Whiskey Ring

In the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal involving a group of politicians and whiskey distillers in Chicago, St. Louis, and Milwaukee. A group of Republican politicians in conjunction with the powerful distillers raised taxes on liquor. Most of these taxes went to the distillers instead of the Federal government; in exchange, the officials recieved large bribes.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow broke the tightly-connected and politically powerful ring in 1875 using secret agents from outside the Treasury department. 110 convictions were made and over $3 million in taxes were recovered.

The Whiskey Ring was seen by many as a sign of corruption under the Republican governments that took power across the nation following the American Civil War. Orville E. Babcock, the private secreatry to the President, was indicted as a member of the ring and escaped conviction only because of a presidential pardon - for this reason, President Ulysses S. Grant, although not directly involved in the ring, was seen as emblamatic of Republican corruption, and later scandals involving his Secretary of War William W. Belknap seemed to only confirm that perception. This, along with other alleged abuses power by the Republican party, contributed to national weariness of Reconstruction, which ended after Grant's presidency with the Compromise of 1877.