The Southern people, even the white Democrats, always had
a kindly feeling for Grant. They did not resent what he had
done as a soldier, as they resented what Greeley had said
as a politician. They knew too, in spite of their strong
differences with Grant, the innate honesty, justice and courage
of the man.
Chase would have been a far stronger candidate than Greeley.
However any political antagonist might dislike him, every
antagonist must respect him, and nobody could laugh at him.
The question of the constitutional power of Congress to make
Treasury notes legal tender for all debts, whether incurred
before or after they were issued, came up for the decision
of the Court when Chase was Chief Justice. It was a question
which profoundly interested and excited the public. The Democratic
Party, which more lately favored the payment of all debts,
public and private, in irredeemable paper money, had assailed
the Republican Administration during the war for providing,
under an alleged necessity that Treasury notes, called greenbacks,
should be legal tender for the discharge of all debts.
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