CHAPTER 15

Postwar General and President

A FEW DAYS after Lincoln’s death, Major General Joseph Johnston surrendered to Sherman near Raleigh, North Carolina, and by the middle of the summer all Confederate forces had laid down their arms. Following the Civil War, Grant’s main focus was to assist President Andrew Johnson with reconstruction. But he also had other concerns and one of them was to contend with Emperor Maximilian and the French army who had taken over Mexico under the authority of Napoleon III. Grant put military pressure on the French army to leave Mexico by sending fifty thousand troops led by his former cavalry commander, Phil Sheridan, to the south Texas border. Grant secretly told Sheridan to do whatever it took to get Maximilian to abdicate and the French army to leave Mexico. Sheridan sent Benito Juárez, the ousted leader of Mexico, sixty thousand American rifles to aid in an effort to defeat Maximilian. By 1866, the French army completely withdrew from Mexico, leaving Maximilian to fend for himself. On July 25, 1866, Congress had promoted Grant to the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States.

Still the issue plaguing the country and President Johnson sent Grant on a fact-finding tour of the South. Grant reported to President Johnson that military occupation should remain in the South and that the Freedmen’s Bureau was an “absolute necessity.” Throughout the Reconstruction period, thousands of blacks were elected to political offices and became sheriffs and assessors while Grant and the military protected their rights initially by overturning the black codes in 1867. The Southern states were divided into five military districts to ensure that African Americans’ newly granted constitutional and congressional rights were protected. Although Grant was initially in favor of using limited military force, he authorized Sheridan to remove public officials in Louisiana who were against congressional Reconstruction. This finally ended with the Compromise of 1877 and the complete withdrawal of military troops from the Southern states.

With Lincoln deceased Grant was the most popular man in the country. So when President Johnson was at loggerheads with the Congress over Reconstruction, he decided to take his case to the people with his infamous “swing around the circle” throughout the country and by having Grant travel with him. Grant, wishing to appear loyal to his commander in chief, agreed to accompany Johnson; however, he confided to Julia that he thought Johnson’s speeches were a “national disgrace.” Grant continued his efforts to appear loyal while not alienating Republican legislators essential to his future. Johnson had for some time wished to replace Secretary of War Stanton, who sympathized with Congressional Reconstruction, and asked Grant to take the post in an effort to keep him in his camp, and under his control as a potential political rival. Grant’s reply was a recommendation against the move, in light of the Tenure of Office Act, which required Senate approval of any removal of a cabinet appointment subject to their advice and consent. Johnson forced the issue by making it an interim appointment during a Senate recess. Grant relented and agreed to accept the post temporarily, fearing that he might be rendered irrelevant politically.

Later when the Senate reinstated Stanton, Johnson requested that Grant refuse to surrender the office to Stanton and let the courts resolve the matter. Nevertheless, Grant stepped aside, and incurred the open wrath of the president during a cabinet meeting immediately afterwards for allegedly breaking a promise not to do so, which Grant disputed. Johnson’s true frustration was with Grant’s decidedly “going over” to the Radicals’ side.

On January 14, 1868, Johnson launched a media campaign in an attempt to discredit Grant over giving the War Department to Stanton, stating Grant had been deceptive in the matter. Grant, however, defended himself in a written response to the president. The response was made public knowledge, which increased his national popularity, and Grant emerged from the controversy unscathed. Grant also was able to stand apart from the president’s impeachment proceedings which ensued from his attempt to remove Stanton.

By this time Grant was touted as the next president and he ran for the office as the Republican candidate. At his party’s convention in 1868, Grant’s nomination, which he won on the first ballot, was a mere formality. Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax of Indiana was designated his running mate. The Democrats named New York governor Horatio Seymour to oppose them. As was the custom of the times, Grant did not campaign. But he was easily the most popular candidate, and his election was never seriously challenged. He won the Electoral College vote by a nearly 3:1 margin over Seymour. However, he won the popular vote by only 300,000, tallying far below that needed for a governing mandate.

Coming into office President Grant alienated his party politics. When he appointed his cabinet, he did not turn to Republicans for their advice. Instead, he chose people he thought he could trust and to whom he could delegate responsibility. This strategy led to some good cabinet appointments but also to a number of poor choices. Grant was also loyal out of all proportion to anyone who had helped him or worked with him. As a result, he was sometimes unwilling to remove ineffective people, and some areas of his administration suffered from incompetence and corruption.

In his first inaugural address, Grant spoke of his desire for the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which sought to give citizens the right to vote regardless of race or previous servitude. He lobbied hard to get the amendment passed, angering many Southern whites in the process. He also, on occasion, sent in the military to protect African Americans from newly formed terrorist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, which tried to prevent blacks from participating in society. Grant incurred the wrath of citizens who blamed him for the economic woes that plagued the nation in the aftermath of the war. In 1872, however, Grant won reelection.

During his second term, a depression in Europe spread to the United States, resulting in high unemployment. Scandals also diverted attention from the administration’s efforts. Although Grant was never personally implicated in any of the scandals, he did not disassociate himself from the members of his administration who were guilty. His inability to clean up his administration tarnished his reputation in the eyes of the American public. In 1875, he announced that he would not seek a third term. The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes to be their standard-bearer in the 1876 election.

The Grant administration has unfairly been labeled one of the most corrupt in US history. Despite the scandals that arose during his tenure, Grant was never personally involved with any of them, and his honesty and personal integrity were never questioned. Still, his inability to clean up his own administration was a blight on his presidential record. Grant’s disdain for politics might be responsible for some of the corruption in his administration. He believed that his more straightforward approach was superior, but his inability or unwillingness to play the political game led him to become involved with people of an unsavory reputation. And his loyalty to those who served him prevented him from ruthlessly purging his administration of ineffective or corrupt politicians.

Ulysses S. Grant left the White House in 1877, confessing in a stellar farewell address to Congress that it had been his “misfortune to be called to the Office of Chief Executive without any political training” and apologizing for his “errors of judgment.” Perhaps some of Grant’s troubles as president are related to his dislike for politics. He came into office wanting to serve all the American people and was determined to avoid party politics. At the same time, he did not really understand politics, which damaged his effectiveness as President.