U.S. President #18: Ulysses S. Grant (Part II)

Reconstruction and civil rights

Grant was considered an effective civil rights president, concerned about the plight of African Americans.  On March 18, 1869, Grant signed into law equal rights for blacks, to serve on juries and hold office, in Washington D.C., and in 1870 he signed into law the Naturalization Act that gave foreign blacks citizenship. During his first term, Reconstruction took precedence. Republicans controlled most Southern states, propped up by Republican controlled Congress, northern money, and southern military occupation.  Grant advocated the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment that said states could not disenfranchise African Americans.  Within a year, the three remaining states—Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas—adopted the new amendment—and were admitted to Congress.  Grant put military pressure on Georgia to reinstate its black legislators and adopt the new amendment.  Georgia complied, and on February 24, 1871 its Senators were seated in Congress, with all the former Confederate states represented.
In 1870, to enforce Reconstruction, Congress and Grant created the Justice Department that allowed the Attorney General and the new Solicitor General to prosecute the Klan. Congress and Grant passed a series of enforcement laws, designed to protect blacks and Reconstruction governments. Grant's Justice Department did destroy the Ku Klux Klan, but in both his terms Blacks lost political strength in the Southern United States. By October, Grant suspended habeas corpus in part of South Carolina and sent federal troops to help marshals, who initiated prosecutions. Grant's Attorney General, Amos T. Akerman, who replaced Hoar, was zealous to destroy the Klan.  Akerman and Grant appointed Solicitor General Benjamin Bristow, made hundreds of arrests while forcing 2,000 Klansmen to flee the state.  By 1872 the Klan's power had collapsed, and African Americans voted in record numbers in elections in the South.  Attorney General George H. Williams, Akerman's replacement, in the Spring of 1873, suspended prosecutions of the Klan in North Carolina and South Carolina, but prior to the election of 1874, he changed course and prosecuted the Klan.
During Grant's second term, the North retreated from Reconstruction, while southern conservative whites called "Redeemers" formed armed groups, the Red Shirts and the White League, who openly used violence, intimidation, voter fraud, and racist appeals to overturn Republican rule.  Northern apathy toward blacks, the depressed economy and Grant's scandals made it politically difficult for the Grant administration to maintain support for Reconstruction. Power shifted when the House was taken over by the Democrats in the election of 1874.  Grant ended the Brooks–Baxter War, bringing Reconstruction in Arkansas to a peaceful conclusion. He sent troops to New Orleans in the wake of the Colfax massacre and disputes over the election of Governor William Pitt Kellogg. Grant recalled Sheridan and most of the federal troops from Louisiana.
By 1875, Redeemer Democrats had taken control of all but three Southern states. As violence against black Southerners escalated once more, Grant's Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont told Republican Governor Adelbert Ames of Mississippi that the people were "tired of the autumnal outbreaks in the South", and declined to intervene directly, instead sending an emissary to negotiate a peaceful election.  Grant later regretted not issuing a proclamation to help Ames, having been told Republicans in Ohio would bolt the party if Grant intervened in Mississippi. Grant told Congress in January 1875 he could not "see with indifference Union men or Republicans ostracized, persecuted, and murdered."  Congress refused to strengthen the laws against violence, but instead passed a sweeping law to guarantee blacks access to public facilities. Grant signed it as the Civil Rights Act of 1875, but there was little enforcement and the Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional in 1883. In October 1876, Grant dispatched troops to South Carolina to keep Republican Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain in office.
Grant's Republican successor, President Rutherford B. Hayes, was conciliatory toward the South, and favored "local control" of civil rights on the condition that Democrats make an honorary pledge to confirm the constitutional amendments that protected blacks.  During Republican negotiations with Democrats, that Grant took no direct part in, the Republicans received the White House for Hayes in return for ending enforcement of racial equality for blacks and removing federal troops from the last three states. As promised, Hayes withdrew federal troops from South Carolina and Louisiana, which marked the end of Reconstruction.
Native American policy
When Grant took office in 1869, the nation's policy towards Native Americans was in chaos, affecting more than 250,000 Native Americans being governed by 370 treaties.  He appointed Ely S. Parker, a Seneca and member of his wartime staff, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to serve in this position, surprising many around him. Grant's religious faith also influenced his policy towards Native Americans, believing that the "Creator" did not place races of men on earth for the "stronger" to destroy the "weaker". In April 1869, Grant signed legislation establishing an unpaid Board of Indian Commissioners to reduce corruption and oversee implementation of what was called Grant's Indian "Peace" policy.  In 1871, Grant ended the sovereign tribal treaty system; by law individual Native Americans were deemed wards of the federal government.  Grant's Indian policy was undermined by Parker's resignation in 1871, denominational infighting among Grant's chosen religious agents, and entrenched economic interests. Indian wars declined overall during Grant's first term, while on October 1, 1872, Major General Oliver Otis Howard negotiated peace with the Apache leader Cochise.
Grant's Indian policy, during his second term, fell apart.  On April 11, 1873, Major General Edward Canby, was killed in Northern California south of Tule Lake by Modoc leader Kintpuash, in a failed peace conference to end the Modoc War.  Grant ordered restraint after Canby's death, the army captured Kintpuash, who was convicted of Canby's murder and hanged on October 3 at Fort Klamath, while the remaining Modoc tribe was relocated to the Indian Territory. In 1874, the army defeated the Comanche at the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, forcing them to finally settle at the Fort Sill reservation in 1875.  Grant pocket-vetoed a bill in 1874 protecting bison and supporting Interior Secretary Columbus Delano, who believed correctly the killing of bison would force Plains Native Americans to abandon their nomadic lifestyle.
After gold was discovered and trespassing occurred on Sioux protected lands, Grant offered them $6,000,000 in October 1874; Red Cloud reluctantly entered negotiations, but other Sioux chiefs readied for war.  On November 3, 1875, Grant held a meeting at the White House and, under advice from Sheridan, Grant agreed not to enforce keeping out miners from the Black Hills, and to force "hostile" Native Americans onto the Sioux reservation. During the Great Sioux War that started after Sitting Bull refused to relocate to agency land, warriors led by Crazy Horse killed George Armstrong Custer and his men at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Grant castigated Custer in the press, saying "I regard Custer's massacre as a sacrifice of troops, brought on by Custer himself, that was wholly unnecessary—wholly unnecessary."  In September and October 1876, Grant convinced the tribes to relinquish the Black Hills. Congress ratified the agreement three days before Grant left office in 1877.
Foreign affairs
Grant was a man of peace, and almost wholly devoted to domestic affairs. There were no foreign-policy disasters, and no wars to engage in. Besides Grant himself, the main players in foreign affairs were Secretary of State Hamilton Fish and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Charles Sumner. They had to cooperate to get a treaty ratified. Sumner led the opposition to Grant's plan to annex Santo Domingo, with that nation's cooperation, and the measure was defeated. Historians have a high regard for the professionalism, independence, and good judgment of Hamilton Fish. The main issues involved Britain, Canada, Santo Domingo, Cuba and Spain. Worldwide, it was a peaceful era, with no major wars directly affecting the United States.
Alabama claims
The most pressing diplomatic problem in 1869 was the settlement of the Alabama claims, depredations caused to the Union by the Confederate warship CSS Alabama, built in a British shipyard in violation of neutrality rules. Secretary Hamilton Fish played the central role in formulating and implementing the Treaty of Washington and the Geneva arbitration (1872).  Senator Charles Sumner, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee led the demand for reparations, with talk of British Columbia as payment.  Fish and Treasurer George Boutwell convinced Grant that peaceful relations with Britain were essential, and the two nations agreed to negotiate along those lines. To avoid jeopardizing negotiations, Grant refrained from recognizing Cuban rebels who were fighting for independence from Spain, which would have been inconsistent with American objections to the British granting belligerent status to Confederates.  A commission in Washington produced a treaty whereby an international tribunal would settle the damage amounts; the British admitted regret, but not fault. The Senate, including Grant critics Sumner and Carl Schurz, approved the Treaty of Washington, which settled disputes over fishing rights and maritime boundaries, by a 50–12 vote, signed on May 8, 1871. The Alabama claims settlement would be Grant's most successful foreign policy achievement.
Dominican Republic annexation
In 1869, Grant initiated his plan to annex the Dominican Republic, then called Santo Domingo.  Grant believed acquisition of the Caribbean island and Samaná Bay would increase American prosperity and U.S. naval protection to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, safeguard against British obstruction of U.S. shipping and protect a future oceanic canal, while blacks would have a safe haven from "the crime of Klu Kluxism".
Joseph W. Fabens, an American speculator who represented Buenaventura Báez, the president of the Dominican Republic, met with Secretary Fish and proposed annexation,  whose island inhabitants sought American protection.  Fish wanted nothing to do with the island, but he dutifully brought up Faben's proposal to Grant at a cabinet meeting.  On July 17, Grant sent his military White House aide Orville E. Babcock to evaluate the islands' resources, local conditions, and Báez's terms for annexation, but was given no diplomatic authority. When Babcock returned to Washington with two unauthorized annexation treaties, Grant, however, approved and pressured his cabinet to accept them. Grant ordered Fish to draw up formal treaties, sent to Báez by Babcock's return to the island nation. The Dominican Republic would be annexed for $1.5 million and Samaná Bay would be lease-purchased for $2 million. On November 29, President Báez signed the treaties. On December 21, the treaties were placed before Grant and his cabinet.
On December 31, Grant met with Senator Charles Sumner, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), at his Washington D.C. home to gain his support for annexation. Grant left confident Sumner approved, however, what Sumner said was disputed. The controversial episode led to hostility between the two men. On January 10, 1870, Grant submitted the treaties to the SFRC for ratification, but Sumner purposely neglected the bills. Prompted by Grant to stop stalling the treaties, Sumner's committee took action, but rejected the bills by a 5-to-2 vote. Sumner sent the treaties for a full Senate vote, while Grant personally lobbied other senators. Despite Grant's efforts, the Senate defeated the treaties, on Thursday, June 30, by a 28–28 vote when a 2/3 majority was required.
Sumner had previously led Grant to believe that he would support the treaties. Grant was outraged, and on Friday, July 1, 1870, he removed his appointed Minister to Great Britain, John Lothrop Motley, Sumner's friend, knowing he could not pacify Sumner.  In January 1871, Grant signed a joint resolution to send a commission to investigate annexation.  For this undertaking, he chose three neutral parties, with Fredrick Douglass to head the commission. Although the commission approved its findings, the Senate remained opposed, forcing Grant to abandon further efforts. The stinging controversy over Santo Domingo overshadowed Grant's foreign diplomacy.
Cuba and Virginius Affair
American policy was to remain neutral during the Ten Years' War (1868–78), a series of long bloody revolts that were taking place in Cuba against Spanish rule. The U.S. refused to recognize the belligerence of the rebels, and in effect endorsed Spanish colonial rule there, while calling for the abolition of slavery in Cuba. This policy was shaken in October 1873, when a Spanish cruiser captured a merchant ship, Virginius, flying the U.S. flag, carrying supplies and men to aid the insurrection. Spanish authorities executed the prisoners, including eight American citizens, and many Americans called for war with Spain. Grant ordered U.S. Navy Squadron warships to converge on Cuba, off of Key West, supported by the USS Kansas. On November 27, Fish reached a diplomatic resolution in which Spain's president, Emilio Castelar y Ripoll, expressed his regret, surrendered the Virginius and the surviving captives. A year later, Spain paid a cash indemnity of $80,000 to the families of the executed Americans.
Free trade with Hawaii
In the face of strong opposition from Democrats, Grant and Fish secured a free trade treaty in 1875 with the Kingdom of Hawaii, incorporating the Pacific islands' sugar industry into the United States' economic sphere.
Gold standard and conspiracy
Soon after taking office Grant took conservative steps to return the nation's currency to a more secure footing.  During the Civil War, Congress had authorized the Treasury to issue banknotes that, unlike the rest of the currency, were not backed by gold or silver. The "greenback" notes, as they were known, were necessary to pay the unprecedented war debts, but they also caused inflation and forced gold-backed money out of circulation; Grant was determined to return the national economy to pre-war monetary standards.  On March 18, 1869, he signed the Public Credit Act of 1869 that guaranteed bondholders would be repaid in "coin or its equivalent", while greenbacks would gradually be redeemed by the Treasury and replaced by notes backed by specie. The act committed the government to the full return of the gold standard within ten years. This followed a policy of "hard currency, economy and gradual reduction of the national debt." Grant's own ideas about the economy were simple and he relied on the advice of wealthy and financially successful businessman that he courted.
In April 1869, railroad tycoons Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, conspired to corner the gold market in New York, the nation's financial capital. They controlled the Erie Railroad, and a high price of gold would allow foreign agriculture buyers to purchase exported crops, shipped east over the Erie's routes.  Boutwell's bi-weekly policy of selling gold from the Treasury, however, kept gold artificially low. Unable to corrupt Boutwell, the two schemers built a relationship with Grant's brother-in-law, Abel Corbin, and gained access to Grant. Gould bribed Assistant Treasurer Daniel Butterfield $10,000 to gain insided information into the Treasury.  Gould and Fisk personally lobbied Grant on board their private yacht from New York to Boston, in mid-June 1869 to influence Grant's gold policy.
In July, Grant reduced the sale of Treasury gold to $2,000,000 per month and subsequent months.  Fisk played a role in August in New York, having a letter from Gould, he told Grant his gold policy would destroy the nation.  By September, Grant, who was naive in matters of finance, was convinced that a low gold price would help farmers, and the sale of gold for September was not increased. On September 23, when the gold price reached ​143 1⁄8, Boutwell rushed to the White House and talked with Grant. The following day, September 24, known as Black Friday, Grant ordered Boutwell to sell, whereupon Boutwell wired Butterfield in New York, to sell $4,000,000 in gold. The bull market at Gould's Gold Room collapsed, the price of gold plummeted from 160 to ​133 1⁄3, a bear market panic ensued, Gould and Fisk fled for their own safety, while severe economic damages lasted months.  By January 1870, the economy resumed its post-war recovery.
Election of 1872 and second term
Grant's first administration was mixed with both success and failure.  In 1871, to placate reformers, he created the America's first Civil Service Commission, chaired by reformer George William Curtis.
The Liberal Republicans, composed of reformers, men who supported low tariffs, and those who opposed Grant's prosecution of the Klan, broke from Grant and the Republican Party.  The Liberals, who personally disliked Grant, detested his alliance with Senator Simon Cameron and Senator Roscoe Conkling, considered to be spoilsmen politicians.
In 1872, the Liberals nominated Horace Greeley, a leading Republican New York Tribune editor and a fierce enemy of Grant, for president, and Missouri governor B. Gratz Brown, for vice president.  The Liberals denounced Grantism, corruption, nepotism, and inefficiency, demanded the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, literacy tests for blacks to vote, and amnesty for Confederates. The Democrats adopted the Greeley-Brown ticket and the Liberals party platform.  Greeley, whose Tribune gave him wider name recognition and a louder campaign voice, pushed the themes that the Grant administration was failed and corrupt.
The Republicans nominated Grant for reelection, with Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts replacing Colfax as the vice presidential nominee. The Republicans shrewdly borrowed from the Liberals party platform including "extended amnesty, lowered tariffs, and embraced civil service reform." Grant lowered customs duties, gave amnesty to former Confederates, and implemented a civil service merit system, neutralizing the opposition.  To placate the burgeoning suffragist movement, the Republicans' platform mentioned women's rights would be treated with "respectful consideration."  Concerning Southern policy, Greeley advocated local government control be given to whites, while Grant advocated federal protection of blacks.  Grant was supported by Frederick Douglass, prominent abolitionists, and Indian reformers.
Grant won reelection easily thanks to federal prosecution of the Klan, a strong economy, debt reduction, lowered tariffs, and tax reductions.  He received 3.6 million (55.6%) votes to Greeley's 2.8 million votes and an Electoral College landslide of 286 to 66.  A majority of African Americans in the South voted for Grant, while Democratic opposition remained mostly peaceful.  Grant lost in six former slave states that wanted to see an end to Reconstruction.  He proclaimed the victory as a personal vindication of his presidency, but inwardly he felt betrayed by the Liberals.  Grant was sworn in for his second term by Salmon P. Chase on March 4, 1873. In his second inaugural address, he reiterated the problems still facing the nation and focused on what he considered the chief issues of the day: freedom and fairness for all Americans while emphasizing the benefits of citizenship for freed slaves. Grant concluded his address with the words, "My efforts in the future will be directed towards the restoration of good feelings between the different sections of our common community". In 1873, Wilson suffered a stroke; never fully recovering, he died in office on November 22, 1875.   With Wilson's loss, Grant relied on Fish's guidance more than ever.
Panic of 1873 and loss of Congress
Grant continued to work for a strong dollar, signing into law the Coinage Act of 1873, which effectively ended the legal basis for bimetallism (the use of both silver and gold as money), establishing the gold standard in practice.  The Coinage Act discontinued the standard silver dollar and established the gold dollar as the sole monetary standard; because the gold supply did not increase as quickly as the population, the result was deflation. Silverites, who wanted more money in circulation to raise the prices that farmers received, denounced the move as the "Crime of 1873", claiming the deflation made debts more burdensome for farmers.
Economic turmoil renewed during Grant's second term. In September 1873, Jay Cooke & Company, a New York brokerage house, collapsed after it failed to sell all of the bonds issued by Cooke's Northern Pacific Railway. The collapse rippled through Wall Street, and other banks and brokerages that owned railroad stocks and bonds were also ruined.  On September 20, the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading for ten days. Grant, who knew little about finance, traveled to New York to consult leading businessmen and bankers for advice on how to resolve the crisis, which became known as the Panic of 1873. Grant believed that, as with the collapse of the Gold Ring in 1869, the panic was merely an economic fluctuation that affected bankers and brokers.  He instructed the Treasury to buy $10 million in government bonds, injecting cash into the system. The purchases curbed the panic on Wall Street, but an industrial depression, later called the Long Depression, nonetheless swept the nation.  Many of the nation's railroads—89 out of 364—went bankrupt.
Congress hoped inflation would stimulate the economy and passed what became known as the "Inflation Bill" in 1874. Many farmers and workingmen favored the bill, which would have added $64 million in greenbacks to circulation, but some Eastern bankers opposed it because it would have weakened the dollar. Belknap, Williams, and Delano[ax] told Grant a veto would hurt Republicans in the November elections. Grant believed the bill would destroy the credit of the nation, and he vetoed it despite their objections. Grant's veto placed him in the conservative faction of the Republican Party and was the beginning of the party's commitment to a gold-backed dollar. Grant later pressured Congress for a bill to further strengthen the dollar by gradually reducing the number of greenbacks in circulation. When the Democrats gained a majority in the House after the 1874 elections, the lame-duck Republican Congress did so before the Democrats took office. On January 14, 1875, Grant signed the Specie Payment Resumption Act, which required gradual reduction of the number of greenbacks allowed to circulate and declared that they would be redeemed for gold beginning on January 1, 1879.
Scandals and reforms
The post-Civil War economy brought on massive industrial wealth and government expansion. Speculation, lifestyle extravagance, and corruption in federal offices were rampant.  All of Grant's executive departments were investigated by Congress. Grant by nature was honest, trusting, gullible, and extremely loyal. His responses to malfeasance were mixed, at times appointing cabinet reformers, but also at times defending culprits.
Grant in his first term appointed Secretary of Interior Jacob D. Cox, who implemented civil service reform: he fired unqualified clerks, and took other measures. On October 3, 1870, Cox resigned office under a dispute with Grant over handling of a mining claim. Authorized by Congress on March 3, 1871, Grant created the first Civil Service Commission.  The Commission advocated competitive exams, and the end of mandatory political assessments.  which took effect the next year, but Department heads, and others were exempted.
In November 1871, Grant's appointed New York Collector, and Conkling ally, Thomas Murphy, resigned. Grant replaced Murphy with another Conkling ally, Chester A. Arthur, who implemented Boutwell's reforms. A Senate committee investigated the New York Customs House from January 3, 1872, to June 4, 1872. This led to Grant firing warehouse owner George K. Leet, for charging exorbitant freight fees and splitting the profits.  Although exonerated, Grant was derided for his association with Conkling's New York patronage machine.
On March 3, 1873, Grant signed into law an appropriation act that increased pay for federal employees, Congress, the Judiciary, and the President. Grant's annual salary doubled from $25,000 to $50,000. Publically derided, the law was partially repealled, but Grant kept his much needed pay raise.  Grant's personal reputation remained intact.
In 1872, Grant signed into law an act that ended private moiety (tax collection) contracts, but an attached rider allowed three more contracts. Boutwell's assistant secretary William A. Richardson, hired John B. Sanborn to go after "individuals and cooperations" who allegedly evaded taxes. Retained by Richardson (as Secretary), Sanborn aggressively collected $427,000 in supposed delinquent taxes, keeping half for himself, splitting $160,000 of his money with others.  During an 1874 Congressional investigation, Richardson denied involvement, but Sanborn said he met with Richardson six times over the contracts. Congress severely condemned Richardson's permissive manner. Grant appointed Richardson judge of the Court of Claims, and replaced him with reformer Benjamin Bristow. In June, Grant and Congress abolished the moiety system.
Bristow effectively cleaned house, tightened up the Treasury's investigation force, implemented civil service, and fired hundreds of corrupt appointees.  Bristow discovered Treasury receipts were low, and launched an investigation that uncovered the notorious Whiskey Ring, that involved collusion between distillers and Treasury officials to evade paying the Treasury millions in tax revenues.  Much of this money was being pocketed while some of it went into Republican coffers.  Bristow informed Grant of the ring in mid-April and on May 10, Bristow struck.  Federal marshals raided 32 installations nationwide and arrested 350 men; 176 indictments were obtained, leading to 110 convictions and $3,150,000 in fines returned to the Treasury.
Grant appointed David Dyer, under Bristow's recommendation, federal attorney to prosecute the Ring in St. Louis, who indicted Grant's old friend General John McDonald, supervisor of Internal Revenue. Grant endorsed Bristow's investigation writing on a letter "Let no guilty man escape..."  Bristow's investigation discovered Babcock received kickback payments, and that Babcock had secretly forewarned McDonald, the ring's mastermind boss, of the coming investigation.  On November 22, the jury convicted McDonald.  On December 9, Babcock was indicted, however, Grant refused to believe in Babcock's guilt, was ready to testify in Babcock's favor, but Fish warned that doing so would put Grant in the embarrassing position of testifying against a case prosecuted by his own administration.  Instead, Grant remained in Washington and on February 12, 1876, gave a deposition in Babcock's defense, expressing that his confidence in his secretary was "unshaken".  Grant's testimony silenced all but his strongest critics.
The St. Louis jury acquitted Babcock, but there was enough evidence revealed that Grant reluctantly dismissed him from the White House, although Babcock kept his position of Superintendent of Public Buildings in Washington.
The Interior Department under Secretary Columbus Delano, whom Grant appointed to replace Cox, was rife with fraud and corrupt agents and Delano was forced to resign. Surveyor General Silas Reed had set up corrupt contracts that benefited Delano's son, John Delano. Grant's Secretary Interior Zachariah Chandler, who succeeded Delano in 1875, implemented reforms, fired corrupt agents, and ended profiteering.  When Grant was informed by Postmaster Marshall Jewell of a potential Congressional investigation into an extortion scandal involving Attorney General George H. Williams' wife, Grant fired Williams and appointed reformer Edwards Pierrepont in his place. Grant's new cabinet appointments temporarily appeased reformers.
After the Democrats took control of the House in 1875, more corruption in federal departments was exposed.  Among the most damaging scandal involved Secretary of War William W. Belknap, who took quarterly kickbacks from the Fort Sill tradership, which led to his resignation in February 1876.  Belknap was impeached by the House but was acquitted by the Senate.  Grant's own brother Orvil set up "silent partnerships" and received kickbacks from four trading posts.  Congress discovered that Secretary of Navy Robeson had been bribed by a naval contractor, but no articles of impeachment were drawn up.  In his December 5, 1876, Eighth Annual Message, Grant apologized to the nation and admitted mistakes were made: "Failures have been errors of judgement, not of intent."
Election of 1876
The abandonment of Reconstruction by the nation played a central role during the Election of 1876. Mounting investigations into corruption by the House, controlled by the Democrats, politically discredited Grant's presidency.  Grant, by a public letter in 1875, chose not to run for a third term, while the Republicans chose Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, a reformer, at their convention.  The Democrats nominated Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Voting irregularities in three Southern states caused the election that year to remain undecided for several months. Grant told Congress to settle the matter through legislation and assured both sides that he would not use the army to force a result, except to curb violence. On January 29, 1877, he signed legislation forming an Electoral Commission to decide the matter. Hayes was ruled President by the Commission; to forestall Democratic protests, Republicans agreed to the Compromise of 1877, in which the last troops were withdrawn from Southern capitals. With Reconstruction dead, an 80-year era of Jim Crow segregation was launched. Grant's "calm visage" through out the election crisis appeased the nation.
To the chagrin of Grant, President Hayes appointed Reconstruction critics, including Liberal Republican icon Carl Schurz to Secretary of Interior.
Post-presidency
After leaving the White House, Grant said he "was never so happy in my life." The Grants left Washington for New York, to attend the birth of their daughter Nellie's child, staying at Hamilton Fish's residence. Calling themselves "waifs," the Grants toured Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, and Galena, without a clear idea of where they would live afterwards.
World tour and diplomacy
For some years Grant had entertained the idea of taking a long deserved vacation after his presidency and, after liquidating one of his investments to finance the venture, the Grants set out on a world tour that lasted approximately two and a half years.  Grant's voyage abroad was funded by a Nevada-based mining company investment he made that earned him $25,000. (~$600,000 in 2019 dollars) Preparing for the tour, they arrived in Philadelphia on May 10, 1877, and were honored with celebrations during the week before their departure. On May 16, Grant and Julia left for England aboard the SS Indiana. During the tour the Grants made stops in Europe, Africa, India, and points in the Middle East and Far East, meeting with notable dignitaries such as Queen Victoria, Pope Leo XIII, Otto von Bismarck, Emperor Meiji and others. Grant was the first U.S. president to visit Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
As a courtesy to Grant by the Hayes administration, his touring party received federal transportation on three U.S. Navy ships: a five-month tour of the Mediterranean on the USS Vandalia, travel from Hong Kong to China on the USS Ashuelot, and transportation from China to Japan on the USS Richmond.  During the tour, the Hayes administration encouraged Grant to assume a public unofficial diplomatic role to represent the United States and strengthen American interests abroad, while resolving issues for some countries in the process.  Homesick, the Grants left Japan sailing on the SS City of Tokio escorted by a Japanese man-of-war, crossed the Pacific and landed in San Francisco on September 20, 1879, greeted by cheering crowds.  Before returning home to Philadelphia, Grant stopped at Chicago for a reunion with General Sherman and the Army of the Tennessee. Grant's tour demonstrated to much of the world that the United States was an emerging world power.
Third term attempt
Stalwarts, led by Grant's old political ally, Roscoe Conkling, saw Grant's renewed popularity as an opportunity to regain power, and sought to nominate him for the presidency in 1880. Opponents called it a violation of the unofficial two-term rule in use since George Washington. Grant said nothing publicly but wanted the job and encouraged his men. Washburne urged him to run; Grant demurred, saying he would be happy for the Republicans to win with another candidate, though he preferred James G. Blaine to John Sherman. Even so, Conkling and John A. Logan began to organize delegates in Grant's favor. When the convention convened in Chicago in June, there were more delegates pledged to Grant than to any other candidate, but he was still short of a majority vote to get the nomination.
At the convention, Conkling nominated Grant with an eloquent speech, the most famous line being: "When asked which state he hails from, our sole reply shall be, he hails from Appomattox and its famous apple tree."  With 370 votes needed for nomination, the first ballot had Grant at 304, Blaine at 284, Sherman at 93, and the rest to minor candidates.  Subsequent ballots followed, with roughly the same result; neither Grant nor Blaine could win. After thirty-six ballots, Blaine's delegates deserted him and combined with those of other candidates to nominate a compromise candidate: Representative James A. Garfield of Ohio.  A procedural motion made the vote unanimous for Garfield, who accepted the nomination. Grant gave speeches for Garfield but declined to criticize the Democratic nominee, Winfield Scott Hancock, a general who had served under him in the Army of the Potomac.  Garfield won the election. Grant gave Garfield his public support and pushed him to include Stalwarts in his administration. On July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot by an assassin and died on September 19. On learning of Garfield's death from a reporter, Grant wept bitterly.
Business failures
When Grant had returned to America from his costly world tour, he had depleted most of his savings and needed to earn money and find a new home.  Wealthy friends bought him a home on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and to make an income, Grant, Jay Gould, and former Mexican Finance Secretary Matías Romero chartered the Mexican Southern Railroad, with plans to build a railroad from Oaxaca to Mexico City. Grant urged Chester A. Arthur, who had succeeded Garfield as president in 1881, to negotiate a free trade treaty with Mexico. Arthur and the Mexican government agreed, but the United States Senate rejected the treaty in 1883. The railroad was similarly unsuccessful, falling into bankruptcy the following year.
At the same time, Grant's son Buck had opened a Wall Street brokerage house with Ferdinand Ward—although a confidence man who swindled numerous wealthy men, Ward was at the time regarded as a rising star on Wall Street. The firm, Grant & Ward, was initially successful.  In 1883, Grant joined the firm and invested $100,000 of his own money.  Grant, however, warned Ward that if his firm engaged in government business he would dissolve their partnership. To encourage investment, Ward paid investors abnormally high interest, by pledging the company's securities on multiple loans in a process called rehypothecation. Ward, in collusion with banker James D. Fish and kept secret from bank examiners, retrieved the firm's securities from the company's bank vault. When the trades went bad, multiple loans came due, all backed up by the same collateral.
Historians agree that Grant was likely unaware of Ward's intentions, but it is unclear how much Buck Grant knew. In May 1884, enough investments went bad to convince Ward that the firm would soon be bankrupt. Ward, who assumed Grant was "a child in business matters," told him of the impending failure, but assured Grant that this was a temporary shortfall. Grant approached businessman William Henry Vanderbilt, who gave him a personal loan of $150,000.  Grant invested the money in the firm, but it was not enough to save it from failure. Essentially penniless, but compelled by a sense of personal honor, he repaid what he could with his Civil War mementos and the sale or transfer of all other assets. Vanderbilt took title to Grant's home, although he allowed the Grants to continue to reside there, and pledged to donate the souvenirs to the federal government and insisted the debt had been paid in full.  Grant was distraught over Ward's deception and asked privately how he could ever "trust any human being again."
In March 1885, as his health was failing, he testified against both Ward and Fish. Ward was convicted of fraud in October 1885, months after Grant's death, and served six and a half years in prison.  After the collapse of Grant & Ward, there was an outpouring of sympathy for Grant.
Memoirs, pension, and death
Throughout his career, Grant repeatedly told highly detailed stories of his military experiences, often making slight mistakes in terms of dates and locations. As a poor hardscrabble farmer in St. Louis just before the war, he kept his neighbors spellbound till midnight "listening intently to his vivid narrations of Army experiences." In calm moments during the Civil War, he often spoke of his recent experiences, typically "in terse and often eloquent language."  Grant's interpretations changed over time—in his letters written during the Mexican War period, there is no criticism of the war. By contrast his Memoirs are highly critical of the political aspects, condemning the war as unwarranted aggression by the United States. Grant told and retold his war stories so many times that writing his Memoirs was more a matter of repetition and polish rather than trying to recall his memories for the first time.
In the summer of 1884, Grant complained of a sore throat but put off seeing a doctor until late October, when he learned it was cancer, possibly caused by his frequent cigar smoking. Grant chose not to reveal the seriousness of his condition to his wife, who soon found out from Grant's doctor.  Before being diagnosed, Grant was invited to a Methodist service for Civil War veterans in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, on August 4, 1884, receiving a standing ovation from more than ten thousand veterans and others; it would be his last public appearance. In March of the following year, The New York Times announced that Grant was dying of cancer, and a nationwide public concern for the former president began.
Grant was nearly broke and worried constantly about leaving his wife a suitable amount of money to live on. Century magazine offered Grant a book contract with a 10 percent royalty, but Grant's friend Mark Twain, understanding how bad Grant's financial condition was, made him an offer for his memoirs which paid an unheard-of 75 percent royalty. To provide for his family, Grant worked intensely on his memoirs at his home in New York City. His former staff member Adam Badeau assisted him with much of the research, while his son Frederick located documents and did much of the fact-checking.  Because of the summer heat and humidity, his doctors recommended that he move upstate to a cottage at the top of Mount McGregor, offered by a family friend.
Grant finished his memoir and died only a few days later.  Grant's memoirs treat his early life and time in the Mexican–American War briefly and are inclusive of his life up to the end of the Civil War.  The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant was a critical and commercial success. Julia Grant received about $450,000 in royalties (equivalent to $12,800,000 in 2019).  The memoir has been highly regarded by the public, military historians, and literary critics. Grant portrayed himself in the persona of the honorable Western hero, whose strength lies in his honesty and straightforwardness. He candidly depicted his battles against both the Confederates and internal army foes.
After a year-long struggle with throat cancer, surrounded by his family, Grant died at 8:08 a.m. in the Mount McGregor cottage on July 23, 1885, at the age of 63.  Sheridan, then Commanding General of the Army, ordered a day-long tribute to Grant on all military posts, and President Grover Cleveland ordered a thirty-day nationwide period of mourning. After private services, the honor guard placed Grant's body on a special funeral train, which traveled to West Point and New York City. A quarter of a million people viewed it in the two days before the funeral. Tens of thousands of men, many of them veterans from the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), marched with Grant's casket drawn by two dozen black stallions to Riverside Park in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan. His pallbearers included Union generals Sherman and Sheridan, Confederate generals Simon Bolivar Buckner and Joseph E. Johnston, Admiral David Dixon Porter, and Senator John A. Logan, the head of the GAR. Following the casket in the seven-mile-long (11 km) procession were President Cleveland, the two living former presidents Hayes and Arthur, all of the President's Cabinet, as well as the justices of the Supreme Court.
Attendance at the New York funeral topped 1.5 million.  Ceremonies were held in other major cities around the country, while Grant was eulogized in the press and likened to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Grant's body was laid to rest in Riverside Park, first in a temporary tomb, and then—twelve years later, on April 17, 1897—in the General Grant National Memorial, also known as "Grant's Tomb", the largest mausoleum in North America.
Historical reputation
Grant was hailed across the North as the winning general in the American Civil War and overall his military reputation has held up fairly well. Achieving great national fame for his victories at Vicksburg and the surrender at Appomattox, he was widely credited as the General who "saved the Union". Criticized by the South for using excessive force, his overall military reputation stands intact.  Grant's drinking was often exaggerated by the press and falsely stereotyped by many of his rivals and critics.  Grant's reputation fell when the popularity of the pro-Confederate Lost Cause theory and the Dunning School movement grew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the 1950s, some historians made a reassessment of Grant's military career, shifting the analysis of Grant as the victor by brute force to that of successful, skillful, modern strategist and commander.  William S. McFeely won the Pulitzer Prize for his critical 1981 biography that credited Grant's initial presidential efforts on civil rights, but lamented his failure to carry out lasting progress.  However, historians still debate how effective Grant was at halting corruption. The scandals during the Grant administration were often used to stigmatize his political reputation.
In the 21st century, Grant's reputation among historians has improved markedly, starting with Jean Edward Smith's 2001 Grant biography.  Opinions of Grant's presidency demonstrate a better appreciation of Grant's personal integrity, Reconstruction efforts, and peace policy towards Indians, even when they fell short.  Ronald White said Grant, "demonstrated a distinctive sense of humility, moral courage, and determination," and as president he "stood up for African-Americans, especially fighting against voter suppression perpetuated by the Ku Klux Klan."  White's American Ulysses (2016) and Ron Chernow's Grant (2017) continued the elevation of Grant's historical reputation. Some historians while noting some of Grant's presidential successes, question whether Grant's revived reputation among scholars has been found in the "popular consciousness."
Memorials and presidential library
Several memorials honor Grant. In addition to his mausoleum—Grant's Tomb in New York City—there is the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial at the foot of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Created by sculptor Henry Merwin Shrady and architect Edward Pearce Casey, and dedicated in 1922, it overlooks the Capitol Reflecting Pool. In 2015, restoration work began, which is expected to be completed before the bicentennial of Grant's birth in 2022.
The Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site near St. Louis, and several other sites in Ohio and Illinois memorialize Grant's life.  The U.S. Grant Cottage State Historic Site, located at the top of Mount McGregor in Wilton, New York, preserves the house in which he completed his memoirs and died.  There are smaller memorials in Chicago's Lincoln Park and Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. Named in his honor are Grant Park, as well as several counties in western and midwestern states. On June 3, 1891, a bronze statue of Grant by Danish sculptor Johannes Gelert was dedicated at Grant Park in Galena, Illinois.  From 1890 to 1940, part of what is now Kings Canyon National Park was called General Grant National Park, named for the General Grant sequoia.
In May 2012, the Ulysses S. Grant Foundation, on the institute's fiftieth anniversary, selected Mississippi State University as the permanent location for Ulysses S. Grant's presidential library.  Historian John Y. Simon edited Grant's letters into a 32-volume scholarly edition published by Southern Illinois University Press.
Grant's image has appeared on the front of the United States fifty-dollar bill since 1913. In 1921, the Ulysses S. Grant Centenary Association was founded with the goal of coordinating special observances and erecting monuments in recognition of Grant's historical role. The venture was financed by the minting of 10,000 gold dollars (depicted below) and 250,000 half dollars. The coins were minted and issued in 1922, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Grant's birth.  Grant has also appeared on several U.S. postage stamps, the first one issued in 1890, five years after his death.
Notes
Vice President Wilson died in office. As this was prior to the adoption of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment in 1967, a vacancy in the office of Vice President was not filled until the next ensuing election and inauguration.
Grant's step-grandmother Sarah Simpson, an educated woman who read French classical literature, spoke up for the name Ulysses, the legendary, ancient Greek hero.
Biographer Edward G. Longacre offers the theory held by some biographers that Grant's parents' decision was based on their recognition of his aversion to music. Longacre, however, also suggests that not pushing religion may have been a form of simple parental neglect.
One source says Hamer nominated Grant Ulysses Sidney Grant.  Another source says Hamer thought the "S" stood for Simpson, Grant's mother's maiden name.  According to Grant, the "S." did not stand for anything. Upon graduation from the academy he adopted the name "Ulysses S. Grant" .
In another version of the story, Grant inverted his first and middle names to register at West Point as "Ulysses Hiram Grant" because he thought reporting to the academy with a trunk that carried the initials H.U.G. would subject him to teasing and ridicule. Upon finding that Hamer had nominated him as "Ulysses S. Grant." Grant decided to keep the name because he could avoid the "hug" monogram and it was easier to keep the wrong name than to try changing school records.
All the graduates were mounted on horses during the ceremony.
Several scholars, including Jean Edward Smith, Ron Chernow, and Charles B. Flood said that Longstreet was Grant's best man and the two other officers were Grant's groomsmen.  All three served in the Confederate Army and surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.
William McFeely said that Grant left the army simply because he was "profoundly depressed" and that the evidence as to how much and how often Grant drank remains elusive. Jean Edward Smith maintains Grant's resignation was too sudden to be a calculated decision. Buchanan never mentioned it again until asked about it during the Civil War. The effects and extent of Grant's drinking on his military and public career are debated by historians.  Lyle Dorsett said Grant was an "alcoholic" but functioned amazingly well. William Farina maintains Grant's devotion to family kept him from drinking to excess and sinking into debt.
Jesse's tannery business was later known as "Grant & Perkins" in 1862.
Rawlins later became Grant's aide-de-camp and close friend during the war.
Grant's position about a civil war was made clear in an April 21 letter to his father; "we have a government and laws and a flag, and they must all be sustained. There are but two parties now, Traitors and Patriots ..."
Frémont dismissed rumors of Grant's drunkenness years earlier in the regular army, saying there was something about Grant's manner "that was sufficient to counteract the influence of what they said."
In response to allegations of Grant's drinking, his staff officer, William R. Rowley, maintained that the allegation was a fabricated lie. Other witnesses claimed that Grant was sober on the morning of April 6.
Grant's father, and his Jewish partners, the Mack Brothers, visited Grant's camp to get a legal cotton trade permit, which further infuriated Grant, who ordered them to leave the district on the next train.
Thirty Jewish families were expelled from Paducah, Kentucky.
In 2012, historian Jonathan D. Sarna said: ..."Gen. Ulysses S. Grant issued the most notorious anti-Jewish official order in American history"....  Grant made amends with the Jewish community during his presidency, appointing them to various federal positions.  In 2017, biographer Ron Chernow said of Grant: ..."Grant as president atoned for his action in a multitude of meaningful ways. He was never a bigoted, hate-filled man and was haunted by his terrible action for the rest of his days."  In 2019, historian Donald L. Miller said: "Why Grant singled out Jews will never be known."
Meade had followed Halleck's cautious approach to fighting, and Grant was there to give him direction and encouragement to be more aggressive.
Republican Senator Charles Sumner thwarted an effort to make an exemption for Stewart's appointment to hold office, that caused contention with Grant.
Borie's notable achievement was to desegregate the Washington Navy Yard.
Grant's vision of Reconstruction included federal enforcement of civil rights and acceptance of black citizenship without violence and intimidation.
Southern Reconstructed states were controlled by Republican carpetbaggers, scalawags and former slaves. By 1877 the conservative Democrats had full control of the region and Reconstruction was dead.
The strongest of these laws was the Ku Klux Klan Act, passed on April 20, 1871, that authorized the president to impose martial law and suspend the writ of habeas corpus.
Akerman returned over 3,000 indictments of the Klan throughout the South and obtained 600 convictions for the worst offenders.
To placate the South in 1870, Grant signed the Amnesty Act, which restored political rights to former Confederates.
Civil rights prosecutions continued but with fewer yearly cases and convictions.
Additionally, Grant's Postmaster General, John Creswell used his patronage powers to integrate the postal system and appointed a record number of African American men and women as postal workers across the nation, while also expanding many of the mail routes. Grant appointed Republican abolitionist and champion of black education Hugh Lennox Bond as U.S. Circuit Court judge.
Supreme Court rulings in the Slaughter-House Cases and United States v. Cruikshank restricted federal enforcement of civil rights.
His Peace Policy aimed to replace entrepreneurs serving as Native American agents with missionaries and aimed to protect Native Americans on reservations and educate them in farming.
Grant believed that Native Americans, given opportunities for education and work, could serve alongside white men.
Bison were hunted almost to the point of extinction during the latter 1800s, Yellowstone National Park was the only remaining place in the country where free-roaming herds persisted.
Sheridan reminded Grant that post-Civil War army was undermanned and that the territory involved was vast, requiring great numbers of soldiers to enforce the treaty.
In spite of Grant's efforts, over 200 battles were fought with Native Americans during his presidency.  The policy was considered humanitarian for its time but was later criticized for disregarding tribal cultures.
The 1877 Black Hills take over by the federal government has remained in dispute by the Sioux tribe, as no monetary funding was given for the land, and only 10% of the tribal males signed the cession agreement.
In Europe, Otto von Bismarck was leading Prussia into a dominant position in the new united German Empire. After short, decisive wars with Denmark, Austria and France ended in 1871, Bismarck was the dominant figure in Europe, and worked tirelessly and successfully to promote a peaceful continent until his removal in 1890.
Urged by his Secretary of War Rawlins, Grant initially supported recognition of Cuban belligerency, but Rawlins's death on September 6, 1869, removed any cabinet support for military intervention.
The international tribunal awarded the United States $15,500,000.
There is evidence to suggest in Babcock's diary that he was offered 1,000 acres of land in exchange for annexation.
In March 1871, Sumner was deposed of his Senate chairmanship, replaced by Grant ally Simon Cameron.
Butterfield was to send coded messages to Gould and Fisk to secretly alert them of Treasury gold sales by Boutwell.
Corbin and Gould ordered Grant's personal secretary Horace Porter $500,000 in gold and purchased $1.5 million in gold for Corbin.
Grant's inner circle, including Julia, were rumored to also have been given speculative gold accounts.
An 1870 Congressional investigation chaired by James A. Garfield cleared Grant of profiteering, but excoriated Gould and Fisk for their manipulation of the gold market and Corbin for exploiting his personal connection to Grant.
The Democrats were in disarray over the 1871 Tweed Ring scandal in New York City.
Details revealed of the 1867 Crédit Mobilier bribery scandal, implicating both Colfax and Wilson, stung the Grant administration, but Grant was not connected to the corruption.
Greeley died on November 28, 1872, as a result, his electoral votes were split between four candidates. Thomas A. Hendricks, the governor-elect of Indiana, received the majority: 42 electoral votes.
The day after his Inauguration, Grant wrote a letter to Colfax expressing his faith and trust in Colfax's integrity and allowed him to publish the letter, but the effort only served to compromise Grant's reputation.
Thomas W. Ferry, President pro tempore of the Senate, was first in line in the United States presidential line of succession from November 22, 1875 to March 4, 1877.
The gold standard and deflation economy remained in effect into the mid-1890s.
Grant and Delano, his second Secretary of Interior, were third cousins.
The 1879 date was more distant than Grant had hoped, but the knowledge that paper money would soon be worth its face value in gold drove them towards parity before the bill took effect. The country was still not on the gold standard, with silver coins remaining lawful currency.
William McGarrahan claimed ownership of a lucrative California quicksilver mine under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department. Cox, who worked the mine believed McGarrahan was a "fraudulent claimant." Grant wanted the dispute settled by Congress.
When Congress failed to make the Commission's reform rules permanent, Grant dissolved the Commission in 1874.
McFeely, writing in 1981, believed that Grant knew of Babcock's guilt, while Smith, in 2001, believed the evidence against Babcock was circumstantial at best.
To restore his family's income and reputation, Grant wrote several articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century Magazine at $500 (equivalent to $14,000 in 2019) each. The articles were well received by critics, and the editor, Robert Underwood Johnson, suggested that Grant write a book of memoirs, as Sherman and others had done. Grant's articles would serve as the basis for several chapters.
Today, medical historians believed he suffered from a T1N1 carcinoma of the tonsillar fossa.
Knowing of Grant and Julia's financial difficulties, Congress sought to honor him and restored him to the rank of General of the Army with full retirement pay—Grant's assumption of the presidency in 1869 had required that he resign his commission and forfeit his (and his widow's) pension.
Twain called the Memoirs a "literary masterpiece." Given over a century of favorable literary analysis, reviewer Mark Perry states that the Memoirs are "the most significant work" of American non-fiction.