The Grant Cabinet | ||
---|---|---|
Office | Name | Term |
President | Ulysses S. Grant | 1869–1877 |
Vice President | Schuyler Colfax | 1869–1873 |
Henry Wilson | 1873–1875 | |
None | 1875–1877 | |
Secretary of State | Elihu B. Washburne | 1869 |
Hamilton Fish | 1869–1877 | |
Secretary of Treasury | George S. Boutwell | 1869–1873 |
William A. Richardson | 1873–1874 | |
Benjamin H. Bristow | 1874–1876 | |
Lot M. Morrill | 1876–1877 | |
Secretary of War | John A. Rawlins | 1869 |
William W. Belknap | 1869–1876 | |
Alphonso Taft | 1876 | |
J. Donald Cameron | 1876–1877 | |
Attorney General | Ebenezer R. Hoar | 1869–1870 |
Amos T. Akerman | 1870–1871 | |
George H. Williams | 1871–1875 | |
Edwards Pierrepont | 1875–1876 | |
Alphonso Taft | 1876–1877 | |
Postmaster General | John A. J. Creswell | 1869–1874 |
James W. Marshall | 1874 | |
Marshall Jewell | 1874–1876 | |
James N. Tyner | 1876–1877 | |
Secretary of the Navy | Adolph E. Borie | 1869 |
George M. Robeson | 1869–1877 | |
Secretary of the Interior | Jacob D. Cox | 1869–1870 |
Columbus Delano | 1870–1875 | |
Zachariah Chandler | 1875–1877 |
The presidency of Ulysses S. Grant began on March 4, 1869, when Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1877. A Republican, Grant took office as the 18th United States president after defeating Horatio Seymour in the 1868 presidential election. He was easily elected to a second four-year term in office in 1872. His decisive re-election was achieved in the face of a split within the Republican Party that resulted in a third party of Liberal Republicans nominating Horace Greeley to oppose him. This action prompted the Democratic Party to cancel its convention, support Greeley as well, and not nominate a candidate of its own. The first president elected after the end of the Civil War, Grant was the first since Andrew Jackson to serve two full terms. He was succeeded as president by Republican Rutherford B. Hayes after the contested 1876 presidential election. Rather than develop a cadre of trustworthy political advisers, Grant was self-reliant in choosing his Cabinet, while he relied heavily on former Army associates who had a thin understanding of politics and a weak sense of civilian ethics. There were repeated scandals and frauds perpetrated by administration officials as a result. Believing the culprits to be innocent, Grant often attacked their accusers. Defenders note Grant established the first Civil Service Commission and ended the moiety system.