The Grant Administration ( )

Transcription

1 The Grant Administration ( ) The 1868 Republican Ticket President Candidate: Ulysses S. Grant VP Candidate: Schuyler Colfax 1868 Democratic Ticket President Candidate: Horatio Seymour VP Candidate: Frank P. Blair Waving the Bloody Shirt! And Republican Southern Strategy 1868 Presidential Election Electoral Votes: Grant 214 Seymour 80 President Ulysses S. Grant Grant Administration Scandals Grant presided over an era of unprecedented growth and corruption. Grant s Vice President was in a scheme to steal profits from the railroads. Members of Grant s administration were suspected of corruption. Many city officials sold contracts to their friends across the country. Credit Mobilier Scandal

2 Whiskey Ring The Indian Ring The Tweed Ring in NYC William Marcy Tweed (notorious head of Tammany Hall s political machine) [Thomas Nast crusading cartoonist/reporter] By 1872, matters other than Reconstruction drew the nation s attention. Immigration increased in the North and West. Corruption and intrigue had become part of local and national governments. In 1873, national banks failed. The Election of 1872 Rumors of corruption during Grant s first term discredit Republicans. Horace Greeley runs as a Democrat / Liberal Republican candidate. Greeley attacked as a fool and a crank. Greeley died on November 29, 1872! 1872 Presidential Election Results Electoral Votes Grant: 286 Hendricks: 42 Brown: 18 Greeley: 3

3 Jenkins: 2 Davis: 1 The Panic of 1873 In 1873 one of the nation s most influential banks failed. * The bank had overextended loans to the railroad industry. * A nationwide loss of jobs, more bank failures, and economic depression in the North followed. Legal Challenges Slaughterhouse Cases The Court restricted the scope of the 14th Amendment. 1873: A citizen has national rights but it was up to the state to choose how to define the rights for those who lived there. 1876: Due process and equal protection clauses only protected citizens from the actions of the state, not other citizens. Black "Adjustment" in the South African Americans played an important role in Reconstruction politics both as voters and elected officials. As a result, this contributed to the Republican control not only on the federal level, but the state level as well. There was much resistance to some radicals in the south, and most white southerners opposed efforts to expand the rights of African Americans. Freed African Americans sought to build new communities. Cities - moved to look for jobs as cooks, blacksmiths, or carpenters Rural areas - worked at farming, lumbering, and re-building railroads

4 Black Churches - established black churches that became centers of their communities Reconstruction state constitutions mandated the creation of the public school system. The system was expensive as there needed to be two schools in every district due to segregation. Black Senate & House Delegates First Black Senators: Hiram Revels & Blanche Bruce Blacks in Southern Politics Core voters were black veterans. Blacks were politically unprepared. Blacks could register and vote in states since The 15 th Amendment guaranteed federal voting. 15 th Amendment Ratified in The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Women s rights groups were furious that they were not granted the vote!

5 The Ku Klux Klan Violence against African Americans became commonplace during Reconstruction and would continue for many decades. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan were formed and launched violent raids upon African Americans. The Failure of Federal Enforcement Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 [also known as the KKK Act]. The acts made it federal crime to interfere with a citizen s right to vote. Congress used the Enforcement Acts to indict Klansmen throughout the South. Although violence declined, racial hatred persisted. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 Crime for any individual to deny full & equal use of public conveyances and public places. Prohibited discrimination in jury selection. Shortcoming lacked a strong enforcement mechanism. No new civil rights act was attempted for 90 years! The Abandonment of Reconstruction Northern Support Wanes Grantism & corruption. Panic of 1873 [6-year depression]. Concern over westward expansion and Indian wars. Key monetary issues:

6 * should the government retire $432m worth of greenbacks issued during the Civil War. * should war bonds be paid back in specie or greenbacks Presidential Ticket Republican President Republican VP Democratic President Democratic VP Rutherford B. Hayes - William A. Wheeler - Samuel J. Tilden - Thomas A. Hendricks 1876 Presidential results Electoral Votes: Hayes: 185 Tilden: 184 The Political Crisis of 1877 Corrupt Bargain Part II? Informal unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 Presidential Election and ended Congressional Reconstruction. Hayes Prevails Through it, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel j. Tilden on the understanding that Hayes would remove the federal troops that were propping up Republican state governments in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana.

7 A Political Crisis: The Compromise of 1877 Congress resolved the disputed election of 1876 with the Compromise of Rutherford B. Hayes became President. Remaining federal troops were withdrawn from the South. A southerner was appointed to a powerful cabinet position. Southern states were guaranteed federal subsidies to build railroads and improve their ports. The End of Reconstruction Reconstruction was both a success and a failure. On the one hand, it helped the south recover from the war, and on the other hand, yet economic recovery was far from complete. Under Reconstruction, African Americans gained greater equality and joined whites in creating new governments that were more democratic than the south had ever seen. These improvements for Africans Americans were short lived. It would take nearly a century for Africans Americans to gain full equality in the United States, for segregation, the separation of races, would haunt the Union for several years. The First Failed Civil Rights Era