Their old masters were to have the preference in the purchase.

So the whole Republican Party of the North came to be united in the belief that there could be no security for the liberty of the freedman without the ballot.
It is said that this reconstruction policy has been a failure.
Undoubtedly it has not gained all that was hoped for it by its advocates.

But looking back now I do not believe that any other policy would have done as well as that has done, although a large part of what was designed by the Republican leaders of the period of reconstruction never was accomplished.
A complete system of education at the National charge was an essential element of the reconstruction policy.

It was earnestly advocated by Sumner and by Grant and by Edmunds and by Evarts.

But there were other Republicans of great influence who resisted it from the beginning.