigrants—Veto Message on J. Milton

Best's Claim Bill.

VI. Political Votes in Third Session of

jEftorty-First Congress 33-38

On Appointing Commissioners to San Do-

mingo—Modification of the "Test-Oath"—

To Repeal the Acts Relating to the Tenure

of Civil Office—Texas Pacific Railroad

Grant—Resolution on Right of Secession and

Amnesty—On Taxation and Revenue Re-

form—On Taxing United States Bonds and

Exempting Salt, Tea, Coffee, &c, from Tax-

ation—Resolution and Bill to Restore the

Arlington Estate.

V*I. Proposed Amendments to the Con-
stitution of the United States 38-43

By Senators Robertson, Pomeroy, Drake,
Yates, Garrett Davis, Stewart, and Sumner;
and Representatives Lawrence, Ingersoll,
Julian, Burdett, Coburn, Potter, Coghlan,
and vote; King, McNeely, Morgan, and
votes; Comingo, McCrary, Snapp, Mclntyre,
Isaac C. Parker, Hawley, Golladay, and
Poland; and by Delegate William T. Jones—
The Religious Amendment.

VIII. Text of the XHIth, XlVth, and

XVth Amendments, and Votes upon their

Validity, and of Legislation Thereun-
der 43-45

Resolutions by Representatives Jeremiah

M. Wilson, Peters, James Brooks, and Ste-

venson.

IX. Amendments to State Constitutions

Proposed and Made , 46-53

New Constitution of Illinois—Amendments

to that of Louisiana—The Changes in Michi-

gan—Amendments made in Missouri—Re-

jected Propositions in Nebraska—Pending
Propositions in North Carolina—Rejected

Propositions in Rhode Island—Proposed

New Constitution in West Virginia—Changes

made in Wisconsin.

X. The «Legal-Tender" Decision of

1871 53-63

XI. Members of the Cabinet of President

Grant and of the Forty-Second Con-

gress 62-64

XII. The Civil Service 64-69

Section providing for Commissioners—Votes

on Continuing the Appropriation—Bill Re-

ported in House from Committee on Civil

Service, and Vote—Executive Order, 16th

April, 1872, with the Regulations Attached

thereto, Schedule of Groups, and Amend-

ment to the thirteenth of the rules promul-

gated by the President 19th December,

1871—Rules and Regulations Promulgated

by the President 19th December, 1871, as

Amended by theExecutive Order, 16th April,

1872.

XIII. The Labor Question 69-73

The Eight-Hour Law—Opinion of Attorney

General Hoar as to its Effect—President

Grant's Order Respecting it—Votes in House

and Senate on Appropriations—Bill to Appoint a Labor Commission, and Votes in

House and Senate.

XIV. The Amnesty Act and the Supple-

mental Civil Rights Bills 73-85

Amnesty Act as Passed and Approved, and

President Grant's Proclamation thereun-

der—Supplemental Civil Rights Bill passed

by Senate—House Amnesty Bill of January,
1872, with Action of the Senate thereon—
House Amnesty Bill of April, 1871, with
Action of the Senate thereon—Other Am-
nesty Bills of the House—The Supplement-
ary Civil Rights Bill in the House. XV.The "Ku Klux" Act and the proposed
extension of it, and the Amendatory
Enforcement Act of Forty-Second Con-
gress ..,.„.. 85-9 X

The "Ku Klux" act, and votes on passage—

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