Congress  adjourned  on  the  28th  of  July.  Elections  were  to  be
held  in  the  ensuing  autumn  for  representatives  to  the  Fortieth  Con
gress,  and  an  opportunity  was  thus  promptly  afforded  to  test  the
popular  feeling  on  the  issue  raised  by  the  President's  plan  of  Recon
struction.  The  appeal  was  to  be  made  to  the  same  constituency
which  two  years  before  had  chosen  him  to  the  Vice-Presidency,  —
augmented  by  the  vote  of  Tennessee,  now  once  more  authorized  to
take  part  in  electing  the  representatives  of  the  nation.  Seldom  in
the  history  of  the  country  has  a  weightier  question  been  submitted
to  popular  arbitrament ;  seldom  has  a  popular  decision  been  evoked
which  was  destined  to  exercise  so  far-reaching  an  influence  upon
the  progress  of  the  nation,  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  people.  It
was  not  an  ordinary  political  contest  between  partisans  of  recog
nized  and  chronic  hostility.  It  was  a  deadly  struggle  between  the
Executive  and  Legislative  Departments  of  the  Government,  both
of  which  had  been  chosen  by  the  same  party.  This  peculiar  fact
imparted  to  the  contest  a  degree  of  personal  acrimony  and  political
rancor  never  before  exhibited  in  the  biennial  election  of  representa
tives  in  Congress.
CHAPTER    X.
