Entrenched..............................

     The ideals behind Grant's presidency were often enlightened, even if the backroom tactics sometimes seemed ignoble.  He had to thrust himself into the middle of byzantine political maneuvering, becoming the true son of his father and accepting the spoils system for the sake of party unity.  Grant has suffered from a double standard in the eyes of historians.  When Lincoln employed patronage for political ends, which he did extensively, they have praised him as a master politician;  when Grant catered to the same spoilsmen, they have denigrated him as a corrupt opportunist.
      Part of Grant's need to placate party bosses was that he presided over government in the heyday of senatorial power.  Senators were still elected by state legislatures controlled by party machines and business interests.  The new political machines, many concentrated in northern cities, made politics a lucrative business for their acolytes.  Meanwhile, safely entrenched in their posts, senators ruled Washington like feudal barons, jealously guarding their turf from presidential interference.  Not having to face voters for reelection, they stood a formidable barriers to any progressive legislation.

-Ron Chernow,   Grant