8. Another in a long line of Republican-led scandals in the aftermath of the Civil War, the Whiskey Ring was a widespread corruption racket designed to circumvent tax duties on the liquor’s production
Exposed in 1875, the Whiskey Ring was an organized conspiracy to subvert United States tax regulations involving the production of whiskey. Under U.S. law, whiskey was supposed to be taxed at a rate of seventy cents per gallon, but, employing a system of convoluted bribery through government officials, participating distillers, storekeepers, and rectifiers were able to only pay half that rate. Stamping the illicit whiskey as having been taxed appropriately, the ring, comprised of leading politicians throughout the American Midwest, was able to siphon off millions of dollars in federal taxes.
Secretly investigated by Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin Bristow, using undercover operatives without informing the compromised Attorney General, Bristow launched a series of unannounced raids across the country on May 10, 1875. Breaking the ring, more than one hundred and ten convictions were achieved relating to the Whiskey Ring, recovering more than three million dollars in due taxes. Appointing a special prosecutor to investigate further, indicting the private secretary to the President, General Orville E. Babcock, President Grant fired General Henderson for resisting presidential interference in his investigation. Grant would later submit favorable testimony in his subordinates’ defense, ensuring his acquittal at trial.