Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
and his
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...
, including his
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
, suffered many scandals, leading to a continuous reshuffling of officials. Grant, ever trusting of associates, had strong bonds of loyalty to those he considered friends. Grant was influenced by both political forces of reform and corruption. The standards in many of his appointments were low, and charges of corruption were widespread At times, however, Grant appointed various cabinet members to clean up the executive corruption. Starting with the
Black Friday (1869)
The Black Friday gold panic of September 24, 1869 was caused by a conspiracy between two investors, Jay Gould and his partner James Fisk, and Abel Corbin, a small time speculator who had married Virginia (Jennie) Grant, the younger sister of Pr ...
gold speculation ring, corruption would be discovered in seven federal departments. The
Liberal Republicans, a political reform faction that bolted from the
Republican Party in 1871, attempted to defeat Grant for a second term in office, but the effort failed. Taking over the House in 1875, the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
had more success in investigating, rooting out, and exposing corruption in the Grant Administration.
Nepotism
Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...
, although legally unrestricted at the time, was prevalent, with over 40 family members benefiting from government appointments and employment. In 1872, Senator
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
, labeled corruption in the Grant administration "
Grantism
Grantism is a derisive term of United States origin referring to the political incompetence, corruption, and fraud, during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant. His presidency, which lasted from 1869 to 1877, was marred by many scan ...
".
The unprecedented way that Grant ran his cabinet, in a military-style rather than civilian, contributed to the scandals. For example, in 1869, Grant's private secretary
Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock (December 25, 1835 – June 2, 1884) was an American engineer and general in the Union Army during the Civil War. An aide to General Ulysses S. Grant during and after the war, he was President Grant's military private secret ...
, rather than a State Department official, was sent to negotiate a treaty annexation with
Santo Domingo
, total_type = Total
, population_density_km2 = auto
, timezone = AST (UTC −4)
, area_code_type = Area codes
, area_code = 809, 829, 849
, postal_code_type = Postal codes
, postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional)
, websi ...
. 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
Jacob Dolson Cox, Jr. (October 27, 1828August 4, 1900), was a statesman, lawyer, Union Army general during the American Civil War, Republican politician from Ohio, Liberal Republican Party founder, educator, author, and recognized microbiologist ...
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 Grant's military-style command arose over the McGarrahan Claims, a legal dispute over mining patents in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, when Grant overrode the official opinion of Attorney General
Ebenezer R. Hoar
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (February 21, 1816 – January 31, 1895) was an American politician, lawyer, and jurist from Massachusetts. He served as U.S. Attorney General from 1869 to 1870, and was the first head of the newly created Department of Jus ...
. 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. For example, when the
Whiskey Ring
The Whiskey Ring took place from 1871 to 1876 centering in St. Louis during the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. The ring was an American scandal, broken in May 1875, involving the diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, ...
scandal broke out in 1875, Grant, in a reforming mood, wrote: "Let no guilty man escape". However, when it was found out that Babcock was indicted, Grant testified on behalf of the defendant. During his second term, Grant appointed reformers such as
Benjamin Bristow
Benjamin Helm Bristow (June 20, 1832 – June 22, 1896) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 30th U.S. Treasury Secretary and the first Solicitor General.
A Union military officer, Bristow was a Republican Party reformer and ...
,
Edwards Pierrepont
Edwards Pierrepont (March 4, 1817 – March 6, 1892) was an American attorney, reformer, jurist, traveler, New York U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Minister to England, and orator.''West's Encyclopedia of American Law'' (2005), "Pierre ...
, and
Zachariah Chandler
Zachariah Chandler (December 10, 1813 – November 1, 1879) was an American businessman, politician, one of the founders of the Republican Party, whose radical wing he dominated as a lifelong abolitionist. He was mayor of Detroit, a four-term sena ...
who cleaned their respective departments of corruption. Grant dismissed Babcock from the White House in 1876, who was linked to several corruption charges and scandals. It was with the encouragement of these reformers that Grant established the first
Civil Service Commission
A civil service commission is a government agency that is constituted by legislature to regulate the employment and working conditions of civil servants, oversee hiring and promotions, and promote the values of the public service. Its role is rou ...
.
[ #McFeely-Woodward (1974), pp. 133–134][ Cengage Advantage Books: Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People (2012), p. 593]
Grant's temperament and character
Grant was personally honest with money matters. However, he trusted and protected his close associates, in denial of their guilt, despite evidence against them.
[Kiersey 1992][Woodward 1957] According to
C. Vann Woodward, Grant had neither the training nor temperament to fully comprehend the complexities of rapid economic growth, industrialization, and western expansionism.
During his presidency, Grant enjoyed speaking with men of wealth and influence, but he was also personally generous to the poor. 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 new as himself.
According to Grant's son, Ulysses Jr., his father was "incapable of supposing his friends to be dishonest." According to Grant's Attorney General
George H. Williams, Grant's "trusting heart was the weakness of his character".
Williams also said Grant was slow to make friends, however, once friendships were made "they took hold with hooks of steel."
[
Many of Grant's associates were able to capture his confidence through ]flattery
Flattery (also called adulation or blandishment) is the act of giving excessive compliments, generally for the purpose of ingratiating oneself with the subject. It is also used in pick-up lines when attempting to initiate sexual or romantic co ...
and brought their intrigues openly to his attention. One of these men, Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock (December 25, 1835 – June 2, 1884) was an American engineer and general in the Union Army during the Civil War. An aide to General Ulysses S. Grant during and after the war, he was President Grant's military private secret ...
, was a subtle and unscrupulous enemy of reformers, having served as Grant's personal secretary for seven years while living in the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
. 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. President Grant allowed Babcock to be a stumbling block for reformers who might have saved Grant's presidential legacy. Grant's secretary of state, Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and the 26th United States Secretary of State fro ...
, 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
Black Friday Gold Panic 1869
The first scandal to taint the Grant administration was Black Friday, also known as the Gold Panic, that took place in September 1869, when two aggressive private financiers cornered the gold market in their New York ''Gold Room'', with blatant disregard to the nation's economic welfare. The scandal involved Treasury Department policy and personnel, but most of the financial damage directly affected the national economy and New York's financial houses. The intricate financial scheme was primarily conceived and administered by Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
manipulators Jay Gould
Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made hi ...
and his partner James Fisk. Their plan was to convince President Grant not to sell Treasury gold, in order to increase the sales of agriculture products overseas and increase the shipping business of Gould's Erie Railroad. Gould and Fisk were able to get Grant's brother-in-law, Abel Rathbone Corbin, involved with the scheme as a way to get access to Grant himself. Gould had also given a $10,000 bribe to the assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Daniel Butterfield
Daniel Adams Butterfield (October 31, 1831 – July 17, 1901) was a New York businessman, a Union general in the American Civil War, and Assistant Treasurer of the United States.
After working for American Express, co-founded by his father, ...
, in exchange for inside information. On June 5, 1869, while Grant was traveling from New York to Boston on ''The Providence'', a ship owned by both Gould and Fisk, the two speculators urged Grant not to sell any gold from the Treasury and attempted to convince him that a high price of gold helped farmers and the Erie Railroad.[Ackerman (2011), ''The Gold Ring'', p. 60] President Grant, however, was stoic and did not agree to Fisk and Gould's suggestion to stop releasing Treasury Gold into the market.[
Grant's Secretary of Treasury, George S. Boutwell, continued to sell Treasury gold on the open market. In late August 1869, President Grant consulted with businessman, A. T. Stewart, Grant's initial Cabinet nominee for Secretary of Treasury, concerning the Treasury's selling gold. Stewart advised Grant that the Treasury should not sell gold, in order that the Government would not be involved in the gold market.][Ackerman (2011), ''The Gold Ring'' p. 84] Grant accepted Stewart's advice and wrote to Boutwell that selling extra Treasury gold would upset agriculture sales.[ Boutwell had, on September 1, originally ordered $9,000,000 in gold to be sold from the Treasury in order to buy up U.S. Bonds with greenbacks. However, after receiving a letter from Grant, Boutwell canceled the order. Previously, Secretary Boutwell had been selling regularly at $1,000,000 of gold each week.][Ackerman (2011), ''The Gold Ring'', p. 91] On September 6, 1869, Gould bought the 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 ("Boss Tweed") was one of its directors. The Tenth Nationa ...
, which was used as a buying house for gold, and Gould and Fisk then began buying gold in earnest. As the price of gold began to rise, Grant became suspicious of possible manipulation and wrote a letter to Secretary Boutwell on September 12, stating "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 that they needed to continue their financial scam on Wall Street.[Smith 2001, pp.481–490]
Sometime around September 19, 1869, Corbin, at the urging of Gould, sent a letter to Grant desperately urging him not to release gold from the Treasury. Grant received the letter from a messenger while playing croquet
Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court.
Its international governing body is the Wor ...
with Porter at a deluxe Pennsylvania retreat. He finally realized what was going on and 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 the letter from Mrs. Grant containing the warning from Grant, after which he began to sell gold, while also buying small amounts of gold in order to keep people from getting suspicious. Gould never told Fisk, who kept buying gold in earnest, that Grant was catching onto their predatory scheme.[Bunting III 2001, pp.96–98]
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 $37 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. Grant wanted $5,000,000 in gold to be released while Boutwell wanted $3,000,000 released. Then, on (Black) Friday, September 23, 1869, when the price of gold had soared to $160 an ounce, Boutwell released $4 million in gold specie
Specie may refer to:
* Coins or other metal money in mass circulation
* Bullion coins
* Hard money (policy)
* Commodity money
Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity of which it is made. Commodity money consists of objects ...
into the market and bought $4,000,000 in bonds. Boutwell had also ordered that the 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 ("Boss Tweed") was one of its directors. The Tenth Nationa ...
be closed on the same day. 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 Funds, formerly Adams Express Company, is an investment company made up of Adams Diversified Equity Fund, Inc.(NYSE: ADX), a publicly traded diversified equity fund, and Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. (NYSE: PEO), formerly Petroleum & Res ...
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 is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...
to receive cash in the mail. Corbin had bought gold at 33 margins 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 (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and the 26th United States Secretary of State fro ...
revealed to Grant that Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock (December 25, 1835 – June 2, 1884) was an American engineer and general in the Union Army during the Civil War. An aide to General Ulysses S. Grant during and after the war, he was President Grant's military private secret ...
, another private secretary to the President, had also been involved in gold speculations in 1869.[McFeely 1981, p.414][McFeely 1981, pp.328–329]
New York custom house ring
In 1871, the New York Custom House 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
Moses Hicks Grinnell (March 3, 1803 – November 24, 1877) was a United States Congressman representing New York, and a Commissioner of New York City's Central Park.
Early life
Grinnell was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on March 3, ...
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 (April 15, 1837May 29, 1921) was an American soldier and diplomat who served as a lieutenant colonel, ordnance officer and staff officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, personal secretary to General and President Ul ...
and Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock (December 25, 1835 – June 2, 1884) was an American engineer and general in the Union Army during the Civil War. An aide to General Ulysses S. Grant during and after the war, he was President Grant's military private secret ...
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 Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th vice president under President James ...
, 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.
Star Route ring
In the early 1870s, lucrative postal route contracts were given to local contractors on the Pacific coast
Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean.
Geography Americas
Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...
and southern regions of the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. These were known as "Star Routes" because an asterisk was placed on official Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
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.[Grossman (2002), Political Corruption in America: an encyclopedia of scandals, power, and greed, pp. 308–309] 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
A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official respons ...
John Creswell
John Andrew Jackson Creswell (November 18, 1828December 23, 1891) was an American politician and abolitionist from Maryland, who served as United States Representative, United States Senator, and as Postmaster General of the United States app ...
, who was exonerated by an 1872 congressional investigation that was later revealed to have been tainted by a $40,000 bribe from western postal contractor Bradley Barlow
Bradley Barlow (May 12, 1814 – November 6, 1889) was a nineteenth-century banker and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Vermont.
Early life and career
Barlow was born in Fairfield, Vermont, son of Colonel Bradley and Deborah ...
. An 1876 Democratic investigation was able to temporarily shut down the ring, but it reconstituted itself and continued until a federal trial in 1882, under President Chester A. Arthur
Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th vice president under President James ...
, finally shut down the Star Route ring. The conspirators, however, who were indicted and prosecuted, escaped conviction in both their first and second trials.
Salary grab
On March 3, 1873, President Grant signed a law that increased the president's salary from $25,000 a year to $50,000 a year. The law raised salaries of members of both houses of the United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
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 were returned to the treasury.[O'Brien 1918, p.307]
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, which would have necessitated a special session of Congress. However, Grant missed an opportunity to make a statement by threatening a veto.[Smith 2001, p.553] Public outcry prompted Congress to rescinded the congressional raise, however the presidential salary increase remained, the president’s salary having been unchanged since George Washington's presidency more than 80 years before.[Chernow 2017, p.754]
Sanborn incident
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 Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'', a reliable journal that was going 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 was 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.[Hinsdale 1911, pp.212–213][McFeely 1981, p.397] This moiety contract system, although legal, led to extortion abuse in the loosely run Treasury Department under Sec. Richardson.[Spencer (1913), pp. 452–453.][McFeely-Woodward (1974) pp. 147–148.]
John B. Sanborn
John Benjamin Sanborn (December 5, 1826 – May 6, 1904) was a lawyer, politician, and soldier from the state of New Hampshire who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was also a key member of the postbellum C ...
was contracted by Sec. Richardson to collect certain taxes and excises that had been illegally withheld from the government; having received an exorbitant moiety of 50% on all tax collections. Treasury officials pressured Internal Revenue agents not to collect delinquent accounts so Sanborn could accumulate more. 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 Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler is best ...
were suspected to have taken a share of the profit money, 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. On June 22, 1874, President Grant, in an effort of reform, signed a bill into law (Anti-Moiety Acts
President Ulysses S. Grant signed a series of laws during his first and second terms that limited the number of special tax agents and prevented or reduced the collection of delinquent taxes under a commissions or moiety system. The public outcr ...
) that abolished the moiety contract system.
Department of Interior
In 1875, the U.S. Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
was in serious disrepair due to corruption and incompetence. Interior Secretary Columbus Delano
Columbus Delano (June 4, 1809 – October 23, 1896) was a lawyer, rancher, banker, statesman, and a member of the prominent Delano family. Forced to live on his own at an early age, Delano struggled to become a self-made man. Delano was electe ...
, who allowed profiteering to thrive in the department, was forced to resign from office on October 15, 1875. Delano had also given lucrative cartographical
Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
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.[Lawrence M. Salinger 2005 374–375">Salinger 2005, pp.374–375][McFeely 1981, pp.430–431]
On October 19, 1875, Grant made another reforming cabinet choice when he appointed Zachariah Chandler
Zachariah Chandler (December 10, 1813 – November 1, 1879) was an American businessman, politician, one of the founders of the Republican Party, whose radical wing he dominated as a lifelong abolitionist. He was mayor of Detroit, a four-term sena ...
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
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
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.[Pierson 1880, pp.343–345]
Department of Justice
Attorney General George H. Williams administered the United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
(''DOJ'') 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
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, a ...
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.[McFeely 1981, p.391][Smith 2001, p. 584]
Whiskey Ring
The worst and most famous scandal to hit the Grant administration was the Whiskey Ring
The Whiskey Ring took place from 1871 to 1876 centering in St. Louis during the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. The ring was an American scandal, broken in May 1875, involving the diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, ...
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
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
Administration.[Shenkman 2005 History News Network] 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. The agents would neglect to collect the required excise tax of 70 cents per gallon and then split the illegal gains with the distillers. The ringleaders had to coordinate distillers, rectifiers, gaugers, storekeepers, revenue agents, and Treasury clerks by recruitment, impressment, and extortion.[Rives 2000][McFeely 1981, pp. 405–406]
On January 26, 1875, Bristow ordered Internal Revenue officers in various sites 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 advance notice would cause the ringleaders to cover their tracks and become suspicious.[Stevens 1916, pp.109–130] 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 ring's inner workings to prosecute the perpetrators. Bristow, undaunted, kept investigating and found 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 (March 4, 1817 – March 6, 1892) was an American attorney, reformer, jurist, traveler, New York U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Minister to England, and orator.''West's Encyclopedia of American Law'' (2005), "Pierre ...
and Treasury Solicitor
The Government Legal Department (previously called the Treasury Solicitor's Department) is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Service.
The department is headed by the Treasury Solicitor. This office go ...
Bluford Wilson
Bluford Wilson (November 30, 1841 – July 15, 1924) was a Union Army officer in the Civil War and a government official who served as Solicitor of the United States Treasury.
Early life
Bluford Wilson was born near Shawneetown, Illinois on No ...
, launched proceedings to bring many members of the ring to trial. Bristow had obtained information that the Whiskey Ring operated in Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, and Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
. Missouri Revenue Agent John A. Joyce
John Alexander Joyce (July 4, 1842 – January 18, 1915) was an Irish–American poet and writer. He served as a first lieutenant and regimental adjutant in the Union Army. He was indicted for his role as Internal Revenue Service agent in the W ...
and two of Grant's appointees, Supervisor of Internal Revenue General John McDonald and Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock (December 25, 1835 – June 2, 1884) was an American engineer and general in the Union Army during the Civil War. An aide to General Ulysses S. Grant during and after the war, he was President Grant's military private secret ...
, the private secretary to the President, were eventually indicted in the Whiskey Ring trials.[Bunting III 2001, pp.136–138] Grant's other private secretary Horace Porter
Horace Porter (April 15, 1837May 29, 1921) was an American soldier and diplomat who served as a lieutenant colonel, ordnance officer and staff officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, personal secretary to General and President Ul ...
was also involved in the Whiskey Ring
The Whiskey Ring took place from 1871 to 1876 centering in St. Louis during the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. The ring was an American scandal, broken in May 1875, involving the diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, ...
according to Solicitor General Bluford Wilson.[McFeely 1981, p. 409]
Special prosecutors appointed
Grant then appointed a special prosecutor, former senator John B. Henderson
John Brooks Henderson (November 16, 1826April 12, 1913) was a United States senator from Missouri and a co-author of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. For his role in the investigation of the Whiskey Ring, he was cons ...
, 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."[Rhodes 1912, p. 187] 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 getaway, the prosecutor's trial 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 pursue the ringleaders. Prosecutor Henderson, himself, while going after members of the ring in court accused Grant of interfering with Secretary Bristow's investigation.[Grossman 2003, pp. 182–183]
accusation angered Grant, who fired Henderson as special prosecutor. Grant then replaced Henderson with James Broadhead
James Overton Broadhead (May 29, 1819 – August 7, 1898) 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.Ro ...
. 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.
President Grant's deposition
The Whiskey Ring scandal even came to the steps of the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
. 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.[McFeely (2002), Grant, p. 409]
On the advice of Secretary of State Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and the 26th United States Secretary of State fro ...
, 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, the 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
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, 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 Ring
The Whiskey Ring took place from 1871 to 1876 centering in St. Louis during the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. The ring was an American scandal, broken in May 1875, involving the diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, ...
at St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
or elsewhere?"
::''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.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Tell Mack to see Parker of Colorado; & telegram to Commissioner. Crush out St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
enemies."
::''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 Ring
The Whiskey Ring took place from 1871 to 1876 centering in St. Louis during the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. The ring was an American scandal, broken in May 1875, involving the diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, ...
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?"
::''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, another Grant appointment, overruled Cook's objections, declaring the questions admissible in court. Grant, who was known for a photographic memory
Eidetic memory ( ; more commonly called photographic memory or total recall) is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''pho ...
, 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 was acquitted at 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 President's office. At public outcry and the objection of Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and the 26th United States Secretary of State fro ...
, 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
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
winning biographer, William S. McFeely
William Shield McFeely (September 25, 1930 – December 11, 2019) was an American historian known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1981 biography of Ulysses S. Grant, as well as his contributions to a reevaluation of the Reconstruction era, and f ...
, 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 (October 13, 1932 – September 1, 2019) was a biographer and the John Marshall Professor of Political Science at Marshall University. He was also professor emeritus at the University of Toronto after having served as professor ...
counters that evidence against Babcock was "circumstantial" and the St. Louis jury acquitted Babcock "in the absence of adequate proof." More recently, (2017) historian Charles Calhoun and author of "The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant" concludes correspondence between Babcock and his lawyers "leaves little doubt of Babcock's complicity in the Whiskey Ring."
Many of Grant's friends who knew him claimed that the President was "a truthful man" and it was "impossible for him to lie." Yet Treasury Clerk A. E. Willson told future Supreme Court Justice John Harlan, "What hurt Bristow most of all and disheartened him is the final conviction that Grant is himself in the Ring and knows all about t 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
The Whiskey Ring took place from 1871 to 1876 centering in St. Louis during the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. The ring was an American scandal, broken in May 1875, involving the diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, ...
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.[McFeely 2002, p.415]
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.[Harper's Weekly Archive 1876]
Trader Post ring
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 money in exchange for an appointment to a lucrative Native American trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
. In 1870, responding to extensive lobbying by Belknap, Congress had authorized the Secretary of War, to award private trading post contracts to military forts throughout the nation. Native Americans would come into the forts and trade for food, weapons, and clothing. Additionally, U.S. soldiers stationed at the forts purchased costly supplies. Both Indians and soldiers generated huge profits at the trading posts. The profit money from Fort Sill was shared by Belknap and his wives, in order for the Belknap's to live an extravagant Washington D.C. lifestyle.
Belknap's wife Carrie, with Belknap's authority and approval, managed to secure a private trading post at Fort Sill
Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (136.8 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost .
The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark ...
for a personal friend from New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, Caleb P. Marsh. An illicit contract arrangement was set up by Belknap, between 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 Belknap and his second wife continued to accept payments, though they were smaller due to a dip in Fort Sill's profits, after the Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "Lon ...
. 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
Hiester Clymer (November 3, 1827 – June 12, 1884) was an American political leader from the state of Pennsylvania. Clymer was a member of the Hiester family political dynasty and the Democratic Party. He was the nephew of William Muhlenberg H ...
. 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
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...
, since it involved women.[Barnett 2006, pp.256–257][Smith 2001, pp. 593–596] Lieut. Col. George A. Custer
George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...
later testified to the Clymer Committee on March 29 and April 4 that Sec. Belknap had received kickback 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 (December 10, 1813 – November 1, 1879) was an American businessman, politician, one of the founders of the Republican Party, whose radical wing he dominated as a lifelong abolitionist. He was mayor of Detroit, a four-term sena ...
, 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.[Bunting III 2004, pp.135–136] Grant's acceptance of the resignation indirectly allowed Belknap, after he was impeached
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In ...
by the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
for his actions, to escape conviction since he was no longer a government official. Belknap was acquitted by the Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
, 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
The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...
. It has been suggested that Grant accepted the resignation
Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...
in a Victorian impulse to protect the women involved.
Cattellism
Congress allotted Secretary George M. Robeson
George Maxwell Robeson (March 16, 1829 – September 27, 1897) was an American politician and lawyer from New Jersey. A brigadier general in the New Jersey Militia during the American Civil War, he served as Secretary of the Navy, appointed by Pr ...
's Department of the Navy $56 million for construction programs. In 1876, a congressional committee headed by Representative Washington C. Whitthorne
Washington Curran Whitthorne (April 19, 1825September 21, 1891) was a Tennessee Lawyer, attorney, United States Democratic Party, Democratic politician, and an Adjutant General in the Confederate Army.
Early life and career
Whitthorne was born ...
discovered that $15 million of that sum was unaccounted for. The committee suspected that Robeson, who was responsible for naval spending, embezzled
Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...
some of the missing money and laundered it in real estate transactions. This allegation remained unproven by the committee.[Simon 2005, pp.62–63]
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 is a beachside City (New Jersey), city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the city's population was 30,719,[< ...]
, from Alexander Cattell & Company. The same company also paid off a $10,000 note that Robeson owed to Jay Cooke
Jay Cooke (August 10, 1821 – February 16, 1905) was an American financier who helped finance the Union war effort during the American Civil War and the postwar development of railroads in the northwestern United States. He is generally acknowle ...
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.''[Swann 1980, pp.125–135][McFeely 1981, p. 432]
In a previous investigation that Charles Dana headed in 1872, 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 shipbuilder John Roach without public bidding. The latter charge proved 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
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, "...Our ''cuttle fish'' obesonof the navy although he may conceal his tracks for a while 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
The ''Virginius'' Affair was a diplomatic dispute that occurred from October 1873 to February 1875 between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain (then in control of Cuba), during the Ten Years' War. ''Virginius'' was a fast American ...
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. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock (December 25, 1835 – June 2, 1884) was an American engineer and general in the Union Army during the Civil War. An aide to General Ulysses S. Grant during and after the war, he was President Grant's military private secret ...
was involved in another scandal.[Safe Burglary Case 9/8/1876] 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, 1874, 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.[Safe Burglary Case 9/23/1876] The corrupt agents "arrested" the "thieves" who then committed perjury
Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...
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
Exoneration occurs when the conviction for a crime is reversed, either through demonstration of innocence, a flaw in the conviction, or otherwise. Attempts to exonerate convicts are particularly controversial in death penalty cases, especially w ...
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. Evidence, which we cannot produce, also suggests that Babcock was involved with the swindles by the corrupt Washington contractors' ring and with those who wanted to get back at Columbus Alexander, an avid reformer and critic of the Grant Administration. In 1876 Grant dismissed Babcock from the White House under public pressure due to Babcock's unpopularity. Babcock continued in government work and became Chief Light House Inspector. In 1883, Babcock drowned at sea at the age of 48 while supervising the building of Mosquito Inlet Light station.[Pesca 2005]
Lakota treaty breach
The breach of a treaty between the Lakotas and the United States, signed in 1868, the year before Grant took office, was engineered by Grant and his cabinet, in February 1876, in order to accommodate miners seeking gold in the Black Hills. Known as the ''Paha Sapa'' (literally, "hills that are black"), this area was essential to the survival of the Lakota living in the Unceded Territory (versus those living on the Great Sioux Reservation), as a game reserve.
Scandal summary table
Scandal cabinet and appointees
The most infamous of Grant's cabinet or other presidential appointees who were involved in scandals or criminal activity:
:*Daniel Butterfield
Daniel Adams Butterfield (October 31, 1831 – July 17, 1901) was a New York businessman, a Union general in the American Civil War, and Assistant Treasurer of the United States.
After working for American Express, co-founded by his father, ...
, Assistant Secretary of Treasury – (''Black Friday''- 1869)(Forced to resign by Grant.)
:* William A. Richardson, Secretary of Treasury – (''Sanborn Contracts''- 1874)(Resigned and appointed Federal Judge by Grant.)
:* George H. Williams, Attorney General – (''Pratt & Boyd''- 1875)(Resigned)
:*Columbus Delano
Columbus Delano (June 4, 1809 – October 23, 1896) was a lawyer, rancher, banker, statesman, and a member of the prominent Delano family. Forced to live on his own at an early age, Delano struggled to become a self-made man. Delano was electe ...
, Secretary of Interior – (''Bogus Agents'' – 1875)(Resigned)
:*Orville E. Babcock
Orville Elias Babcock (December 25, 1835 – June 2, 1884) was an American engineer and general in the Union Army during the Civil War. An aide to General Ulysses S. Grant during and after the war, he was President Grant's military private secret ...
, Private Secretary who worked daily with Grant in the Oval Office, wielded unprecedented influence and at times was able to thwart the efforts of reformers. – (''Black Friday'' – 1869) (''Whiskey Ring'' – 1875) (''Safe Burglary Conspiracy'' – 1876) (Acquitted in Saint Louis Whiskey Ring trials by jury due to Grant's defense testimony in his favor.)
:*John McDonald, Internal Revenue Supervisor, St. Louis – (''Whiskey Ring''– 1875) (Indicted and convicted; served prison time; claimed Grant was involved in the Whiskey Ring but did not supply any evidence.)
:*Horace Porter
Horace Porter (April 15, 1837May 29, 1921) was an American soldier and diplomat who served as a lieutenant colonel, ordnance officer and staff officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, personal secretary to General and President Ul ...
, Private Secretary – (''Whiskey Ring'' – 1875)
:* William W. Belknap, Secretary of War – (''Trading Post Ring''- 1876) (Resigned; Convicted by House; acquitted by Senate; indictments against Belknap in Washington D.C. court were dropped by the judge at the request of Grant and Attorney General Alphonso Taft
Alphonso Taft (November 5, 1810 – May 21, 1891) was an American jurist, diplomat, politician, United States Attorney General, Attorney General and United States Secretary of War, Secretary of War under President of the United States, President U ...
.)
:*George M. Robeson
George Maxwell Robeson (March 16, 1829 – September 27, 1897) was an American politician and lawyer from New Jersey. A brigadier general in the New Jersey Militia during the American Civil War, he served as Secretary of the Navy, appointed by Pr ...
, Secretary of Navy – (''Naval Department Ring''- 1876) (Grant defended Robeson in State of the Union address. Grant believed Robeson had kept U.S. Navy as modern as possible during his lengthy tenure.)
Nepotism
Grant was accused by Senator Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
in 1872 of practicing nepotism
Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...
while President. Although the practice of the U.S. president's appointing family members to executive or White House office was not legally restricted until 1967, there was a potential for profiteering and widespread abuse. Grant's cousin Silas A. Hudson was appointed minister to Guatemala. His brother-in-law Reverend M.J. Cramer was appointed as consul at Leipzig. Mrs Grants brother-in-law James F. Casey was given the position of Collector of Customs in , Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
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.[Lawrence M. Salinger 2005 374–375" /> Six 19th Century Presidents, including Grant, appointed family members to executive or White House office.] The other five 19th Century Presidents include: James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
, James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
, Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
, John Tyler
John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president dire ...
, and James Buchanan
James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...
.
Democratic Party Tweed Ring
The Democratic Party in New York, during Grant's presidency, was not free of corruption charges or scandal. During the 1860s and 1870s Democratic Party "Boss" Tweed, in New York, ran an aggressive political machine, bribing votes, fixing judges, stole millions in contracts, while controlling New York politics. Opponents of the ring, including Grant's future Attorney General, Edwards Pierrepont
Edwards Pierrepont (March 4, 1817 – March 6, 1892) was an American attorney, reformer, jurist, traveler, New York U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Minister to England, and orator.''West's Encyclopedia of American Law'' (2005), "Pierre ...
, part of the Committee of Seventy
The Committee of Seventy is an independent, non-partisan advocate for better government in Philadelphia that works to achieve clean and effective government, better elections, and informed and engaged citizens. Founded in 1904, it is a nonprofit ...
, ran the Tweed Ring out of office in the November 1871 elections. Democratic Party leader Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 – August 4, 1886) was an American politician who served as the 25th Governor of New York and was the Democratic candidate for president in the disputed 1876 United States presidential election. Tilden was ...
, and future 1876 presidential candidate, played a major part in breaking the Tweed Ring. Members of the Tweed Ring, including Tweed, were put on trial and sent to prison. Tweed escaped in 1875 and fled to Cuba and Spain. Tweed was arrested in Spain and extradited back to the United States, on November 23, 1876, where he served out his sentence in prison until his death in 1878.
Liberal Republican revolt
In March 1871, dissatisfied Republicans questioned whether Grant was worthy of a second nomination. Calling themselves Liberal Republicans, party leaders, including Senator Carl Schurz (Missouri), and Grant's former Secretary of Interior Jacob D. Cox
Jacob Dolson Cox, Jr. (October 27, 1828August 4, 1900), was a statesman, lawyer, Union Army general during the American Civil War, Republican politician from Ohio, Liberal Republican Party founder, educator, author, and recognized microbiologist ...
, broke away from the standard Republican Party. The Liberal Republicans demanded principled reform and amnesty to white former Confederates. Schurz was against "Negro supremacy" in the South and wanted to restore the white rule in the state governments. The movement was a "cautious blend of progressive and reactionary impulses". To defeat Grant, the Liberal Republicans nominated Horace Greely for the presidency. However, Grant, who remained popular, easily won reelection. Grant believed he was vindicated.
Legacy and historical reputation
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. With slavery no longer the clear moral issue for the American people, and absent the dynamic leadership of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
taken by an assassin's bullet, the nation for a while floundered in the seas of financial and political indulgence. 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
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
, along with coauthor Charles Dudley Warner
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
, in a work of fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
, called this American era of speculation and corruption the Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...
. Between 1870 and 1900, the United States population nearly doubled in size, gainful employment increased by 132 percent, and nonfarm labor constituted 60 percent of the workforce.[Calhoun 2007, pp.1–2][Nevins (1957) ''Hamilton Fish: The Inner History of the Grant Administration Vol. 2'', pp 638–639]
Inevitably, Grant's low standards in cabinet appointments, and his readiness to cover for associates or friends involved in condemnable behavior, defied the popular notion of a government free of corruption and favoritism. Stemming 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. Grant was no moral giant. In fairness, the booming economy that proceeded after the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
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 completing the unification of a bitterly divided country torn by Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, to honor Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, and give full citizenship rights to African Americans
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
and their posterity.[Bunting III 2004, p.ii]
An analysis of the scandals reveals the many powers at Grant's disposal as the President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
. His confidants 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 Helm Bristow (June 20, 1832 – June 22, 1896) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 30th U.S. Treasury Secretary and the first Solicitor General.
A Union military officer, Bristow was a Republican Party reformer and ...
to move the Tax Revenue Supervisors and relinquishing immunity in the Whiskey Ring
The Whiskey Ring took place from 1871 to 1876 centering in St. Louis during the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. The ring was an American scandal, broken in May 1875, involving the diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, ...
cases, which 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.
See also
* Bibliography of Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States (1869–1877) following his success as military commander in the American Civil War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeate ...
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Administration Scandals
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