PREFACE. 



THIS volume of the ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA, for the year 1869, presents the 

 United States in a condition of peaceful development. The armies have en- 

 tirely disappeared, the wounds of the recent conflict are liealing, the angry pas- 

 sions are calmed, legitimate authority exerts its powerful sway, institutions are 

 moulded to the new order of affairs, industry is everywhere active, improve- 

 ments of every conceivable kind are projected, and a buoyant spirit inspires the 

 nation with vast anticipations of future prosperity. A change in the persons 

 who administered the Federal Government took place during the year, which 

 secured unanimity and cooperation in all departments. Immediate steps were 

 taken to hasten the work of reconstruction in the three States then unrepre- 

 sented at Washington. Conventions were held, constitutions drafted and dis- 

 cussed, amended and submitted to the people, and adopted ; State officers were 

 chosen, and the entire organization of local governments completed. The prog- 

 ress of the other reconstructed States, under the joint rule of the white and 

 colored man, as a citizen, a legislator, and a judicial officer, the contests of 

 factions, the disturbances of citizens, the relaxation of restraints upon those 

 active in the late hostilities, and the recuperative power of the people, socially 

 and financially, are herein presented. The proposition to throw open the ballot 

 of the country to every citizen, without distinction of race, color, or previous con- 

 dition ; the debates in Congress upon the measure, the arguments in its favor, 

 and the objections against it ; the numerous aspects of the question presented 

 and discussed, with the final action of that body and the formal submission of 

 the question to the Legislatures of the States, are also contained in these pages, 



-L O JL O 



The details of the internal affairs of the United States comprise the revenue 

 and expenditures of the Government,, the measures taken to reduce the public 

 debt, the modifications of its currency, and the discussions relative to the same ; 

 its fluctuations, the changes in the system of taxation to promote the relief of 

 the people, with its effects upon their industrial interests and prosperity; the 

 banking system, with its expansions and contractions ; the fruits of agriculture,, 

 and the spread of internal trade and commerce ; the proceedings in the Southern' 

 States to establish securely their social affairs ; the various political conventions 



