When the name of Adolph Borie was announced for Secretary of the Navy, everybody began to ask, Who is Borie? Even Admiral Farragut had never heard of him. The answer came that he was a rich man in Philadelphia who had entertained General Grant handsomely on some occasion when he was temporarily in that city. Sumner said in his speech of May 31, 1872, that he also had made a gift to Grant. He retained the position of Secretary only three months. He then resigned and recommended George M. Robeson, a lawyer of New Jersey, as his successor, and the latter was appointed. Robeson was as little known as Borie had been before he was appointed, but he was not the same kind of nonentity.
John A. J. Cresswell, of Maryland, who became Postmaster-General, had been a member of Congress. If there was not much to be said for him, there was nothing at all to be said against him.
John A. Rawlins, Grant's chief-of-staff during the war, a man of high character and ability, chose himself for Secretary of War, and communicated his preference to his chief through General James H. Wilson, who was on terms of intimacy with both parties. Grant received the communication favorably and sent the name of Rawlins to the Senate and here he made no mistake. But Rawlins lived less than a year after his appointment.
The two remaining members of the Cabinet, General Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio, Secretary of the Interior, and E. R. Hoar, of Massachusetts, Attorney-General, were ideal selections. The former had been governor of his state and had served with distinguished valor and efficiency in the Civil War. The latter was a man of sparkling wit and conversational powers, which, however, did not outshine his solid qualities of mind and character. Both these men came early into collision with the "spoils system," which afflicted the whole of Grant's administration with ever-increasing virulence. Both of them fought a losing battle with it, as did George William Curtis, who essayed, in a humbler capacity, to grapple with it. All three were retired, or retired voluntarily, before the end of Grant's first term.
The plank in the Republican platform forcing negro suffrage upon the South, but leaving it optional with the Northern States, was too brazen to be long maintained. Moreover, there was danger lest this right of the negroes should be taken from them after the Southern States should have recovered the right to amend their own constitutions. These things absorbed the attention of the Fortieth Congress during the last month of its existence.
On January 30, 1869, the House passed an amendment to the Constitution by more than two-thirds majority in these words:
The right of any citizen of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of race, color, or previous condition of slavery of any citizen or class of citizens of the United States.
In the Senate, Vickers, of Maryland, moved to amend by providing that the right to vote should not be denied because of participation in the rebellion. This was rejected by 21 to 32, but it received the votes of eleven Republicans, among whom were Grimes, Harlan, Trumbull, and Wilson. Wilson, of Massachusetts, moved to add the words "nativity, property, education, or creed" to the words "race or color," and this was adopted by 31 to 27, Trumbull voting in the negative. The House rejected the amendment by 37 to 133 and sent it back to the Senate, which, by a vote of 33 to 24, receded from its amendment. The vote was then taken on concurring in the House Resolution as originally presented, and it failed by 31 to 27, not two thirds.
The Senate then took up a resolution that had been previously reported by the Committee on the Judiciary which was similar in terms to the one originally passed by the House, except that it added the words "and hold office" after the word "vote." The resolution was passed by 35 to 11 and sent to the House. Logan, of Illinois, moved to strike out the words "and hold office." This was defeated. Bingham, of Ohio, moved to insert the words "nativity, property, or creed," after the word "color." This was adopted by 92 to 71, and the resolution passed by 140 to 37. The Senate disagreed to both of the House amendments. The measure then went to a Conference Committee consisting of Senators Stewart, Conkling, and Edmunds, and Representatives Boutwell, Bingham, and Logan, who reported in favor of Logan's amendment and against Bingham's, and in this shape the resolution passed both houses by the requisite majorities. If the word "nativity" had been retained the Southern States could not have disfranchised the negroes by means of the "Grandfather Clause," as some of them did. Morton, of Indiana, predicted that the South would find means of circumventing the clause if the prohibitions were limited to race, color, and servitude. When Morton came to Washington as Senator he was bitterly opposed to negro suffrage. He was now so hot for it that he shared the leadership of the radicals with Sumner.