Back

After Andrew Johnson’s acquittal, he disappointed Republicans who expected him to be more pliant on Reconstruction. He showed that he wouldn’t water down his views during his remaining nine months in office. Grant was particularly concerned about the Ku Klux Klan terror in New Orleans, but Johnson turned a deaf ear to the pleas for help from black and white Republicans. Grant did what he could to counter this, but Johnson hid behind states’ rights and claimed that the federal government had no jurisdiction in the matter. Six states were folded back into the Union and the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, granting citizenship rights to blacks and guaranteeing them due process and equal protection of the law. Grant’s support of Radical Reconstruction likely arose from the knowledge that he would soon be the Republican nominee for president, although he never openly declared his candidacy. In his political life, there had always been an illusion of passivity, but he had quietly positioned himself to ride the wave of popularity to the presidency. Grant wasn’t exactly eager for the job, but he believed only he could unify the Republican Party and prevent a democratic president from being elected. He won the Republican nomination and was elected president on a platform that included protecting black rights and maintaining the Union cause. The Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour, a protégé of Martin Van Buren and a notorious Copperhead during the war. Grant won the election by a comfortable margin, but faced a deeply divided country. The Ku Klux Klan was orchestrating acts of violence against black and white Republicans in the South and Grant vowed to protect black citizens. He returned to Washington in November and kept quiet about his cabinet appointees. He wanted to avoid pressure from party bosses and make selections based on merit. His choices included Alexander T. Stewart for treasury secretary, Adolph E. Borie for navy secretary (who was quickly replaced by George M. Robeson), Jacob Dolson Cox for interior secretary, and John A. J. Creswell for postmaster general. Grant was sworn in as president on March 4, 1869 and delivered a businesslike and uninspired inaugural address. He expressed a desire for peace, a commitment to pay off the national debt, and support for black suffrage. The future course of his administration was unclear, but he vowed to approach remaining war issues calmly and without prejudice. His speech was followed by an inaugural parade and ball, although the ball turned into a fiasco with overcrowded and unorganized conditions.

Words: 417