themn't want to talk about . despite his best efforts white supremacist terrorist violence increased. 1871, though grant urged congress to pass the most forceful in a series of enforcement acts to allow the federal government to protect the right to vote, the ku klux klan act. he could suspend the right of habeas corpus and said federal rightsto protect black from terrorist groups. that is homeland security for you. he does use that power to send troops into the country of south

carolina including where i used to teach. is credited with breaking the back of the ku klux klan to the extent that some historians say exactly nothing about what happened during his second term about reconstruction. i won't make that mistake. although he may have broken the ku klux klan, he did not break white supremacist terrorism. that continued in different forms and with somewhat different objections. he tried to look for other solutions to the problem of how do you get white softeners to respect african-americans including the proposal to annex the dominican republic.

lots of raw material. the one difference was grant said we will take the dominican republic, make it part of the and we will see if african-american workers in the south where labor is precious, although treated badly, those african-americans can threaten to leave to go to the dominican republic where there is lots of room and lots opportunity for them and maybe want southerners to keep that workforce may respect their civil rights. ase historians dismiss this cockamamie proposal. it was a proposal frederick douglass among others endorsed. frederick douglass was not a cockamamie man.

he would oppose colonization before the american civil war and endorse annexation. annexation opposed was charles sumner, friend of the black man, assisted by missouri senator and former commander charles shorts. at most grant could stop some of the violence but he couldn't stop the eventual collapse of the public and regimes even when he won reelection in 1872. term saw thed collapse of his reconstruction policy.

in very violent, nauseating fashion. i think that is important to understand. see grant as a hero. in this case he is going to be a hero of a different lost cause and not the hero but someone who has to deal with difficult questions. whilerant learns is that white southerners may not have the will to fight for independence they have united will to fight for the preservation of white supremacy. white northerners, while they may have the energy to presume the union they do not have the heart when it came to preserving black equality and freedom. incidents illustrate his frustration with what was going on.

13, 1873. i'm talking to you today on the one-year anniversary of the murder of nine people in charleston, south carolina. we are all horrified by that. 1873, 100 african-american shot down in cold blood in louisiana because they supported the republican party. a few of the people who propagated the colfax massacre were brought to trial. they were acquitted because of the narrow interpretation of republican enforcement legislation to protect black civil rights. grant address this in a special message to the united states senate in 1875.

he complained everyone of the miscreants goes on with of justice and in no way can be found in this boasted land of civilization and christianity to punish the perpetrators of this bloody and monstrous crime. he was calling out the american people, certainly the american white people. how can you say you are a christian people? that you are a civilized people? and we allow this to go on? noted the spirit of hatred and violence is stronger. a lot of people tell me he was not an eloquent man.

i know of no more eloquent words said by an american president than these. understand the people who supported him were not so enthusiastic about supporting federal intervention to reject lack rights. later that year the governor of ,ississippi, another commander beseech the president for federal assistance to try to fend off white supremacists in mississippi. the so-called mississippi plan. everyone knew what forcibly meant. plea from to the governor ames, noting the whole

-- there had been so much line and misrepresentation in the popular press, the great majority of americans are ready to condemn on the part ofe the government. people didn't have the stomach to protect black rights anymore. collapse, wen's talk about the compromise of 1877. reconstruction starts crumbling for good in 1875. grant, a man who hated retreat, had to conduct the fighting withdrawal.

african-americans were gunned down on july 8. grant rights back the scene is bloodthirsty, unprovoked and auld called for -- uncalled for, a repetition of the course that has been pursued and other southern states. forad been a way of life white supremacists. african-americans were its victims. grant went on. a government that cannot give protection to life, property and all guaranteed civil rights including an untroubled ballot is a failure. too long denial of guaranteed .ights will lead to revolution suffering must fall on the

innocent as well as the guilty. grant left the presidency in 1877. while reunion had been achieved, justice for african-americans had not. yet he still couldn't quite forget what had happened. after his presidency he goes on a trip around the world. among the people he meets his otto von bismarck, another great statesman of unification. the two men talked. he says while your situation is like hours, you have to unite your country by blood and .onor, through war

grant says that wasn't all. it was also about slavery. slavery was essential. we could not be a united people until we destroyed slavery. slavery is still on his mind. the attitude of many white americans. no problemayes has pulling out troops during labor strikes. andwere americans willing in some cases enthusiastic to use military force when it came to labor unrest but showed a lack of enthusiasm using the same force when it came to protecting the rights of african-americans. a pretty sharp

indictment of the american people, the american system. reflected perhaps reconstruction had been a mistake along, that the restoration of civil government had been a mistake. it had been better to have a prolonged federal occupation. way would be the only african-americans would have their rights protected, at the point of a bayonet since they were being denied by a hood and a noose. perhaps this was the wrong way of going about things. since we have given blacks to vote we must honor that pledge. maybe it would have been better to not allow anyone to vote. but the mind of the american people is against that. it is hostile to military government.

we don't want that. we want a restoration of the union and civil government even if that civil government ends up not protecting the rights of some citizens. returning to the united states grant became a candidate for a third term, lost the republican .omination after many ballots those brokered conventions we heard about. it was a marathon that resulted in the nomination of james garfield. grant was thinking about reconstruction, about the war all the way to the end of his life and writing his memoirs. year, in what she was writing memoirs but the

whole nation watched as he fell victim to throw cancer. you could see a series of balancing acts that he took making his death means something as well as having his memoirs say something. the memoirs reassert the centrality of slavery. grant said there would not have been a civil war had there not been slavery. he honored the courage of confederate soldiers while bemoaning their cause is one of the worst for which anyone had ever fought. courage was reflected in the dedication of the memoirs which was the american soldier.

grant still expressed regret in his memoirs that moore had not been done for african-americans, the nation did not still theme of securing the promise of freedom and equality but he glimpsed in the wake of emancipation. he worked hard defending his own record, staff officers had done grant would start to read the chapters and make comments including comments like don't be so harsh, he is a valuable political ally now. those memoirs did two things. he does not speak highly of robert e lee.