Who so fit
for it as he? And for want of him, grievous and slow has been the
journey.

From the first thrill of passionate grief, men turned to ask anxiously
what the new President was to be. He had been selected with that
carelessness as to the Vice-Presidency which is a tradition of American
politics. Had the convention which renominated Lincoln chosen with care
the man best fitted to aid or possibly succeed him in his work--had they
for instance chosen John A. Andrew of Massachusetts--history might have
been very different. But they took Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, with
little scrutiny of his qualities, but desiring to broaden their ticket
by including a Southern Unionist. Johnson had been bred as a tailor,
with only the meagerest schooling, with no training in the law, going
straight from his trade into politics, and by native force rising to the
senatorship. He was regarded, and rightly, as a man of honesty,
patriotism, courage, and rough energy. He had been conspicuous in
denouncing the seceders with the heat of a border-State Unionist, and
something of the uncontrolled temper of the "poor white." "Treason must
be made odious," had been his cry, "traitors must be punished." In that
war-heated time, there were good men who thought they read the purpose
of the Almighty in removing the too kindly Lincoln, that the guilty
rebels might be more severely scourged.

CHAPTER XXIX

RECONSTRUCTION: THE FIRST PLAN

The new President gave at once the best possible reassurance as to his
general course by retaining all the members of Lincoln's Cabinet. They
remained, not as a temporary formality, but for a considerable time in
full harmony with the President. Chase having left the Cabinet for the
chief-justiceship, by far the two strongest secretaries remaining were
Seward and Stanton. Seward had been struck down at the same time with
Lincoln, and dangerously wounded, but after a few weeks was able to
resume his duties. Thus the two foremost men, after Lincoln, of the
Republican party, Sumner and Seward, had been murderously assaulted, yet
neither of them was embittered or altered in his course. Seward probably
had great influence on President Johnson's early measures. The degree of
that influence is a disputed point among historians, but the internal
evidence points strongly to his having had a large share in the
President's original plans, and materially aided their execution, though
Johnson's strong will and ho