this uncouth and untutored multitude. It is not all sham, nor all
burlesque. They have a genuine interest and a genuine earnestness in the
business of the assembly which we are bound to recognize and respect....
They have an earnest purpose, born of conviction that their position and
condition are not fully assured, which lends a sort of dignity to their
proceedings. The barbarous, animated jargon in which they so often
indulge is on occasion seen to be so transparently sincere and weighty
in their own minds that sympathy supplants disgust. The whole thing is a
wonderful novelty to them as well as to observers. Seven years ago these
men were raising corn and cotton under the whip of the overseer. Today
they are raising points of order and questions of privilege. They find
they can raise one as well as the other. They prefer the latter. It
is easier and better paid. Then, it is the evidence of an accomplished
result. It means escape and defense from old oppressors. It means
liberty. It means the destruction of prison-walls only too real to them.
It is the sunshine of their lives. It is their day of jubilee. It is
their long-promised vision of the Lord God Almighty."

The congressional delegations were as radical as the state governments.
During the first two years, there were no Democratic senators from the
reconstructed states and only two Democratic representatives, as against
sixty-four radical senators and representatives. At the end of four
years, the Democrats numbered fifteen against seventy radicals. A Negro
succeeded Jefferson Davis in the Senate, and in all the race sent two
senators and thirteen representatives to Congress; but though several
were of high character and fair ability, they exercised practically no
influence. The Southern delegations had no part in shaping policies but
merely voted as they were told by the radical leaders.

The effect of dishonest government was soon seen in extravagant
expenditures, heavier taxes, increase of the bonded debt, and depression
of property values. It was to be expected that after the ruin wrought
by war and the admission of the Negro to civil rights, the expenses of
government would be greater. But only lack of honesty will account for
the extraordinary expenses of the reconstruction governments. In Alabama
and Florida, the running expenses of the state government increased
two hundred percent, in Louisiana five hundred percent, and in Arkansas
fifteen hundred perce