CHAPTER III.
Mr.Johnson continued his public receptions, his interviews and his speeches for nearly a month after his accession to the Presidency--until indeed, in the judgment of his most anxious and most cautious friends, he had talked too much.

All were agreed that the time had now come when he must do something.

He evidently sought to impress the country with the belief that his Administration was to be marked by a policy of extraordinary vigor, that the standard of loyalty was to be held high, that the leaders of the Rebellion were to be dealt with in a spirit of stern justice.

His position gave satisfaction to those who thought the chief conspirators against the Union could not be punished too severely; but it led to uneasiness among the anti-slavery philanthropists, lest, in wreaking vengeance upon white traitors, the President might leave the loyal negroes unprotected in their newly acquired civil rights.
On the 10th of May the President issued a proclamation declaring substantially that actual hostilities had ceased, and that "armed resistance to the authority of the Government in the insurrectionary States may be regarded as at an end." This great fact being officially recognized, the President found himself face to face with the momentous duty of bringing the eleven States of the Confederacy into active and harmonious relations with the Government of the Union.

He had reached the point where he must take the first step in the serious task of Reconstruction, and the country awaited it with profound interest.