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Lot 34
Ticket to the Inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant
Description:

Ulysses Grant
Washington, DC, March 4, 1869
Ticket to the Inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant
Printed document

[ULYSSES S. GRANT.] George T. Brown, Ticket to the Inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant, March 4, 1869. Washington, DC: Philp & Solomons, 1869. 1 p., 4.875" x 3". Slight wear on corners; very good.

This ticket, printed on blue paper and signed in print by Sergeant at Arms George T. Brown, admitted the bearer to the Diplomatic Gallery of the U.S. Senate for the inauguration of President Ulysses S. Grant on March 4, 1869. Outgoing President Andrew Johnson did not attend the inaugural ceremonies, as he and Grant refused to sit with each other in a single carriage, and Johnson refused to go in a separate carriage.

Near noon on the day of the inauguration, the Diplomatic Corps filed into the Senate chamber "in truly splendid style, gotten up entirely regardless of expense." As the oldest member of the corps, Baron Friedrich von Gerolt of the North German Confederation led the procession, followed by ministers from France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Austria, Turkey, Russia, and other nations. After they were seated, the justices of the United States Supreme Court entered and seated just in front of the diplomatic corps. At that time, President-elect Grant and Vice-President-elect Schuyler Colfax entered, followed by the members of the House of Representatives. President pro tempore of the Senate Benjamin Wade administered the oath to Colfax, and Colfax then called the new Senate to order.

The entire Congress and others present then proceeded to the East Front of the Capitol to a specially erected platform. There, Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase administered the oath of office to Grant, followed by a twenty-one-gun salute from nearby cannon. After the artillery salute ended, Grant stood and delivered his inaugural address.

Historical Background
After four years of warfare, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, the nation wanted a respite from conflict. The 1868 presidential election pitted Republican war hero General Ulysses S. Grant of Illinois against reluctant Democratic nominee Horatio Seymour of New York.

In his telegram accepting the nomination of the Republican Party, Grant said, "Let us have peace," and the phrase became a key Republican campaign slogan that captured the imagination of the nation. The central issue of the election was the conduct of Reconstruction. Democrats strongly criticized the Radical Republicans' conduct of Reconstruction and appealed to white racism with an anti-African-American message. Republicans campaigned on Grant's popularity and his role in Union victory. On November 3, 1868, Grant won with 52.7 percent of the popular vote to Seymour's 47.3 percent. Grant won 26 states for a total of 214 electoral votes. Seymour carried 8 states with a total of 80 electoral votes. Violence, intimidation, and fraud against African-American voters carried Georgia and Louisiana for the Democrats, but Republican control of Missouri and West Virginia gave those states to Grant, in part because of the disfranchisement of thousands of former Confederates in West Virginia. The closeness of the popular vote surprised many and concerned Republicans, as Seymour lost several northern states by narrow margins.

In his inaugural address on March 4, 1869, Grant expressed support for the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment and urged "proper treatment" of Native Americans. Although he sought peace with Native Americans, more than two hundred battles were fought with them during his presidency. The Grant administration successfully settled claims against Great Britain for the destruction caused by the CSS Alabama, secretly purchased in England in violation of its declared neutrality. Grant also attempted to annex the Dominican Republic, but the Senate rejected the idea. His efforts to restore the nation's currency by returning to the gold standard within ten years were hampered when corrupt financial advisers Jay Gould and Jim Fisk formed a Gold Ring to try to profit from the effort.

Although his two-term presidency was marred by scandal and corrupt subordinates, Grant asserted during his first inaugural address that "It will be my endeavor to execute all laws in good faith, to collect all revenues assessed, and to have them properly accounted for and economically disbursed. I will to the best of my ability appoint to office those only who will carry out this design."

George T. Brown (1820-1880) was born in Scotland and moved with his family to Illinois in the early 1830s. He studied law with Lyman Trumbull and won election as mayor of Alton, Illinois, in 1846. In 1852, he established a local daily newspaper in Alton and was active in the Democratic Party. In 1854, he won a seat in the Illinois legislature as an "Anti-Nebraska Democrat" but led in the formation of the Republican Party in Illinois in 1856. After Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860, Brown shut down his struggling newspaper and moved to Washington, D.C. When the new U.S. Senate organized itself in July 1861, Trumbull became chairman of the Judiciary Committee and arranged for Brown's selection as the U.S. Senate's first Republican Sergeant at Arms, a position he held until 1869. After Lincoln's assassination, Brown arranged for Lincoln's body to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. On March 7, 1868, Brown had the duty of presenting President Andrew Johnson a summons at the White House for his Senate impeachment trial. In 1869, Brown returned to Alton and died there a decade later.

Philp & Solomons was a bookselling and stationery partnership in Washington, D.C., between Franklin Philp (ca. 1826-1887) and Adolphus S. Solomons (1826-1910). In the partnership, Philp generally handled visual materials and Solomons handled textual. Solomons was a prominent Jewish citizen with close ties to President Abraham Lincoln. The firm also published Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War (1865-1866). Philp was born in England and allegedly left the partnership after overdrawing $300,000. He settled in California where he was a clerk to the Naval Pay Inspector in San Francisco. There, he reportedly embezzled $1,200 and fled to England, where he again worked as a clerk and was again charged with embezzling and sentenced to four months imprisonment.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 4.875" x 3"
  • Medium: Printed document

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April 23, 2025 10:00 AM EDT
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