AP U S History Document Based Question
Thomas A. Bailey writes that “Grant was an ignorant and confused President,
and his eight long years of blunderland are generally regarded as a national
disgrace.” C. Van Woodward describes the Grant years as “the all time low point in
statesmanship and political morality in our history.” To what extent do you feel that
these judgments are correct?
Document A
Cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper’s Weekly, 1877
Document B
President US Grant, Second Inaugural Address, 1873.
“The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and make him a
citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should carry with it.
This is wrong, and should be corrected -To this correction I stand committed, so far as
Executive influence can avail.
Social equality is not a subject to be legislated upon, nor shall I ask that anything be
done to advance the social status of the colored man, except to give him a fair chance to
develop what there is good in him, give him access to the schools, and when he travels let
him feel assured that his conduct will regulate the treatment and fare he will receive.”
Document C
Civil Rights Act of 1875, United States Statutes at Large (43rd Cong. Sess II. Chp. 114,
p. 335-337)
“…. all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to the
full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of
inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public
amusement; subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law, and
applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition
of servitude.
Sec. 2. That any person who shall violate the foregoing section by denying to any citizen,
shall, for every such offense, forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars to the person
….
Sec. 4. That no citizen possessing all other qualifications which are or may be prescribed
by law shall be disqualified for service as grand or petit juror in any court of the United
States, or of any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude ….”
Document D
Salary Grab Act of 1873, United States Statutes at Large (42nd Cong., Sess. III, Chp.
226, p. 485-509)
AN ACT
“Making Appropriations for the legislative, executive and judicial Expenses of the
Government for the Year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America, in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby,
appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the service
of the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, for the objects
hereinafter expressed….”
Document E
Specie Resumption Act of 1875, United States Statutes at Large (43rd Cong., Sess II,
Chp. 18, p. 296)
To provide for the resumption of specie payments.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
American in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized
and required, … to cause to be coined at the mints of the United States, silver coins of the
denominations of ten, twenty-five, and fifty cents, of standard value, and to issue them in
redemption of an equal number and amount of fractional currency of similar
denominations, or, at his discretion, he may issue such silver coins through the mints, the
subtreasuries, public depositories, and post-offices of the United States; and, upon such
issue, he is hereby authorized and required to redeem an equal amount of such fractional
currency, until the whole amount of such fractional currency outstanding shall be
redeemed.”
Document F
Frank J. Scaturro, 1999
“The typical historian has been too loose in applying the term “corruption."
Specifically, he labels a politically partisan civil service corrupt rather than inefficient; he
equates the spoils system with corruption when honest spoilsmen far outnumber
dishonest ones; he pronounces Gilded Age politicians guilty of corruption for associating
with corruptionists even while attacking guilt by association in his own day.
One apparent reason why the historian has exaggerated the corruption of the Gilded Age
is his desire to enliven lectures and writings. All the world loves a scandal, and the
historian is loath to abandon the pleasure of dispensing "vicarious sin." More basically,
the historian dislikes the dominant forces in the Gilded Age.”
Document G
Document H
Treaty of Washington, 1871, Treaties and other International Agreements of the U.S.,
1776-1949, Compiled by Charles I. Bevans, p. 170-187.
“….Whereas differences have arisen between the Government of the United States
and the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, and still exist, growing out of the acts
committed by the several vessels which have given rise to the claims generically known
as the Alabama Claims.
And whereas Her Britannic Majesty has authorized Her High Commissioners and
Plenipotentiaries to express, in a friendly spirit, the regret felt by Her Majesty's
Government for the escape, under whatever circumstances, of the Alabama and other
vessels from British ports, and for the depredations committed by those vessels:
Now, in order to remove and adjust all complaints …. the High Contracting Parties
agree that all the said claims, growing out of acts committed by the aforesaid vessels and
generically known as the ''Alabama claims,'' shall be referred to a Tribunal of Arbitration
to be composed of five Arbitrators, to be appointed in the following manner, that is to
say: one shall be named by the President of the United States; one shall be named by Her
Britannic Majesty; His Majesty the King of Italy shall be requested to name one; the
President of the Swiss Confederation shall be requested to name one; and His Majesty the
Emperor of Brazil shall be requested to name one.”
Document I
U.S. business activity before and after Resumption Act, KeyCorp, American
Business Activity 1790-1988.
Document J
Thomas A. Bailey, The American Pageant.
"The multitudinous officials of the city were the Tweed Ring's slaves. At one time
eight hundred policemen stood guard to prevent a hostile majority in Tammany Hall itself
from meeting. The thugs of the city, nicknamed "Tweed's lambs," rendered invaluable
services at caucus and convention. Two days before election these venal cohorts would
assemble in the 340 election districts, each man of them being listed and registered under
several assumed names and addresses. From Tweed's house in 1868 six registered, from
Justice Shandley's nine, from the Coroner's thirteen. A State Senator's house was put
down as the home of thirty voters. One Alderman's residence nominally housed twenty,
another's twenty-five, an Assemblyman's fifteen. And so it went. Bales of fictitious
naturalization papers were secured. One year 105,000 blank applications and 69,000
certificates were ordered printed. The new citizens "put in" election day following their
leaders from polling-place to polling-place as needed. . . .”
Document K
“The panic of 1873, so far as it resulted from contraction, had its main origin
abroad, not in America, so that its subordinate causes were generally looked upon as its
sole occasion; yet these bye causes were important. During 1872 the balance of trade was
strongly against the United States. The circulation of depreciated paper money had
brought to many an apparent prosperity which was not real, leading to the free creation of
debts by individuals, corporations, towns, cities and States. An unprecedented mileage of
railways had been constructed. Thus the entire business of the country was on a basis of
inflation, and when contraction came disaster was inevitable. . . . .In the course of the
summer solid values began to be hoarded and interest rates consequently to rise. In
August there was a partial corner in gold, broken by a government sale of $6,000,000. In
September panic came, with suspension of several large banking houses in New York.
Jay Cooke & CO., who had invested heavily in the construction of the Northern Pacific
Railway, suspended on September 18th. When authoritative news of this event was made
known in the Stock Exchange a perfect stampede of the brokers ensued.” E. Benjamin
Andrews, Panic Of 1873, Pg.160.
Document L
Frank Scaturro, http://saints.css.edu/mkelsey/presid.html
“Much of what has been passed down as an objective appraisal of Grant's
presidency more closely resembles the partisan critiques that were produced by a
relatively small group of performers during the 1870's-- in many ways the intellectual
ancestors of the present historical profession.… Michael Les Benedict observes that
Grant "dominated his era, a stronger resident than most have recognized".
In both the domestic and foreign realms, President Grant could claim a wide range
of achievements. In the aftermath of the most serious fiscal problems the nation had ever
faced, he pursued policies that stopped inflation, raised the nations credit, and reduced
taxes and the national debt by over $300 million and $435 million respectively. His veto
of the Inflation Act of 1874 and subsequent drive for what became the Resumption Act of
1875 shocked many who looked to Congress to cure the nation's economic ills, and the
panic of 1873 came to an abrupt end when the act went into effect in 1879. The
successful arbitration of the Alabama and Virginus disputes mark not only foreign policy
victories for the United States, but a significant precursor to the future course of
international affairs. The establishment of the principle of the international arbitration
through the Treaty of Washington, would later be embodied in the Hague Tribunal, the
League of Nations, the World Court, and the United Nations.”
Document M
Ulysses S. Grant, 1877
"I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right,
constitutional, within the law, and for the very best interests of the whole people. Failures
have been errors of judgment, not of intent…. In future, while I hold my present office,
the subject of acquisition of territory must have the support of the people before I will
recommend any proposition looking to such acquisition. I say here, however, that I do not
share in the apprehension held by many as to the danger of governments becoming
weakened and destroyed by reason of their extension of territory. Commerce, education,
and rapid transit of thought and matter by telegraph and steam have changed all this.
Rather do I believe that our Great Maker is preparing the world, in His own good time, to
become one nation, speaking one language, and when armies and navies will be no longer
required.”
Document N