Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
served as the 18th president of the United States from March 4, 1869 to March 4, 1877. A Republican, Grant took office after winning the 1868 election, and secured a second term in 1872. He presided over the Reconstruction Era and the 1876 U.S. Centennial.
By 1870, every ex-Confederate state had rejoined the United States. They all had seats in Congress. Yet Democrats and old slave owners rejected freedmen's citizenship from the Fourteenth Amendment. They also denied voting rights from the Fifteenth Amendment. Congress then passed three Force Acts. These let the federal government step in if states ignored ex-slaves' rights. The Ku Klux Klan started in 1865. It spread terror across the Southern United States aimed at African Americans. President Grant worked with Attorney General Amos T. Akerman. He led the new Department of Justice. Thousands of Klan indictments ensued with hundreds of convictions.
Grant's cabinet picks were mostly mixed. Still, he chose a few standouts like Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, Attorney General Amos T. Akerman, and Seneca Indian Eli Parker as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. His two terms faced many scandals. These included claims of corruption, bribery, fraud, and favoritism. Grant sometimes fought back by naming reformers to target the famous Whiskey Ring. He pushed civil service reform farther than past presidents. He formed the country's first Civil Service Commission. In 1872, Grant approved a law to create Yellowstone National Park.
The US stayed at peace with the world during Grant's eight years as president. His foreign policy, however, was inconsistent. Clashes with Native American tribes in the West dragged on. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish oversaw the Treaty of Washington. It mended ties with Britain and fixed the tough Alabama Claims. The Virginius Affair with Spain ended without fight. Grant sought to annex the Caribbean island of Santo Domingo. Yet Senator Charles Sumner stopped it cold. Grant's image as president grew in the 21st century. His stand for African American civil rights helped most.
Election of 1868
Ulysses S. Grant's ascent in political favor among Republicans can be attributed primarily to his effective military command that led to the defeat of Robert E. Lee, along with his notable departure from President Andrew Johnson's policies. His candidacy for the presidency faced no opposition. During the Republican Party Convention in Chicago in May 1868, delegates unanimously selected Grant as their candidate for president. Schuyler Colfax, the House Speaker, was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate.The 1868 Republican Party platform advocated for the enfranchisement of African Americans in the South but left the issue open in the North. It opposed the use of greenbacks and promoted the use of gold to redeem U.S. bonds. The platform encouraged immigration and endorsed full rights for naturalized citizens. Additionally, it favored a more radical reconstruction as distinct from the more lenient approaches supported by President Andrew Johnson. In Grant's acceptance letter, he stated: "Let us have peace." These words became the popular mantra of the Republican Party. Grant won an overwhelming Electoral College victory, receiving 214 votes compared to the 80 received by the Democratic nominee, Horatio Seymour. Grant also garnered 52.7 percent of the popular vote nationwide. Six southern states, controlled by Republicans, bolstered Grant's margin of victory, while many former Confederates remained barred from voting.
First term (1869–1873)
Inaugural address 1869
On March 4, 1869, Grant gave his inaugural address. He outlined four main goals. First, he pledged to tackle Reconstruction "calmly, devoid of prejudice, animosity, or regional pride; keeping in mind that the greatest good for the greatest number is the goal to be achieved." Next, he reviewed the nation's money woes. He pushed for "a return to a specie basis." Then, he covered foreign policy. He stressed equal safety for all Americans abroad. Last, Grant backed the 15th Amendment. It granted black men, including ex-slaves, voting rights in the Constitution.Cabinet
Grant's cabinet choices shocked the nation. He heard political advice with respect. Yet he skipped usual talks with top Republicans. He picked his team in secret. Early nominations drew both cheers and jeers. Grant named friend Elihu B. Washburne Secretary of State. Washburne quit after just eleven days. A week later, Grant made him Minister to France. He chose Hamilton Fish next. Fish, a conservative, had governed New York. Grant first tapped rich merchant Alexander T. Stewart for Treasury Secretary. A law blocked him. It banned commerce ties. Congress would not change it. So Grant picked ex-Congressman George S. Boutwell from Massachusetts. For War Secretary, Grant chose old aide John A. Rawlins. Rawlins died from tuberculosis in September 1869. Six weeks later, Grant named William W. Belknap in his place.Grant picked Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar as U.S. Attorney General. Hoar was an associate justice on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He chose Adolph E. Borie for Secretary of the Navy. Borie was a businessman from Philadelphia. Borie quit on June 25, 1869. He blamed the job's stress. His one accomplishment, Borie racially integrated the Washington Navy Yard. Grant then picked George M. Robeson to replace him. Robeson once worked as a New Jersey prosecutor. For Secretary of the Interior, Grant named former Ohio governor and senator Jacob D. Cox. Grant chose John A.J. Creswell for Postmaster General. Creswell had served as a U.S. Senator from Maryland. He gets credit for integrating the U.S. Post Office by race.
Tenure of Office Act modified
In March 1869, President Grant announced his desire to repeal the Tenure of Office Act, stating it was a "stride toward a revolution in our free system". The law prevented the president from removing executive officers without Senate approval. Grant believed it was a significant limitation on presidential power. To bolster the repeal effort, Grant decided not to make any new appointments except for vacancies until the law was overturned. On March 9, 1869, the House repealed the law completely, but the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected the bill and only suggested a temporary suspension of the law. When Grant objected, the Senate Republican caucus convened and proposed that the president have full authority to select and dismiss his cabinet members. The Senate Judiciary Committee wrote the new bill. The House and Senate reached a muddled compromise. Grant signed the bill into law on April 5, having gotten virtually everything he wanted.Reconstruction
Fifteenth Amendment
Grant worked to ensure ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which was approved by Congress and sent to the states during the last days of the Johnson administration. The amendment prohibited the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." On December 24, 1869, Grant established federal military rule in Georgia and restored black legislators who had been expelled from the state legislature. On February 3, 1870, the amendment reached the requisite number of state ratifications and was certified as the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Grant hailed its ratification as "a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from the foundation of our free government to the present day". By mid-1870 former Confederate states: Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, and Georgia had ratified the 15th Amendment and were readmitted to the Union.Department of Justice
On June 22, 1870, Grant signed a bill into law passed by Congress that created the Department of Justice and the Office of Solicitor General, to aid the Attorney General. Grant appointed Amos T. Akerman as Attorney General and Benjamin H. Bristow as America's first Solicitor General. Both Akerman and Bristow used the Department of Justice to vigorously prosecute Ku Klux Klan members in the early 1870s. Grant appointed Hiram C. Whitley as director of the new Secret Service Agency in 1869, after he had successfully arrested 12 Klansmen in Georgia who had murdered a leading local Republican official. Whitley used talented detectives who infiltrated and broke up KKK units in North Carolina and Alabama. However, they could not penetrate the main hotbed of KKK activity in upstate South Carolina. Grant sent in Army troops, but Whitley's agents learned they were lying low until the troops were withdrawn. Whitley warned Akerman, who convinced Grant to declare martial law and send in US marshals backed by federal troops to arrest 500 Klansmen; hundreds more fled the state, and hundreds of others surrendered in return for leniency.In the first few years of Grant's first term in office, there were 1000 indictments against Klan members, with over 550 convictions from the Department of Justice. By 1871, there were 3000 indictments and 600 convictions, with most only serving brief sentences while the ringleaders were imprisoned for up to five years in the federal penitentiary in Albany, New York. The result was a dramatic decrease in violence in the South. Akerman gave credit to Grant and told a friend that no one was "better" or "stronger" than Grant when it came to prosecuting terrorists. Akerman's successor, George H. Williams, in December 1871, continued to prosecute the Klan throughout 1872 until the Spring of 1873 during Grant's second term in office. Williams' clemency and moratorium on Klan prosecutions was due in part to the fact that the Justice Department, having been inundated by Klan outrage cases, did not have the effective manpower to continue the prosecutions.