on the part of the president, attached a clause to the army appropriation bill, passed on 4 March, 1867, providing that “all orders and instructions relating to military operations shall be issued through the general of the army,” and added that he should “not be removed, suspended, or relieved from command, or assigned to duty elsewhere than at the headquarters in Washington, except at his own request, without the previous approval of the senate.” The president signed the bill, with a protest against this clause, and soon obtained an opinion from his attorney-general that it was unconstitutional. The president then undertook to send this opinion to the district commanders, but, finding the secretary of war in opposition, he issued it through the adjutant-general's office. Gen. Sheridan, then at New Orleans, in command of the fifth military district, inquired what to do, and Grant replied that a “legal opinion was not entitled to the force of an order,” and “to enforce his own construction of the law until otherwise ordered.” This brought on a crisis. The president claimed that under the constitution he could direct the district commanders to issue such orders as he dictated, and was met by an act of congress, passed in July, making the orders of the district commanders “subject to the disapproval of the general of the army.” Thus Grant was given chief control of affairs relating to the reconstruction of the southern states. The president still retained the power of removal, and on the adjournment of congress he removed Sheridan and placed Gen. Hancock in command of the fifth military district. Some of Hancock's orders were revoked by Grant, which caused not a little bitterness of feeling between these officers, and provoked opposition from the Democratic party. Subsequently, when a bill was before congress to muster Gen. Hancock out of the service for his acts in Louisiana, Grant opposed it, and it was defeated. Soon afterward he recommended Hancock for a major-generalship in the regular army, to which he was appointed.
The “tenure-of-office” act forbade the president from removing a cabinet officer without the consent of the senate; but President Johnson suspended Sec. Stanton, and appointed Grant secretary of war ad interim on 12 Aug., 1867. Grant protested against this action, but retained the office until 14 Jan., 1868, when the senate refused to confirm the suspension of Stanton. Grant immediately notified the president, who, finding that the general of the army would not retain the place in opposition to the will of congress, and that Sec. Stanton had re-entered upon his office, ordered Grant verbally to disregard Stanton's orders. Grant declined to do so unless he received instructions in writing. This led to an acrimonious correspondence. The president claimed that Grant had promised to sustain him. This Grant emphatically denied, and in a long letter reviewing his action said: “The course you would have it understood I agreed to pursue was in violation of law, and was without orders from you, while the course I did pursue, and which I never doubted you understood, was in accordance with law. . . . And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a soldier and integrity as a man have been so violently assailed, pardon me for saying that I regard this whole matter, from the beginning to the end, as an attempt to involve me in the resistance of law for which you hesitate to assume the responsibility in orders.” On 21 Feb. the president appointed Lorenzo Thomas adjutant-general of the army, secretary of war, and ordered him to take possession of the office. On 24 Feb. articles of impeachment were passed by the house of representatives. Throughout these years of contest between the executive and congress, Grant's position became very delicate and embarrassing. He was compelled to execute the laws of congress at the risk of appearing insubordinate to his official chief, but his course was commended by the people, his popularity increased, and when the Republican convention met in Chicago, 20 May, 1868, he was unanimously nominated for the presidency on the first ballot. In his letter of acceptance, dated nine days after, he made use of the famous phrase, “Let us have peace.” The Democratic party nominated Horatio Seymour, of New York. When the election occurred, Grant carried twenty-six states with a popular vote of 3,015,071, while Seymour carried eight states with a popular vote of 2,709,613. It was claimed that the state of New York was really carried by Grant, but fraudulently counted for Seymour. Out of the 294 electoral votes cast for president, Grant received 214 and Seymour 80 — Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia not voting.
Grant possessed in a striking degree the essential characteristics of a successful soldier. His self-reliance was one of his most pronounced traits, and enabled him at critical moments to decide promptly the most important questions without useless delay in seeking advice from others, and to assume the gravest responsibilities without asking any one to share them. He had a fertility of resource and a faculty of adapting the means at hand to the accomplishment of his purposes, which contributed no small share to his success. His moral and physical courage were equal to every emergency in which he was placed. His unassuming manner, purity of character, and absolute loyalty to his superiors and to the work in which he was engaged, inspired loyalty in others and gained him the devotion of the humblest of his subordinates. He was singularly calm and patient under all circumstances, was never unduly elated by victory or depressed by defeat, never became excited, and never uttered an oath or imprecation. His habits of life were simple, and he was possessed of a physical constitution that enabled him to endure every form of fatigue and privation incident to military service in the field. He had an intuitive knowledge of topography, and never became confused as to locality in directing the movements of large bodies of men. He exhibited a rapidity of thought and action on the field that enabled him to move troops in the presence of an enemy with a promptness that has rarely been equalled. He had no hobby as to the use of any particular arm of the service. He naturally placed his main reliance on his infantry, but made a more vigorous use of cavalry than any of the generals of his day, and was judicious in apportioning the amount of his artillery to the character of the country in which he was operating. While his achievements in actual battle eclipse by their brilliance the strategy and grand tactics employed in his campaigns, yet the extraordinary combinations effected and the skill and boldness exhibited in moving large armies into position entitle him, perhaps, to as much credit as the qualities he displayed in the face of the enemy. On 4 March, 1869, Grant was inaugurated the eighteenth president of the United States.
Gen. Grant had never taken an active part in politics, and had voted for a presidential candidate but once. In 1856, although his early associations had been with the Whigs, he cast his vote for James Buchanan, the Democratic candidate; but this was on personal rather than political grounds, as he believed that the Republican candidate did not possess the requisite qualifications
