Strength was given to the opposition because of the dissatisfaction with President Grant, who knew little about politics and politicians.He felt that his Cabinet should be made up of personal friends, not of strong advisers, and that the military ideal of administration was the proper one.He was faithful but undiscriminating in his friendships and frequently chose as his associates men of vulgar tastes and low motives; and he showed a naive love of money and an undisguised admiration for rich men such as Gould and Fisk.His appointees were often incompetent friends or relatives, and his cynical attitude toward civil service reform lost him the support of influential men.When forced by party exigencies to select first-class men for his Cabinet, he still preferred to go for advice to practical politicians.On the Southern question he easily fell under control of the radicals, who in order to retain their influence had only to convince his military mind that the South was again in rebellion, and who found it easy to distract public opinion from political corruption by "waving the bloody shirt." Dissatisfaction with his Administration, it is true, was confined to the intellectuals, the reformers, and the Democrats, but they were strong enough to defeat him for a second term if they could only be organized.
The Liberal Republican movement began in the West about 1869 with demands for amnesty and for reform, particularly in the civil service, and it soon spread rapidly over the North.When it became certain that the "machine" would renominate Grant, the liberal movement became an anti-Grant party.The "New Departure" Democrats gave comfort and prospect of aid to the Liberal Republicans by declaring for a constructive, forward-looking policy in place of reactionary opposition.The Liberal chiefs were led to believe that the new Democratic leaders would accept their platform and candidates in order to defeat Grant.The principal candidates for the Liberal Republican nomination were Charles Francis Adams, Lyman Trumbull, Gratz Brown, David Davis, and Horace Greeley.Adams was the strongest candidate but was jockeyed out of place and the nomination was given to Horace Greeley, able enough as editor of the "New York Tribune" but impossible as a candidate for the presidency.The Democratic party accepted him as their candidate also, although he had been a lifelong opponent of Democratic principles and policies.But disgusted Liberals either returned to the Republican ranks or stayed away from the polls, and many Democrats did likewise.Under these circumstances the reelection of Grant was a foregone conclusion.There was certainly a potential majority against Grant, but the opposition had failed to organize, while the Republican machine was in good working order, the Negroes were voting, and the Enforcement Acts proved a great aid to the Republicans in the Southern States.
One good result of the growing liberal sentiment was the passage of an Amnesty Act by Congress on May 22, 1872.By statute and by the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress had refused to recognize the complete validity of President Johnson's pardons and amnesty proclamations, and all Confederate leaders who wished to regain political rights had therefore to appeal to Congress.During the Forty-first Congress (1869-71) more than three thousand Southerners were amnestied in order that they might hold office.These, however, were for the most part scalawags; the most respectable whites would not seek an amnesty which they could secure only by self-stultification.* It was the pressure of public opinion against white disfranchisement and the necessity for meeting the Liberal Republican arguments which caused the passage of the Act of 1872.
By this act about 150,000 whites were reenfranchised, leaving out only about five hundred of the most prominent of the old regime, most of whom were never restored to citizenship.Both Robert E.Lee and Jefferson Davis died disfranchised.
* The machinery of government and politics was all in radical hands--the carpetbaggers and scalawags, who were numerous enough to fill practically all the offices.These men were often able leaders and skillful managers, and they did not intend to surrender control; and the black race was obedient and furnished the votes.In 1868, with Virginia, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas unrepresented, the first radical contingent in Congress from the South numbered 41, of whom 10 out of 12 senators and 26 out of 32 representatives were carpetbaggers.There were two lone conservative Congressmen.A few months later, in 1869, there were 64 radical representatives from the South, 20senators and 44 members of the House of Representatives.In 1877 this number had dwindled to two senators and four representatives.The difference between these figures measures in some degree the extent of the undoing of reconstruction within the period of Grant's Administration.
