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This is a lovely essay by @JGiesberg & I’d like to add just a couple additional thoughts on Grant’s presidency, & the relationship between the executive & Congress, & party politics. https://twitter.com/madebyhistory/status/1357011951616995328
Grant’s presidency, specifically the success or failure of his efforts to end white supremacy & political terrorism against African Americas, has rightly been a hot topic lately. But Grant alone—indeed, any president—couldn’t have solved these problems. Where’s Congress?
Grant had no role in shaping the wording of the 15th Amendment. Congress wrote it & failed to provide a universal guarantee to vote. Grant worked with what was given to him in supporting the 15th amendment, which was better than doing nothing.
Grant asked for & received additional powers to fight the KKK through the Enforcement Acts, but a substantial portion of Congressmen *in his own party* opposed this move, called Grant a dictator, & formed an entire opposition party against “bayonet rule” in the South.
A devastating depression in 1873 brought in a Democratic majority to Congress the next year that was vehemently opposed to Reconstruction. Grant’s failure to act in MS (which he later regretted) & elsewhere was mistaken, but his party was already giving up on Reconstruction.
It might be true that Grant never marshaled the full power of the federal government to fight white supremacy, but no other administration had ever done that before. Indeed the term “civil rights” doesn’t even enter the political lexicon until 1866. Mistakes were bound to occur.
I think the idea that Grant personally was more concerned about stoking white resentment to federal power than combatting it is debatable, but would full agree that Republicans as a whole probably felt that way to an extent.
Does Grant deserve some blame for Reconstruction’s failures, especially during his second term? Absolutely. But the limits of enforcement were also shaped by party politics, public sentiment, & Republicans concerned about maintaining federalism. Not just executive will.
That anything was done to use the federal govt. to enforce civil rights was remarkable, even if those efforts were limited & poorly enforced. Enforcement of the law is important, but you also need a Congress willing to write strong laws & support those enforcement efforts.
So in the end, I am in strong agreement with the article, just pointing out that Grant alone couldn’t do everything himself. Perhaps the lesson for Biden is that his party & Congress have to *work together* to fight white supremacy. Congress undercutting that message won’t help.
Finally, I agree that Grant used the federal powers to enact genocidal policies against Native Americans. No debate. But again, Congress had a hand in supporting & enabling that use of federal power in ways that weren’t seen when enforcing Black rights. END
