The  Senate  concurred  in  the  action  of  the  House  by  ayes  thirty-eight,
noes  ten ;  and  the  famous  Reconstruction  law,  from  which  flowed
consequences  of  great  magnitude,  was  thus  finally  enacted  against
every  effoit  of  the  Executive  Department  of  the  Government.1


The  successive  steps  of  this  legislation  have  been  given  some
what  in  detail  because  of  its  transcendent  importance  and  its
unprecedented  character.  It  was  the  most  vigorous  and  determined
action  ever  taken  by  Congress  in  time  of  peace.  The  effect  pro
duced  by  the  measure  was  far-reaching  and  radical.  It  changed  the
political  history  of  the  United  States.  But  it  is  well  to  remember
that  it  never  could  have  been  accomplished  except  for  the  conduct
of  the  Southern  leaders.  The  people  of  the  States  affected  have
always  preferred  as  their  chief  grievance  against  the  Republican
party,  that  negro  suffrage  was  imposed  upon  them  as  a  condition  of

1  The  original  Reconstruction  Act  and  the  several  supplementary  Aots  are  given  in
full  in  Appendix  A.
