Ulysses S. Grant and The Gilded Age - Essay Example

Ulysses S. Grant and The Gilded Age Table of Contents Introduction/Thesis 3 The Rise of Grant 3 The Gold Ring 6 The Native Population 8 The Whiskey Ring 10 After Grant: Technology and Labor 12 References 14 Introduction / Thesis The Gilded Age, marked by rapid economic and industrial advances, as well as racial tension and corruption, is one of the most noteworthy periods in American History. At the center of this movement was general-turned-president, Ulysses S. Grant. While history cannot help but respect Grant's morals and ethics in dealing with highly sensitive issues, the corruption that flourished during his terms, and even in his own administration, often casts a more memorable shadow over the era. Indeed, although an entire book could be dedicated to said corruption, and some have, this essay will focus in Grant's rise to the presidency and his administration's dealings in: The Gold Ring, Native American Population, The Whiskey Ring, and (briefly) technology and labor advances following his terms. The Rise of Grant Mark Twain once wrote of The Gilded Age, "Some men worship rank, some worship heroes, some worship power, some worship God, and over these ideals they dispute and cannot unite-but they all worship money."1 Twain, coincidentally was a close friend of Ulysses S. Grant; and any discussion of The Gilded Age would be remiss if it did not begin with Grant. Fresh off landmark victories in the Civil War, Grant was quite possibly the most popular man in America. He was a landslide winner for the Republican Party without even making a single stumping speech. Grant was noted for his steadfast determination to meet resistance and pound away until he emerged victorious. Abraham Lincoln, when asked why he liked Grant responded, simply, "He fights." "The qualities that Grant brought to the Union armies did not transfer so easily to the presidency."2 Indeed, following the close of the Civil War, the nation was expanding economically and geographically at a terrific rate. The mentality of "pounding away" was not one best suited to this type of growth. Further, his political and financial naivet would only make matters worse as "his closest political advisers were accused (and often convicted of massive corruption."3 To be fair, keeping up with such expansion would have been a difficult task for any man. The challenges seem mind-boggling, even by contemporary standards. After the Civil War the United States was saddled with a huge national debt, the South's economy was virtually destroyed, the West was being opened up at a rapid pace (despite the increasingly desperate resistance of those whom Grant called "the original occupants of the land"), and the industrialization would very shortly make U.S. productivity soar above that of the United Kingdom. New inventions small and large were changing American life at a dizzying pace: the telegraph, the vast expansion of the railroads, gaslight, the iron-hulled, steam-engined ocean liner and battleship, new agricultural machinery, the safety razor, the repeating rifle, the fountain pen-there seemed no end to American invention and ingenuity-while at the same time the cities of the Northeast and Midwest expanded at breakneck speed to accommodate millions of new immigrants, creating a building boom and sending land prices sky high.4 Faced with all of these challenges, Grant took an unheard of approach in selecting members for his cabinet. He had long since made known his disdain for the political games of Washington. And rather than appoint public officials well-versed the problems of the day, Grant opted to appoint a collection of personal acquaintances and former military connections. Of course, "traditional interpretations of the Grant administration assert that the president-elect erred in not consulting broadly among the nation's political leaders before selecting his cabinet."5 The Senate, initially stunned by the nominations, went on to confirm his appointment in less than two hours time. With his cabinet chosen, with the exception of the Secretary of War, the media was championing his cause. "The New York Times took up the cry. 'General Grant will have for his chief assistants only those who are untainted with the trickery and corruption which are the bane of contemporary politics.'"6 In hindsight, however, one can see the naivet of the situation. In fact, it didn't take long at all before Grant encountered problems. A statute drafted by Alexander Hamilton 80 years prior prohibited any business owner or tradesman from occupying could head the position of Head of the Department of the Treasury. Grant's choice, Alexander Stewart, was the nation's leading retailer and, thus, clearly ineligible for the position. The Senate removed him. Days later, Elihu Washburne abdicated his position as secretary of state, catching many by surprise. Though he would later accept a role as minister to France, his sudden departure, paired with the removal of Stewart and lack of an appointment for the War Department, left Grant's cabinet only half full by the end of his first week an office.7 These initial difficulties were just a hint of the problems Grant would soon face. The Gold Ring The economy was of utmost importance to Grant. As the nation was expanding, the ability to move capital was critical. Additionally, to compete on an international scale, the nation's credit had to be solid. After The Civil War, much economical work needed to be done. The debt, which stood at just $64 million in 1860, had skyrocketed to $2.4 billion because of wartime financing. Most of the debt was held in bonds. Grant sought to repay these debts in principal and interest. Shortly after stating his opinion on the matter, he signed the Act to Strengthen the Public Credit-the first law of his administration.8 The law insisted that the government pay bondholders in gold and redeem paper money. Almost immediately upon signing the bill into the law, the price of gold dropped to its lowest price in years: $130 and ounce. The results were stunning. Within six months, the debt had been reduced by $50 million. The sporadic nature of the selling of gold (i.e. how much would be sold and when) made for an unpredictable market. And it didn't take long to figure out that, if one could predict the gold market-or better yet, influence the gold market-one could buy vast amounts of gold at a low price and corner the marker, driving the price up, and increasing the personal value. But how Heads of the Erie Railroad, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, set out to accomplish just such a feat. They started by trying to buy their way into information; they offered to bribe anyone associated with the administration or Grant, including an offer of $250,000 bribe to the first lady, Julia Grant! While many turned them down, the two managed to swing the president's brother-in-law, Abel Rathbone Corbin, and the assistant treasurer in New York, Daniel Butterfield-a known supporter and fund raiser for Grant. On September 1 [Gould] instructed his brokers to purchase $1.5 million in gold for Corbin's account, and another $1.5 million for Butterfield. For every dollar increase in the price of gold, each man would net a $15,000 profit. Butterfield and Corbin were Gould's early warning network. If the government planned to change policy, it was now in their best interest to let him know.9 With this simple system in place, Gould and Fisk started buying gold at an amazing rate. The market felt the move immediately, as the price of gold started to climb. Within three weeks, they had accumulated more than $100 million on gold and had the New York economy on the brink of total collapse as the price of gold had risen $30 and ounce to $160 an ounce. Along the way, however, Grant figured things out when his brother-in-law, Corbin, urged that the secretary of the Treasury defy all logic and continue to keep selling. With the economy ready to fold, Grant gave the order to sell off $4 million in gold and buy $4 million in bonds. Within minutes of the news, the price of gold plummeted from $162 an ounce to $133 an ounce, effectively breaking the gold ring. The economy took months and even years to recover, however, as banks closed, farmers saw the bottom fall out of the grain market and stock prices fell 20 percent. Gould and Fisk got off clean. The Native Population It can be said that the Native American population in America had no greater friend than President Grant. A staunch defender of both peace and civil liberties, he had great respect for the native peoples and sought for peaceful protection of them at all costs. Knowing that colonialism could never recede, Grant looked to establish reservation system upon which Native Americans could, if nothing else, be free from attack and further encroachment on their properties. In 1867, a Peace Coalition recommended: "that the Indians be resettled on protected reservations where they could be taught the white man's ways. English was to be introduced, schools established, and resident farmers provided to teach nomadic tribesmen agricultural techniques."10 To further control matters, Grant established a Bureau of Indian Affairs and removed all previous local Indian affairs officers found to be corrupt or lax in their duties; he replaced them withQuakers and church groups. Still, Grant's efforts were often undermined by continued skirmishes between white settlers (backed by Western officials who had little regard for the natives) and renegade pockets of Native Americans. As whites found native land to be of any value for buffalo hunting (i.e. Colorado) or gold mining (i.e. Colorado and South Dakota), they readily moved in with blatant disregard for the natives' federally-protected status. Other Indian groups, fed up with having their land "appointed to them," occasionally took up arms in efforts to re-inhabit their former lands (i.e. Oregon and California). Grant pressed on in his cause asking for reservations to have schools, houses, and churches. By today's standards, his desire to force white man's ways upon the natives by replacing their cultural norms, would seem as a type of corruption in itself. At the time, however, Grant's biggest priority was in creating peaceful relations. If making the natives a little more like the settlers and getting them to function in the white system saved lives and prevented violence, it would seem that cultural assimilation was the better option. During his entire presidency, Grant was a steadfast defender of rights for Native Americans, giving the War Department strict orders: "When lands are secured to the Indians by treaty against the occupation by whites, the military commander should keep intruders off by military force if necessary."11 Military force, of course, we now know has never been favorable for Native Americans. In 1874-1875 the natives, particularly the Sioux in Black Hills of the Dakota Territory were being overrun by white settlers who heard word of gold in the Black Hills. The Sioux were unable to turn back the influx and appealed to the president for help. Grant, in turn, called upon General Sheridan. It was a mistake of grave proportions. Sheridan was not fond of the Indians and only followed Grant's lead because of Grant's superior rank. That was about to change. Grant told Sheridan to reinforce the area to protect the Indians. Sheridan replied that his forces were already stretched too thin to fulfill that request; that was a lie. Grant took Sheridan at his word, and reluctantly ordered that the Sioux be rounded up and herded on to protected lands. For Sheridan and his field officers, this was a unique opportunity to exert force on the Indian populations. Great battles ensued, most notably the massacre of Custer at Little Big Horn. While Custer's aggression was hardly called for, his death would become a military rallying call against the natives. Still, Grant, true to form, tried to stay the course. It can surely be said that for eight years, Grant swam against the tide of public opinion in hopes for peaceful Indian assimilation. The Whiskey Ring With the economy on the upswing, Reconstruction slowly working, Indian assimilation in progress, and rapid expansion into the West, Grant was a landslide winner for a second term. His second term, however, would be much more troublesome than the first. In addition to numerous white supremacy issues in the South, especially the rise to prominence of the Klu Klux Klan, Grant's primary focus was on eliminating corruption from big business. Unfortunately, this mission exposed gross corruption on behalf of local, state, and federal government workers; most notable was the Whiskey Ring. For more than a decade, rumors abounded that the liquor industry was scheming the government out of tremendous sums of tax money.12 Benjamin H. Bristow, Grant's newly appointed secretary of the Treasury set out on a personal mission to get to the bottom of the matter for good. Bristow soon learned that, to get to the bottom of this mess, it would take a lot of digging. It was estimated that as many as 15 millions barrels of whiskey slipped through tax laws annually. Distillers were found to have paid off local low-revenue agents on a regular basis. More disturbing, however, was that the chain of bribes, rumor had it, went all the up to the high ranks of the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department. Bristow attacked the issue with ferocity and compiled overwhelming evidence leading to more than 350 indictments, including members of his own department such as William Avery, chief clerk of the Treasury, who was convicted. Others indicted included General John McDonald and John A. Joyce, collector and deputy collector in St Louis.13 The biggest shock, however, was Brevet Brigadier General Orville Babcock, principal secretary to the president. Rather than cover up the issue, Grant told Bristow to find as much information as he could and, if found guilty, to punish Babcock to the limit of the law. If it was true that Babcock was taking payoffs, Grant viewed the act as traitor-ism in the first degree. Seeing the opportunity to gain leverage for his own possible presidential bid, Bristow began piling stacks of evidence against Babcock, virtually all of which was circumstantial. Grant soon began seeing Bristow's pursuing of Babcock as a personal vendetta rather than the seeking of justice. Despite Grant's order to go after Babcock, he soon tried to intervene, asking to testify on Babcock's behalf. Indeed, Babcock was a church-going man who lived by modest means and showed no outward appearance of a man who had come into wealth, legal or otherwise. Eventually, Babcock was acquitted of any charges, but the damage to his and (to a certain degree) Grant's credibility had been done. Grant removed Babcock from his position and placed him as inspector of lighthouses-a position that was far away from Washington. It was a role Babcock served until his death when he drowned on duty in 1884. At the end of his second term, Grant did not seek a third term. Through a controversial election, Rutherford B. Hayes succeeded Grant as the 19th president of the United States of America. After Grant: Technology and Labor Where Grant went to great lengths to intervene and protect American citizens, Hayes took a very "hands off" approach to public policy. Perhaps the logic was that the fewer places the government was involved, the less likelihood for controversy. Regardless, the effects were disastrous for Native Americans and African American-two groups Grant fought very hard to help get through racial violence brought on by the white majority. Also shaken up by a lack of government intervention, paired with rapid technological advances, was the state of labor in America. Between 1860 and 1890 more than 500,000 patents were awarded. Among these inventions were the telegraph, the telephone, and a grid system to allow rapid and efficient dispersing of electricity. Many of the advancements allowed factories and farms to extend their geographic reach and extend their operations to 24-hour ventures. This was very bad news for unskilled laborers. Forced to work 12-16 hour days in unsafe conditions, unskilled laborers were now facing slave-like conditions. Women and children were not excluded. In fact, by the turn of the century, nearly 20 percent of the labor force consisted of children under the age of 14.14 Because of the gross amount of immigrant arriving in America, businesses had an overflowing labor pool from which to choose. Employers knew they could demand what they wished of employees and pay them, in some case, 40%-60% below the standard of living in turn. Meanwhile, the government left matters alone as the advancement of big business was quickly making America an economic powerhouse in the international market. Labor issues hit the breaking point in the 1880s, however, and labor unions began forming around the nation. Industries most effected by these unions included the railroad system, mining and meatpacking. Very soon after, unions were organizing strikes and violent skirmishes between laborers and employers were occurring across the nation. After several years and hundreds of deaths, the government's hand had been forced and new labor laws were invoked that limited the number of hours employees could work, removed children from the workforce, and gave protection to labor unions to peaceably assemble for business negations. It can be argued that Hayes, and later McKinley and Harrison, leaving business to reach these bloody ends, promoted a sort of social Darwinism that allowed clear answers to surface. If Grant had stayed president, this progress may have been slowed, but there would likely have been much less bloodshed in the process. Civil rights for African Americans continued to be an issue, without much real progress being made until the 1960s. Political issues related to the Native American population continued to slowly disappear, as did the Native American population itself. As far as government corruption was concerned, many more checks and balances were put into place following the Grant Administration. Still today, the United States deals with the perception of corruption issues. The current Bush Administration seems especially prone to this; but only time will tell to what degree, if any, officials abused power appointed to the by the American population or the president. References "History of the United States (1865-1918). Wikipedia. n.d. (14 December 2005). Frost, Lawrence A. U.S. Grant Album: A Pictorial Biography of Ulysses S. Grant. Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, 1966. Korda, Michael. Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Perry, Mark. Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship that Changed America. New York: Random House, 2004. Rasmussen, Kent. ed., The Quotable Mark Twain: His Essential Aphorisms, Witticisms and Concise Opinions. New York: Contemporary Books, 1998. Smith, Jean Edward. Grant. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. "The Gilded Age" Wikipedia. n.d. (14 December 2005). "United States History: The Gilded Age (1890) to World War I" n.d. The Gilded Age (1890) to World War I. (14 December 2005). Read More