With the assassination of Lincoln, the task of binding the
country together was left to Ulysses Grant. In the excellent
biography "The Man Who Saved The Nation" by H.W. Brands, the
extraordinary and often overlooked accomplishments of Grant are
finally given their just due. Not only did Grant militarily
defeat the secessionists but during his two terms as president
he passed the 14th and 15th amendments, established the
Department of Justice to enforce those amendments, fought the Ku
Klux Klan, restored federation protection and civil order in
South Carolina and Louisiana after they refused to abide by the
terms of surrender, and ushered in the first federal civil
service to curb the rampant patronage in federal employment. The
author also notes, however, that after the great general’s
defeat, his accomplishments were overshadowed by the politics of
the late 19th century. Whereas Grant’s approach to
reconciliation was premised on the egalitarian ideals of the
14th and 15th amendments, Brands wrote that "South