Crédit Mobilier scandal

The Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1867, which came to public attention in 1872, involved the Union Pacific Railroad and the Crédit Mobilier of America construction company in the building of the eastern portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. The scandal was in two parts. The construction company charged the railroad far higher rates than usual, and cash and $9 million in discounted stock were given as bribes to 15 powerful Washington politicians, including the Vice-President, the Secretary of the Treasury, four senators, and the Speaker and other members of the House.

The scandal's origins dated back to 1864 when the Union Pacific Railroad was chartered by Congress and the associated Crédit Mobilier was established. (This company had no relation to the French bank of the same name, which at the time was one of the major financial institutions in the world.) In 1867, Congressman Oakes Ames distributed cash bribes and discounted shares of Crédit Mobilier stock to other congressmen in exchange for votes and actions favorable to the Union Pacific. The story was broken by the New York newspaper, The Sun, during the 1872 presidential campaign, when Ulysses S. Grant was running for re-election. Included in the group of legislators named as having received cash or discounted shares of stock were: former Representative Schuyler Colfax, then serving as Grant's Vice President; Henry Wilson, the senator selected to replace Colfax as the Republican vice presidential nominee during the 1872 Presidential election; James G. Blaine, then-Speaker of the House; and Representative James Garfield, the future President of the United States. The scandal caused widespread public distrust of Congress and the federal government during the Gilded Age.

The federal government in 1864–1868 had authorized and chartered the Union Pacific Railroad with $100 million capital, to complete a transcontinental line west from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast. The federal government offered to assist the railroad with a loan of $16,000 to $48,000 per mile, according to location, for a total of more than $60,000,000 in all, and a land grant of 20,000,000 acres, worth $50,000,000 to $100,000,000. The offer initially attracted no subscribers for financing, as the conditions were financially daunting.

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