(Black Friday) In 1869, speculators Jim Fisk and Jay Gould attempted to corner the nation's gold market. They enlisted the help of Grant's brother-in-law, who had pledged to prevent the president from acting to ruin the scheme.
(Whiskey Ring) Federal liquor taxes were raised to extremely high rates to help pay off the cost of the fighting. In order to avoid the high tax, many of the nation's distillers bribed officials in the Department of the Treasury