The Reconstruction Era Part III Grant and Hayes

Grant’s “Great Barbecue”

Scandal after scandal broke over the Grant’s White House like waves: Cornering the gold market Attempting to annex the Caribbean island of Santo Domingo Speculating on railroads Ripping off Native Americans Stealing liquor tax revenues

Grant’s administration became known as the “Great Barbecue” because everyone helped themselves.

Political corruption was by no means limited to the federal government or Grant’s administration. State and local governments were tainted by scandal as well, and the country was soon caught up in what writer Mark Twain labeled “The Gilded Age.”

It seemed everyone was in a fever to make money, and the most money-hungry individuals became known as robber barons.

In California, Colis P. Huntington and others bribed legislators and congressmen to get concessions for their railroad.

In Pennsylvania, John D. Rockefeller bought and bullied lawmakers to aid his Standard Oil Company.

The worst situation of all may very well have been in New York City The worst situation of all may very well have been in New York City. A political boss named William M. Tweed created a web of elected officeholders, bureaucrats, and contractors and looted more than $100 million from the city treasury.

Trying to Change the Tides

Despite the stench of scandal from his first term, Grant was reelected in 1872, easily defeating Democratic candidate Horace Greeley, the longtime editor of the New York Tribune.

But by 1874, the scandals and the mess of Reconstruction – which ruined Republicans’ chances of winning anything in the South – combined to let the Democrats take control of the House of Representatives.

The Election of 1876

With all the corruption in Grant’s administration and throughout the country – and the public’s growing disgust – it was not surprising that in 1876 both political parties nominated presidential candidates known for their integrity.

The Republicans put up Rutherford B The Republicans put up Rutherford B. Hayes, a former Union general who had been governor of Ohio for three terms.

The Democrats countered with New York Governor Samuel B The Democrats countered with New York Governor Samuel B. Tilden, who had gained admiration for helping bring down the Boss Tweed Ring in New York City.

The race between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel B The race between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel B. Tilden turned out to be perhaps the most tainted presidential election in American History.

When the returns came in, Tilden received 51 percent of the popular vote and seemed to have 203 electoral votes compared to Hayes’ 166. (well over a majority needed to win the election)

But the Republican Party leaders, who controlled the people who oversaw the elections, arranged to invalidate thousands of Democratic votes in Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana, which changed the electoral vote count to 185 – 184 in favor of Hayes.

Naturally, the Democrats challenged the new results, and a special commission was created to look into the matter.

The commission consisted of ten members of Congress, five from each party, as well as five members of the Supreme Court (three Republicans and two Democrats).

The commission voted 8 – 7, right along party lines, to give the election to Hayes.

Northern Democrats were outraged, but Southern Democrats saw an opportunity and offered a deal.

To resolve the controversy, Democrats and Republicans worked out the Compromise of 1877.

Hayes would be the next president, and in return, he would order the last Union troops out of the South and stop enforcing Reconstruction-era laws.

As a result, the Reconstruction period came to an end.

African Americans were largely abandoned by the federal government, and white Americans outside the South turned their attentions elsewhere, mostly to the West.