"with everybody opposed to me." It was on the same day that he made his last
public speech, and Sumner, who was strongly opposed to his policy, remarked
that "the President's speech and other things augur confusion and uncertainty
in the future, with hot contumacy." At a cabinet meeting on the 14th of April,
Lincoln made his last statement on the subject. It was fortunate, he said,
that Congress had adjourned, for "we shall reanimate the States" before
Congress meets; there should be no killing, no persecutions; there was too
much disposition to treat the Southern people "not as fellow citizens."

The possibility of a conciliatory restoration ended when Lincoln was
assassinated. Moderate, firm, tactful, of great personal influence, not a
doctrinaire, and not a Southerner like Johnson, Lincoln might have "prosecuted
peace" successfully. His policy was very unlike that proposed by the radical
leaders. They would base the new governments upon the loyalty of the past plus
the aid of enfranchised slaves; he would establish the new regime upon the
loyalty of the future. Like Governor Andrew he thought that restoration must
be effected by the willing efforts of the South. He would aid and guide but
not force the people. If the latter did not wish restoration, they might
remain under military rule. There should be no forced Negro suffrage, no
sweeping disfranchisement of whites, no "carpetbaggism."

The work of President Johnson demands for its proper understanding some
consideration of the condition of the political parties at the close of the
war, for politics had much to do with reconstruction. The Democratic party,
divided and defeated in the election of 1860, lost its Southern members in
1861 by the secession and remained a minority party during the remainder of
the war. It retained its organization, however, and in 1864 polled a large
vote. Discredited by its policy of opposition to Lincoln's administration, its
ablest leaders joined the Republicans in support of the war. Until 1869, the
party was poorly represented in Congress although, as soon as hostilities