434 



GRANT, ULYSSES S. (His CIVIL CAREER.) 



This peculiarity may at times have led to a 

 misunderstanding, or to a misinterpretation of 

 his views. 



When he became President, there was a 

 body of American citizens, not inconsiderable 

 in numbers, who doubted the ability of the 

 Government to pay the war debt ; there were 

 others who advocated payment in greenbacks, 

 or the substitution of a note not bearing inter- 

 est for a bond that bore interest ; and there 

 were yet others who denied the validity of the 

 existing obligations. All these classes, whether 

 they were dishonest or only misled, were alike 

 rebuked in his inaugural address. These were 

 his words : " A great debt has been contracted 

 in securing to us and to our posterity the Union. 

 The payment of this debt, principal and inter- 

 est, as well as the return to a specie basis, as 

 soon as it can be accomplished without mate- 

 rial detriment to the debtor class, or to the 

 country at large, must be provided for. . . . 

 To protect the national honor, every dollar of 

 government indebtedness should be paid in 

 gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in 

 the contract. . . . Let it be understood that 

 no repudiator of one farthing of our public debt 

 will be trusted in public place, and it will go 

 far toward strengthening a credit which ought 

 to be the best in the world, and will ultimately 

 enable us to repl ice the debt with bonds bear- 

 ing less interest than we now pay." 



In the same address he asserted the ability 

 of the country to pay the debt within the 

 period of twenty-five years, and he also de- 

 clared his purpose to secure a faithful collec- 

 tion of the public revenues. At the close of 

 his administration of eight years one fifth 

 part of the public debt had been paid, and if 

 the system of taxation that existed in 1869 

 had been continued the debt would be ex- 

 tinguished in less than a quarter of a century 

 from the year 1869. In his administration, 

 however, the crisis was passed. The ability 

 and the disposition of the country were made 

 so conspicuous that all honest doubts were re- 

 moved, and the class of repudiators was shamed 

 into silence. The redemption of the debt by 

 the purchase of bonds in the open market 

 strengthened the public credit, and laid a foun- 

 dation for the resumption of specie payments. 



Gen. Grant's inaugural address was followed 

 by the passage of the act of March 18, 1869, en- 

 titled u An act to strengthen the public credit." 

 This act was a pledge to the world that the debts 

 of the United States would be paid in coin, 

 unless there were in the obligations express 

 stipulations to the contrary. 



In accordance with the report of the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, President Grant, in his 

 annual message of December, 1869, recom- 

 mended the passage of an act authorizing the 

 funding of the public debt at a lower rate of 

 interest. Following this recommendation, the 

 bill for refunding the public debt, prepared by 

 the Secretary of the Treasury, was enacted and 

 approved July 14, 1870. By this act the Secre- 



tary of the Treasury was authorized to i 

 bonds to the amount of $200,000,000 bearing 

 interest at the rate of 5 per cent., $300,000,000 

 bearing interest at the rate of 4 per cent., and 

 $1,000,000,000 bearing interest at the rate of 4 

 per cent. 



Under this act, and the amendments there- 

 to, the debt has been refunded from time to 

 time until the average rate of interest does not 

 now exceed 3 per cent. Although these two 

 important measures of administration were not 

 prepared by Gen. Grant, they were but the 

 execution of the policy set forth in his inaugu- 

 ral address. 



President Grant's Indian policy was due to 

 his natural love of justice and to his experience 

 as a soldier among the Indians previous to his 

 resignation from the army. Its object, as set 

 forth in his inaugural address, was the civiliza- 

 tion of the Indians and their ultimate citizen- 

 ship. In his first annual message he spoke of 

 the management of the Indians, and alleged 

 that it had been "attended with continuous 

 robberies, murders, and wars." Again he said, 

 "From my own experience upon the frontiers 

 and in Indian countries, I do not hold either 

 legislation, or the conduct of the whites who 

 come most in contact with the Indians, blame- 

 less for these hostilities." Under the influence 

 of these opinions he opposed the transfer of 

 the Indian Bureau from the Interior to the 

 War Department, and under the influence of 

 the same opinions he accepted as Indian agents 

 the representatives of the various religious so- 

 cieties of the country. The new system was 

 not always successful in its application because 

 of the agents so appointed. Some of them 

 succeeded, while others failed. The immediate 

 practical results on the frontier were neither 

 the best nor the final test of the wisdom of the 

 new policy. The views entertained by Presi- 

 dent Grant, and announced officially to the 

 country, have created a public interest in the 

 condition and fate of the Indian race, and a 

 policy of humanity and justice has taken the 

 place of brute force. In the long line of Presi- 

 dents there is no one to whom the Indian race 

 is as much indebted as to Gen. Grant. 



In respect to the rights of the negro race, 

 Gen. Grant must be ranked with the advanced 

 portion of the Republican party. Upon the 

 capture of Fort Donelson a number of slaves 

 fell into the hands of the Union army. Gen. 

 Grant issued an order, dated Feb. 26, 1862, in 

 which he authorized their employment for the 

 benefit of the Government, and at the close he 

 declared that under no circumstances would 

 he permit their return to their masters. In his 

 first inaugural address he urged the States to 

 ratify the fifteenth amendment, and its rati- 

 fication was due largely to his advice. At 

 that moment his influence was very great. 

 may well be doubted whether any other Presi- 

 dent ever enjoyed to as high a degree the con- 

 fidence of the country. He gave to that meas- 

 ure the weight of his opinion and the official 



