Ulysses S. Grant's Presidency (1869-1877)

Question 1

The 1868 Election

Answer 1

• 1868: Republicans chose Grant as the presidential candidate
• His Democrat opponent was Horatio Seymour who opposed the Reconstruction and the equality of African-Americans
• Grant won 52% of the popular vote as a result of African-American support

Question 2

The 1872 Election

Answer 2

• Grant easily defeated Horace Greely in a second presidential election
• He won over 55% of the popular vote
• His opponent, Greely, claimed that there was no longer a need for all the Reconstruction policies, once again the majority voting for Grant were African Americans

Question 3

Southern Republicanism
during Reconstruction

Answer 3

• Grant was in favour of the firm treatment of the South in the Reconstruction process
• New state governments had been established in the South, which was now under military rule, these new govs were often corrupt and inefficient
• Majority of new officials were Northerners nicknamed ‘carpetbaggers’ after the type of suitcase they carried
• They were helped by a few Southern whites called ‘scalawags’ with the term derived from a nickname for low quality farm animals
• Most Southern whites detested the Republican newcomers who, they believed, were determined to destroy the Southern way of life

Question 4

The 15th Amendment

Answer 4

• Introduced in 1869
• Stated that ‘the right to vote should not be denied on account of race, colour or previous conditions of servitude.’
• Amendment ensured that citizens of any colour or race could vote wherever they lived

Question 5

The Gold Standard Panic Scandal
(1869)

Answer 5

• A group of speculators attempted to influence the government and manipulate the gold market
• The plot failed and resulted in financial panic on 24th September 1869, known as Black Friday
• Grant was not directly involved but his reputation suffered as he had become personally associated with 2 of the speculators: James Fisk and Jay Gould prior to the scandal

Question 6

The Whiskey Ring Scandal
(1875)

Answer 6

• Involved a network of distillers, distributors and public officials who conspired to defraud the federal government of millions in liquor tax
• Grant’s private secretary, Orville Babcock, was indicated in the scandal but, with help of the President, was later acquitted

Question 7

Grant’s Indian Peace
Policy (1869-1877)

Answer 7

• Grant’s aim was the cultural and political assimilation of Native Americans into the American life through the rights of citizenship, rather than extermination of war (genocide)
• This was done by implementing features such as education, Christianity and agriculture
• ‘A system which looks to the extinction of a race too is too horrible for a nation to adopt’