INDIANA’S PART IN RECONSTRUCTION 
Indiana politics was dominated by national issues during 
the two decades preceding the Civil War. This domination 
continued after the end of the war. Among the important 
issues of the postwar period were those growing out of the 
Greenback and Granger movements, civil service reform, and 
the tariff. For a decade following the war, however, all other 
issues were subordinated to the one great issue of reconstruc- 
tion. The term is here used in the rather narrow sense to 
designate the policy of the national government toward the 
South. This problem engrossed the attention of Indiana’s 
representative in Congress. It received more notice in the 
columns of the leading newspapers of the state than any- 
thing else. Other matters were driven into the background 
in the party platforms. It aroused among the people feel- 
ings as intense as those of the war period. 
President Johnson announced his reconstruction plan in 
May, 1865. The plan was a moderate one differing little from 
that of Lincoln. It looked toward the early restoration of 
the southern states to their former places in the Union. The 
new president’s plan was well received in Indiana. 
The leading Republican newspaper of the state, the Indian- 
apolis Journal, published the amnesty proclamation and gave 
it unqualified approval.^ A few days later an editorial ap- 
peared in the same newspaper entitled “Peace and Prosperity” 
in which the reopening of the Mississippi and the renewal of 
business intercourse and friendly relations with the South 
is referred to as a happy event for Indiana, especially the 
southern portion of the state. The spirit of good-will here 
manifested forms a striking contrast to the bitterness which 
later developed.^ 
In an address delivered at Richmond, September 29, 1865, 
Governor Morton indorsed fully the restoration policy of the 
President. He found no fault with its failure to provide for 
negro suffrage. In fact, Morton opposed conferring the fran- 
chise upon the negroes. “I would give them time”, he said, 
“to acquire a little property and get a little education, time 
^Indianapolis Daily Journal, June 1, 1865. 
2 Ihid., June 9, 1865. 
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