The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant February 1-December 31, 1872 (volume23)
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Southern Illinois Univ Pr
- Publish date: 04/01/2000
Among the policies that voters tacitly endorsed were Grants continuing efforts to quell violence in the South, which achieved some success during 1872. He sought as before to support and encourage embattled Southern Republicans, hoping eventually to replace military protection with political legitimacy. On the subject of civil rights, he repeated his desire that blacks receive equal treatment in everyday life, telling a delegation that "a ticket on a railroad or other conveyance should entitle you to all that it does other men."
Grant also maintained a steady course toward Indians, defending his peace policy when many clamored for harsher measures."I do not believe our Creator ever placed different races of men on this earth with the view of having the stronger exert all hisenergies in exterminating the weaker." Protestant and Catholic missionaries and laymen continued to spread the twin gospels of religion and civilization among the various tribes. When a Sioux delegation visited the White House, Grant spoke of the future when "the game will be gone" and of his hope that the Sioux would join other tribes and move to Indian Territory. "We would at first build houses for your chiefs and principal men, and...send you large herds of cattle and sheep to live upon."
Grants foreign policy in 1872 centered on the Geneva tribunal, established the previous year to arbitrate the thorny dispute with Great Britain over the Alabama Claims. At stake were both the responsibility for past damages and future rules for neutral countries. Grant and Secretary of State Hamilton Fish debated long over the men best suited to present the United States case. When the tribunal awarded $15.5 million to the United States, Grant and Fish celebrated their greatest foreign policy achievement.
Several minor scandals clouded the horizon in 1872, most notably at the New York City customhouse, where influence peddling by former staff aide George K. Leer came under congressional scrutiny and led to testimony from Grant's personal secretaries concerning White House encounters. While this scandal soon faded from headlines, it foreshadowed more damaging ones to come.
In his personal life, Grant watched as his children began to find their own ways in the world. Emulating the fashion of the upper class, all three older children toured Europe, forcing Grant to borrow money from friends. Left with a suddenly quiet household, Grant repeatedly urged old and newfound friends to visit the WhiteHouse and the summer cottage at Long Branch, New Jersey.
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