The grant scandals
- Credit Mobilier; French-owned Credit Mobilier construction company which had helped build the Union Pacific Railroad. they used their position as Union Pacific stock holders to steer large fraudulent contracts to their construction company. The directors had given Mobilier stock to key member to Congress. Congress's investigation revealed some highly placed Republicans including the vice president had accepted stock
- Benjamin H. Bristow, grant's third treasury secretary discovered that some of his officials and a group of distillers of whiskey were cheating the government out of taxes by filing false reports. a House investigation revealed that William W. Beknap, secretary of war, had accepted bribes to retain an Indian-post trader in office.
- These scandals added to the growing impression the "grantism" had brought rampant corruption to government.