ds to his support with
that intense form of energy which springs from the instinct of
self-preservation. It was at once seen and profoundly realized by
the great majority of the loyal people that even if the President had
fallen into an error, no result could possibly flow from adhering to it
that would prove half so perilous to the Union cause as would
dissension and division in the ranks of those who were relied upon to
keep the Government in the control of an Administration, devoted heart
and soul to the preservation of the Union. It was, they thought, safer
to follow Mr. Lincoln who had all the power in his hands than to follow
Messrs. Wade and Davis who had no power in their hands.

When Congress convened in December (1864), Mr. Lincoln, who had
meanwhile been re-elected to the Presidency, studiously refrained from
any reference in his annual message to the controversy over his
proclamation. With the intuitive sagacity and caution which never
failed him, he did not touch upon the question of reconstruction. He
had foreseen that the unhappy differences with which the close of the
previous session of Congress had been marked might be renewed, and
thence lead the party into warring factions if he should again attempt
to urge his own views. This was undoubtedly a disappointment to those
who had regarded the controversy with the President as only postponed
till the assembling of Congress, and who were impatiently awaiting its
renewal. The assumed views of the President were antagonized later in
the session by the passage of a joint resolution "declaring certain
States not entitled to representation in the electoral college." This
was done to cut off the electoral votes (should any such votes be
returned) of Louisiana and Arkansas, satirically referred to by the
opponents of the Administration policy as Mr. Lincoln's "ten per cent
States"--in allusion to the permission given to one-tenth of the
population to organize a State government.

The passage of this joint resolution, to which great importance was
attached by the critics of the President, was met by Mr. Lincoln in a
spirit and with a tact which deprived its authors of all sense of
triumph. In a brief special message (February 8, 1865) the President
declared that he had "signed the joint resolution in defence to the
view of Congress implied in its passage and presentation." In his own
view, however, the two Houses of Congress, convened under the twelfth