Congress and the President could only act under
the restraint of a written Constitution. Everything done
by either must pass the ordeal of the Supreme Court, a majority
of whose members then had no sympathy with a liberal interpretation
of the National powers. The Chief Justice had been a great
Republican leader. But he had quarrelled with Lincoln, and
was an eager aspirant for the Democratic nomination for the
Presidency.
Of the eight years after the inauguration of Lincoln more
than four had been years of actual war and more than five
passed before formal declaration of peace. During all this
time nothing could be considered but the preservation of the
Union. From the end of the War to the accession of President
Grant, Congress and the President had been engaged in a struggle
with each other for power. President Johnson had been impeached
and put on trial before the Senate. So there could be no
important legislation from the summer of 1866 until March,
1869, that did not command the assent of two thirds of both
Houses.
Yet the feeling everywhere among the Republicans in Washington
and throughout the North was of exultant and confident courage.
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