Ulysses S. Grant presidential administration scandals
Encyclopedia
An examination of the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
reveals many scandals and fraudulent activities associated with his administration and a cabinet that was in continual transition divided by the forces of political patronage and reform. President Grant, himself, was influenced by both forces. The standards in many of Grant's cabinet appointments were low and charges of corruption were widespread. Starting with the Black Friday
gold speculation ring in 1869, corruption would be discovered during Grant's two presidential terms in seven federal departments, including the Navy
, Justice
, War
, Treasury, Interior, State
, and the Post Office
. Reform movements initiated in both the Democratic Party
and the Liberal Republicans
, a faction that split from Republican Party
to oppose political patronage and corruption in the Grant Administration. Nepotism
was prevalent, with over 40 family members or relatives benefiting from government appointments and employment. The prevalent corruption in the Grant Administration would eventually be called "Grantism
".
The unprecedented way in which Grant ran his cabinet, in a military style rather than civilian, contributed to the scandals. In 1869, Grant's private secretary Orville E. Babcock
was sent to negotiate a treaty annexation with Santo Domingo
rather than an official from the state department. Grant never even consulted with cabinet members on the treaty annexation; in effect the annexation proposal was already decided. A perplexed Secretary of Interior Jacob D. Cox reflected the cabinet's disappointment over not being consulted: "But Mr. President, has it been settled, then, that we want to Annex Santo Domingo?" Another instance of a military-style command came over the McGarrahan Claims, a legal dispute over mining patents in California
, when Grant overrode the official opinion from Attorney General Ebenezer R. Hoar
. Both Cox and Hoar, who were reformers, eventually resigned from the cabinet in 1870.
Grant's reactions to the scandals ranged from prosecuting the perpetrators to protecting or pardoning those who were accused and convicted of the crimes. When the Whiskey Ring
scandal broke out in 1875, Grant in a reforming mood wrote, "Let no guilty man escape." However, when it was found out that his personal secretary Orville E. Babcock
was indicted, Grant testified on behalf of the defendant. When Secretary of War William W. Belknap
was involved in a trading post extortion scam, Grant promptly accepted his resignation without question, and went to a photography studio to get his portrait done. In essence, when it came to prosecuting those guilty of graft, Grant used his presidential power to protect close friends, particularly his military associates.
stated that Grant had neither the training nor temperament to fully comprehend the complexities of rapid economic growth, industrialization, and western expansionism. Grant himself had been educated and trained at West Point
in subjects as mathematics
, French
, artillery
, infantry
, cavalry tactics
, and conduct. Grant had come from a humble background where men of superior intelligence and ability were threats rather than assets. Instead of responding with trust and warmth to men of talent, education, and culture, he turned to his military friends from the Civil War and to politicians as new as himself. Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., stated that his father was a "simple man" who was unaware of any opportunities "to enrich himself." Grant, Jr., stated that Ulysses S. Grant was "incapable of supposing his friends to be dishonest."
Many of Grant's associates were able to capture his confidence through flattery
and brought their intrigues openly to his attention. One of these men, Orville E. Babcock
, was a subtle and unscrupulous enemy of reformers, having served as Grant's personal secretary for seven years while living in the White House
. Babcock, twice indicted, gained indirect control of whole departments of the government, planted suspicions of reformers in Grant's mind, plotted their downfall, and sought to replace them with men like himself. Grant allowed Babcock to be a stumbling block for reformers who might have saved the President from scandal. Grant's secretary of state, Hamilton Fish
, who was often at odds with Babcock, made efforts to save Grant's reputation by advocating that reformers be appointed to or kept in public office. Grant also unwisely accepted gifts from wealthy donors that cast doubts on his reputability.
and the Whiskey Ring
. The Crédit Mobilier is not included as a Grant scandal since the company was founded during the President Abraham Lincoln
administration. The fraudulent Emma Silver Mine
swindle that involved Ambassador to Britain Robert C. Schenck
was a Grant administration embarrassment and is not included as a scandal. An analysis of the scandals and frauds reveals that a majority had to do with illicit financial gain; the Safe Burglary Conspiracy, however, involved breaking and entering, property damage, and framing an innocent citizen. Two scandals involved women: Black Friday and the Trading Post Ring. Orville E. Babcock
, who was indicted in the Whiskey Ring
, insinuated that the coded entry "Sylph" signed on communication letters referred to a woman intimately involved with the President. That allegation was never proven and there was nothing to suggest that a presidential affair took place. Babcock invented the story to frustrate the prosecution. Although Grant was never proven to be directly involved with or to have personally profited from the scandals or frauds, his acceptance of personal gifts and his associations with men of questionable character severely damaged his own presidential legacy and reputation. Most of these scandals began during the eight years of prosperity after the Civil War
, while many prominent scandals were exposed after the U.S. economy crashed after the Panic of 1873
.
, also known as the Gold Panic, which was an attempt by two financiers to corner the price of gold without regard to the nation's economic welfare. The intricate financial scheme was primarily conceived and administered by Wall Street
manipulator Jay Gould
and his partner James Fisk
in September 1869. The two were able to get Grant's brother in law Abel Rathbone Corbin involved with the scheme in order to get access to Grant himself. Gould had also given a $10,000 bribe to the assistant secretary of the treasury, Daniel Butterfield
, in order to get inside information. Corbin himself had $2,000,000 invested in the gold market and had given the first lady, Julia Grant, and Grant's personal secretary Horace Porter $500,000 speculative accounts. On September 6, 1869, Gould had bought the Tenth National Bank
that was used as a buying house for gold, and Gould and Fisk began buying gold in earnest. Gould and Fisk themselves made personal advances and suggestions towards Grant to curb Treasury Secretary George S. Boutwell
's greenback
contraction policy. On one occasion, Gould met with Grant at Corbin's home and attempted to convince the president that not selling gold would help the sale of American wheat in European markets. After the meeting Grant became suspicious and wrote a letter to Secretary Boutwell on September 12, urging him to keep releasing the same amount of gold: "The fact is, a desperate struggle is now taking place...I write this letter to advise you of what I think you may expect, to put you on your guard." However, President Grant's personal associations with Gould and Fisk gave them the clout needed to continue their financial scam on Wall Street.
Sometime around September 19, 1869, Corbin had sent a letter to Grant, at the urging of Gould, desperately urging Grant not to release gold from the treasury. Grant received the letter from a messenger while playing croquet
with Porter at a deluxe Pennsylvania retreat. Grant finally realized what was going on and he was determined to stop the gold manipulation scheme. When pressed for a reply to Corbin's letter, Grant responded curtly that everything was "all right" and that there was no reply. One Grant biographer described the comical nature of the events as an "Edwardian farce". Grant, however, did have his wife Julia respond in a letter to Corbin's wife that Abel Corbin needed to get out of the gold speculation market. When Gould visited Corbin's house, he read Julia's letter with the warning from Grant. After reading the letter, Gould started to sell gold, buying a bit of gold at the same time to keep people from getting suspicious. Gould never told Fisk, who kept buying gold in earnest, that Grant was catching onto their predatory scheme.
Secretary Boutwell was already keeping track of the situation and knew that the profits made in the manipulated rising gold market could ruin the nation's economy for several years. By September 21 the price of gold had jumped from $137 to $141, and Gould and Fisk jointly owned $50 million to $60 million in gold. Boutwell and Grant finally met on Thursday, September 23, and agreed to release gold from the treasury if the gold price kept rising. Boutwell had also ordered that the Tenth National Bank
was to be closed on the same day. Then on (Black) Friday, September 23, 1869, when the price of gold had soared up to $160 dollars an ounce, Boutwell released $4 million in gold specie
into the market and bought $4,000,000 in bonds. The gold market crashed and Gould and Fisk were foiled, while many investors were financially ruined.
The gold panic devastated the United States economy for months. Stock prices plunged and the price of food crops such as wheat and corn dropped severely, devastating farmers who did not recover for years afterward. Gould had earlier claimed to Grant that raising the price of gold would actually help farmers. Also Fisk refused to pay off many of his investors who had bought gold on paper. The volume of stocks being sold on Wall Street decreased by 20%. Fisk and Gould, who could afford to hire the best lawyers, were never held accountable for their profiteering, as favorable judges declined to prosecute. Gould remained a powerful force on Wall Street for the next 20 years. Fisk, who practiced a licentious lifestyle, was killed by a jealous rival on January 6, 1872. Butterfield later resigned.
In an 1869 Congressional investigation into the gold panic, Democrats on the House investigation committee questioned why Julia Grant had received a package from the Adams Express Company
containing money reported to be $25,000. Another source claims that the package was just $25.00, but nonetheless, it was highly unusual for a First Lady
to receive cash in the mail. Corbin had bought gold at 33 margin and sold at 37, leaving Julia a profit of $27,000. Neither Mrs. Grant nor Mrs. Corbin testified in front of the investigation committee. In 1876 Secretary of State Hamilton Fish
revealed to Grant in that Orville E. Babcock
, another private secretary to the President, had also been involved in gold speculations in 1869.
collected more revenue from imports than any other port in the United States. By 1872, two congressional investigations and one by the Treasury Office under Secretary George S. Boutwell
looked into allegations of a corruption ring set up at the New York Custom House under two Grant collector appointments, Moses H. Grinnell
and Thomas Murphy. Both Grinnell and Murphy allowed private merchants to store goods not claimed on the docks in private warehouses for exorbitant fees. Grant's secretaries Horace Porter
and Orville E. Babcock
and Grant's friend George K. Leet, owner of a private warehouse, allegedly shared in these profits. Secretary Boutwell advocated a reform to keep imports on company dock areas rather than being stored at designated warehouses in New York. Grant's third collector appointment, Chester A. Arthur
, implemented Boutwell's reform. On May 25, 1870, Boutwell had implemented reforms that reduced public cartage and government costs, stopped officer gratuities, and decreased port smuggling, but on July 2, 1872, U.S. Senator Carl Schurz
insinuated in a speech that no reforms had been undertaken and that the old abuses at the custom house continued. The New York Times claimed that Schurz's speech was "carefully prepared" and "more or less disfigured and discolored by error." The second thorough congressional investigation concluded that abuses either did not exist, had been corrected, or were in the process of being corrected.
and southern regions of the United States
. These were known as Star Routes because an asterisk was placed on official Post Office
documents. These remote routes were hundreds of miles long and went to the most rural parts of the United States by horse and buggy. Previously inaccessible areas on the Pacific coast received weekly, semi-weekly, and daily mail because of these routes. However, corruption ensued, with contractors paid exorbitant fees for fictitious routes and for providing low quality postal service to the rural areas. One contractor, F.P. Sawyer, made $500,000 a year on routes in the Southwest.
To obtain these highly prized postal contracts, contractors, postal clerks, and various intermediary brokers set up an intricate ring of bribery and straw bidding in the Postal Contract Office. Straw bidding reached a peak under Postmaster General
John Creswell, who was exonerated by a 1872 congressional investigation that was later revealed to have been tainted by a $40,000 bribe from western postal contractor Bradley Barlow
. An 1876 Democratic investigation was able to temporarily shut down the ring, but it reconstituted itself and continued until a federal trial in 1882 finally ended the Star Route frauds.
On March 3, 1873, President Grant signed a law that authorized the president's salary to be increased from $25,000 a year to $50,000 a year. The salaries of members of both houses of the United States Congress
were raised from $5,000 to $7,500. Although pay increases were constitutional, the act was passed in secret with a clause that gave the congressmen $5,000 in bonus payouts for the previous two years of their terms. The Sun and other newspapers exposed the $5,000 bonus clause to the nation. The law was repealed in January 1874 and the bonuses returned to the treasury.
This pay raise proposal was submitted as an amendment to the government's general appropriations bill. Had Grant vetoed the bill, the government would not have any money to operate for the following fiscal year, and a special session of Congress would have had to be held. However, Grant missed an opportunity to make a statement by threatening a veto.
, a reliable journal that was going after many of Grant's cabinet members. Treasury Secretary George S. Boutwell
had been elected to the U.S. Senate in the 1872 election and was replaced by Assistant Treasury Secretary William A. Richardson
in 1873. Richardson's tenure as Treasury Secretary very brief, as another scandal erupted. The government had been known to hire private citizens and groups to collect taxes for the Internal Revenue Service; Richardson hired John D. Sanborn
to collect certain taxes and excises that had been illegally withheld from the government. Treasury officials pressured Internal Revenue agents not to collect delinquent accounts in order to allow Sanborn more to accumulate. Although the collections were legal, Sanborn reaped $213,000 in commissions on $420,000 taken in taxes. A House investigation committee in 1874 revealed that Sanborn had split $156,000 of this with unnamed associates as "expenses." Although Richardson and Senator Benjamin Butler
were suspected to have taken a share of the profit money as bribes, there was no paper trail to prove such transactions, and Sanborn refused to reveal with whom he split the profits. While the House committee was investigating, Grant quietly appointed Richardson to the Court of Claims
and replaced him with the avowed reformer Benjamin H. Bristow.
, discovered to have taken bribes in order to secure fraudulent land grants, was forced to resign from office on October 15, 1875. Delano had also given lucrative cartographical contracts to his son John Delano and Ulysses S. Grant's own brother, Orvil Grant. Neither John Delano nor Orvil Grant performed any work, nor were they qualified to hold such surveying positions.
On October 19, 1875, Grant made another reforming cabinet choice when he appointed Zachariah Chandler
as Secretary of the Interior. Chandler immediately went to work reforming the Interior Department by dismissing all the important clerks in the Patent Office
. Chandler had discovered that during Delano's tenure, money had been paid to fictitious clerks while other clerks had been paid without performing any services. Chandler next turned to the Department of Indian Affairs to reform another Delano debacle. President Grant ordered Chandler to fire everyone, saying, "Have those men dismissed by 3 o'clock this afternoon or shut down the bureau." Chandler did exactly as Grant had ordered. Chandler also banned bogus agents, known as "Indian Attorneys," who had been paid $8.00 a day plus expenses for, ostensibly, providing tribes with representation in the nation's capital. Many of these agents were unqualified and swindled the Native American
tribes into believing they had a voice in Washington.
administered the United States Department of Justice
with slackness. There were rumors that Williams was taking bribes in exchange for declining to prosecute pending trial cases. In 1875, Williams was supposed to prosecute the merchant house Pratt & Boyd for fraudulent customhouse entries. The Senate Judiciary Committee had found that Williams had dropped the case after his wife had received a $30,000 payoff. When informed of this, Grant forced Williams's resignation. Williams had also indiscreetly used Justice Department funds to pay for carriage and household expenses.
of 1875, exposed by Treasury Secretary Benjamin H. Bristow and journalist Myron Colony. Whiskey distillers had been evading taxes in the Midwest since the Lincoln
Administration. Distillers of whiskey bribed Treasury Department agents who in turn aided the distillers in evading taxes to the tune of up to $2 million per year; they'd neglect to collect a duty of 70 cents per gallon, then split the bonus profits. The ringleaders had to coordinate distillers, rectifiers, gaugers, storekeepers, revenue agents, and Treasury clerks by recruitment, impressment, and extortion.
On January 26, 1875, Bristow ordered Internal Revenue officers in various cites to different locations, effective February 15, 1875, on a suggestion from Grant. This would keep the fraudulent officers off guard and allow investigators to uncover their misdeeds. Grant later rescinded the order on the grounds that advanced notice would cause the ringleaders to cover their tracks and become suspicious. Rescinding Secretary Bristow's order would later give rise to a rumor that Grant was interfering with the investigation. Although moving the supervisors most certainly would have disrupted the ring, Bristow conceded that he would need documentary evidence on the inner workings of the ring in order to be able to prosecute the perpetrators. Bristow, undaunted, kept investigating, and was able to find the ring's secrets by sending Myron Colony and other spies to gather whiskey shipping and manufacturing information.
On May 13, 1875, with Grant's endorsement, Bristow struck hard at the ring, seized the distilleries, and made hundreds of arrests. The Whiskey Ring was broken. Bristow, with the cooperation of Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont
and Solicitor General Bluford Wilson, launched proceedings to bring many members of the ring to trial. Bristow had obtained information that the Whiskey Ring operated in Missouri
, Illinois
, and Wisconsin
. Missouri Revenue Agent John A. Joyce and two of Grant's appointees, Supervisor of Internal Revenue General John McDonald and Orville E. Babcock
, the private secretary to the President, would eventually be indicted in the Whiskey Ring trials. Grant's other private secretary Horace Porter
was also involved in the Whiskey Ring
according to Solicitor General Bluford Wilson.
Grant then appointed a special prosecutor, former senator John B. Henderson
, to go after the ring. Henderson, while in the Senate, had been the administration's worst critic, and Grant appointed him to maintain integrity in the Whiskey Ring investigation. Henderson convened a grand jury, which found that Babcock was one of the ringleaders. Grant received a letter to this effect, on which he wrote, "Let no guilty man escape." It was discovered that Babcock sent coded letters to McDonald on how to run the ring in St. Louis. During the investigation McDonald claimed he gave Babcock $25,000 from the divided profits and even personally sent him a $1,000 bill in a cigar box.
After Babcock's indictment, Grant requested that Babcock go through a military trial rather than a public trial, but the grand jury denied his request. In a reversal of his "let no guilty man escape," order to Sec. Bristow, Grant unexpectedly issued an order not to give any more immunity to persons involved in the Whiskey Ring, leading to speculation that he was trying to protect Babcock. Although this reversal had the appearance of not letting the guilty get away, the prosecutor's trail cases were made more difficult to prove in court. The order caused strife between Sec. Bristow and Grant, since Bristow needed distillers to testify with immunity in order to go after the ringleaders. Prosecutor Henderson, himself, while going after members of the ring in court accused Grant of interfering with Secretary Bristow's investigation.
The accusation angered Grant, who fired Henderson as special prosecutor. Grant then replaced Henderson with James Broadhead
. Broadhead, though a capable attorney, had little time to get acquainted with the facts of Babcock's case and those of other Whiskey Ring members. At the trial a deposition
was read from President Grant stating that he had no knowledge that Babcock was involved in the ring. The jury listened to the president's words and quickly acquitted Babcock of any charges. Broadhead went on to close out all the other cases in the Whiskey Ring. McDonald and Joyce were convicted in the graft trials and sent to prison. On January 26, 1877, President Grant pardoned McDonald.
. There were rumors that Grant himself was involved with the ring and was diverting its profits to his 1872 re-election campaign. Grant needed to clear his own name as well as Babcock's. Earlier, Grant had refused to believe Babcock was guilty even when Bristow and Wilson personally presented him with damaging evidence, such as two telegrams signed "Sylph"; Babcock suggested that the signature was that of a woman giving the president "a great deal of trouble", hoping that Wilson would back off for fear of igniting a presidential sex scandal, but Wilson was not bluffed.
On the advice of Secretary of State Hamilton Fish
, the President did not testify in open court but instead gave a deposition in front of a congressional legal representative at the White House. Grant was the first and, to date, only president ever to testify for a defendant. The historic testimony came on Saturday, February 12, 1876. Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite, a Grant appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, presided over the deposition. The following are excerpts from President Grant's deposition.
On February 17, 1876, U.S. Circuit Justice John F. Dillon
, another Grant appointment, overruled Cook's objections and allowed the questions to be admissible in court. Grant, who was known for a photographic memory, had many uncharacteristic lapses when it came to remembering incidents involving Babcock. The deposition strategy worked and the Whiskey Ring prosecution never went after Grant again. During Babcock's trial in St. Louis the deposition was read to the jury. Babcock would go on to be acquitted in trial. After the trial, Grant distanced himself from Babcock. After the acquittal, Babcock initially returned to his position as Grant's private secretary outside the Oval Office. At public outcry and the objection of Hamilton Fish
, Babcock was dismissed as private secretary and focused on another position that he had been given by Grant in 1871: superintending engineer of public buildings and grounds.
Grant's Pulitzer Prize
winning biographer, William S. McFeely
, stated that Grant knew Babcock was guilty and perjured himself in the deposition. According to McFeely the "evidence was irrefutable" against Babcock, and Grant knew this. McFeely also points out that John McDonald also stated that Grant knew that the Whiskey Ring existed and perjured himself to save Babcock. Grant historian Jean Edward Smith
counters that evidence against Babcock was "circumstantial" and the St. Louis jury acquitted Babcock "in the absence of adequate proof." Many of Grant's friends who knew him claimed that the President was "a truthful man" and it was "impossible for him to lie." Grant's popularity, however, decreased significantly in the country as a result of his testimony and after Babcock was acquitted in the trial. Grant's political enemies used this deposition as a launchpad to public office. The New York Tribune stated that the Whiskey Ring
scandal "had been met at the entrance of the White House and turned back." However, the national unpopularity of Grant's testimony on behalf of his friend Babcock ruined any chances for a third term nomination.
Grant had no time to recover after the Whiskey Ring graft trials ended, for another scandal erupted involving War Secretary William W. Belknap
. A Democratic House investigation committee revealed that Belknap had taken extortion money in exchange for an appointment to a lucrative Native American
trading post
. In 1870, responding to extensive lobbying by Belknap, Congress had authorized the War Department to award private trading post contracts to military forts throughout the nation. Native Americans would come into the forts and trade for food and clothing, generating huge profits (at the natives' expense). Belknap's wife Carrie, who desired to profit from these wealthy contracts, managed to secure a private trading post at Fort Sill
for a personal friend from New York
, Caleb P. Marsh.
An extortion arrangement was set up among Carrie Belknap, Caleb P. Marsh, and incumbent contract holder John S. Evans, in which Carrie Belknap and Marsh would receive $3,000 every quarter, splitting the proceeds, while Evans would be able to retain his post at Fort Sill. Carrie Belknap died within the year, but William Belknap and his second wife continued to accept payments, though they were smaller due to a dip in Fort Sill's profits. By 1876 Belknap had received $20,000 from the illicit arrangement. On February 29, 1876, Marsh testified in front of a House investigation committee headed by Representatives Lyman K. Bass
and Hiester Clymer
. During the testimony Marsh testified that Belknap and both his wives had accepted money in exchange for the lucrative trading post at Fort Sill. The scandal was particularly upsetting, in this Victorian age, since it involved women. Lieut. Col. George A. Custer later testified to the Clymer committee on March 29 and April 4 that Sec. Belknap had received kick back money from the profiteering scheme of post traders through the resale of food meant for Indians.
On March 2, 1876, Grant was informed by Benjamin Bristow at breakfast of the House investigation against Secretary Belknap. After hearing about Belknap's predicament, Grant arranged a meeting with Representative Bass about the investigation. However, Belknap, escorted by Interior Secretary Zachariah Chandler
, rushed to the White House and met with Grant before his meeting with Representative Bass. Belknap appeared visibly upset or ill, mumbling something about protecting his wives' honor and beseeching Grant to accept his resignation "at once". Grant, in a hurry to get to a photography studio for a formal portrait, regretfully agreed and accepted Belknap's resignation without reservation.
Grant historian Josiah Bunting III
noted that Grant was never put on his guard when Secretary Belknap came to the White House in a disturbed manner or even asked why Belknap wanted to resign in the first place. Bunting argues that Grant should have pressed Belknap into an explanation for the abrupt resignation request. Grant's acceptance of the resignation indirectly allowed Belknap, after he was impeached
by the House of Representatives
for his actions, to escape conviction, since he was no longer a government official. Belknap was acquitted by the Senate, escaping with less than the two-thirds majority vote needed for conviction. Even though the Senate voted that it could put private citizens on trial, many senators were reluctant to convict Belknap since he was no longer Secretary of War. It has been suggested that Grant accepted the resignation
in a Victorian impulse to protect the women involved.
Congress allotted Secretary George M. Robeson
's Department of the Navy $56 million for construction programs. In 1876, a congressional committee headed by Representative Washington C. Whitthorne
discovered that $15 million of that sum was unaccounted for. The committee suspected that Robeson, who was responsible for naval spending, embezzled
some of the missing money and laundered it in real estate transactions. This allegation remained unproven by the committee.
The main charge against Robeson was taking financial favors from Alexander Cattell & Co., a grain contractor, in exchange for giving the company profitable contracts from the Navy. An 1876 Naval Affairs committee investigation found Robeson to have received such gifts as a team of horses, Washington real estate, and a $320,000 vacation cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey
, from Alexander Cattell & Company. The same company also paid off a $10,000 note that Robeson owed to Jay Cooke
and offered itself as an influence broker for other companies doing business with the Navy, thus turning away any competitive bidding for naval contracts. Robeson was also found to have $300,000 in excess to his yearly salary of $8000. The House Investigation committee had searched the disorganized books of Cattell, but found no evidence of payments to Robeson. Without enough evidence for impeachment, the House ended the investigation by admonishing Robeson for gross misconduct and claimed that he had set up a system of corruption known as "Cattellism".
In a previous investigation in 1872, headed by Charles Dana
, Robeson had been suspected of awarding a $93,000 bonus to a building contractor in a "somewhat dangerous stretch of official authority" known as the Secor claims. A competent authority claimed that the contractor had already been paid in full and there was no need for further reward. Robeson was also charged with awarding contracts to ship builder John Roach
without public bidding. The latter charge was proven to be unfounded. The close friendship with Daniel Ammen
, Grant's longtime friend growing up in Georgetown, Ohio, helped Robeson keep his cabinet position.
On March 18, 1876, Admiral David D. Porter wrote a letter to William T. Sherman, "...Our cuttle fish [Robeson] of the navy although he may conceal his tracks for awhile in the obscure atmosphere which surrounds him, will eventually be brought to bay...." Robeson later testified in front of a House Naval Committee on January 16, 1879, about giving contracts to private companies. Robeson was asked about the use of old material to build ironclads and whether he had the authority to dispose of the Puritan, an outdated ironclad. Although Robeson served ably during the Virginius Affair
and did authorize the construction of five new Navy ships, his financial integrity remained in question and was suspect during the Grant administration. To be fair, Congress gave Robeson limited funding to build ships and as Secretary was constantly finding ways to cut budgets.
was involved in another scandal. Corrupt building contractors in Washington, D.C., were on trial for graft when bogus Secret Service agents working for the contractors placed damaging evidence into the safe of the district attorney who was prosecuting the ring. On the night of April 23, 1876, hired thieves opened the safe, using an explosive to make it appear that the safe had been broken into. One of the thieves then took the fake evidence to the house of Columbus Alexander, a citizen who was active in prosecuting the ring. The corrupt agents "arrested" the "thieves" who then committed perjury
by signing a document falsely stating Alexander was involved in the safe burglary.
The conspiracy came apart when two of the thieves turned state evidence and Alexander was exonerated in court. Babcock was named as part of the conspiracy, but later acquitted in the trial against the burglars; evidence suggests that the jury had been tampered with and that Babcock was both involved with the swindles by the corrupt Washington contractors' ring and wanted to get back at Columbus Alexander, an avid reformer and critic of the Grant Administration. Babcock continued on in government and became Chief Light House Inspector. As a capable engineer, his work brought him to Ponce de Leon Inlet
, Florida
, where he drowned in a boating accident at the age of 48 while supervising the building of Mosquito Inlet Light
station.
in 1872 of practicing nepotism
while President. Sumner's accusation was not an exaggeration. Grant's cousin Silas A. Hudson was appointed minister to Guatemala. His brother-in-law Reverend M.J. Cramer was appointed as counsel to Leipzig. His brother-in-law James F. Casey was given the position of customs in New Orleans, Louisiana
where he made money by stealing fees. Frederick Dent, another brother-in-law was the White House usher and made money giving out insider information. In all, it is estimated that 40 relatives somehow financially prospered indirectly while Grant was President.
The Liberal Republican
movement initially began out of dissatisfaction with the centralized federal government controlled by the Radicals, a faction of the Republican Party who favored patronage, high tariffs, and disenfranchising former confederates. It was the Radicals who sponsored the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. In 1870, Senator Carl Schurz
and B. Gratz Brown
, Governor of Missouri, broke away from the Radicals and officially founded the Liberal Republican Party. The founders argued that dependent citizens, corruption, and centralized power endangered people's liberty. The party advocated confederate amnesty, civil service reform, and free trade. As the party grew nationally prominent persons joined including Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
, Senator Charles Sumner
, and editor of the Missouri Democrat
, William M. Grosvenor. Grant, who was persuaded that the Liberal Republicans were bolting from the Republican Party, used the patronage system to purge them out of office in Missouri
.
In 1872, the Republican party split completely in half with Horace Greely nominated by the Liberal Republicans and Ulysses S. Grant again nominated by the more conservative Radicals. A few prominent Democratic Party leaders supported the Liberal Republican cause in Missouri. The result being that the Democratic Party endorsed the reformer and Liberal Republican presidential candidate Horace Greeley
. Grant, though, remained very popular in the nation and won the national election of 1872 by a landslide. However, as more scandals broke out the Liberal Republicans became a party of reform who, along with the Democrats, wanted to purge the government from corruption. The wave of reform was beginning in 1875 with the Democrats controlling the House of Representatives. Eventually, Grant put reformers on his cabinet as House investigations in 1875 were beginning to expose the Whiskey Ring
depleting tax revenues in the United States Treasury Department. Newspapers exposed bogus agents in Interior Department in 1875. Navy Department corruption was exposed in 1876. These Grant reformers included Benjamin Bristow
as Secretary of Treasury (1874), Edwards Pierrepont
as Attorney General (1875), and Zachariah Chandler
as Secretary of the Interior (1875). No reformer was appointed to the Navy Department, however.
The Liberal Republican movement lasted from 1870 to 1875 and at times it is difficult to distinguish between party members, both Democrat and Republican, who adopted all or parts of the Liberal Republican reform agenda. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Amnesty Act of 1872, a Liberal Republican platform, that gave amnesty to former Confederates. Another instance occurred when the Democratic Party reluctantly and chaotically melded with the Liberal Republican Party in the presidential election of 1872
, in support of the reformer, Horace Greeley
. The height of the Liberal Republican era in the U.S. Congress was from the periods of 1873 to 1875 with 7 Liberal Republicans in the Senate and 4 Liberal Republicans in the House of Representatives.
reform movement in Congress, although initially a minority after the American Civil War
, began during their investigation into the Grant Administration following the Black Friday
gold speculation scandal in 1869. The Democratic reform movement sought to expose the corruption in the Grant Administration and in order to do this had to gain a majority in the House of Representatives. Following the inability of the Grant Administration and Republican Congress to stop the damaging economic effects from Panic of 1873
, in addition to the unpopularity of the Republican Reconstruction Acts, the Democratic Party, on March 4, 1875 gained a majority in the House of Representatives. Having gained the majority the Democrats for the next two years would become the reforming party by investigating corruption scandals associated with the Grant Administration, in order to increase their chances of winning the presidential election of 1876
.
The scandals in the Grant Administration were endemic of greater national moral decline. According to one respected historian, C. Vann Woodward
, there are three primary forces that caused national corruption during this time period. The most compelling reason for corruption was the Civil War itself, unleashing a myriad of human depravity, thousands of deaths, and unscrupulously gained riches from persons who rose from deserved obscurity to powerful military and civilian positions. It was these men the claim agent, the speculator, the subsidy-seeker, the government contractor, and the all-purpose crook that were to be born from the war and entered into politics after the fighting had stopped. The second reason for corruption was the opening of the West and South to unrestrained exploitation that caused the older parts of the country to fall into moral confusion. The third reason, according to Vann Woodward, was the rapid rise of the Industrial Revolution
, that loosened the standards and values of the nation. Americans found themselves released from discipline and restraint by rapid industrial wealth that proceeded after the Civil War.
taken away by an assassin's bullet, the nation for awhile floundered on an ocean of financial and political indulgences. The high water mark of the flood of corruption that swept the nation took place in 1874, after Benjamin Bristow was put in charge to reform the Treasury. In 1873, Grant's friend and publisher, Mark Twain
, along with coauthor Charles Dudley Warner
, called this American era of speculation and corruption the Gilded Age
. Between 1870 to 1900, the United States population nearly doubled in size, gainful employment increased by 132 percent, and non farm labor constituted 60 percent of the work force.
Inevitably, Grant's low standards in cabinet appointments, and his readiness to cover for associates or friends involved in condemnable behavior, defied the American tradition of a government run free of corruption and favortism. To stop the flood of corruption that swept the nation during Grant's presidency and the Reconstruction period, would have required the strength of a moral giant in the White House to have kept an administration without any scandals. Grant was no moral giant. In fairness, the booming economy that proceeded after the Civil War
enveloped the whole nation in a chaotic frenzy for achieving financial gain and success. The caricature and cliché of the Grant Presidency is eight years of political plundering and that little was accomplished. Grant, however, was committed to complete the unification of a bitterly divided country torn by Civil War
, in honor to Abraham Lincoln
, and give full citizenship rights to African Americans and their posterity.
An analysis of the scandals reveals the many powers at Grant's disposal as the President of the United States
. His confidents knew this and in many situations took advantage of Grant's presidential authority. Having the ability to pardon, accept resignations, and even vouch for an associate in a deposition, created an environment difficult, though not impossible, for reformers in and outside of the Grant Administration. Grant himself, far from being politically naive, had played a shrewd hand at times in the protection of cabinet and appointees. Examples include not allowing Benjamin Bristow
to move the Tax Revenue Supervisors and relinquishing immunity in the Whiskey Ring
cases, made Grant a protector of political patronage. In fairness, Grant did appoint cabinet reformers and special prosecutors that were able to clean up the Treasury, Interior, War, and Justice departments. Grant, himself, personally participated in reforming the Department of Indian Affairs, by firing all the corrupt clerks. No reforming cabinet member, however, was installed in the Department of Navy
.
Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant began during the turbulent Reconstruction period following the American Civil War. Grant was elected the 18th President of the United States in 1868 and was re-elected to the office in 1872, serving from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877...
reveals many scandals and fraudulent activities associated with his administration and a cabinet that was in continual transition divided by the forces of political patronage and reform. President Grant, himself, was influenced by both forces. The standards in many of Grant's cabinet appointments were low and charges of corruption were widespread. Starting with the Black Friday
Black Friday (1869)
Black Friday, September 24, 1869 also known as the Fisk/Gould scandal, was a financial panic in the United States caused by two speculators’ efforts to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. It was one of several scandals that rocked the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant...
gold speculation ring in 1869, corruption would be discovered during Grant's two presidential terms in seven federal departments, including the Navy
United States Department of the Navy
The Department of the Navy of the United States of America was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, to provide a government organizational structure to the United States Navy and, from 1834 onwards, for the United States Marine Corps, and when directed by the President, of the...
, Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, War
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
, Treasury, Interior, State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
, and the Post Office
United States Post Office Department
The Post Office Department was the name of the United States Postal Service when it was a Cabinet department. It was headed by the Postmaster General....
. Reform movements initiated in both the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and the Liberal Republicans
Liberal Republican Party (United States)
The Liberal Republican Party of the United States was a political party that was organized in Cincinnati in May 1872, to oppose the reelection of President Ulysses S. Grant and his Radical Republican supporters. The party's candidate in that year's presidential election was Horace Greeley, longtime...
, a faction that split from Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
to oppose political patronage and corruption in the Grant Administration. Nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
was prevalent, with over 40 family members or relatives benefiting from government appointments and employment. The prevalent corruption in the Grant Administration would eventually be called "Grantism
Grantism
The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant in the United States was marred by many scandals, including Black Friday, Whiskey Ring, and Crédit Mobilier. Although Grant was not directly involved with these scandals, his associations with persons of questionable character and his reliance on cronyism,...
".
The unprecedented way in which Grant ran his cabinet, in a military style rather than civilian, contributed to the scandals. In 1869, Grant's private secretary Orville E. Babcock
Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock was an American Civil War General in the Union Army. Immediately upon graduating third in his class as United States Military Academy in 1861, Babcock would go onto serve efficiently in the Corps of Engineers throughout the Civil War and was promoted to Brevet Brigadier...
was sent to negotiate a treaty annexation with Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
rather than an official from the state department. Grant never even consulted with cabinet members on the treaty annexation; in effect the annexation proposal was already decided. A perplexed Secretary of Interior Jacob D. Cox reflected the cabinet's disappointment over not being consulted: "But Mr. President, has it been settled, then, that we want to Annex Santo Domingo?" Another instance of a military-style command came over the McGarrahan Claims, a legal dispute over mining patents in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, when Grant overrode the official opinion from Attorney General Ebenezer R. Hoar
Ebenezer R. Hoar
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar was an influential American politician and lawyer from Massachusetts.- Early life :...
. Both Cox and Hoar, who were reformers, eventually resigned from the cabinet in 1870.
Grant's reactions to the scandals ranged from prosecuting the perpetrators to protecting or pardoning those who were accused and convicted of the crimes. When the Whiskey Ring
Whiskey Ring
In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
scandal broke out in 1875, Grant in a reforming mood wrote, "Let no guilty man escape." However, when it was found out that his personal secretary Orville E. Babcock
Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock was an American Civil War General in the Union Army. Immediately upon graduating third in his class as United States Military Academy in 1861, Babcock would go onto serve efficiently in the Corps of Engineers throughout the Civil War and was promoted to Brevet Brigadier...
was indicted, Grant testified on behalf of the defendant. When Secretary of War William W. Belknap
William W. Belknap
William Worth Belknap was a United States Army general, government administrator, and United States Secretary of War. He was the only Cabinet secretary ever to have been impeached by the United States House of Representatives.-Birth and early years:Born in Newburgh, New York to career soldier...
was involved in a trading post extortion scam, Grant promptly accepted his resignation without question, and went to a photography studio to get his portrait done. In essence, when it came to prosecuting those guilty of graft, Grant used his presidential power to protect close friends, particularly his military associates.
Grant's temperament and character
Grant was personally honest with money matters; however, he was extremely careless with his associates. Historian C. Vann WoodwardC. Vann Woodward
Comer Vann Woodward was a preeminent American historian focusing primarily on the American South and race relations. He was considered, along with Richard Hofstadter and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., to be one of the most influential historians of the postwar era, 1940s-1970s, both by scholars and by...
stated that Grant had neither the training nor temperament to fully comprehend the complexities of rapid economic growth, industrialization, and western expansionism. Grant himself had been educated and trained at West Point
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
in subjects as mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
, infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
, cavalry tactics
Cavalry tactics
For much of history , humans have used some form of cavalry for war. Cavalry tactics have evolved over time...
, and conduct. Grant had come from a humble background where men of superior intelligence and ability were threats rather than assets. Instead of responding with trust and warmth to men of talent, education, and culture, he turned to his military friends from the Civil War and to politicians as new as himself. Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., stated that his father was a "simple man" who was unaware of any opportunities "to enrich himself." Grant, Jr., stated that Ulysses S. Grant was "incapable of supposing his friends to be dishonest."
Many of Grant's associates were able to capture his confidence through flattery
Flattery
Flattery is the act of giving excessive compliments, generally for the purpose of ingratiating oneself with the subject....
and brought their intrigues openly to his attention. One of these men, Orville E. Babcock
Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock was an American Civil War General in the Union Army. Immediately upon graduating third in his class as United States Military Academy in 1861, Babcock would go onto serve efficiently in the Corps of Engineers throughout the Civil War and was promoted to Brevet Brigadier...
, was a subtle and unscrupulous enemy of reformers, having served as Grant's personal secretary for seven years while living in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. Babcock, twice indicted, gained indirect control of whole departments of the government, planted suspicions of reformers in Grant's mind, plotted their downfall, and sought to replace them with men like himself. Grant allowed Babcock to be a stumbling block for reformers who might have saved the President from scandal. Grant's secretary of state, Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish was an American statesman and politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York, United States Senator and United States Secretary of State. Fish has been considered one of the best Secretary of States in the United States history; known for his judiciousness and reform efforts...
, who was often at odds with Babcock, made efforts to save Grant's reputation by advocating that reformers be appointed to or kept in public office. Grant also unwisely accepted gifts from wealthy donors that cast doubts on his reputability.
Scandals and corruption
The following are scandals or instances of federal corruption associated with the Ulysses S. Grant presidential administration from 1869 to 1877. Particularly noteworthy are Black FridayBlack Friday (1869)
Black Friday, September 24, 1869 also known as the Fisk/Gould scandal, was a financial panic in the United States caused by two speculators’ efforts to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. It was one of several scandals that rocked the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant...
and the Whiskey Ring
Whiskey Ring
In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
. The Crédit Mobilier is not included as a Grant scandal since the company was founded during the President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
administration. The fraudulent Emma Silver Mine
Emma Silver Mine
The Emma Silver Mine is a currently inactive silver mine near Alta, Utah, in the United States. The mine is most famous for an attempt in 1871 by two American business promoters, including Senator William M. Stewart and James E. Lyon, to make a profit by promoting the depleted silver mine to...
swindle that involved Ambassador to Britain Robert C. Schenck
Robert C. Schenck
Robert Cumming Schenck was a Union Army general in the American Civil War, and American diplomatic representative to Brazil and the United Kingdom. He was at both battles of Bull Run and took part in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862, and the Battle of Cross Keys...
was a Grant administration embarrassment and is not included as a scandal. An analysis of the scandals and frauds reveals that a majority had to do with illicit financial gain; the Safe Burglary Conspiracy, however, involved breaking and entering, property damage, and framing an innocent citizen. Two scandals involved women: Black Friday and the Trading Post Ring. Orville E. Babcock
Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock was an American Civil War General in the Union Army. Immediately upon graduating third in his class as United States Military Academy in 1861, Babcock would go onto serve efficiently in the Corps of Engineers throughout the Civil War and was promoted to Brevet Brigadier...
, who was indicted in the Whiskey Ring
Whiskey Ring
In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
, insinuated that the coded entry "Sylph" signed on communication letters referred to a woman intimately involved with the President. That allegation was never proven and there was nothing to suggest that a presidential affair took place. Babcock invented the story to frustrate the prosecution. Although Grant was never proven to be directly involved with or to have personally profited from the scandals or frauds, his acceptance of personal gifts and his associations with men of questionable character severely damaged his own presidential legacy and reputation. Most of these scandals began during the eight years of prosperity after the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, while many prominent scandals were exposed after the U.S. economy crashed after the Panic of 1873
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 triggered a severe international economic depression in both Europe and the United States that lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries. The depression was known as the Great Depression until the 1930s, but is now known as the Long Depression...
.
Black Friday Gold Panic 1869
The first scandal to taint the Grant administration in 1869 was Black FridayBlack Friday (1869)
Black Friday, September 24, 1869 also known as the Fisk/Gould scandal, was a financial panic in the United States caused by two speculators’ efforts to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. It was one of several scandals that rocked the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant...
, also known as the Gold Panic, which was an attempt by two financiers to corner the price of gold without regard to the nation's economic welfare. The intricate financial scheme was primarily conceived and administered by Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
manipulator Jay Gould
Jay Gould
Jason "Jay" Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has long been vilified as an archetypal robber baron, whose successes made him the ninth richest American in history. Condé Nast Portfolio ranked Gould as the 8th worst American CEO of all time...
and his partner James Fisk
James Fisk (financier)
James Fisk, Jr. —known variously as "Big Jim," "Diamond Jim," and "Jubilee Jim"—was an American stock broker and corporate executive.-Early life and career:...
in September 1869. The two were able to get Grant's brother in law Abel Rathbone Corbin involved with the scheme in order to get access to Grant himself. Gould had also given a $10,000 bribe to the assistant secretary of the treasury, Daniel Butterfield
Daniel Butterfield
Daniel Adams Butterfield was a New York businessman, a Union General in the American Civil War, and Assistant U.S. Treasurer in New York. He is credited with composing the bugle call Taps and was involved in the Black Friday gold scandal in the Grant administration...
, in order to get inside information. Corbin himself had $2,000,000 invested in the gold market and had given the first lady, Julia Grant, and Grant's personal secretary Horace Porter $500,000 speculative accounts. On September 6, 1869, Gould had bought the Tenth National Bank
Tenth National Bank
The Tenth National Bank was an American bank that existed in the 19th Century. At one time, financier Jay Gould acquired a controlling interest in the bank, and New York's William M. Tweed was one of its directors...
that was used as a buying house for gold, and Gould and Fisk began buying gold in earnest. Gould and Fisk themselves made personal advances and suggestions towards Grant to curb Treasury Secretary George S. Boutwell
George S. Boutwell
George Sewall Boutwell was an American statesman who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Ulysses S...
's greenback
Greenback (money)
The term greenback refers to paper currency that was issued by the United States during the American Civil War.There are at least two types of notes that were called greenback:*United States Note*Demand Note...
contraction policy. On one occasion, Gould met with Grant at Corbin's home and attempted to convince the president that not selling gold would help the sale of American wheat in European markets. After the meeting Grant became suspicious and wrote a letter to Secretary Boutwell on September 12, urging him to keep releasing the same amount of gold: "The fact is, a desperate struggle is now taking place...I write this letter to advise you of what I think you may expect, to put you on your guard." However, President Grant's personal associations with Gould and Fisk gave them the clout needed to continue their financial scam on Wall Street.
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
with Porter at a deluxe Pennsylvania retreat. Grant finally realized what was going on and he was determined to stop the gold manipulation scheme. When pressed for a reply to Corbin's letter, Grant responded curtly that everything was "all right" and that there was no reply. One Grant biographer described the comical nature of the events as an "Edwardian farce". Grant, however, did have his wife Julia respond in a letter to Corbin's wife that Abel Corbin needed to get out of the gold speculation market. When Gould visited Corbin's house, he read Julia's letter with the warning from Grant. After reading the letter, Gould started to sell gold, buying a bit of gold at the same time to keep people from getting suspicious. Gould never told Fisk, who kept buying gold in earnest, that Grant was catching onto their predatory scheme.
Secretary Boutwell was already keeping track of the situation and knew that the profits made in the manipulated rising gold market could ruin the nation's economy for several years. By September 21 the price of gold had jumped from $137 to $141, and Gould and Fisk jointly owned $50 million to $60 million in gold. Boutwell and Grant finally met on Thursday, September 23, and agreed to release gold from the treasury if the gold price kept rising. Boutwell had also ordered that the Tenth National Bank
Tenth National Bank
The Tenth National Bank was an American bank that existed in the 19th Century. At one time, financier Jay Gould acquired a controlling interest in the bank, and New York's William M. Tweed was one of its directors...
was to be closed on the same day. Then on (Black) Friday, September 23, 1869, when the price of gold had soared up to $160 dollars an ounce, Boutwell released $4 million in gold specie
Commodity money
Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity out of which it is made. It is objects that have value in themselves as well as for use as money....
into the market and bought $4,000,000 in bonds. The gold market crashed and Gould and Fisk were foiled, while many investors were financially ruined.
The gold panic devastated the United States economy for months. Stock prices plunged and the price of food crops such as wheat and corn dropped severely, devastating farmers who did not recover for years afterward. Gould had earlier claimed to Grant that raising the price of gold would actually help farmers. Also Fisk refused to pay off many of his investors who had bought gold on paper. The volume of stocks being sold on Wall Street decreased by 20%. Fisk and Gould, who could afford to hire the best lawyers, were never held accountable for their profiteering, as favorable judges declined to prosecute. Gould remained a powerful force on Wall Street for the next 20 years. Fisk, who practiced a licentious lifestyle, was killed by a jealous rival on January 6, 1872. Butterfield later resigned.
In an 1869 Congressional investigation into the gold panic, Democrats on the House investigation committee questioned why Julia Grant had received a package from the Adams Express Company
Adams Express Company
The Adams Express Company is a publicly traded diversified equity fund that traces its roots to a 19th century freight and cargo transport company. The Company uses a conservative investment philosophy, and the portfolio is managed with the expectation that it will generate solid returns with...
containing money reported to be $25,000. Another source claims that the package was just $25.00, but nonetheless, it was highly unusual for a First Lady
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
to receive cash in the mail. Corbin had bought gold at 33 margin and sold at 37, leaving Julia a profit of $27,000. Neither Mrs. Grant nor Mrs. Corbin testified in front of the investigation committee. In 1876 Secretary of State Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish was an American statesman and politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York, United States Senator and United States Secretary of State. Fish has been considered one of the best Secretary of States in the United States history; known for his judiciousness and reform efforts...
revealed to Grant in that Orville E. Babcock
Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock was an American Civil War General in the Union Army. Immediately upon graduating third in his class as United States Military Academy in 1861, Babcock would go onto serve efficiently in the Corps of Engineers throughout the Civil War and was promoted to Brevet Brigadier...
, another private secretary to the President, had also been involved in gold speculations in 1869.
New York custom house ring
In 1871, the New York Custom HouseCollector of the Port of New York
The Collector of Customs at the Port of New York, most often referred to as Collector of the Port of New York, sometimes also as Collector of Customs for the Port of New York or Collector of Customs for the District of New York, was a federal officer who was in charge of the collection of import...
collected more revenue from imports than any other port in the United States. By 1872, two congressional investigations and one by the Treasury Office under Secretary George S. Boutwell
George S. Boutwell
George Sewall Boutwell was an American statesman who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Ulysses S...
looked into allegations of a corruption ring set up at the New York Custom House under two Grant collector appointments, Moses H. Grinnell
Moses H. Grinnell
Moses Hicks Grinnell was a United States Navy officer, congressmanrepresenting New York, and Central Park Commissioner.-Biography:...
and Thomas Murphy. Both Grinnell and Murphy allowed private merchants to store goods not claimed on the docks in private warehouses for exorbitant fees. Grant's secretaries Horace Porter
Horace Porter
Horace Porter, was an American soldier and diplomat who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War....
and Orville E. Babcock
Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock was an American Civil War General in the Union Army. Immediately upon graduating third in his class as United States Military Academy in 1861, Babcock would go onto serve efficiently in the Corps of Engineers throughout the Civil War and was promoted to Brevet Brigadier...
and Grant's friend George K. Leet, owner of a private warehouse, allegedly shared in these profits. Secretary Boutwell advocated a reform to keep imports on company dock areas rather than being stored at designated warehouses in New York. Grant's third collector appointment, Chester A. Arthur
Chester A. Arthur
Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States . Becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Arthur struggled to overcome suspicions of his beginnings as a politician from the New York City Republican machine, succeeding at that task by embracing...
, implemented Boutwell's reform. On May 25, 1870, Boutwell had implemented reforms that reduced public cartage and government costs, stopped officer gratuities, and decreased port smuggling, but on July 2, 1872, U.S. Senator Carl Schurz
Carl Schurz
Carl Christian Schurz was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army General in the American Civil War. He was also an accomplished journalist, newspaper editor and orator, who in 1869 became the first German-born American elected to the United States Senate.His wife,...
insinuated in a speech that no reforms had been undertaken and that the old abuses at the custom house continued. The New York Times claimed that Schurz's speech was "carefully prepared" and "more or less disfigured and discolored by error." The second thorough congressional investigation concluded that abuses either did not exist, had been corrected, or were in the process of being corrected.
Star route postal ring
In the early 1870s, lucrative postal route contracts were given to local contractors on the Pacific coastWest Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
and southern regions of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. These were known as Star Routes because an asterisk was placed on official Post Office
United States Post Office Department
The Post Office Department was the name of the United States Postal Service when it was a Cabinet department. It was headed by the Postmaster General....
documents. These remote routes were hundreds of miles long and went to the most rural parts of the United States by horse and buggy. Previously inaccessible areas on the Pacific coast received weekly, semi-weekly, and daily mail because of these routes. However, corruption ensued, with contractors paid exorbitant fees for fictitious routes and for providing low quality postal service to the rural areas. One contractor, F.P. Sawyer, made $500,000 a year on routes in the Southwest.
To obtain these highly prized postal contracts, contractors, postal clerks, and various intermediary brokers set up an intricate ring of bribery and straw bidding in the Postal Contract Office. Straw bidding reached a peak under Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
John Creswell, who was exonerated by a 1872 congressional investigation that was later revealed to have been tainted by a $40,000 bribe from western postal contractor Bradley Barlow
Bradley Barlow
Bradley Barlow was a United States Representative from Vermont. He was born in Fairfield, Vermont. He attended the common schools and then engaged in mercantile pursuits in Philadelphia until 1858, when he moved to St...
. An 1876 Democratic investigation was able to temporarily shut down the ring, but it reconstituted itself and continued until a federal trial in 1882 finally ended the Star Route frauds.
Salary grab
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
were raised from $5,000 to $7,500. Although pay increases were constitutional, the act was passed in secret with a clause that gave the congressmen $5,000 in bonus payouts for the previous two years of their terms. The Sun and other newspapers exposed the $5,000 bonus clause to the nation. The law was repealed in January 1874 and the bonuses returned to the treasury.
This pay raise proposal was submitted as an amendment to the government's general appropriations bill. Had Grant vetoed the bill, the government would not have any money to operate for the following fiscal year, and a special session of Congress would have had to be held. However, Grant missed an opportunity to make a statement by threatening a veto.
Sanborn contracts
In 1874, Grant's cabinet reached its lowest ebb in terms of public trust and qualified appointments. After the presidential election of 1872, Grant reappointed all of his cabinet with a single exception. Charges of corruption were rife, particularly from The NationThe Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, a reliable journal that was going after many of Grant's cabinet members. Treasury Secretary George S. Boutwell
George S. Boutwell
George Sewall Boutwell was an American statesman who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Ulysses S...
had been elected to the U.S. Senate in the 1872 election and was replaced by Assistant Treasury Secretary William A. Richardson
William Adams Richardson
William Adams Richardson was an American judge and politician.Born in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, he graduated from Pinkerton Academy, Lawrence Academy at Groton, and attended Harvard University, graduating in 1843....
in 1873. Richardson's tenure as Treasury Secretary very brief, as another scandal erupted. The government had been known to hire private citizens and groups to collect taxes for the Internal Revenue Service; Richardson hired John D. Sanborn
Sanborn Incident
The Sanborn incident or Sanborn contract was an American political scandal which occurred in 1874.William Adams Richardson, Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of the Treasury, hired a private citizen, John D. Sanborn, to collect $427,000 in unpaid taxes. Richardson agreed Sanborn could keep half of what...
to collect certain taxes and excises that had been illegally withheld from the government. Treasury officials pressured Internal Revenue agents not to collect delinquent accounts in order to allow Sanborn more to accumulate. Although the collections were legal, Sanborn reaped $213,000 in commissions on $420,000 taken in taxes. A House investigation committee in 1874 revealed that Sanborn had split $156,000 of this with unnamed associates as "expenses." Although Richardson and Senator Benjamin Butler
Benjamin Butler
Benjamin Butler may refer to:*Benjamin Franklin Butler , U.S. lawyer who served as Attorney General, 1833–1838*Benjamin Franklin Butler , U.S. political figure; general in American Civil War; Governor of Massachusetts*Benjamin Butler Painter...
were suspected to have taken a share of the profit money as bribes, there was no paper trail to prove such transactions, and Sanborn refused to reveal with whom he split the profits. While the House committee was investigating, Grant quietly appointed Richardson to the Court of Claims
Court of Claims
The Court of Claims in the United Kingdom is a special court established after the accession of a new Sovereign to judge the validity of the claims of persons to perform certain honorary services at the coronation of the new monarch....
and replaced him with the avowed reformer Benjamin H. Bristow.
Delano affair
In 1875, the U.S. Department of the Interior was in serious disrepair due to corruption and incompetence. Interior Secretary Columbus DelanoColumbus Delano
Columbus Delano, was a lawyer and a statesman and a member of the prominent Delano family.At the age of eight, Columbus Delano's family moved to Mount Vernon in Knox County, Ohio, a place he would call home for the rest of his life. After completing his primary education, he studied law and was...
, discovered to have taken bribes in order to secure fraudulent land grants, was forced to resign from office on October 15, 1875. Delano had also given lucrative cartographical contracts to his son John Delano and Ulysses S. Grant's own brother, Orvil Grant. Neither John Delano nor Orvil Grant performed any work, nor were they qualified to hold such surveying positions.
On October 19, 1875, Grant made another reforming cabinet choice when he appointed Zachariah Chandler
Zachariah Chandler
Zachariah Chandler was Mayor of Detroit , a four-term U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan , and Secretary of the Interior under U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant .-Family:...
as Secretary of the Interior. Chandler immediately went to work reforming the Interior Department by dismissing all the important clerks in the Patent Office
Patent office
A patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for...
. Chandler had discovered that during Delano's tenure, money had been paid to fictitious clerks while other clerks had been paid without performing any services. Chandler next turned to the Department of Indian Affairs to reform another Delano debacle. President Grant ordered Chandler to fire everyone, saying, "Have those men dismissed by 3 o'clock this afternoon or shut down the bureau." Chandler did exactly as Grant had ordered. Chandler also banned bogus agents, known as "Indian Attorneys," who had been paid $8.00 a day plus expenses for, ostensibly, providing tribes with representation in the nation's capital. Many of these agents were unqualified and swindled the Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes into believing they had a voice in Washington.
Pratt & Boyd
Attorney General George H. WilliamsGeorge Henry Williams
George Henry Williams was an American judge and politician. He served as Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, was the 32nd Attorney General of the United States, and served one term in the United States Senate...
administered the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
with slackness. There were rumors that Williams was taking bribes in exchange for declining to prosecute pending trial cases. In 1875, Williams was supposed to prosecute the merchant house Pratt & Boyd for fraudulent customhouse entries. The Senate Judiciary Committee had found that Williams had dropped the case after his wife had received a $30,000 payoff. When informed of this, Grant forced Williams's resignation. Williams had also indiscreetly used Justice Department funds to pay for carriage and household expenses.
Whiskey ring
The worst and most famous scandal to hit the Grant administration was the Whiskey RingWhiskey Ring
In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
of 1875, exposed by Treasury Secretary Benjamin H. Bristow and journalist Myron Colony. Whiskey distillers had been evading taxes in the Midwest since the Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
Administration. Distillers of whiskey bribed Treasury Department agents who in turn aided the distillers in evading taxes to the tune of up to $2 million per year; they'd neglect to collect a duty of 70 cents per gallon, then split the bonus profits. The ringleaders had to coordinate distillers, rectifiers, gaugers, storekeepers, revenue agents, and Treasury clerks by recruitment, impressment, and extortion.
On January 26, 1875, Bristow ordered Internal Revenue officers in various cites to different locations, effective February 15, 1875, on a suggestion from Grant. This would keep the fraudulent officers off guard and allow investigators to uncover their misdeeds. Grant later rescinded the order on the grounds that advanced notice would cause the ringleaders to cover their tracks and become suspicious. Rescinding Secretary Bristow's order would later give rise to a rumor that Grant was interfering with the investigation. Although moving the supervisors most certainly would have disrupted the ring, Bristow conceded that he would need documentary evidence on the inner workings of the ring in order to be able to prosecute the perpetrators. Bristow, undaunted, kept investigating, and was able to find the ring's secrets by sending Myron Colony and other spies to gather whiskey shipping and manufacturing information.
On May 13, 1875, with Grant's endorsement, Bristow struck hard at the ring, seized the distilleries, and made hundreds of arrests. The Whiskey Ring was broken. Bristow, with the cooperation of Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont
Edwards Pierrepont
Edwards Pierrepont was an American statesman, jurist and lawyer.-Biography:Born in North Haven, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale University and New Haven Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced law in Columbus, Ohio, from 1840 to 1845...
and Solicitor General Bluford Wilson, launched proceedings to bring many members of the ring to trial. Bristow had obtained information that the Whiskey Ring operated in Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. Missouri Revenue Agent John A. Joyce and two of Grant's appointees, Supervisor of Internal Revenue General John McDonald and Orville E. Babcock
Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock was an American Civil War General in the Union Army. Immediately upon graduating third in his class as United States Military Academy in 1861, Babcock would go onto serve efficiently in the Corps of Engineers throughout the Civil War and was promoted to Brevet Brigadier...
, the private secretary to the President, would eventually be indicted in the Whiskey Ring trials. Grant's other private secretary Horace Porter
Horace Porter
Horace Porter, was an American soldier and diplomat who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War....
was also involved in the Whiskey Ring
Whiskey Ring
In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
according to Solicitor General Bluford Wilson.
Special prosecutors appointed
John B. Henderson
John Brooks Henderson was a United States Senator from Missouri and a co-author of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution....
, to go after the ring. Henderson, while in the Senate, had been the administration's worst critic, and Grant appointed him to maintain integrity in the Whiskey Ring investigation. Henderson convened a grand jury, which found that Babcock was one of the ringleaders. Grant received a letter to this effect, on which he wrote, "Let no guilty man escape." It was discovered that Babcock sent coded letters to McDonald on how to run the ring in St. Louis. During the investigation McDonald claimed he gave Babcock $25,000 from the divided profits and even personally sent him a $1,000 bill in a cigar box.
After Babcock's indictment, Grant requested that Babcock go through a military trial rather than a public trial, but the grand jury denied his request. In a reversal of his "let no guilty man escape," order to Sec. Bristow, Grant unexpectedly issued an order not to give any more immunity to persons involved in the Whiskey Ring, leading to speculation that he was trying to protect Babcock. Although this reversal had the appearance of not letting the guilty get away, the prosecutor's trail cases were made more difficult to prove in court. The order caused strife between Sec. Bristow and Grant, since Bristow needed distillers to testify with immunity in order to go after the ringleaders. Prosecutor Henderson, himself, while going after members of the ring in court accused Grant of interfering with Secretary Bristow's investigation.
The accusation angered Grant, who fired Henderson as special prosecutor. Grant then replaced Henderson with James Broadhead
James Broadhead
James Overton Broadhead was an American lawyer and political figure. He was a member of the House of Representatives and of the Missouri senate, he was also the first president of the American Bar Association....
. Broadhead, though a capable attorney, had little time to get acquainted with the facts of Babcock's case and those of other Whiskey Ring members. At the trial a deposition
Deposition (law)
In the law of the United States, a deposition is the out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that is reduced to writing for later use in court or for discovery purposes. It is commonly used in litigation in the United States and Canada and is almost always conducted outside of court by the...
was read from President Grant stating that he had no knowledge that Babcock was involved in the ring. The jury listened to the president's words and quickly acquitted Babcock of any charges. Broadhead went on to close out all the other cases in the Whiskey Ring. McDonald and Joyce were convicted in the graft trials and sent to prison. On January 26, 1877, President Grant pardoned McDonald.
President Grant's deposition
The Whiskey Ring scandal even came to the steps of the White HouseWhite House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. There were rumors that Grant himself was involved with the ring and was diverting its profits to his 1872 re-election campaign. Grant needed to clear his own name as well as Babcock's. Earlier, Grant had refused to believe Babcock was guilty even when Bristow and Wilson personally presented him with damaging evidence, such as two telegrams signed "Sylph"; Babcock suggested that the signature was that of a woman giving the president "a great deal of trouble", hoping that Wilson would back off for fear of igniting a presidential sex scandal, but Wilson was not bluffed.
On the advice of Secretary of State Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish was an American statesman and politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York, United States Senator and United States Secretary of State. Fish has been considered one of the best Secretary of States in the United States history; known for his judiciousness and reform efforts...
, the President did not testify in open court but instead gave a deposition in front of a congressional legal representative at the White House. Grant was the first and, to date, only president ever to testify for a defendant. The historic testimony came on Saturday, February 12, 1876. Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite, a Grant appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, presided over the deposition. The following are excerpts from President Grant's deposition.
-
- Eaton: "Have you ever seen anything in the conduct of General Babcock, or has he ever said anything to you, which indicated to your mind that he was in any way interested in or concerned with the Whiskey RingWhiskey RingIn the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
at St. Louis or elsewhere?"
- Eaton: "Have you ever seen anything in the conduct of General Babcock, or has he ever said anything to you, which indicated to your mind that he was in any way interested in or concerned with the Whiskey Ring
-
- President Grant: "Never."
-
- Eaton: "Did General Babcock on or about April 23, 1875, show you a dispatch in these words: "St. Louis, April 23, 1875. Gen. O.E. Babcock, Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Tell Mack to see Parker of Colorado; & telegram to Commissioner. Crush out St. Louis enemies."
- Eaton: "Did General Babcock on or about April 23, 1875, show you a dispatch in these words: "St. Louis, April 23, 1875. Gen. O.E. Babcock, Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C.
-
- Cook: "Objection." Made for the record.
-
- President Grant: "I did not remember about these dispatches at all until since the conspiracy trials have commenced. I have heard General Babcock's explanation of most or all of them since that. Many of the dispatches may have been shown to me at the time, and explained, but I do not remember it."
-
- Eaton: "Perhaps you are aware, General, that the Whiskey RingWhiskey RingIn the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
have persistently tried to fix the origins of that ring in the necessity for funds to carry on political campaigns. Did you ever have intimation from General Babcock, or anyone else in any manner, directly or indirectly, that any funds for political purposes were being raised by any improper methods?"
- Eaton: "Perhaps you are aware, General, that the Whiskey Ring
-
- Cook: "Objection." Made for the record.
-
- President Grant: "I never did. I have seen since these trials intimations of that sort in the newspapers, but never before."
-
- Eaton: "Then let me ask you if the prosecuting officers have not been entirely correct in repelling all insinuations that you ever had tolerated any such means for raising funds."
-
- Cook: "Objection." Made for the record.
-
- President Grant: "I was not aware that they had ever attempted to repel any insinuations."
On February 17, 1876, U.S. Circuit Justice John F. Dillon
John Forrest Dillon
John Forrest Dillon was an American jurist who served on both federal and Iowa state courts, and who authored a highly influential treatise on the power of states over municipal governments.-Early life and career:...
, another Grant appointment, overruled Cook's objections and allowed the questions to be admissible in court. Grant, who was known for a photographic memory, had many uncharacteristic lapses when it came to remembering incidents involving Babcock. The deposition strategy worked and the Whiskey Ring prosecution never went after Grant again. During Babcock's trial in St. Louis the deposition was read to the jury. Babcock would go on to be acquitted in trial. After the trial, Grant distanced himself from Babcock. After the acquittal, Babcock initially returned to his position as Grant's private secretary outside the Oval Office. At public outcry and the objection of Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish was an American statesman and politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York, United States Senator and United States Secretary of State. Fish has been considered one of the best Secretary of States in the United States history; known for his judiciousness and reform efforts...
, Babcock was dismissed as private secretary and focused on another position that he had been given by Grant in 1871: superintending engineer of public buildings and grounds.
Grant's Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winning biographer, William S. McFeely
William S. McFeely
William S. McFeely was a professor of history before his retirement in 1997.He received his B.A. from Amherst College in 1952, and Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University in 1966. He studied there with, among others, C. Vann Woodward, whose book "The Strange Career of Jim Crow" was a staple...
, stated that Grant knew Babcock was guilty and perjured himself in the deposition. According to McFeely the "evidence was irrefutable" against Babcock, and Grant knew this. McFeely also points out that John McDonald also stated that Grant knew that the Whiskey Ring existed and perjured himself to save Babcock. Grant historian Jean Edward Smith
Jean Edward Smith
Jean Edward Smith, Ph.D is professor at Marshall University and biographer. Currently he is the John Marshall Professor of Political Science at Marshall University and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto after having served as professor of political economy there for thirty-five years...
counters that evidence against Babcock was "circumstantial" and the St. Louis jury acquitted Babcock "in the absence of adequate proof." Many of Grant's friends who knew him claimed that the President was "a truthful man" and it was "impossible for him to lie." Grant's popularity, however, decreased significantly in the country as a result of his testimony and after Babcock was acquitted in the trial. Grant's political enemies used this deposition as a launchpad to public office. The New York Tribune stated that the Whiskey Ring
Whiskey Ring
In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
scandal "had been met at the entrance of the White House and turned back." However, the national unpopularity of Grant's testimony on behalf of his friend Babcock ruined any chances for a third term nomination.
Bristow's investigation results
When Secretary Benjamin Bristow struck suddenly at the Whiskey Ring in May 1875, many people were arrested and the distilleries involved in the scandal were shut down. Bristow's investigation resulted in 350 federal indictments. There were 110 convictions, and three million dollars in tax revenues were recovered from the ring.Trading post ring
William W. Belknap
William Worth Belknap was a United States Army general, government administrator, and United States Secretary of War. He was the only Cabinet secretary ever to have been impeached by the United States House of Representatives.-Birth and early years:Born in Newburgh, New York to career soldier...
. A Democratic House investigation committee revealed that Belknap had taken extortion money in exchange for an appointment to a lucrative Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
. In 1870, responding to extensive lobbying by Belknap, Congress had authorized the War Department to award private trading post contracts to military forts throughout the nation. Native Americans would come into the forts and trade for food and clothing, generating huge profits (at the natives' expense). Belknap's wife Carrie, who desired to profit from these wealthy contracts, managed to secure a private trading post at Fort Sill
Fort Sill
Fort Sill is a United States Army post near Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.Today, Fort Sill remains the only active Army installation of all the forts on the South Plains built during the Indian Wars...
for a personal friend from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Caleb P. Marsh.
An extortion arrangement was set up among Carrie Belknap, Caleb P. Marsh, and incumbent contract holder John S. Evans, in which Carrie Belknap and Marsh would receive $3,000 every quarter, splitting the proceeds, while Evans would be able to retain his post at Fort Sill. Carrie Belknap died within the year, but William Belknap and his second wife continued to accept payments, though they were smaller due to a dip in Fort Sill's profits. By 1876 Belknap had received $20,000 from the illicit arrangement. On February 29, 1876, Marsh testified in front of a House investigation committee headed by Representatives Lyman K. Bass
Lyman K. Bass
Lyman Kidder Bass was a U.S. Representative from New York.Born in the town of Alden, New York, Bass attended the common schools and was graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1856.He studied law....
and Hiester Clymer
Hiester Clymer
Hiester Clymer was an American political leader from the state of Pennsylvania. Clymer was a member of the Hiester family political dynasty. He was the nephew of William Muhlenberg Hiester and the cousin of Isaac Ellmaker Hiester....
. During the testimony Marsh testified that Belknap and both his wives had accepted money in exchange for the lucrative trading post at Fort Sill. The scandal was particularly upsetting, in this Victorian age, since it involved women. Lieut. Col. George A. Custer later testified to the Clymer committee on March 29 and April 4 that Sec. Belknap had received kick back money from the profiteering scheme of post traders through the resale of food meant for Indians.
On March 2, 1876, Grant was informed by Benjamin Bristow at breakfast of the House investigation against Secretary Belknap. After hearing about Belknap's predicament, Grant arranged a meeting with Representative Bass about the investigation. However, Belknap, escorted by Interior Secretary Zachariah Chandler
Zachariah Chandler
Zachariah Chandler was Mayor of Detroit , a four-term U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan , and Secretary of the Interior under U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant .-Family:...
, rushed to the White House and met with Grant before his meeting with Representative Bass. Belknap appeared visibly upset or ill, mumbling something about protecting his wives' honor and beseeching Grant to accept his resignation "at once". Grant, in a hurry to get to a photography studio for a formal portrait, regretfully agreed and accepted Belknap's resignation without reservation.
Grant historian Josiah Bunting III
Josiah Bunting III
Josiah Bunting III is an American educator. He has been a military officer, college president, and an author and speaker on education and Western culture.-Biography:...
noted that Grant was never put on his guard when Secretary Belknap came to the White House in a disturbed manner or even asked why Belknap wanted to resign in the first place. Bunting argues that Grant should have pressed Belknap into an explanation for the abrupt resignation request. Grant's acceptance of the resignation indirectly allowed Belknap, after he was impeached
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
by the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for his actions, to escape conviction, since he was no longer a government official. Belknap was acquitted by the Senate, escaping with less than the two-thirds majority vote needed for conviction. Even though the Senate voted that it could put private citizens on trial, many senators were reluctant to convict Belknap since he was no longer Secretary of War. It has been suggested that Grant accepted the resignation
Resignation
A resignation is the formal act of giving up or quitting one's office or position. It can also refer to the act of admitting defeat in a game like chess, indicated by the resigning player declaring "I resign", turning his king on its side, extending his hand, or stopping the chess clock...
in a Victorian impulse to protect the women involved.
Cattellism
George M. Robeson
George Maxwell Robeson was an American Republican Party politician and lawyer from New Jersey who served as a Union army general during the American Civil War, and then as Secretary of the Navy during the Grant administration. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1879 to...
's Department of the Navy $56 million for construction programs. In 1876, a congressional committee headed by Representative Washington C. Whitthorne
Washington C. Whitthorne
Washington Curran Whitthorne was a Tennessee attorney, Democratic politician, and an Adjutant General in the Confederate Army.-Early life and career:...
discovered that $15 million of that sum was unaccounted for. The committee suspected that Robeson, who was responsible for naval spending, embezzled
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
some of the missing money and laundered it in real estate transactions. This allegation remained unproven by the committee.
The main charge against Robeson was taking financial favors from Alexander Cattell & Co., a grain contractor, in exchange for giving the company profitable contracts from the Navy. An 1876 Naval Affairs committee investigation found Robeson to have received such gifts as a team of horses, Washington real estate, and a $320,000 vacation cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey
Long Branch, New Jersey
Long Branch is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 30,719.Long Branch was formed on April 11, 1867, as the Long Branch Commission, from portions of Ocean Township...
, from Alexander Cattell & Company. The same company also paid off a $10,000 note that Robeson owed to Jay Cooke
Jay Cooke
Jay Cooke was an American financier. Cooke and his firm Jay Cooke & Company were most notable for their role in financing the Union's war effort during the American Civil War...
and offered itself as an influence broker for other companies doing business with the Navy, thus turning away any competitive bidding for naval contracts. Robeson was also found to have $300,000 in excess to his yearly salary of $8000. The House Investigation committee had searched the disorganized books of Cattell, but found no evidence of payments to Robeson. Without enough evidence for impeachment, the House ended the investigation by admonishing Robeson for gross misconduct and claimed that he had set up a system of corruption known as "Cattellism".
In a previous investigation in 1872, headed by Charles Dana
Charles Anderson Dana
Charles Anderson Dana was an American journalist, author, and government official, best known for his association with Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War and his aggressive political advocacy after the war....
, Robeson had been suspected of awarding a $93,000 bonus to a building contractor in a "somewhat dangerous stretch of official authority" known as the Secor claims. A competent authority claimed that the contractor had already been paid in full and there was no need for further reward. Robeson was also charged with awarding contracts to ship builder John Roach
John Roach
John Robert Roach was an American clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis from 1975 to 1995.-Biography:...
without public bidding. The latter charge was proven to be unfounded. The close friendship with Daniel Ammen
Daniel Ammen
Daniel Ammen was a U.S. naval officer during the American Civil War and the postbellum period, as well as a prolific author.-Biography:...
, Grant's longtime friend growing up in Georgetown, Ohio, helped Robeson keep his cabinet position.
On March 18, 1876, Admiral David D. Porter wrote a letter to William T. Sherman, "...Our cuttle fish [Robeson] of the navy although he may conceal his tracks for awhile in the obscure atmosphere which surrounds him, will eventually be brought to bay...." Robeson later testified in front of a House Naval Committee on January 16, 1879, about giving contracts to private companies. Robeson was asked about the use of old material to build ironclads and whether he had the authority to dispose of the Puritan, an outdated ironclad. Although Robeson served ably during the Virginius Affair
Virginius Affair
The Virginius Affair was a diplomatic dispute that occurred in the 1870s between the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain, then in control of Cuba, during the Ten Years' War....
and did authorize the construction of five new Navy ships, his financial integrity remained in question and was suspect during the Grant administration. To be fair, Congress gave Robeson limited funding to build ships and as Secretary was constantly finding ways to cut budgets.
Safe burglary conspiracy
In September 1876, Orville E. BabcockOrville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock was an American Civil War General in the Union Army. Immediately upon graduating third in his class as United States Military Academy in 1861, Babcock would go onto serve efficiently in the Corps of Engineers throughout the Civil War and was promoted to Brevet Brigadier...
was involved in another scandal. Corrupt building contractors in Washington, D.C., were on trial for graft when bogus Secret Service agents working for the contractors placed damaging evidence into the safe of the district attorney who was prosecuting the ring. On the night of April 23, 1876, hired thieves opened the safe, using an explosive to make it appear that the safe had been broken into. One of the thieves then took the fake evidence to the house of Columbus Alexander, a citizen who was active in prosecuting the ring. The corrupt agents "arrested" the "thieves" who then committed perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
by signing a document falsely stating Alexander was involved in the safe burglary.
The conspiracy came apart when two of the thieves turned state evidence and Alexander was exonerated in court. Babcock was named as part of the conspiracy, but later acquitted in the trial against the burglars; evidence suggests that the jury had been tampered with and that Babcock was both involved with the swindles by the corrupt Washington contractors' ring and wanted to get back at Columbus Alexander, an avid reformer and critic of the Grant Administration. Babcock continued on in government and became Chief Light House Inspector. As a capable engineer, his work brought him to Ponce de Leon Inlet
Ponce de León Inlet
The Ponce de León Inlet is a natural opening in the barrier islands in northern Florida that connects the north end of the Mosquito Lagoon and the south end of the Halifax River to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the site of the town of Ponce Inlet, Florida and the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, where he drowned in a boating accident at the age of 48 while supervising the building of Mosquito Inlet Light
Ponce de Leon Inlet Light
The Ponce de Leon Inlet Light is a lighthouse and museum located at Ponce de León Inlet in Central Florida. At in height, it is the tallest lighthouse in the state and one of the tallest in the United States . It is located between St. Augustine Light and Cape Canaveral Light...
station.
Scandal summary table
| Scandal | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Black Friday Black Friday (1869) Black Friday, September 24, 1869 also known as the Fisk/Gould scandal, was a financial panic in the United States caused by two speculators’ efforts to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. It was one of several scandals that rocked the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant... |
Speculators tied to Grant corner the gold market and ruin the economy for several years. | |
| New York custom house ring | Alleged corruption ring at the New York Custom House Collector of the Port of New York The Collector of Customs at the Port of New York, most often referred to as Collector of the Port of New York, sometimes also as Collector of Customs for the Port of New York or Collector of Customs for the District of New York, was a federal officer who was in charge of the collection of import... under two of Grant's appointees. |
|
| Star Route postal ring Star routes Star routes is a term used in connection with the United States postal service and the contracting of mail delivery services. The term is defunct as of 1970, but still is occasionally used to refer to Highway Contract Routes or which replaced the Star routes.-Background:Prior to 1845,... |
Corrupt system of postal contractors, clerks, and brokers to obtain lucrative Star Route postal contracts. | |
| Salary grab Salary Grab Act The Salary Grab Act was passed by the United States Congress on 3 March 1873. The effect of the Act was, the day before the second-term inauguration of President Ulysses S. Grant, to double the salary of the President and the salaries of Supreme Court Justices... |
Congressmen receive a retroactive $5,000 bonus for previous term served. | |
| Sanborn contract Sanborn Incident The Sanborn incident or Sanborn contract was an American political scandal which occurred in 1874.William Adams Richardson, Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of the Treasury, hired a private citizen, John D. Sanborn, to collect $427,000 in unpaid taxes. Richardson agreed Sanborn could keep half of what... |
John Sanborn charged exorbitant commissions to collect taxes and split the profits among associates. | |
| Delano Affair | Interior Secretary Columbus Delano Columbus Delano Columbus Delano, was a lawyer and a statesman and a member of the prominent Delano family.At the age of eight, Columbus Delano's family moved to Mount Vernon in Knox County, Ohio, a place he would call home for the rest of his life. After completing his primary education, he studied law and was... allegedly took bribes in order to secure fraudulent land grants. |
|
| Pratt & Boyd | Attorney General George H. Williams George Henry Williams George Henry Williams was an American judge and politician. He served as Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, was the 32nd Attorney General of the United States, and served one term in the United States Senate... allegedly received a bribe not to prosecute the Pratt & Boyd company. |
|
| Whiskey Ring Whiskey Ring In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St... |
Corrupt government officials and whiskey makers steal millions of dollars in national tax evasion scam. | |
| Trading Post Ring | War Secretary William Belknap allegedly takes extortion money from trading contractor at Fort Sill. | |
| Cattelism | Secretary of Navy George Robeson allegedly receives bribes from Cattell & Company for lucrative Navy contracts. | |
| Safe Burglary Conspiracy | Private Secretary Orville Babcock indicted over framing a private citizen for uncovering corrupt Washington contractors. | |
Nepotism
Grant was accused by Senator Charles SumnerCharles Sumner
Charles Sumner was an American politician and senator from Massachusetts. An academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War and Reconstruction,...
in 1872 of practicing nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
while President. Sumner's accusation was not an exaggeration. Grant's cousin Silas A. Hudson was appointed minister to Guatemala. His brother-in-law Reverend M.J. Cramer was appointed as counsel to Leipzig. His brother-in-law James F. Casey was given the position of customs in New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
where he made money by stealing fees. Frederick Dent, another brother-in-law was the White House usher and made money giving out insider information. In all, it is estimated that 40 relatives somehow financially prospered indirectly while Grant was President.
Liberal Republican
Liberal Republican Party (United States)
The Liberal Republican Party of the United States was a political party that was organized in Cincinnati in May 1872, to oppose the reelection of President Ulysses S. Grant and his Radical Republican supporters. The party's candidate in that year's presidential election was Horace Greeley, longtime...
movement initially began out of dissatisfaction with the centralized federal government controlled by the Radicals, a faction of the Republican Party who favored patronage, high tariffs, and disenfranchising former confederates. It was the Radicals who sponsored the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. In 1870, Senator Carl Schurz
Carl Schurz
Carl Christian Schurz was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army General in the American Civil War. He was also an accomplished journalist, newspaper editor and orator, who in 1869 became the first German-born American elected to the United States Senate.His wife,...
and B. Gratz Brown
B. Gratz Brown
Benjamin Gratz Brown was an American politician. He was a Senator, the 20th Governor of Missouri, and the Liberal Republican and Democratic Party Vice presidential candidate in the presidential election of 1872.-Early life:...
, Governor of Missouri, broke away from the Radicals and officially founded the Liberal Republican Party. The founders argued that dependent citizens, corruption, and centralized power endangered people's liberty. The party advocated confederate amnesty, civil service reform, and free trade. As the party grew nationally prominent persons joined including Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
Charles Francis Adams II was a member of the prominent Adams family, and son of Charles Francis Adams, Sr. He served as a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War...
, Senator Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner was an American politician and senator from Massachusetts. An academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War and Reconstruction,...
, and editor of the Missouri Democrat
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
The St. Louis Globe-Democrat was originally a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1852 until 1986...
, William M. Grosvenor. Grant, who was persuaded that the Liberal Republicans were bolting from the Republican Party, used the patronage system to purge them out of office in Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
.
In 1872, the Republican party split completely in half with Horace Greely nominated by the Liberal Republicans and Ulysses S. Grant again nominated by the more conservative Radicals. A few prominent Democratic Party leaders supported the Liberal Republican cause in Missouri. The result being that the Democratic Party endorsed the reformer and Liberal Republican presidential candidate Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...
. Grant, though, remained very popular in the nation and won the national election of 1872 by a landslide. However, as more scandals broke out the Liberal Republicans became a party of reform who, along with the Democrats, wanted to purge the government from corruption. The wave of reform was beginning in 1875 with the Democrats controlling the House of Representatives. Eventually, Grant put reformers on his cabinet as House investigations in 1875 were beginning to expose the Whiskey Ring
Whiskey Ring
In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
depleting tax revenues in the United States Treasury Department. Newspapers exposed bogus agents in Interior Department in 1875. Navy Department corruption was exposed in 1876. These Grant reformers included Benjamin Bristow
Benjamin Bristow
Benjamin Helm Bristow was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who served as the first Solicitor General of the United States and as a U.S. Treasury Secretary. Fighting for the Union, Bristow served in the army during the American Civil War and was promoted to Colonel...
as Secretary of Treasury (1874), Edwards Pierrepont
Edwards Pierrepont
Edwards Pierrepont was an American statesman, jurist and lawyer.-Biography:Born in North Haven, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale University and New Haven Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced law in Columbus, Ohio, from 1840 to 1845...
as Attorney General (1875), and Zachariah Chandler
Zachariah Chandler
Zachariah Chandler was Mayor of Detroit , a four-term U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan , and Secretary of the Interior under U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant .-Family:...
as Secretary of the Interior (1875). No reformer was appointed to the Navy Department, however.
The Liberal Republican movement lasted from 1870 to 1875 and at times it is difficult to distinguish between party members, both Democrat and Republican, who adopted all or parts of the Liberal Republican reform agenda. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Amnesty Act of 1872, a Liberal Republican platform, that gave amnesty to former Confederates. Another instance occurred when the Democratic Party reluctantly and chaotically melded with the Liberal Republican Party in the presidential election of 1872
United States presidential election, 1872
In the United States presidential election of 1872, incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant was easily elected to a second term in office with Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts as his running mate, despite a split within the Republican Party that resulted in a defection of many Liberal Republicans...
, in support of the reformer, Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...
. The height of the Liberal Republican era in the U.S. Congress was from the periods of 1873 to 1875 with 7 Liberal Republicans in the Senate and 4 Liberal Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Democratic Party
The Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
reform movement in Congress, although initially a minority after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, began during their investigation into the Grant Administration following the Black Friday
Black Friday (1869)
Black Friday, September 24, 1869 also known as the Fisk/Gould scandal, was a financial panic in the United States caused by two speculators’ efforts to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. It was one of several scandals that rocked the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant...
gold speculation scandal in 1869. The Democratic reform movement sought to expose the corruption in the Grant Administration and in order to do this had to gain a majority in the House of Representatives. Following the inability of the Grant Administration and Republican Congress to stop the damaging economic effects from Panic of 1873
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 triggered a severe international economic depression in both Europe and the United States that lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries. The depression was known as the Great Depression until the 1930s, but is now known as the Long Depression...
, in addition to the unpopularity of the Republican Reconstruction Acts, the Democratic Party, on March 4, 1875 gained a majority in the House of Representatives. Having gained the majority the Democrats for the next two years would become the reforming party by investigating corruption scandals associated with the Grant Administration, in order to increase their chances of winning the presidential election of 1876
United States presidential election, 1876
The United States presidential election of 1876 was one of the most disputed and controversial presidential elections in American history. Samuel J. Tilden of New York outpolled Ohio's Rutherford B. Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes's 165, with 20 votes uncounted...
.
Causes of national corruption
C. Vann Woodward
Comer Vann Woodward was a preeminent American historian focusing primarily on the American South and race relations. He was considered, along with Richard Hofstadter and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., to be one of the most influential historians of the postwar era, 1940s-1970s, both by scholars and by...
, there are three primary forces that caused national corruption during this time period. The most compelling reason for corruption was the Civil War itself, unleashing a myriad of human depravity, thousands of deaths, and unscrupulously gained riches from persons who rose from deserved obscurity to powerful military and civilian positions. It was these men the claim agent, the speculator, the subsidy-seeker, the government contractor, and the all-purpose crook that were to be born from the war and entered into politics after the fighting had stopped. The second reason for corruption was the opening of the West and South to unrestrained exploitation that caused the older parts of the country to fall into moral confusion. The third reason, according to Vann Woodward, was the rapid rise of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, that loosened the standards and values of the nation. Americans found themselves released from discipline and restraint by rapid industrial wealth that proceeded after the Civil War.
Legacy
The nation and the constitution survived the rising tide of financial and political corruption during President Grant's two terms in office from 1869 to 1877. Slavery, no longer on the American forefront, and the dynamic leadership of Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
taken away by an assassin's bullet, the nation for awhile floundered on an ocean of financial and political indulgences. The high water mark of the flood of corruption that swept the nation took place in 1874, after Benjamin Bristow was put in charge to reform the Treasury. In 1873, Grant's friend and publisher, Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, along with coauthor Charles Dudley Warner
Charles Dudley Warner
Charles Dudley Warner was an American essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored the novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.-Biography:...
, called this American era of speculation and corruption the Gilded Age
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
. Between 1870 to 1900, the United States population nearly doubled in size, gainful employment increased by 132 percent, and non farm labor constituted 60 percent of the work force.
Inevitably, Grant's low standards in cabinet appointments, and his readiness to cover for associates or friends involved in condemnable behavior, defied the American tradition of a government run free of corruption and favortism. To stop the flood of corruption that swept the nation during Grant's presidency and the Reconstruction period, would have required the strength of a moral giant in the White House to have kept an administration without any scandals. Grant was no moral giant. In fairness, the booming economy that proceeded after the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
enveloped the whole nation in a chaotic frenzy for achieving financial gain and success. The caricature and cliché of the Grant Presidency is eight years of political plundering and that little was accomplished. Grant, however, was committed to complete the unification of a bitterly divided country torn by Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, in honor to Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, and give full citizenship rights to African Americans and their posterity.
An analysis of the scandals reveals the many powers at Grant's disposal as the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. His confidents knew this and in many situations took advantage of Grant's presidential authority. Having the ability to pardon, accept resignations, and even vouch for an associate in a deposition, created an environment difficult, though not impossible, for reformers in and outside of the Grant Administration. Grant himself, far from being politically naive, had played a shrewd hand at times in the protection of cabinet and appointees. Examples include not allowing Benjamin Bristow
Benjamin Bristow
Benjamin Helm Bristow was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who served as the first Solicitor General of the United States and as a U.S. Treasury Secretary. Fighting for the Union, Bristow served in the army during the American Civil War and was promoted to Colonel...
to move the Tax Revenue Supervisors and relinquishing immunity in the Whiskey Ring
Whiskey Ring
In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St...
cases, made Grant a protector of political patronage. In fairness, Grant did appoint cabinet reformers and special prosecutors that were able to clean up the Treasury, Interior, War, and Justice departments. Grant, himself, personally participated in reforming the Department of Indian Affairs, by firing all the corrupt clerks. No reforming cabinet member, however, was installed in the Department of Navy
United States Department of the Navy
The Department of the Navy of the United States of America was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, to provide a government organizational structure to the United States Navy and, from 1834 onwards, for the United States Marine Corps, and when directed by the President, of the...
.
Online
- Shenkman, Rick. "The Last High White House Official Indicted While in Office: U.S. Grant's Orville Babcock". History News Network. Retrieved 2-24-2010.
- Woodward, C. Vann (April, 1957). "The Lowest Ebb". American Heritage. Retrieved 2-24-2010.
External links
- White House Official Website: Ulysses S. Grant
- UVA Miller Center of Public Affairs: Ulysses S. Grant
- Top 10 Presidential Scandals by Martin Kelly
- The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant by Frank Scaturro, President of the Grant Monument Association
- Learn About the Gilded Age, Digital History