Grantism - Grant As Reformer

Grant As Reformer

Historian Louis Arthur Coolidge noted that although President Grant had critics, including Sumner, concerning presidential patronage, Grant was the first President to advocate and sign into law Civil Service Reform legislation on March 4, 1871. Grant stated that the "elevation and purification of civil service of the Government will be hailed with approval by the whole people of the United States." The historians H. Wayne Morgan and Ari Hoogenboom say that Grant's presidential reputation for corruption has been exaggerated. Grant placed leading reformer George William Curtis as head of the commission set up by the law for the establishment of regulations to ensure the best person qualified would hold office. In addition to signing the Civil Service Reform law, Grant limited and finally abolished the moiety system in which private citizens contracted as Treasury revenue agents received a percentage from delinquent taxes assessed and collected.