RECONSTRUCTION The reconstruction policy of the Republican Party has been bitterly denounced.

Some men who supported it are in the habit now of calling it a failure.

It never commanded in its fullest extent the cordial support of the whole party.
But it was very simple.

So far as it applied to the Southern whites who had been in rebellion it consisted only of complete amnesty and full restoration to political rights.

No man was ever punished for taking part in the rebellion after he laid down his arms.