But when what was known as the Johnson Plan of Reconstruction was disclosed it was soon made plain that if that plan should be accepted by the country no material change would follow, for the reason, chiefly, that the abolition of slavery would have been abolition only in name.  While physical slavery would have been abolished, yet a sort of feudal or peonage system would have been established in its place, the effect of which would have been practically the same as the system which had been abolished.  The former slaves would have been held in a state of servitude through the medium of labor-contracts which they would have been obliged to sign,—­or to have signed for them,—­from which they, and their children, and, perhaps, their children’s children could never have been released.  This would have left the old order of things practically unchanged.  The large landowners would still be the masters of the situation, the power being still possessed by them to perpetuate their own potential influence and to maintain their own political supremacy.

But it was the rejection of the Johnson Plan of Reconstruction that upset these plans and destroyed these calculations.  The Johnson plan was not only rejected, but what was known as the Congressional Plan of Reconstruction,—­by which suffrage was conferred upon the colored men in all the States that were to be reconstructed,—­was accepted by the people of the North as the permanent policy of the government, and was thus made the basis of Reconstruction and readmission of those States into the Union.

Of course this meant a change in the established order of things that was both serious and radical.  It meant the destruction of the power and influence of the Southern aristocracy.  It meant not only the physical emancipation of the blacks but the political emancipation of the poor whites, as well.  It meant the destruction in a large measure of the social, political, and industrial distinctions that had been maintained among the whites under the old order of things.  But was this to be the settled policy of the government?  Was it a fact that the incorporation of the blacks into the body politic of the country was to be the settled policy of the government; or was it an experiment,—­a temporary expedient?

These were doubtful and debatable questions, pending the settlement of which matters could not be expected to take a definite shape.  With the incorporation of the blacks into the body politic of the country,—­which would have the effect of destroying the ability of the aristocracy to maintain their political supremacy, and which would also have the effect of bringing about the political emancipation of the whites of the middle and lower classes,—­a desperate struggle for political supremacy between the antagonistic elements of the whites was inevitable and unavoidable.  But the uncertainty growing out of the possibility of the rejection by the country of the Congressional Plan of Reconstruction was what held matters in temporary abeyance.  President Johnson was confident,—­or pretended to be,—­that as soon as the people of the North had an opportunity to pass judgment upon the issues involved, the result would be the acceptance of his plan and the rejection of the one proposed by Congress.