And now back to Grant and co.
50.
North Carolina had been under martial law for nearly two weeks by the time Grant returned from his trip to the state. In that time Governor Holden had effectively declared war on the Ku Klux Klan and its affiliates and incited the rage of the Democrats of the state legislature, who were currently calling for his removal.
Sitting at the head of the table, his cabinet arrayed around him, Grant sighed to himself.
“We may have to act sooner than we thought.” He said. General Thomas nodded solemnly, Attorney General Hoar looked grim.
“Our thrust was supposed to begin in December,” he fretted, “it’s barely June, we do not have the resources in place…”
“I’m not talking about the entire South,” Grant said, “just North Carolina.” Thomas stirred.
“There is serious danger of the Klan rising to action in neighboring states,” he warned, “especially since you’ve nominated this Outlaw character as a candidate for the Marshal Service. The night riders are frightened and upset Mr. President, there will be a severe uptick in violence if we do not act quickly and decisively.” Grant was quiet for a few moments.
“You’re right George,” he said, “but as Mr. Hoar has noted, we do not have the resources in place to contain this swell of violence. So I propose that we focus on North Carolina, to finish crushing the night riders and their sympathizers in that state.”
“Speaking of which,” Secretary of State Fish said from his place next to Grant, “how’s Holden faring? I haven’t exactly been keeping up with that situation.” Grant couldn’t blame him. His secretary of State had been kept busy with foreign affairs, ranging from a somewhat chaotic scene in China to the beginnings of negotiations with Santo Domingo regarding potential annexation.
“The Democrats wish to impeach him for declaring martial law and suspending habeus corpus,” Hoar said gloomily, “and they just might get their way…regardless of the thirty odd corpses that this mess in Alamance County has produced.” Thomas cast a look over to Grant.
“What really upset them,” he said, “was that you took the man who almost singlehandedly resolved the situation and elevated him in a very public manner. They hate that an appointee of Governor Holden is now an appointee of the President as well.” Grant smiled.
“I spoke with Wyatt Outlaw when I visited Graham. He’s a good man, level headed, deeply religious, has a family. I don’t particularly care what the Democrats think of me elevating him, especially since it’s the duty of the Senate to decide what to do with him, and both senators from North Carolina seem inclined to vote in his favor.”
“I’m not doubting your judgement,” Thomas said, “just noting that there are dangerous levels of unrest in North Carolina right now, and they are very likely to spread into other states if we do not act.”
“What do you propose we do General?” Fish asked. Thomas didn’t hesitate.
“A full enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment, using military force and loyal integrated militias to augment our forces where we’re shorthanded. If we can get each state house in the south to codify the equality of the Negro then we will win, the night riders will not be able to attack without inviting a military response.” The silence was decidedly uncomfortable.
“That’s all very good,” Fish said with a nervous laugh, “but if we do that then we lose both houses of congress in the midterms and doom the south, and the nation by proxy, to Democratic domination until the end of time.” Hoar put both hands over his face in evident agitation.
“Mr. Fish is right,” he spoke through his hands, sounding weary and demoralized, “Charles Sumner would balk at a plan like that, we’d probably end up being pursued with impeachment like Governor Holden in Raleigh.”
“I’m just Treasury Secretary,” Boutwell said from his corner of the table, “but I must express my agreement with Mr. Hoar and Mr. Fish. You cannot think of this as purely a military campaign George, because it’s not. This is political warfare, our reality against theirs. We must act more subtly if we are to win this.” The eyes of the cabinet turned to Grant, who was quietly listening.
“So,” said Fish, “what say you?”
“I am a moderate Republican with Radical leanings,” Grant said, “so while I do find myself feeling some sympathy for George’s plan, it has inherent flaws that present worrying implications down the road. If we allow the military and the federal government the right to decide state affairs practically at will, then we run the risk of creating a tyrannical central government down the line. We don’t want that, that’s what we created this country to escape. But neither do we want the sort of decentralized supremacy of state’s rights that allowed slavery to flourish for so long. We have to strike a balance. And in my mind that involves using the judiciary to establish some footholds for us.” Hoar had dropped his hands from his face and was listening intently now, obviously realizing that his part of the government was being discussed.
“Footholds.” He echoed. Grant nodded.
“Exactly. Do you believe that you could find reason for the Attorney General’s office to investigate some of the Democratic state legislators in North Carolina? To perhaps convince them that impeaching Holden would be a bad idea?” Hoar was quiet for a few moments, then he nodded.
“I suppose I could.” Fish looked conflicted.
“Isn’t this a bit…risky?” He asked.
“We’re pursuing corruption in government,” Thomas answered blandly, “what more is there to it?”
_______
Elsewhere, Sumner and Wade were discussing current events as well, sitting in a parlor on the first floor of Sumner’s home.
“Sam has been being very nice to us lately,” Sumner said, swirling a splash of brandy around in the bottom of his glass, “…which probably means that he’s getting ready to do something horrible again.” Wade sighed.
“He has been somewhat…divisive lately. But this situation in North Carolina, as horrible as it is, has really done wonders to bring the party together once more, don’t you think?” Sumner nodded gravely.
“More than thirty dead, including a magistrate and the director of a company town…and the Democrats are still blaming it all on us.”
“Such is the way of the world.” Wade sighed.
“This goes beyond the pale though,” Sumner protested, “they’re trying to impeach a sitting governor for protecting his own constituents.”
“That’s not how the Democrats see it. All they see is that a couple of Negroes with guns whupped the hell out of their night riding pals…and then Holden swooped in to mop up the rest. They don’t have a case worth a damn, but that doesn’t matter when they’ve a majority of the votes in the legislature.”
“Tyrants,” Sumner fumed, “I bet they wouldn’t like it if we impeached every Democratic governor with a Republican legislature.”
“Now now Charles,” Wade said with a humorless smile, “if we did that then we’d hardly be any better than them.”
“Stuff! Even if Lincoln and Grant were the kind of autocrats the Democrats described them as we’d still have the moral high ground over those troglodytes.” Sumner poured himself a finger of brandy and downed it all in one gulp, like a man swallowing medicine. His every motion was angry.
“Sam did hand us a marvelous Marshals candidate to vote on.” Wade said, shifting the topic of conversation ever so slightly. At this Sumner perked up a bit.
“I suppose he did. Good thing too, I was wondering when he’d show some initiative in appointing Negro law enforcement to federal roles.”
“He has a lot on his plate right now,” Wade said, “but I think he’s doing well so far…even if his biggest success to date was to our detriment.”
“Don’t even remind me,” Sumner groaned, “what a mess the Tenure of Office Act turned out to be…we came this close to a party split.” He held his thumb and index finger perhaps an inch apart and grimaced.
“Do you think anything similar might happen over Santo Domingo?” Wade asked. Sumner shook his head.
“That’s different, with Santo Domingo it’s not just Radicals against what Sam’s doing. We have allies, and that’ll ease the minds of the more nervous amongst our ranks.”
“The Democrats.” Wade said.
“No, I have it on good authority that some of them support annexation…but if a few of them happen to vote the same way we do, so be it. That doesn’t dampen the legitimacy of our cause.”
“Of course not,” Wade agreed, “a stopped clock is right twice a day after all.”
“The Democrats are right a lot less than that,” Sumner said with a wicked grin, “but the basic concept is true. We’ll need all the votes we can get to crush this Santo Domingo thing.” Wade chuckled at his friend’s ire.
“And if Douglass and I come back from our trip born again believers in annexation…?” Sumner rolled his eyes.
“If.”
_______
Treasury Secretary Boutwell sold the first batch of gold at a little past noon, June 2, 1869. Using the revenues incurred from this sale the Treasury bought up great quantities of greenbacks and other bonds. This was in line with Grant’s fiscal platform, which valued ‘hard money’ over things like greenbacks and sought to increase the value of the dollar.
Elsewhere, armed with information sold to them by their mole within the treasury Department, James Fisk and Jay Gould preemptively bought a large amount of this gold, nearly twenty percent of what Boutwell had authorized to be sold.
With more sales to be announced throughout the summer, Gould and Fisk sat secure, knowing that if everything went to plan then by September they would have access to nearly three million dollars worth of gold.
The profit margin of selling that amount of gold all at once, perhaps in December or January, wouldn’t be anything spectacular…but the real benefit stood in the stock market, which would all but collapse as gold devalued. This would allow Fisk and Gould, as the only financiers left standing, to assert financial dominance over the country.
“Ben Wade had no idea what he was poking his nose into when he meddled with us.” Gould said fiercely, sipping a celebratory flute of champagne as he looked over the sales receipts of the fifty thousand dollars worth of gold that he had purchased that day.
“And he never will.” Fisk said serenely.
Their scheming continued.