Scandals of the Ulysses S. Grant administration

Ulysses S. Grant
18th President of the United States
In office March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877
Vice President	Schuyler Colfax (1869–1873) Henry Wilson (1873–1875) None (1875–1877)
Preceded by	Andrew Johnson
Succeeded by	Rutherford B. Hayes
Personal details
Born	Hiram Ulysses Grant (1822-04-27)April 27, 1822 Point Pleasant, Ohio
Died	July 23, 1885(1885-07-23) (aged 63) Mount McGregor, New York
Nationality	United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Julia Dent Grant
Children	Jesse Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., Nellie Grant, Frederick Grant
Alma mater	United States Military Academy at West Point
Occupation	General-in-Chief
Signature
Nickname	"Unconditional Surrender" Grant
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Branch/service	Union Army United States Army
Years of service	1839–1854, 1861–1869
Rank	General of the Army of the United States
Commands	21st Illinois Infantry Regiment Army of the Tennessee Military Division of the Mississippi Armies of the United States United States Army

An examination of Ulysses S. Grant and the eleven scandals associated with his presidential administration reveals a cabinet 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 rife. ^[1] Starting with the Black Friday gold speculation ring in 1869, corruption would be discovered during Grant's two presidential terms in five Federal departments, including the Navy, Justice, War, Treasury, and Interior. Reform movements began in both the Liberal Republican and Democratic Parties to counter political patronage and corruption in the Grant Administration.

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 it 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 issue over mining patents in California, when Grant overrode the official opinion from Attorney General Ebenezer R. Hoar.^[2] 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.

Grant's temperament and character

Grant was personally honest with money matters, however, he was extremely careless with his associates.^[3][4] Grant had come from a humble background and men of superior intelligence and training were a threat rather than an asset. Instead of responding with trust and warmth with men of talent, education and culture, he turned to his military friends from the Civil War and to new politicians, as himself, on the make.^[4]

These men were able to capture Grant's confidence through flattery and brought their intrigues openly to his attention. Orville E. Babcock, a subtle and unscrupulous enemy to reformers, was one of these friends and was constantly at Grant's side for seven years and was able to gain indirect control of whole departments of the government. Babcock, a criminal mastermind, implanted suspicions of reformers in Grant's mind, plotted their downfall, and sought to replace them with men like himself. Grant pathetically allowed Babcock to be a stumbling block for reformers that might have saved the President from scandal.^[4] Grant unwisely also accepted gifts from wealthy donors.

Scandals

The following are eleven scandals associated with the Ulysses. S. Grant Presidential Administration from 1869 to 1877. The main scandals include the Black Friday gold speculation ring, the Crédit Mobilier, and the Whiskey Ring.

Black Friday

The first scandal to taint the Grant administration was a scurrilous attempt, known as Black Friday, by two financiers to corner the price of gold without regard to the nation's economic welfare. The intricate financial scheme was conceived and administered by Wall Street manipulators Jay Gould and James Fisk in September 1869. The financial duo were able to get Grant's brother in law Abel Rathbone Corbin involved with the scheme, to get access to Grant himself. Also Gould had given a $10,000 bribe to the assistant secretary of Treasury, Daniel Butterfield, to get inside information. Gould had also tried to bribe Horace Porter, Grant's personal secretary, with a $500,000 stake in the gold market. Porter declined and would later tell Grant of the attempted bribe. Gould attempted to get Mrs. Grant involved by offering half interest in $250,000 in bonds. However, she politely declined the offer. Gould himself, while Grant was riding on the Erie Railroad, owned by Gould and Fisk, personally attempted to lure President into the scheme by informing him there was a way to make a lot of money with gold. Grant refused to listen to what the scheme was and rejected it outright because it was being done without public knowledge. However, President Grant's personal associations with Gould and Fisk gave the clout needed to continue their financial scam on Wall Street.^[5]

Gould had bought the Tenth National Bank that was used as a buying house for gold. On September 6, 1869, Gould and Fisk began buying gold in earnest. By September 12, Grant had become suspicious of the gold market manipulation and wrote to George S. Boutwell, United States Secretary of Treasury, urging him to keep releasing the same amount of gold noting, "A desperate struggle is now taking place...." Corban had also 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. It was then that Porter told Grant about Gould's attempted $500,000 bribery. 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 Corban's house he read Julia's letter with the warning from Grant. After reading the letter, Gould started to sell gold at the same time buying gold to keep people from getting suspicious.^[6]

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 owning jointly $50 million to $60 million in gold. Boutwell and Grant finally met on Thursday, September 23 and agreed that if the gold price kept rising to release gold from the treasury. 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, Gould and Fisk were foiled, while many investors financially were ruined.^[5]

The gold crash 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 and did not recover for years afterward. 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 were never held accountable for their profiteering, hiring the best lawyers while at the same time 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.^[5] Butterfield later resigned.

There was one lingering unanswered element to the sordid financial tale that remained: Grant's wife, Julia. Although she had declined Gould's initial $250,000 bribe, congressional Democrats on the House investigation committee after the scandal, questioned why Julia had received a package from the Adams Express Company with money reported to be $2,500. Another source claims that the package was just $25.00. However, it was highly unusual for a First Lady to receive cash in the mail. It was under suspicion that Julia Grant, herself, had also speculated in the gold market along with Grant's sister and husband, the Corbins. Neither Mrs. Grant nor Mrs. Corbin testified in front of the investigation committee.^[7] It was also later revealed seven years later by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish to Grant in 1876 that Orville E. Babcock, another private secretary to the President, was also involved in gold speculations in 1869.^[8]

Emma silver mine

In Spring 1871, promoters Senator William M. Stewart, Nevada, and James E. Lyon from Wisconsin attempted to sell a "worked-out" Emma Silver Mine in Utah to unsuspecting citizens of England. Lyon owned the mine along with Trenor W. Park and Henry H. Baxter at an estimated $1,500,000 worth. Stewart had been sending bogus ore samples from other deposits to get people in England excited about buying out the Emma mine. Stewart claimed that the mine could be sold for 5 to 8 million dollars in England. As a reward for Stewart's effort he was to receive a percentage of the profits from the depleted silver mine.^[9][10][7]

To get the people of England to invest, Stewart and Park got U.S. ambassador, Robert C. Schenck, a Grant appointment, to be named on the director’s list. Schenck gave his name and reputation to get English people to invest in the phony mine in exchange for stocks in the company. Many misguided English speculators invested millions of pounds in an exhausted mine. The scandal was discovered in 1876 with an investigation followed by a trial. Schenck was reprimanded by a House investigation committee, but not charged with any crimes.^[7][9][10]

Crédit mobilier

File:Directors upr.jpg

The Crédit Mobilier was a construction company for the Union Pacific Railroad formed in 1864. The company received money from the United States government to complete the Transcontinental Railroad. In turn the Company would sell stocks and bonds to investors. In 1868, during the Andrew Johnson Administration, Congressmen Oakes Ames, Chairman for Crédit Mobilier, had given stock shares of the cooperation and bribery money to win passage of critical legislation. Thus, the congressmen in charge of granting money to Crédit Mobilier were also stock holders to the same company. In 1872, the scandal broke out when Ames opened his financial notes and exposed the congressmen who had received stocks in the company or bribery money. Vice President Schuyler Colfax, then Speaker of the House, was one of the many congressmen named, had received stocks from Ames and as a result had to be dropped from the 1872 presidential ticket.^[11] Grant's replacement for Vice President, Henry Wilson, was also on the Ames list. Wilson returned the Crédit Mobiler stock he bought in his wife's name and was later exonerated by a House investigating committee.^[12]

The Crédit Mobilier scandal actually involved more than the distribution of stocks and cash to congressman. In simplified terms the Crédit Mobilier fraud worked in the following manner. The Union Pacific Railroad made contracts with Crédit Mobilier, paid by check, to build the Union Pacific rail system. The Crédit Mobilier would use these checks to buy stock and bonds in the Union Pacific at par value, the crux to the whole fraud, and then would sell them on the open market to make huge profits. The inflated construction contracts also brought huge profits to the Crédit Mobilier, who was owned by the directors and principal stock holders of the Union Pacific. The Crédit Mobilier would split these huge profits with the stockholders. The net result was that the U.S. Congress paid $94,650,287.25 and $50,720,958.94 respectively to the Union Pacific and the Crédit Mobilier. This left $43,929,328.34 in profits, counting at par the stocks and bonds, the Crédit Mobilier paid itself. The Crédit Mobilier directors reported this as a cash profit of only $23,366,319,81, a financial misrepresentation.^[13][14]

Salary grab

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 Senators and Congressmen in the House of Representatives was raised from $5,000 to $7,500. Although pay increases were constitutional, the Act was passed in secret with an obscure built in retroactive clause that gave the Congressmen $5,000 in bonus payouts for their previous two year ending terms. The Sun and other newspapers exposed the $5,000 bonus clause to the nation. The law was repealed on January, 1874, with the bonuses returned to the U.S. Department of Treasury by the Congressmen.^[15] This pay raise proposal was submitted as an amendment to the governments 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 to be initiated. However, Grant, missed an opportunity to make a powerful statement for good government with public support of a veto.^[16]

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. Many charges of corruption were rife, particularly from The Nation, a reliable journal that was going after many of Grant's cabinet members. Secretary of Treasury George S. Boutwell had been elected U.S. Senator in 1872 and he was replaced by his Assistant Secretary of Treasury, William A. Richardson in 1873. Richardson's tenor as Secretary of Treasury was very brief when another scandal erupted over the Sanborn contracts. Richardson had decided to privatize the Treasury department when he allowed, John D. Sanborn, to collect certain taxes and excises that had been illegally withheld from the government. Although the collections were legal under a loophole in the law, they were done at enormous commissions given to Sanborn. When a House committee was investigating the incident in 1874, Grant quietly appointed Richardson to the Court of Claims and replaced him with the avowed reformer Benjamin H. Bristow.^[17][18]

Bogus agents

In 1875, the U.S. Department of Interior was in serious disrepair with corruption and incompetence. The Secretary of Interior Columbus Delano, 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 bogus 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 or were skillfully qualified to hold such surveying positions.^[19][20]

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 fictitious clerks were earning money and other clerks were earning money without performing services. Chandler next turned to the Department of Indian Affairs to reform. 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" paid $8.00 a day plus expenses for supposedly representing tribes in Washington, D.C. Many of these agents were unqualified and induced the Native American tribes into believing they were being represented in Washington, D.C.^[21]

Pratt & Boyd

Attorney General George H. Williams administered the United States Department of Justice with slackness. There were rumors that Williams was taking bribe money in order not to prosecute pending trial cases. In 1875, Williams was suppose to prosecute the Merchant house Pratt & Boyd for fraudulent customhouse entries. The Senate Judiciary Committee had found that Pratt's wife had allegedly received a $30,000 gift in order to drop the case against the company. Grant found out about this and forced William's resignation. Williams had also indiscretely used Justice Department funds to pay for carriage and household expenses.^[22][23]

Whiskey ring

The worst and most famous scandal to hit the Grant Administration was the Whiskey Ring of 1875, exposed by reformers Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow and Myron Colony, a journalist for the Missouri Democrat. Whiskey distillers had been evading taxes in the midwest since the Lincoln Administration.^[24] and through the Johnson Administration. Distillers of whiskey bribed Treasury Department agents who in turn aided the distillers in evading taxes between one and two million dollars a year. The scam to defraud the Government was to not charge the distillers a seventy-cents-a-gallon tax on whiskey and then split the bonus profits from the liquor sale returns. The ring leaders had to coordinate distillers, rectifiers, gaugers, storekeepers, revenue agents, and Treasury clerks by recruitment, impressment, and extortion.^[25][26]

On January 26, 1875 Bristow, whose first action was to break the ring, ordered the 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.^[27] Rescinding Secretary Bristow's order would later bring a rumor that Grant was interfering with the investigation. Although moving the Supervisors most certainly would have disrupted the Ring, Bristow, himself, claimed that he would need documented 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 an agent, Myron Colony, and other spies to gather whiskey shipping and manufacturing information.^[25]

On May 13, 1875, under Grant's authority Bristow, armed with enough information, struck hard at the ring, seized the distiliaries, and made hundreds of arrests. The Whiskey Ring was broken. Bristow, along with the cooperation of other reforming cabinet members, Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont and solicitor general Bluford Wilson, started a legal process to bring many members of the ring to trial. Bristow had obtained information that the Whiskey Ring operated in Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Two of Grant's appointees Supervisor of Internal Revenue General John McDonald in St. Louis, and Orville E. Babcock, the private secretary to the President, along with Missouri Revenue Agent John A. Joyce were involved with the ring.^[28] Grant had initially sent McDonald to Saint Louis to purge out Liberal Republicans.^[25] Grant's other private secretary Horace Porter was also involved in the Whiskey Ring according to Solicitor General Blueford Wilson.^[29]

Special prosecutors appointed

Grant then appointed a special prosecutor, Senator John B. Henderson, to go after the ring. Henderson ordered a grand jury that went on to find that Babcock was one of the ring leaders. Sometime around July 29, 1875, Grant wrote on the back of a letter that indicated Babcock was part of the ring, "Let no guilty man escape."^[30] 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.^[30]

Grant requested that Babcock go through a military trial rather than a public trial. Henderson refused to allow information to go to the military court. The grand jury indicted Babcock in December 1875 and decided that Babcock would go to a public trial rather than the military trial format that Grant had proposed. Grant had also issued an order not to give any more immunity to persons involved in the Whiskey Ring. It is speculated this was done to protect Babcock in trial. Although this was legal and had the appearance of not letting the guilty get away, it made the prosecutors case more difficult.^[24] Rather than just prosecuting Babcock and the other ringleaders, during the trial Henderson accused Grant of interfering with Secretary Bristow's investigation regarding the Whiskey Ring.^[31]

The accusation angered Grant and the result was that Henderson was fired as special prosecutor. Grant then replaced Henderson with James Broadhead as special prosecutor. Broadhead, although a capable attorney, had to hastily get acquainted with the facts about Babcock's and other Whiskey Ring cases brought to trial. At the trial a deposition was read from President Grant stating that he had no knowledge that Babcock was involved in any matter with 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.^[31] McDonald and Joyce were convicted in the graft trials and sent to prison. On January 26, 1877, President Grant pardoned McDonald.^[32]

President Grant's deposition

The Whiskey Ring scandal even came to the foot steps of the White House. There were rumors that Grant himself was involved with the Ring and knew that profit money was being used to fund the 1872 Presidential campaign. Grant needed to clear his own name and desired to protect Babcock from a guilty verdict at the Saint Louis trial. Earlier, Grant had refused to believe Babcock was guilty even when personally presented with damaging evidence from Bristow and Solicitor General Blueford Wilson, particularly a "Sylph" telegram sent by Babcock. On the advise of Secretary of State Hamilton Fish not to testify in person at a courtroom, the President would give a deposition in front of prosecutors for Babcock at the White House. Grant was the first and only President to have testified for a defendant, no President has done before or since. This historic testimony came on Saturday, February 12, 1876 at the White House. Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite, a Grant appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, presided over the deposition. Grant was sworn in to tell the truth by Justice Waite. The Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow and Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont were there and witnessed Grant, himself, signing the deposition. The following was recorded by two stenographers. Lucien Eaton represented Congress and William A. Cook respresented Grant.^[32]

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 anyway interested in or concerned with the Whiskey Ring at St. Louis or elsewhere?"

President Grant: "Never."^[27]

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. Tell Mack to see Parker of Colorado; & telegram to Commissioner. Crush out St. Louis 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 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."^[32]

However, 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 the deposition was read to the jury. Babcock would go on to be acquitted in trial.^[32] After the trial, Grant distanced himself from Babcock. Initially after the acquittal, Babcock 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 put into his second position that he had been give by Grant in 1871 as superintending engineer of public buildings and grounds.^[28]

Grant's Pulitzer Prize winning biographer, William S. McFeely, claims that Grant knew Babcock was guilty and perjured himself in the deposition. McFeely believed that since the "evidence was irrefutable" by Bristow and Wilson before trial, Grant perjured himself in the deposition to cover for Babcock. The corroberative evidence, according to McFeely, was the coded "Sylph" message and other damaging messages made by Babcock. McFeely also claims that Benjamin Bristow, Hamilton Fish, and Bluford Wilson knew that Grant perjured himself in the deposition. In response to an inquiry by Congressman Alexander G. Cochran, "If the President of the United States was acting in good faith," Wilson replied "Let the facts speak for themselves."^[33] However, no explaination by McFeely was given on how and where Grant allegedly perjured himself in the actual testimony transcripts. Neither were any records given by McFeely that Bristow, Fish, or Wilson actually stated that Grant committed perjury in the Babcock trial deposition.

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 $3,000,000 in tax revenues recovered from the Ring.^[34][33][35]

Trading post ring

Immediately after the Whiskey Ring prosecutions were ending, another scandal broke out when it was discovered that Secretary of War William W. Belknap had taken extortion money in exchange for an appointment to a lucrative Native American trading post. The Secretary of War was authorized with the power to award lucrative private trading post contracts at military forts throughout the nation. Native Americans would come into the forts and trade for food staples and clothing. Belknap's wife, Carrie Belknap, who desired to profit from these wealthy contracts, managed to secure a private trading post at Fort Sill to a personal friend from New York, Caleb P. Marsh. However, the post was being run by the current incumbent contract holder, John S. Evans.

An extortion arrangement was set up between Carrie Belknap and Caleb P. Marsh and John S. Evans, where 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 and then William Belknap, along with his second wife, took over receiving a reduced amount of extortion payments, due to Fort Sill's decline in 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 Congressman Lyman K. Bass and Heister Clymer. During the testimony Marsh exposed Belknap and both wives had accepted extortion money in exchange for the lucrative trading post at Fort Sill. The scandal was particularly upsetting, in this Victorian age, since it involved women.^[36][37]

On March 2, 1876, Grant was immediately informed by Benjamin Bristow at breakfast of the House investigation against Secretary Belknap. After hearing about Belknap's predicament Grant arranged a meeting with Congressmen Bass about the investigation. However, Belknap who was escorted by Interior Secretary Zachariah Chandler, rushed to the White House and met with Grant before his meeting with Congressman 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.^[37]

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 uprupt resignation request.^[38] 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 on trial private citizens, 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, Belknap's two wives, involved.^[36]

Cattellism

The Department of Navy, under Secretary George M. Robeson, was distributed $56 million by Congress for construction programs. In 1876, a congressional committee headed by Congressman Washington C. Whitthorne, discovered that $15 million was found unaccounted for. The committee suspected that Robeson, who was responsible for naval spending, embezzled some of the $15 million and laundered the money in real estate transactions. This allegation remained unproven by the committee.^[39]

The main charge against Robeson was taking financial favors from Alexander Cattell & Co., a grain contractor, after he gave this company profitable contracts from the Navy Department. Robeson was found in an 1876 Naval Affairs committee investigation to have received gifts including a team of horses, Washington real estate, and a $320,000 vacation cottage at Long Branch from Alexander Cattell & Company. The same company also paid off a $10,000 note for Robeson 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 with gross misconduct and claimed he had set up a system of corruption known as "Cattellism". ^[40][41]

In a previous House and journalistic investigation in 1872, headed by Charles Dana, Robeson had also been suspected of awarding a additional $92,000 monetary settlement to a building contractor, in a "somewhat dangerous stretch of official authority", known as the Secor (New Jersey) Claims. A competent authority claimed that the contractor had already been paid in full and there was no need for further reward. He was then accused of splitting the award with the contractor and giving the profit to Mrs. Ricmond Aulick, Robeson's future wife. Later, when called to visit the Secretary of State Hamilton Fish in regards to the Secor Claim payout, Robeson flatly denied any involvement in the matter. 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.^[39][40]

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 in regards to giving contracts to private companies. Robeson was also asked concerning 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 5 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.^{[39] [40]}

Safe burglary conspiracy

In September 1876, Orville E. Babcock was again involved in another scandal. Babcock was indicted in a safe burglary conspiracy case. ^[42] Corrupt building contractors in Washington, D.C. were on trial for graft when a safe robbery occurred. Bogus secret service agents, working for the corrupt contractors, placed damaging evidence into the safe of the district attorney who was prosecuting the ring. Then, on April 23, 1873, hired thieves at night opened the safe and used an explosive to make it appear that the safe had been broken into. One of the thieves then took the damaging evidence to the house of Columbus Alexander, a citizen who was active in prosecuting the Washington building contractors ring. ^[43] The corrupt secret service 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 Backcock was involved with the swindles by the corrupt Washington Contractors Ring and he wanted to get back at Columbus Alexander, an avid reformer and critic of the Grant Administration. There was also evidence that the jury had been tampered with.^[24] 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. He drowned in a boating accident at the age of 48 while supervising the building of Mosquito Island light station. ^[44]

Nepotism

Grant was accused by Senator Charles Sumner 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.^[19]

Liberal Republican-Democratic reform

Liberal Republican

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.^[45]

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.^[45] 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 were beginning to expose the Whiskey Ring and Bogus Agents in 1875, and Navy Department corruption in 1876. These men included Benjamin Bristow as Secretary of Treasury (1874), Edwards Pierrepont as Attorney General (1875), and Zachariah Chandler as Secretary of the Interior (1875).

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.^[46][47]

Democratic Party

The Democratic Party reform in Congress, although initially a minority after the 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. ^[48]

Causes of national corruption

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.^[4]

Legacy

President Grant, the nation, and the constitution survived the rising tide of financial and political corruption that took place from 1861 to 1877. Slavery, no longer on the American forefront, and the dynamic leadership of Abraham Lincoln 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. After the graft trials of the Whiskey Ring and the Trading Post Ring the Grant administration and the nation appeared to function better without any further scandals. 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. ^[49][50]

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.^[4] 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.^[51]

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. It should be noted also that 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, and Justice departments. Grant, himself, personally participated in reforming the Department of Indian Affairs, by firing all the corrupt clerks.^[21]

Notes

Works cited

Books

• Ambrose, Stephen E. (2001). Nothing Like it in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-6848-4609-8.
• Barnett, Louise (2006). Touched by fire: the life, death, and mythic afterlife of George Armstrong. Bison Books. ISBN 978-0803262669.
• Bunting III, Josiah (2001). A. M. Schlesinger Junior (ed.). Ulysses S. Grant. Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, LCC. ISBN 0-8050-6949-6.
• Calhoun, Charles William (2007). The gilded age: perspectives on the origins of modern America. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0742550384.
• The Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 8. New York: J.B. Lyon Company. 1918.
• Grossman (2003). Political corruption in America: an encyclopedia of scandals, power, and greed. ABC-Clio. ISBN 978-1576070604. {{cite book}}: Text "Mark" ignored (help)
• Hatfield, Mark O.; Ritchie, Donald A. (2001). Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789- 1993 (PDF). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 9-9964-3989-5.
• Hinsdale, Mary Louise (1911). A History of the President's Cabinet. Ann Arbor, MI: G. Wahr.
• McFeely, William S. (1981). Grant: A Biography. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-32394-3.
• Morris, Charles R. (2005)). The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J.P Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy. New York: H. Holt and Co. ISBN 0-8050-8134-8. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
• O'Brien, Frank Michael (1918). The story of the Sun: New York, 1833-1918. New York: Doran.
• Pierson, Arthur Tappan (1880). Zachariah Chandler: an outline sketch of his life and public services. Detroit: Post and Tribune.
• Rhodes, James Ford (1912). History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the Final Restoration of Home Rule at the South in 1877. New York: The MacMillan Company.
• Salinger, Lawrence M. (2005)). Encyclopedia of White-collar & Corporate Crime. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. ISBN 0-7619-3004-3. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
• Simon, John Y.; Grant, Ulysses S. (2005). The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Vol. 27. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 978-0809326310.
• Slap, Andrew L. (2006). The doom of Reconstruction: the liberal Republicans in the Civil War era. Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0823227099.
• Smith, Jean Edward (2001). Grant. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84927-5.
• Stevens, Walter Barlow; Bixby, William Kenny (1916). Grant in Saint Louis. Franklin Club of Saint Louis.
• Swann, Leonard Alexander (1980). John Roach, maritime entrepreneur. Ayer Co Pub. ISBN 978-0405130786.
• Twain, Charles Dudley; Warner (1874). The Gilded Age. Nabu Press. ISBN 978-1142688875.

Newspapers

• D., E. G. (October 9, 1893). "The Pantaloon of the Senate; A Reminiscence of the Emma Mine Scandal]". The New York Times. New York, NY.
• Staff writer (September 8, 1876). "The Safe Burglary Case: Preparing for the trial - Witnesses for the defense summoned". The New York Times. New York, NY.
• Staff writer (September 23, 1876). "The Safe Burglary Case: Columbus Alexander and Major Richards of the Washington police examined". The New York Times. New York, NY.
• Staff writer (March 4, 1876). "The Emma Mine Scandal". The New York Times. New York, NY.

Online

• "1876 Events". Harpers Weekly. Retrieved 03-12-2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Kennedy, Robert C. Kennedy (2001). ""'Why We Laugh' Pro Tem"". Harper's Weekly. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
• Kiersey, David; Choiniere, Ray. "Excerpted from Presidential Temperaments". keirsey.com. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
• Pesca, Mike (November 2, 2005). "Orville Babcock's Indictment and the CIA Leak Case". Day to Day. National Public Radio. Retrieved 01-02-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Rives, Timothy (2000). "Grant, Babcock, and the Whiskey Ring". Retrieved 01-18-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• 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.
• "Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present". U.S. Senate. Retrieved 01-18-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives (1879 to Present)". U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved 01-18-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• 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