Grading Grant     

      Continued  

Peace: 

   President U.S. Grant was restrained in foreign policy, avoiding war with Spain over Cuban insurgency. He sought arbitration with other nations, and ended the U.S.-British rivalry dating to the American Revolution. 

   Dr. Eland wrote that Grant wanted to export former slaves to the Dominican Republic. The Senate didn't agree. He consulted with the KKK, which wasn't outlawed at the time.

   When money ran out, depression caused the Panic of 1973. The following year, Democrats gained Congress, ending Reconstruction.

   The Army wasn't as benevolent as Grant himself, in matters of the South and in dealings with natives. Gen. Custer's disaster in the Dakota Territory occurred on Grant's watch, in 1876. 

   Grant ordered Gen. Sheridan to settle natives onto a portion of their Dakota reservation while white prospectors mined "their" gold. 

Prosperity:  

   Grant intervened in the gold market in 1869 to prevent two financiers from cornering the market. He tried to insert gold into the market to shore up currency. Dr. Eland rated that to be "sound monetary policy." 

   He started paying off Civil War debts, in gold. The U.S. began to prosper with a hard-money (gold) policy, said to be his "greatest accomplishment." 

   Grant proposed civil service reform, which occurred under his successor.

Liberty: 

   Grant supported the Civil Rights Act of 1875, but backlash made things worse. His natives policy had good intentions, but failed. Before he took office, there had been about 370 treaty violations by the government. 

   Reservations were established on lands not suited for hunting or farming. Natives became dependent on the government for food and provisions. 

   Dr. Eland graded Grant as a "poor" president. How would you score him?

         Jimmy