Reconstruction and the Gilded Age 169Ways and Means; William D. (“Pig Iron”) Kelley, chairman of the
Civil Service Committee; John A. Bingham, chairman of the Judiciary
Committee and another of Johnson’s prosecutors; and Glenn W. Sco-
field, chairman of the Naval Committee. Quite a group!
Credit Mobilier was a dummy construction company formed by the
Union Pacifi c Railroad to provide profi ts from the building of the line
which were distributed to worthy congressmen in return for political
favors. Republican Representative Oakes Ames of Massachusetts sold
the stock to select members of the House, who were expected to use
their political influence to benefit the company. It was alleged that to
show their appreciation these congressmen helped kill a bill that would
have regulated the Union Pacific’s railroad rates.
These revelations came late in the presidential election of 1872 and
therefore had little effect on its outcome. Grant was reelected, and his
running mate, Henry Wilson, won the Vice Presidency. They defeated
the Liberal Republican ticket of Horace Greeley, editor of the New
York Tribune, and B. Gratz Brown. This Liberal Republican faction
had developed within the Republican Party in 1871 in an effort to
provide needed civil service and tariff reforms. It was led by the
German-born Senator Carl Schurz, a former Union general.
The Democratic Party chose to endorse Greeley and Brown rather
than name its own candidates. A Prohibition Party selected James Black
and John Russell as its ticket. Throughout the campaign, Republicans
“waved the bloody shirt” as a reminder of the recent rebellion and suc-
cessfully linked the Liberal Republicans, who opposed further federal
intervention in the South, with unreconstructed southern rebels. Greeley
himself was a feeble candidate and died a few weeks after the election.
Once Congress reconvened following the election, a committee was
immediately formed to investigate the Credit Mobilier scandal. The
accused testified before the committee, and Ames denied that he had
ever bribed a member. All he did was sell stock to his colleagues as a
sound investment. It was business, nothing more. But the committee
found Ames “guilty of selling to members of Congress shares of stock
in the Credit Mobilier of America, for prices much below the true
value of such stock, with the intent thereby to influence the votes and
decisions of such members in matters to be brought before Congress
for action.” It also recommended his expulsion from the House. But