CHAPTER I.

ANDREW JOHNSON INSTALLED AS PRESIDENT.--CABINET AND SENATORS WITNESSES TO THE CEREMONY.--RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE NEW PRESIDENT DELICATE IN CHARACTER.--REQUIRING THE HIGHEST ORDER OF STATESMANSHIP.--THE QUESTION OF RECONSTRUCTION.--ITS PECULIAR DIFFICULTIES.--NEW AND PERPLEXING QUESTIONS.--CHARACTER AND CAREER OF MR. JOHNSON.--BORN IN NORTH CAROLINA.--MIGRATES TO TENNESSEE.--HIS RAPID PROMOTION IN THAT STATE.-- A TAILOR BY TRADE.--WITHOUT EDUCATION--TAUGHT TO READ AT FIFTEEN.-- MAYOR OF TOWN AT TWENTY-TWO.--IN THE LEGISLATURE AT TWENTY-SEVEN.-- PRESIDENTIAL ELECTOR IN 1840 AT THIRTY-TWO.--IN CONGRESS AT THIRTY- FIVE.--GOVERNOR FROM 1853 TO 1857.--HIS HOMESTEAD POLICY.--NECESSARY ANTAGONISM WITH SLAVERY.--HIS IDEAL OF A RURAL POPULATION.--BOLDNESS OF HIS POLITICAL COURSE IN TENNESSEE.--HIS LOYALTY TO THE UNION.-- SEPARATES FROM THE DEMOCRATIC CONSPIRATORS.--HIS CAREER IN THE CIVIL WAR.--APPOINTED MILITARY GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE.--HIS ABLE ADMINISTRATION OF THE OFFICE.--FORESHADOWS A SEVERE POLICY AS PRESIDENT.--CONTRAST WITH MR. LINCOLN.--ANALYSIS OF JOHNSON'S POSITION. --HIS BRIEF INAUGURAL ADDRESS.--EFFECT PRODUCED BY IT.--HIS ADDRESS TO AN ILLINOIS DELEGATION.--SIGNIFICANT INDICATION OF A HARSH POLICY TOWARDS THE REBELS.--PRESTON KING'S INFLUENCE.--PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS TO A CHRISTIAN COMMISSION.--TO LOYAL SOUTHERNERS.--TO A PENNSYLVANIA DELEGATION.--PRESIDENT'S TONE GROWS STERNER TOWARDS "TRAITORS."-- STRIKING CONVERSATION WITH SENATOR WADE.--FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF THE LATE PRESIDENT.--REMAINS CARRIED TO ILLINOIS.--IMPRESSIVE SCENE IN BALTIMORE.--IN PHILADELPHIA.--BODY REPOSES IN INDEPENDENCE HALL.-- CONTRAST WITH FOUR YEARS BEFORE.--UNPARALLELED DISPLAY OF FEELING IN NEW YORK.--ORATION BY GEORGE BANCROFT.--ELEGIAC ODE BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.--INTERMENT IN ILLINOIS.--CEREMONIES COMPARED WITH THOSE OF ROYALTY.--PROFOUND FEELING THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.--PUBLIC MANIFESTATION OF MOURNING.