The North humiliated the South militarily. Following the Civil War, they looked to codify their victory through the reconstruction process. The Radical Republicans not only wished to preserve the Union, but ensure slavery’s end and black rights. President Johnson interfered, was impeached, and left office in 1869. Republican U.S. Grant assumed the reigns of power and inherited the reconstruction issue. During his first term, he worked diligently to help blacks in the South, but also began to turn his attention to other issues.
Many northerners believed the radicals went too far with black rights and impeachment. The Republicans recognized this and nominated General Grant for the presidency. The moderate war hero pulled a dramatic electoral victory with the help of African-American voters. As president, he hoped to continue the Republican reconstruction program.
Before the presidency, Grant acted to protect African-Americans. During the war, he ensured humane treatment for runaways and even paid them for their labor. After the war, he opposed President Johnson’s attempts to undermine reconstruction. When Johnson ordered the military to ignore the law, Grant countermanded the order. As president, Grant continued to assist the freedmen.
The Grant Administration envisioned a biracial democracy with African Americans dominating the southern Republican Party. During the Reconstruction period, over 1500 African Americans held elective office. In South Carolina, they held a majority of seats in the state legislature. White southerners resented this social revolution and reacted violently.
Southern whites formed paramilitary organizations to combat the Republicans. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan began using violence, particularly in areas of racial balance, to regain power. In response, congress passed the Klan acts designed to clamp down on the terrorists. The Justice Department prosecuted thousands of racists. Additionally, Grant declared martial law in South Carolina in 1871 and used the military to defeat the KKK. In New York City and other Democratic bastions, the president sent marshals to ensure the peace and protect voting rights.
Despite the show of force, the administration began to turn its attention to economic expansion and other issues while the south festered. In early 1870, the country ratified the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteeing the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” If the South failed to comply, they faced congressional retribution and potential loss of congressional seats.
After ratification, the Grant and the Republicans began to react to events rather than anticipate them. Party leaders and regular members believed the South would comply with the Fifteenth Amendment rather than risk losing representation. They turned to economic development and monetary policy reacting only when paramilitary forces became a problem in 1871 and 1872.
Grant won re-election in 1872 in part due to his efforts to protect Republican voters from Democratic violence in the North and South. Overall, the administration presided over a seemingly strong economy and crushed southern terrorism. It appeared a strong Republican coalition between northern whites and southern blacks would dominate the country for the foreseeable future. However, scandal, an economic depression, and resurgence of southern violence doomed this vision in Grant’s second term.
By the end of Grant’s first term, it appeared that reconstruction efforts were successful. Grant’s strong leadership had replaced Andrew Johnson’s intransigence. The administration crushed the Klan, protected voters, and presided over a booming postwar economy. For one brief moment, it appeared that a biracial democracy would emerge out of slavery’s ashes.
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