Grant's presidency
General Ulysses S. Grant was the Republican nominee for the 1868 presidential election, and despite his lack of political experience, he was a northern war hero. Grant narrowly won the election by 300,000 majority votes against his opponent Democrat Horatio Seymour. Grant campaigned by “waving the bloody shirt” and used the slogan "Vote as You Shot" to gather support from Union army veterans and revive memories from the Civil War. President Grant was an honest man, but his cabinet and administration became involved with numerous scandals. The first, and one of the worst, of the many scandals was the Crédit Mobilier scandal, were a railroad company had sub-hired itself at inflated prices earning a massive profit. Even Grant's own private secretary was involved in …show more content…
Enterprises overspent on expansions (making more railroad tracks, mines, factories, and grain fields), but they failed to produce a profit, leaving massive amounts of loans unpaid. More than fifteen thousand businesses went bankrupt, including the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company which hit black Americans hard, causing them a loss of over seven million dollars in savings. Even harder hit were the debtors, who advocated for greenbacks (paper money) to be printed, which would create inflation and make it easier for debts to be repaid. The creditors opposed this policy and argued the this was unfair and that the money loaned out should be repaid with money that was not depreciation. In 1894, the advocates for hard money prevailed after Grant vetoed a bill to print more paper money. In 1875, the Resumption Act was passed, which required the removal of greenbacks from circulation and the redemption of paper currency in gold at face value starting four years later in 1879. Another plan to increase inflation was to have more silver coins produced, which Grant replied to with the "contraction"
General Ulysses S. Grant was the Republican nominee for the 1868 presidential election, and despite his lack of political experience, he was a northern war hero. Grant narrowly won the election by 300,000 majority votes against his opponent Democrat Horatio Seymour. Grant campaigned by “waving the bloody shirt” and used the slogan "Vote as You Shot" to gather support from Union army veterans and revive memories from the Civil War. President Grant was an honest man, but his cabinet and administration became involved with numerous scandals. The first, and one of the worst, of the many scandals was the Crédit Mobilier scandal, were a railroad company had sub-hired itself at inflated prices earning a massive profit. Even Grant's own private secretary was involved in …show more content…
Enterprises overspent on expansions (making more railroad tracks, mines, factories, and grain fields), but they failed to produce a profit, leaving massive amounts of loans unpaid. More than fifteen thousand businesses went bankrupt, including the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company which hit black Americans hard, causing them a loss of over seven million dollars in savings. Even harder hit were the debtors, who advocated for greenbacks (paper money) to be printed, which would create inflation and make it easier for debts to be repaid. The creditors opposed this policy and argued the this was unfair and that the money loaned out should be repaid with money that was not depreciation. In 1894, the advocates for hard money prevailed after Grant vetoed a bill to print more paper money. In 1875, the Resumption Act was passed, which required the removal of greenbacks from circulation and the redemption of paper currency in gold at face value starting four years later in 1879. Another plan to increase inflation was to have more silver coins produced, which Grant replied to with the "contraction"