The offspring was not strong enough to stand alone.

The result was that its demise soon followed because it had been deprived of that nourishment, that sustenance and that support which were essential to its existence and which could come only from the parent which had been seriously if not fatally wounded upon the field of battle.

After the Presidential election of 1872 Southern white men were not only coming into the Republican party in large numbers, but the liberal and progressive element of the Democracy was in the ascendency in that organization.

That element, therefore, shaped the policy and declared the principles for which that organization stood.

This meant the acceptance by all political parties of what was regarded as the settled policy of the National Government.