U.S. Grant Against Inflation

Front Page Magazine ^ | June 4, 2025 | Robert Spencer

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The victorious Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant was the Republicans’ unanimous choice for president in 1868. As in so many other presidential campaigns, the Democrats made race the centerpiece of their appeal to the American people. They nominated former New York governor Horatio Seymour and ran him on a platform calling for the “immediate restoration of all States to their rights in the Union under the Constitution,” amnesty for all former Confederates, and “the regulation of the elective franchise in the States by their citizens.”

That last point meant the right of white Southerners, chiefly former slaveholders and all Democrats, to restrict the freed slaves’ right to vote. For good measure, the Democratic platform called the Reconstruction Acts “unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void.” A Seymour campaign badge proclaimed, “Our Motto: This is a White Man’s Country; Let White Men Rule.” Grant won handily, with 214 electoral votes to Seymour’s 80.

The renowned general’s only problem after that was having to govern. During the Civil War, the U.S. government had printed paper money, backed by neither gold nor silver, to cover its rapidly rising war debts. Grant attempted to curb inflation and restore some fiscal responsibility to the economy by phasing out the greenbacks and conducting the government’s business in gold coins. He also maintained high tariffs to protect American workers and industries.

The new president also had to deal with self-serving advisors. Railroad magnate Jay Gould and stockbroker Jim Fisk had personally exhorted Grant to take this course, and were poised to take advantage. They bribed Assistant U.S. Treasurer Daniel Butterfield for inside information and proceeded to try to corner the gold market. In September 1869, Grant discovered their scheme and ordered his secretary of the treasury, George S. Boutwell, to sell $4 million in gold ($75 million today)...

[Ditto]

Read the damn links I gave you. The “ originals” were for Fort Moultry, Castle Pinckney and others that were determined to be not adequate for the defense of Charleston. The Feds inspected a sand bar out in the harbor and said they could indeed build a fort there but they would first have to build an island. The South Carolina legislature met and agreed and seeded the spot to the Feds. For the next 20 years they hauled stone from New England to dump in the harbor and after it rose above the high tide level began constructing the Fort with massive stone walls.

As much as your active imagination would wish, there was nothing in the legislatures actions that said a fort had to exist by a certain date or that the State could take it back at will.

Now to your other points. You say Lincoln ordered gun ships to go and attack the Confederates. He did no such thing and those so called “ gun ships” never fired a shot at the Confederates. When it became obvious to Lincoln that Sumter would run out of food and water he decided to resupply it. But he refused to be the first to fire a shot. Lincoln still hoped to avoid war and notified South Carolina governor Pickens that supply ship were coming and they would only bring food and supplies necessary for the troops stationed there. The confederates weren't going to tolerate that so before the ships arrived they (with the encouragement of lunatics like Edwin Ruffin) opened fire on Fort Sumter, starting the war. The Fort had fallen by the time the ships arrived. Those ships did not fire on anyone.

Now, what other Civil War fairy tales do you have?

[Ditto]

Agreeing with Beard that people fight over money/resources and that this has been the primary motivation for war throughout human history does not make someone a socialist.

Beard said the Founding Fathers did the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution only out of monitory motivations. You agree with that?

He denied it but Beard was a freaking socialist.

[FLT-bird]

Beard said the Founding Fathers did the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution only out of monitory motivations. You agree with that? He denied it but Beard was a freaking socialist.

Beard was a socialist - or at least a pinko. There's no doubt as relatively wealthy country gentlemen the Founding Fathers made sure the protection of property was front and center in the Constitution, but that was also obviously not the only reason they wrote/ratified it.

[FLT-bird]

The "supply ships" as you mention were

The steam sloop-of-war USS Pawnee, 181 officers and enlisted Armament: • 8 × 9 in guns, • 2 × 12-pounder guns

USS Powhatan, 289 officers and enlisted Armament: • 1 × 11 in (280 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore gun, 10 × 9 in (230 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns • 5 × 12-pounder guns, also transporting steam launches and about 300 sailors (besides the crew, these to be used to augment Army troops)

Armed screw steamer USS Pocahontas, 150 officers and men (approx.) 4 × 32-pounder guns, 1 × 10-pounder gun, 1 × 20-pounder Parrot rifle

The Revenue Cutter USS Harriet Lane, 95 officers and men Armament: 1 x 4in gun, 1 x 9in gun, 2 x 8in guns, 2 x 24 lb brass howitzers

The steamer Baltic transporting about 200 troops, composed of companies C and D of the 2nd U.S. Artillery, and three hired tug boats with added protection against small arms fire to be used to tow troop and supply barges directly to Fort Sumter (or some other point since it is inconceivable that they would be taking small arms fire from a union held fortification)

Totals

4 war ships

4 transports

38 heavy guns

1200 military personnel (at least 500 of whom were to be used as a landing party)

"Lincoln and the First Shot" (in Reassessing the Presidency, edited by John Denson), John Denson painstakingly shows how Lincoln maneuvered the Confederates into firing the first shot at Fort Sumter. As the Providence Daily Post wrote on April 13, 1861, "Mr. Lincoln saw an opportunity to inaugurate civil war without appearing in the character of an aggressor" by reprovisioning Fort Sumter. On the day before that the Jersey City American Statesman wrote that "This unarmed vessel, it is well understood, is a mere decoy to draw the first fire from the people of the South." Lincoln's personal secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay, clearly stated after the war that Lincoln successfully duped the Confederates into firing on Fort Sumter. And as Shelby Foote wrote in The Civil War, "Lincoln had maneuvered [the Confederates] into the position of having either to back down on their threats or else to fire the first shot of the war."

[Ditto]

, John Denson painstakingly shows how Lincoln maneuvered the Confederates into firing the first shot at Fort Sumter. As the Providence Daily Post wrote on April 13, 1861, "Mr. Lincoln saw an opportunity to inaugurate civil war without appearing in the character of an aggressor" by reprovisioning Fort Sumter.

That crafty Lincoln, he tricked those poor confederates into firing the first shots. He tricked them even before he was president back in January by firing on a union ship attempting to enter the harbor. That was really crafty on Lincoln’s part to get them to fire on the flag even though he was still in Illinois. The poor confederates just couldn’t resist Lincoln’s trickery.

[FLT-bird]

That crafty Lincoln, he tricked those poor confederates into firing the first shots. He tricked them even before he was president back in January by firing on a union ship attempting to enter the harbor. That was really crafty on Lincoln’s part to get them to fire on the flag even though he was still in Illinois. The poor confederates just couldn’t resist Lincoln’s trickery.

He put them to the choice of firing to drive the invaders away, or being invaded without firing a shot in their own defense. They fired shots across the bow of the Star of the West. They did not fire at it.

[DiogenesLamp]

As much as your active imagination would wish, there was nothing in the legislatures actions that said a fort had to exist by a certain date or that the State could take it back at will.

I've read the land grant from the South Carolina legislature. It is linked somewhere in my vast repertoire of commentary, but I am not going to go looking for it. Yes, the South Carolina put conditions on the original land grant.

Now to your other points. You say Lincoln ordered gun ships to go and attack the Confederates.

He absolutely *DID* do this, and you don't know about it!

The Ships were the "Powhatan", (Warship.) The "Pocahontas", (Warship) the "Pawnee", (Warship), the "Harriet Lane" (Armed Revenue Cutter Warship) the "Yankee" (Armed Tugboat), the "Uncle Ben", (Tugboat) the "Thomas Freeborn" (Armed Tugboat. ) and the "Baltic". (Troop transport carrying troops and munitions)

Their orders were to use their entire force if "resisted" by the Confederates.

...and those so called “ gun ships” never fired a shot at the Confederates.

The Harriet Lane fired two shots at the "Nashville". But this is beside the point. Their orders were to wait for the arrival of Captain Mercer commanding the Powhatan to coordinate their attack.

Captain Mercer never arrived, because Lincoln had relieved him of duty and given his ship to Lieutenant David Porter, and told him to sail it secretly to Pensacola. He issued these orders secretly, knowing full well that his public orders had led the confederates to expect the arrival of Captain Mercer and the Powhatan to take control of the assault against the Confederates. Also the ships he had already sent were expecting Mercer and the Powhatan to arrive.

He pointed a gun at the Confederates and pulled the trigger. They didn't know he had deliberately loaded the gun with blanks, so they behaved exactly as if the *ASSAULT HE HAD ORDERED* was real.

He fooled them. He was a very clever manipulator of people.

But he refused to be the first to fire a shot.

He would have gotten little support from most of the states if he had initiated the conflict, so he put his conniving con-man brain to work, and figured out a way to make it look like *THEY* started it. His plan worked perfectly and even the New York times commended him for his clever trick to make it appear as if the Confederates had shot first.

The public was not informed of his deliberate provocation of them. The mission was billed as a "supply" mission. Here is a picture of one of the "supply" ships. (USS Pawnee)

Now, what other Civil War fairy tales do you have?

You have the fairy tails. I'm showing you the truth.

[Ditto]

Grant. His own men called him that. (butcher)

Ya, Grant’s soldiers hated him so much that they overwhelmingly voted for him in 1868 and again in 1872.

When Grant died his funeral procession surpassed any public demonstration in the United States up until that time, with an attendance of 1.5 million people, as well as additional ceremonies held in other major cities around the country. People who eulogized him likened him to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, then the nation's two greatest heroes.

As Ulysses S. Grant's funeral procession made its way through New York City on August 8, 1885, crowds packed every square inch of available viewing space on the ground, and buildings were draped in black in Grant's honor. The column of mourners who accompanied Grant was seven miles long

Some Butcher who was hated by his troops.

[FLT-bird]

Ya, Grant’s soldiers hated him so much that they overwhelmingly voted for him in 1868 and again in 1872.

Never said they didn't. I said they called him the fumbling butcher. They did.

[Ditto]

Blacks weren't even allowed to vote until after the 14th amendment, and even then, there were residency requirements that put the earliest date for black voting at 1872.

Oh, really. What do you say about this? Doesn’t look good for your Carpetbagger myth.

Protected by strong federal oversight and the presence of the U.S. Army, thousands of Black South Carolinians registered to vote for the first time in 1867 and instantly formed a numerical majority of the state’s electorate.. Black Republicans, joined by a smaller number of White allies, formed a constitutional convention in early 1868 that crafted a new and very progressive charter for the reconstructed state.

Source: https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/rise-voter-suppression-south-carolina-1865-1896

[Ditto]

That was in January, 2 months before Lincoln took office. The Dough Face Buchanan was still president. Is it still Lincoln’s fault?

[FLT-bird]

That was in January, 2 months before Lincoln took office. The Dough Face Buchanan was still president. Is it still Lincoln’s fault?

Buchanan was not willing to start a war to prevent secession which he knew was a right each state retained. Lincoln is the one who chose an unconstitutional war of aggression for money and empire.

[Ditto]

How disgusting. The US Navy actually had guns on their ships! < sarcasm >

[DiogenesLamp]

Protected by strong federal oversight and the presence of the U.S. Army, thousands of Black South Carolinians registered to vote for the first time in 1867 and instantly formed a numerical majority of the state’s electorate..

This is a perfect example of what I was talking about. There was no legal way for them to vote other than the *ARMY* declaring it so, knowing precisely that they were going to vote for anything Lincoln and the Army wanted.

South Carolina had no law recognizing these people as citizens or voters, and neither did the Federal law recognize them as such.

Military decree alone is responsible for this, and in doing this, the Military just shat upon the US Constitution.

So perhaps you were not talking about legal voters, but I was. These were all illegal voters.

[DiogenesLamp]

How disgusting. The US Navy actually had guns on their ships!

No, the disgusting part is pretending these are "SUPPLY SHIPS" when in fact they were all WARSHIPS, and being sent to start a war.

The "Star of the West" was not a warship. It was a supply ship. Of course they loaded it up with soldiers and turned it into a troop transport ship, but it was actually made to deliver cargo and supplied, not to bombard other ships or shores with cannon fire.

Now you are trying to be smart @SS and redefine the point into "The Navy has guns on their Warships!"

You are studiously ignoring the point that these were *WARSHIPS*, not Cargo ships, and they were sent on an attack mission that was torpedoed by Lincoln's actions before it had a chance to complete the very public mission it was given to attack the Confederates.

It was a ploy to start the war, and Lincoln did it on purpose. In fact, in March of 1861, he had told his cabinet of the idea to send these warships. His entire cabinet told him that if he did that, he would start a war.

Some of them agreed with him that he should start the war this way, but most of them did not. They thought it would be a terrible thing, and advised him against doing this.

So Lincoln knew very well he was going to initiate a war, but he needed that war, and so he decided he was going to start it.

[Ditto]

This is a perfect example of what I was talking about. There was no legal way for them to vote other than the *ARMY* declaring it so?

What legal are you talking about? This was the reconstruction government of South Carolina. They allowed the black men over age 21 to vote. You against that? You think the rebel government of South Carolina should have still been in charge?

[Ditto]

TO ROBERT S. CHEW

[War Department.] Washington, April 6. 1861
Sir---you will proceed directly to Charleston, South Carolina; and if, on your arrival there, the flag of the United States shall be flying over Fort-Sumpter, and the Fort shall not have been attacked, you will procure an interview with Gov. Pickens, and read to him as follows:

``I am directed by the President of the United States to notify you to expect an attempt will be made to supply Fort-Sumpter with provisions only; and that, if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or amunition, will be made, without further notice, or in case of an attack upon the Fort''

After you shall have read this to Governor Pickens, deliver to him the copy of it herein inclosed, and retain this letter yourself.

But if, on your arrival at Charleston, you shall ascertain that Fort Sumpter shall have been already evacuated, or surrendered, by the United States force; or, shall have been attacked by an opposing force, you will seek no interview with Gov. Pickens, but return here forthwith.

[Respectfully SIMON CAMERON Secy of War]

Source: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln4/1:505?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

Try another myth.

[Ditto]

Buchanan was not willing to start a war to prevent secession which he knew was a right each state retained.

Wrong again. Buchanan did not think secession was a right. Actually, Buchanan, who was pro slavery and a noted Dough Face still considered unilateral secession unconstitutional but with a short time left in office decided not to deal with it.

Source: https://pressbooks.pub/rozinskiamericanpoliticaltheory/chapter/james-buchanans-response-to-succession/

[FLT-bird]

Wrong again. Buchanan did not think secession was a right. Actually, Buchanan, who was pro slavery and a noted Dough Face still considered unilateral secession unconstitutional but with a short time left in office decided not to deal with it.

Buchanan did not think the federal government had the power to prevent secession. He was right about that. Nowhere did the sovereign states delegate that power to the federal government. Each state did of course retain the right to unilateral secession at the time of ratification.

"We, the delegates of the people of Virginia, duly elected in pursuance of a recommendation from the general assembly, and now met in convention, having fully and freely investigated and discussed the proceedings of the Federal Convention, and being prepared as well as the most mature deliberation hath enabled us to decide thereon, Do, in the name and in behalf of the people of Virginia, declare and make known that the powers granted under the Constitution being derived from the people of the United States may be resumed by them whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression, and that every power not granted thereby remains with them and at their will...."

"We, the delegates of the people of New York... do declare and make known that the powers of government may be reassumed by the people whenever it shall become necessary to their happiness; that every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by the said Constitution clearly delegated to the Congress of the United States, or the department of the government thereof, remains to the people of the several States, or to their respective State governments, to whom they may have granted the same; and that those clauses in the said Constitution, which declare that Congress shall not have or exercise certain powers, do not imply that Congress is entitled to any powers not given by the said Constitution; but such clauses are to be construed either as exceptions in certain specified powers or as inserted merely for greater caution."

"We, the delegates of the people of Rhode Island and Plantations, duly elected... do declare and make known... that the powers of government may be resumed by the people whenever it shall become necessary to their happiness; that every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by the said Constitution clearly delegated to the Congress of the United States, or the department of the government thereof, remains to the people of the several States, or to their respective State governments, to whom they may have granted the same; that Congress shall guarantee to each State its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Constitution expressly delegated to the United States."

Under the Comity Principle, every state understood itself to have the right of unilateral secession. The 9th and 10th amendments to the constitution set out that any power not delegated by the states to the federal government is retained by the states. That would include the right to unilateral secession.

[Ditto]

Buchanan did not think the federal government had the power to prevent secession.

Wrong again. Really wrong again. From the link I gave you above.

Buchanan argued that the Constitution has no provision for secession, and therefore it is not a choice that states could make. However, he admitted that he had no power to take military action to stop their secession without the authorization of Congress, something he knew that he could never obtain.

Try another myth.