and education; completing the Pacific Railroad; reducing taxes, and paying off the Civil War debt. Robeson, however, was abruptly interrupted by a Conservative who asked, "If the Republicans have done so much for the slaves, what have they done for their masters?" Robeson quickly replied that the Republican Party, after the war, had been very gracious to the South by limiting the punishment of hanging, "having destroyed the cause of the crime, to let the crime itself go unpunished". A riot broke out, eggs were thrown, and guns were fired. Several persons were wounded as the meeting broke up, but Robeson was unharmed. Polaris expedition (1871) The Polaris expedition, commissioned by Secretary of Navy Robeson, was the United States' first serious attempt at arctic exploration to be the first nation to reach the North Pole. On June 29, 1871, at 7 pm, , sailed from the New York Naval Yard, under the authority of Captain Charles Francis Hall. Sec. of Navy Robeson and Hall, who was on his third arctic expedition, had lobbied Congress successfully to fund the expedition. Robeson had written specific instructions on the goals of the mission and implemented a hierarchy of command for when Hall was injured or killed. Robeson directed the course of the expedition, outfitted for two and one-half years. Robeson ordered anything that was found on the expedition would be the property of the U.S. Government, that monuments would be erected on the journey, records and general conditions of the expedition would be kept, and food caches would be established. Polaris was supplied with every scientific instrument needed for such a dangerous and ambitious expedition. While traveling west of Greenland under good weather, Polaris broke a sailing record to the highest point northward at 82°29'N. In October 1871, the expedition established a winter camp on Thank God Bay, to prepare to reach the North Pole by dogsled. On October 24, upon his return from an exploratory dogsled party, Captain Hall fell sick after drinking a cup of coffee. Historians now believe Hall was probably murdered by crew member Emil Bessels, who poisoned him with arsenic. Two weeks later, Captain Hall died, and Sidney O. Buddington was put in charge of the expedition, according to Robeson's instructions. Under Buddington's authority, discipline on the expedition declined, as the crew was allowed to carry weapons and stay up all night. Buddington himself raided the ship's medical