USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Finally, in June 1875, a federal grand jury in Missouri indicted McDonald and more than 350 distillers and government officials. The indictment named Grant’s personal White House secretary, Orville Babcock. He was accused of accepting bribes from the Whiskey Ring to keep them informed about planned raids.

Detailed explanation-2: -His private secretary was implicated in a conspiracy to cheat the government out of tax revenue from the production of whiskey. The robber barons Jim Fisk and Jay Gould tricked Grant into aiding their scheme to manipulate the gold market, leading to a national financial panic known as Black Friday.

Detailed explanation-3: -The worst and most famous scandal to hit the Grant administration was the Whiskey Ring of 1875, exposed by Treasury Secretary Benjamin H. Bristow and journalist Myron Colony. Whiskey distillers had been evading taxes in the Midwest since the Lincoln Administration.

Detailed explanation-4: -An impeachment trial for a secretary of war occupied much of the Senate’s time during May 1876. At issue was the behavior of William Belknap, war secretary in the administration of President Ulysses Grant. A former Iowa state legislator and Civil War general, Belknap had held his cabinet post for nearly eight years.