The session had proved far from fruitless, although nothing but the preliminary steps had been taken. The Freedmen's Bureau and civil rights bills constituted a temporary protection to the freedmen; the right of _habeas corpus_ still remained suspended and military authority prevailed throughout the conquered region. The 14th Amendment was before the people, to be a rallying point for the autumn campaign. The lines between the presidential and congressional parties were now closely drawn. Each knew the strong and the weak points of its opponent. The issue must now be turned over to the people as final judges of its merits. The congressional elections of the fall would decide the issue, and also the future method of reconstruction. CHAPTER IV. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1866. 1. The four months following the adjournment of the first session of the 39th Congress were full of excitement. The public was thoroughly aroused, and all incidents were considered in the light they threw upon the question of the hour. The President's uncompromising hostility to the 14th Amendment brought about a crisis in the Cabinet.[124] William Dennison, Postmaster-General, was the first to declare the impossibility of maintaining cabinet relations with the President. He resigned on July 11, and A. W. Randall, of Wisconsin, First Assistant Postmaster-General, was appointed in his place. Mr. Randall was a devoted adherent of the administration, and president of the National Union Club which called the convention of August 14. The second resignation was that of James Speed, Attorney-General, on July 18. Coming from Kentucky, Mr. Speed had had the reputation of being quite conservative in his views regarding reconstruction, and his formal notice of separation from the President created no little excitement. His intimate connection with the administration gave unusual force to his denunciation of its policy, made at the time of taking the chair as permanent president of the convention of Southern loyalists. Henry Stanbery of Ohio was appointed as his successor, and retained his position until he resigned to assist in the defense of the President in the impeachment trial. A few days after Mr. Speed's withdrawal, the Secretary of the Interior, James Harlan, tendered his resignation, and O. H. Browning, of Illinois, was appointed to fill the vacancy. It is altogether probable that these resignations would have been made earlier than they were, had it not been feared that the control of these important administrative departments would fall into the hands of those who would use their powers in opposition to Congress. But the time had come when the incumbents considered that by the retention of the offices they were being forced to share the odium attached to the President, and deemed total separation from him as the best method of justification.