Inaugurated for a second term on March 4, 1873, Ulysses S. Grant
gave an address that was both inspiring and curiously bitter. He
told the assembled crowd, "It is my firm conviction that the
civilized world is tending towards republicanism, or government by
the people through their chosen representatives, and that our own
great republic is destined to be the guiding star to all others."
Yet he ended the speech on an almost petulant note: "I have been
the subject of abuse and slander scarcely ever equaled in political
history, which to-day I feel that I can afford to disregard in view
of your verdict which I gratefully accept as my vindication."
Grant's lingering anger at his opponents in the 1872 campaign,
despite his rather easy victory, reflected his discomfort with
politics. Nor had he grown to love his office. Despite a schedule
that gave him far more time away from the capital than any of his
predecessors, Grant chafed at his work, once joking to a senator
that he could not accept an invitation to leave the capital until
Congress met. "After that unhappy event I would be willing to run
away any Saturday from my natural enemy."
Grant's second administration began with trouble in a familiar
spot, as rival governments claimed legitimacy in Louisiana. At
first attempting to remain above the fray, Grant soon succumbed to
the pleas of his Republican allies, led by Governor William P.
Kellogg and Grants own brother-in-law, collector of customs James
F. Casey. Although troops helped to keep Kellogg in power and gave
relative peace to New Orleans, violence escalated in the outlying
parishes.
Violence in California threatened Grant's Indian peace policy.
After Modocs under Captain Jack murdered Brigadier General Edward
R. S. Canby during peace talks, what had been an Indian outbreak
became the Modoc War. When the outnumbered Modocs were finally
overwhelmed, Grant faced critics on all sides as he weighed the
punishment for Canby's assailants. The eventual hanging of four
Modocs satisfied few. Grant's foreign policy faced few obstacles
until November, when Spanish authorities in Cuba shocked Americans
by executing fifty-three crew and passengers of the "Virginius,"
caught off the coast of Cuba trying to supply Cuban insurgents
while falsely flying the U.S. flag. Grant and Secretary of State
Hamilton Fish spent a difficult month balancing public demands for
retribution with the knowledge that the "Virginius" had limited
grounds for legal protection. Passions eventually cooled. Even many
politicians shied away from action, causing Grant to joke that "if
Spain were to send a fleet into the harbor of New York, and bombard
the city, the Senate might pass a resolution of regret that they
had had cause for so doing, and offer to pay them for the expense
of coming over and doing it."
The greatest challenge to Grant and the country in 1873 came
with the stock market panic that began in September. The failure of
Jay Cooke & Co. led to a Wall Street collapse, followed by
pressure on banks. In the first few days, amid clamor for
government action, Grant consulted financiers in New York City and
agreed to release treasury funds to bolster the currency. By the
end of the month, however, Grant publicly called for bankers and
corporations to bear more of the burden of economic recovery, while
the country slid gradually toward financial depression.
General
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