section or
for the nation, as they were always on the defensive and could hardly
have been expected to have any consuming love for the Union, in which
they had been kept by force. They were frequently taunted in debate in
the hope that indiscreet answers would furnish campaign material for use
in the North. Sometimes they failed to control their tempers and their
tongues and played into the hands of their opponents. They advocated no
great reforms and showed little political vision. They clung to the
time-honored doctrines of the Democratic party--tariff for revenue only,
opposition to sumptuary laws, economy in expenditures, and abolition of
the internal revenue taxes--and they made ponderous speeches upon the
Constitution, "viewing with alarm" the encroachments of the Federal
Government upon the sphere of action marked out for the States.

[Footnote 1: See _The Agrarian Crusade_, by Solon J. Buck (in _The
Chronicles of America_).]

Partly because of constitutional objections, partly because of fear of
Federal supervision of the administration of the measure, a majority of
the Southern representatives opposed the Blair Bill, which might have
hastened the progress of their section. This measure, now almost
forgotten, was much discussed between 1882 and 1890 when it was finally
shelved. It provided for national aid to education out of the surplus
revenues of the Federal Government, the distribution to be made in
proportion to illiteracy. Though the South would have received a large
share of this money, which it sorely needed for education, the
experience of the South with Federal supervision had not been pleasant,
and many feared that the measure might result in another Freedmen's
Bureau.[1] Not all Southerners, however, were opposed to the project.
Dr. J.L.M. Curry, agent of the Peabody Fund, did valiant service for the
bill, and some members of Congress were strong advocates of the measure.
Today we see a measure for national aid to education fathered by
Southerners and almost unanimously supported by their colleagues.

[Footnote 1: See _The Sequel of Appomattox_, by Walter Lynwood Fleming
(in _The Chronicles of America_).]

Though rotation in office was the rule in the representation in the
House, the policy of reelecting Senators was generally followed, and
some of them served long periods. Looking upon themselves as ambassadors
of their States to an unfriendly court, they were always dignified and
often austere.