789
Private
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2015
Ulysses, the railroads & the supreme court
"so far as money bribes were concerned Grant was beyond reproach. He, however, was surrounded by as corrupt a corps of intimates, confidants and factotums as, perhaps, had ever been known in the White House. They had his ear and trust; and when their integrity was impeached he resented the fact, and sought to shield them in every possible way. They seem to have manipulated Grant much as they willed. Vicious scandals kept developing in the war and navy departments and it was shown that Grant's own private secretary and intimate friend, Orville E. Babcock, was a member of the Whiskey Ring and was sharing in the proceeds of its frauds. Grant's brother-in-law, A.R. Corbin, had been a lobbyist in Congress for the Illinois Central Railroad, and was both an accomplice of Gould and a participant in the profits of Gould's gold conspiracy operations of 1869, leading to "Black Friday."
"Grant's open association with Gould and Fisk was, in truth, a national scandal; he went on a junketing steamboat party with them; he appeared with them at the theater; and this public countenance was of the most incalculable value to them, in that it spread the public impression that Grant was in league with them, and gave them the support of his paramount authority. We cannot assume that he was so simple-minded as to have been an unconscious dupe, and not know (what every intelligent man knew) of their corrupt character and the enormous frauds and thefts that they were consunimating."
"On December 20, 1869, President Grant appointed Edwin M. Stanton, but Stanton died four days later. Then, on the same day that Chase's opinion in the Legal-Tender case was announced, Grant sent the nominations of William Strong and Joseph P. Bradley, as Associate Justices, to the Senate. Their nominations were shortly afterward confirmed. Both Strong and Bradley were conspicuous railroad attorneys and directors."
"Now that the Supreme Court of the United States was packed, or to put it more felicitously, reconstituted so as to reverse Chase's Legal-Tender decision, Attorney-General Hoar moved for a rehearing of the case. This motion was granted; and, in December, 1870, the Supreme Court, by a vote of five to four (Associate Justice Strong writing the majority opinion) reversed the previous decision, and declared the Legal Tender Act constitutional.
"From this time on, one decision after another, not always, but almost invariably, favorable to the railroad interests followed. The State of Pennsylvania had passed an act imposing a tax on all freight within the state. The railroads refused to pay this tax on the ground of its being unconstitutional. In December, 1872, Justice Strong, delivering the Supreme Court's majority opinion, declared the act unconstitutional. Another Pennsylvania law imposed a tax on gross receipts of railroad, canal, and transportation companies; in this case, Justice Strong, as the mouthpiece of the majority, declared that the law was not invalid. Thereupon the Pennsylvania Railroad corrupted the Legislature to repeal the act. Another measure passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature --for the Anti-Monopoly movement was then politically strong, and it was considered politic to give it deferential sops-- was an act taxing non-resident bondholders. By a vote of five to four (Justice Field writing the majority opinion) this act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in December, 1872."
"so far as money bribes were concerned Grant was beyond reproach. He, however, was surrounded by as corrupt a corps of intimates, confidants and factotums as, perhaps, had ever been known in the White House. They had his ear and trust; and when their integrity was impeached he resented the fact, and sought to shield them in every possible way. They seem to have manipulated Grant much as they willed. Vicious scandals kept developing in the war and navy departments and it was shown that Grant's own private secretary and intimate friend, Orville E. Babcock, was a member of the Whiskey Ring and was sharing in the proceeds of its frauds. Grant's brother-in-law, A.R. Corbin, had been a lobbyist in Congress for the Illinois Central Railroad, and was both an accomplice of Gould and a participant in the profits of Gould's gold conspiracy operations of 1869, leading to "Black Friday."
"Grant's open association with Gould and Fisk was, in truth, a national scandal; he went on a junketing steamboat party with them; he appeared with them at the theater; and this public countenance was of the most incalculable value to them, in that it spread the public impression that Grant was in league with them, and gave them the support of his paramount authority. We cannot assume that he was so simple-minded as to have been an unconscious dupe, and not know (what every intelligent man knew) of their corrupt character and the enormous frauds and thefts that they were consunimating."
"On December 20, 1869, President Grant appointed Edwin M. Stanton, but Stanton died four days later. Then, on the same day that Chase's opinion in the Legal-Tender case was announced, Grant sent the nominations of William Strong and Joseph P. Bradley, as Associate Justices, to the Senate. Their nominations were shortly afterward confirmed. Both Strong and Bradley were conspicuous railroad attorneys and directors."
"Now that the Supreme Court of the United States was packed, or to put it more felicitously, reconstituted so as to reverse Chase's Legal-Tender decision, Attorney-General Hoar moved for a rehearing of the case. This motion was granted; and, in December, 1870, the Supreme Court, by a vote of five to four (Associate Justice Strong writing the majority opinion) reversed the previous decision, and declared the Legal Tender Act constitutional.
"From this time on, one decision after another, not always, but almost invariably, favorable to the railroad interests followed. The State of Pennsylvania had passed an act imposing a tax on all freight within the state. The railroads refused to pay this tax on the ground of its being unconstitutional. In December, 1872, Justice Strong, delivering the Supreme Court's majority opinion, declared the act unconstitutional. Another Pennsylvania law imposed a tax on gross receipts of railroad, canal, and transportation companies; in this case, Justice Strong, as the mouthpiece of the majority, declared that the law was not invalid. Thereupon the Pennsylvania Railroad corrupted the Legislature to repeal the act. Another measure passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature --for the Anti-Monopoly movement was then politically strong, and it was considered politic to give it deferential sops-- was an act taxing non-resident bondholders. By a vote of five to four (Justice Field writing the majority opinion) this act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in December, 1872."
Bringing the