Grant's presidency is usually a compared (unfavorably) to his time as General during the Civil War. It may be true that his presidency didn't live up to his military brilliance, but he did one very important thing that his predecessors were unwilling or unable to do.
Grant came in to power at a time when the KKK was at the height of its power during the reconstruction era. Intimidation, rape and murder of blacks and Whig politicians was commonplace and was out of control.
At this time, many of the vigilante groups acted with impunity and did whatever they could to make life the way it was before the war. Blacks in the south were hated more than ever after slavery by poor whites who viewed their place in life as sinking while the freedman's life was rising.
Grant sent the federal troops in to areas that the KKK/southern militia was occupying and actively fought them. He also sent federal troops in to areas where blacks were being denied the vote and protected them to at least a minimal degree.
The problem with his predecessors after the war was that they followed a policy of appeasement. The south was allowed to go on as if nothing had ever happened in an effort to restore national unity. This accommodating policy brought into question what the war was even fought for. Laws would go on the books giving rights to blacks, but they were still in virtual slavery.
Only by showing resolve did Grant make the violence in the South decline somewhat. This relative peace allowed the country to start on the long road to normalcy before the next national crisis.
10/12/10
9/13/10
#18:Ulysees S. Grant: War Hero
I've spoken before of how the Civil War could have gone several different directions.
Although I don't think that the South could have marched up North and enforced a slaveocracy on everyone, I don't think that it's impossible to imagine they could have chased the northern troops out of their territory and succeeded in secession.
At times, the Northern army had to contend with both large standing armies filled with experienced officers and troops as well as a brutal insurgency fighting on land it knew so well.
Then as now, the invading army did not know the lay of the land, did not understand who was their friend and foe and had to deal with corrupt army contractors that exhorted ungodly sums from the federal government to feed, clothe and equip the troops with the tools they needed to win the war.
Grant dealt with all this with a combination of cunning, bravery and brutality and ultimately oversaw Lee's surrender after taking the southern capital of Richmond, VA.
While Grant's predecessors all suffered embarrassing defeats and were suspected of sympathizing with the confederate army (most officers received their training in the South), he forced the south's surrender three times.
He won these fights through both intelligence and basic bravery. He anticipated the enemies moves, blocked supply lines and paths of retreat and would perform bold surprise attacks on the enemy's position.
The northern public loved Grant and ultimately promoted him to the presidency in one of the nation's darkest times.
Grant joined a large cast of former generals and military men to assume the presidency. George Washington, James Monroe, Zachary Taylor, Truman and Eisenhower among them.
I can't fault people for wanting generals to run the presidency. There's some logic to wanting people that know the price of war to be the only ones that can declare it.
Although I don't think that the South could have marched up North and enforced a slaveocracy on everyone, I don't think that it's impossible to imagine they could have chased the northern troops out of their territory and succeeded in secession.
At times, the Northern army had to contend with both large standing armies filled with experienced officers and troops as well as a brutal insurgency fighting on land it knew so well.
Then as now, the invading army did not know the lay of the land, did not understand who was their friend and foe and had to deal with corrupt army contractors that exhorted ungodly sums from the federal government to feed, clothe and equip the troops with the tools they needed to win the war.
Grant dealt with all this with a combination of cunning, bravery and brutality and ultimately oversaw Lee's surrender after taking the southern capital of Richmond, VA.
While Grant's predecessors all suffered embarrassing defeats and were suspected of sympathizing with the confederate army (most officers received their training in the South), he forced the south's surrender three times.
He won these fights through both intelligence and basic bravery. He anticipated the enemies moves, blocked supply lines and paths of retreat and would perform bold surprise attacks on the enemy's position.
The northern public loved Grant and ultimately promoted him to the presidency in one of the nation's darkest times.
Grant joined a large cast of former generals and military men to assume the presidency. George Washington, James Monroe, Zachary Taylor, Truman and Eisenhower among them.
I can't fault people for wanting generals to run the presidency. There's some logic to wanting people that know the price of war to be the only ones that can declare it.
9/2/10
Andrew Johnson: Labor Politics
Andrew Johnson had some interesting theories on labor relations. He was a friend of the 'mechanic', a loose term in the mid 1800's that designated any role above laborer but below large plantation owner. I guess you could say that the closest comparison today would be small business owner.
The small business owners of the time were carriage repair shops, innkeepers, general store managers etc.
Many politicians at the time were for wealthy interests such as large scale farmers, rail roads or mining interests, but very few were talking about the mechanic class of laborer. There simply wasn't a lot of money in it, I guess that's why today we have certain industries such as pharma or banking so improportionately represented in Congress, but we don't hear a lot about the guy that just owns a repair shop.
This love of the mechanic class led Johnson to take some strange views. He came out strong against a rail road cutting through his district when he was in Congress because he was afraid that it would put the wagon operators and inn keepers who weren't close enough to a rail road stations out of business. It would seem like overall, a rail road would bring commerce and wealth into a community, but Johnson tended to not think of the big picture on these things and stayed pretty dedicated to his favorite class of people.
He also was against slavery because he felt that it took jobs away from the white man and forced small farmers off of their land since a plantation can expand indefinitely with slave labor since its labor cost is somewhere close to $0.00 and any expansion means additional profits.
Under reconstruction, Johnson showed how little he was concerned about freed slaves when he underfunded all the reconstruction projects and suggested that they simply pick up and leave the United States, but by virtue of him not wanting to enslave them, it certainly put him in the progressive class in the south.
I like reading about Johnson, because it shows that in American politics, people will have different view points for different reasons. What gets lost in the soaring anti slavery rhetoric is the fact that not all people supported the abolition of slavery for simply moral reasons.
The small business owners of the time were carriage repair shops, innkeepers, general store managers etc.
Many politicians at the time were for wealthy interests such as large scale farmers, rail roads or mining interests, but very few were talking about the mechanic class of laborer. There simply wasn't a lot of money in it, I guess that's why today we have certain industries such as pharma or banking so improportionately represented in Congress, but we don't hear a lot about the guy that just owns a repair shop.
This love of the mechanic class led Johnson to take some strange views. He came out strong against a rail road cutting through his district when he was in Congress because he was afraid that it would put the wagon operators and inn keepers who weren't close enough to a rail road stations out of business. It would seem like overall, a rail road would bring commerce and wealth into a community, but Johnson tended to not think of the big picture on these things and stayed pretty dedicated to his favorite class of people.
He also was against slavery because he felt that it took jobs away from the white man and forced small farmers off of their land since a plantation can expand indefinitely with slave labor since its labor cost is somewhere close to $0.00 and any expansion means additional profits.
Under reconstruction, Johnson showed how little he was concerned about freed slaves when he underfunded all the reconstruction projects and suggested that they simply pick up and leave the United States, but by virtue of him not wanting to enslave them, it certainly put him in the progressive class in the south.
I like reading about Johnson, because it shows that in American politics, people will have different view points for different reasons. What gets lost in the soaring anti slavery rhetoric is the fact that not all people supported the abolition of slavery for simply moral reasons.
8/26/10
Andrew Johnson: Domestic Terrorism
After the war, a couple of good ol' boys that recently 'walked the dog' (the forced loyalty oath returning confederate soldiers had to make to federal troops) met for drinks as they commiserated about their situation.
They eventually formed a social club of sorts and called it the Klu Klux Klan.
They dressed up like ghosts in bedsheets and went on torch lit parades through town.
All of these men were angry, having fought a useless war and now being governed by the same federal troops they fought against. They took much of their anger out on the recently freed slaves who as they saw it, were better off now while they were in a worse situation.
Their ceremonies became more regular and started to focus on scaring the freedmen and keeping those who they thought were 'uppity' in line.
They also eventually morphed into a militant 'Al Quaeda in Iraq' sort of organization and started carrying out murders of freedmen and federal troops for dramatic effect and to change the political situation in their favor. This anger was also turned on the 'carpet baggers' from the north and started to spiral out of control a year or so after the war ended.
Northerners weren't safe walking the streets and whig politicians would be murdered from time to time. Johnson certainly did nothing to stop this and restrained the federal troops from aggressively going after the terrorists.
Only when Grant sent in the full force of the Army did the tide start to turn. Even after that, no freed man could break the 'black codes' without fear of being visited at night by a gang of murderers.
They eventually formed a social club of sorts and called it the Klu Klux Klan.
They dressed up like ghosts in bedsheets and went on torch lit parades through town.
All of these men were angry, having fought a useless war and now being governed by the same federal troops they fought against. They took much of their anger out on the recently freed slaves who as they saw it, were better off now while they were in a worse situation.
Their ceremonies became more regular and started to focus on scaring the freedmen and keeping those who they thought were 'uppity' in line.
They also eventually morphed into a militant 'Al Quaeda in Iraq' sort of organization and started carrying out murders of freedmen and federal troops for dramatic effect and to change the political situation in their favor. This anger was also turned on the 'carpet baggers' from the north and started to spiral out of control a year or so after the war ended.
Northerners weren't safe walking the streets and whig politicians would be murdered from time to time. Johnson certainly did nothing to stop this and restrained the federal troops from aggressively going after the terrorists.
Only when Grant sent in the full force of the Army did the tide start to turn. Even after that, no freed man could break the 'black codes' without fear of being visited at night by a gang of murderers.
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