One aspect of Ulysses S. Grant’s life that receives too little consideration is his career under President Andrew Johnson.

Having led the Union armies to total victory over the slavers, Grant was a figure of national and international renown.  Having offered generous terms of surrender to Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and advocated in favor of Lincoln’s liberal policy to “bind up the nation’s wounds,” Grant was loved in the North and respected in the South.  As the highest ranking general in the Army, he was now charged with administering the conquered South, implementing Reconstruction, and the re-establishment of lawful government.

Unfortunately, the wise and sagacious Lincoln was replaced by his Vice President, Andrew Johnson.  Johnson was a former slaveowner who remained loyal to the Union cause when Tennessee seceded.  He was also bumptious, bullying,  and committed to maintaining white supremacy.  These qualities mattered little when he was Vice President, but became rather more important when he ascended to the Presidency.

The Republican Congress had other ideas and was led by men committed to preserving the ideals for which so many died in the recent war.  Former slaveholders began a terrorist campaign of violence and intimidation against African-Americans in the South intended to reinstitute the former caste system, unchanged in practice (if no longer called slavery in name).  Where they could gain public office, the former slaveowners used police violence to break up assemblies and intimidate blacks.  Where they could not, the slaveowners used the vigilante methods of the Ku Klux Klan to murder and rape the local black population into acquiescence.

In a letter to Grant, General John Pope, military commander of a district encompassing Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, wrote that the Confederate spirit of rebellion was “nearly as powerful as during the War . . .You can scarcely form an idea of the spirit of malice & hatred in this people – it is a misnomer to call this question in the South a political question – It is War pure & simple . . . The question is not whether Georgia & Alabama will accept or reject reconstruction – It is, shall the Union men & Freedmen, be the salves of the old negro rebel aristocracy or not?”

As terrorism and unlawfulness spread among the former slaveholders, Congress passed progressively stronger measures in the Second and Third Reconstruction Acts.  Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a Lincoln appointee, used his powers under the Reconstruction Acts to protect the freedmen and restore order.  This enraged Andrew Johnson.  To prevent Johnson from firing Stanton, the Republican Congress then passed the Tenure in Office Act which protected Lincoln’s cabinet from removal by Johnson. This did not calm his distemper.

Johnson insisted that the Tenure in Office Act was unconstitutional, but attempted an end run around it by suspending Stanton rather than firing him.  He then handed a poisoned chalice to Grant (and attempted to trade on his stature in both the South and the North) by ordering him to assume the duties of Secretary of War.

Grant supported Republican efforts to protect the freed slaves and used his position in the Army to place military commanders in the South who would faithfully implement Congress’ policy.  He dared not resign in protest of Stanton’s firing because Johnson would replace him with someone more hostile to the freed slaves.  Grant was reluctant to accept appointment as acting Secretary of War because that would be seen as affirming Johnson’s authority to obstruct Reconstruction.  Further complicating the situation was that Grant was a military officer who was obligated to follow the orders of his commander-in-chief.

Grant sought to square this circle by announcing that he would obey Johnson’s order, but only until such time as the Senate could reconvene and rule on whether Stanton’s suspension was lawful under the Tenure in Office Act.  When the Senate affirmed that Stanton was still Secretary of War, Grant promptly turned the keys to the office back over to Stanton, thereby sending Johnson into another fit of rage.

Johnson brashly accused Grant of lying to him and then fired Stanton, thereby precipitating his own impeachment.  While Johnson narrowly escaped removal from office by a single vote, the entire controversy served to reinforce the popular view of Grant as a steady figure who attempted to honestly and faithfully carry out his duties without fear or favor.  His ascension to the Presidency was assured.