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RESTORATION OF HOME RULE.
The radical program of reconstruction ended after ten years in failure rather because of a change in public opinion in the North than because of the resistance of the Southern whites.

The North of 1877, indeed, was not the North of 1867.

A more tolerant attitude toward the South developed as the North passed through its own period of misgovernment when all the large cities were subject to "ring rule" and corruption, as in New York under "Boss" Tweed and in the District of Columbia under "Boss" Shepherd.

The Federal civil service was discredited by the scandals connected with the Sanborn contracts, the Whisky Ring, and the Star Routes, while some leaders in Congress were under a cloud from the "Salary Grab" and Credit Mobilier disclosures.* * See "The Boss and the Machine", by Samuel P.Orth in "The Chronicles of America".
The marvelous material development of the North and West also drew attention away from sectional controversies.