These were the pivots on which the political controversy of the year turned.

They embraced the two supreme questions left by the war.

The one involved the restoration of public liberty, in harmony with public safety, in the lately rebellious States.

The other involved the honor of the Republic in observing its financial obligations.

The Reconstruction policy rested on equal suffrage as its corner-stone, and the Convention congratulated the country on its established success, as shown by its acceptance already in a majority of the Southern States, and its assured acceptance in all.