It provided for national aid to education out of the surplus revenues of the Federal Government, the distribution to be made in proportion to illiteracy.

Though the South would have received a large share of this money, which it sorely needed for education, the experience of the South with Federal supervision had not been pleasant, and many feared that the measure might result in another Freedmen's Bureau.[1] Not all Southerners, however, were opposed to the project.
Dr.J.L.M.

Curry, agent of the Peabody Fund, did valiant service for the bill, and some members of Congress were strong advocates of the measure.
Today we see a measure for national aid to education fathered by Southerners and almost unanimously supported by their colleagues.
[Footnote 1: See _The Sequel of Appomattox_, by Walter Lynwood Fleming (in _The Chronicles of America_).] Though rotation in office was the rule in the representation in the House, the policy of reelecting Senators was generally followed, and some of them served long periods.

Looking upon themselves as ambassadors of their States to an unfriendly court, they were always dignified and often austere.

As time went on, their honesty, old-fashioned courtesy, and amiable social qualities gained for many the respect and affectionate esteem of their Northern colleagues.