_c_. What is meant by the "Merit System"? Do you consider such a system better or worse than the Spoils System? Why?
§§462, 463.--_a_. Why was Blaine so strongly opposed? Who were the "Mugwumps"? How did their action influence the election?
_b_. What is the difference between internal revenue taxes and customs duties?
_c_. What was the real significance of Cleveland's first election?
_a_. Give all the treaties with Great Britain, with dates, reason for the treaty, and results.
_b_. Why were there no executions for treason at the close of the Civil War?
_c_. What two methods does the Constitution provide for its amendment? Which method has always been followed?
_d_. What were the chief difficulties in the way of reconstruction?
_e_. What are the important duties of citizens? Why do you select these?
The importance of the topics treated in Part XIV can hardly be overestimated. The opportunities to impress the pupils with their public duties are many and important. Reconstruction should be broadly treated and not discussed in a partisan spirit. It is better to dwell on our duties to the negroes than to seek out Northern blunders and Southern mistakes. In connection with the amendments the whole question of the suffrage can be discussed in the responsibility devolving upon the voter fully set forth. Questions of municipal organizations also arise and can be illustrated by local experience.
References.--Scribner's _Popular History_, V, 579-659; McMaster's _School History_, chs. xxxiv, xxxv.
Home Readings.--Any short, attractive account of the Spanish War.
[Sidenote: Benjamin Harrison elected President, 1888.]
464. Benjamin Harrison elected President, 1888.--In 1888 the Democrats put forward Cleveland as their candidate for President. The Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison of Indiana. Like Hayes and Garfield, he had won renown in the Civil War and was a man of the highest honor and of proved ability. The prominence of the old Southern leaders in the Democratic administration, and the neglect of the business interests of the North, compelled many Northern Republicans who had voted for Cleveland to return to the Republican party. The result was the election of Harrison and of a Republican majority in the House of Representatives.