Editing Schuyler Colfax (section)

===Crédit Mobilier scandal===
In September 1872, Colfax's reputation was marred by a ''[[The Sun (New York)|New York Sun]]'' article which indicated that he was involved in the [[Crédit Mobilier of America scandal|Crédit Mobilier scandal]]. Colfax was one of several representatives and senators who had been offered (and possibly took) bribes of cash and discounted shares in the [[Union Pacific Railroad]]'s Crédit Mobilier subsidiary from Congressman [[Oakes Ames]] in 1868 for votes favorable to the Union Pacific during the building of the [[First transcontinental railroad]]. [[Henry Wilson]] was among those accused, but after initially denying a connection, he provided a complicated explanation to a Senate investigating committee, stating that his wife had purchased shares with her own money, and then later cancelled the transaction over concerns about its propriety. Wilson's reputation for integrity was somewhat dampened, but not enough to prevent him from becoming vice president.

[[File:Keppler Credit Mobilier Hari-Kari.png|thumb|upright=1.0|right|Colfax was castigated for his involvement in the Crédit Mobilier scandal in this March 6, 1873, political cartoon in which [[Uncle Sam]] is shown encouraging Colfax to commit [[seppuku|hara-kiri]].]]
Colfax also denied involvement, and defended himself in person before a [[Congressional investigation|House investigative committee]], testifying in January 1873 that he had never received a dividend check from Ames.{{sfn|BDOA_CS_1906}} Despite his protests of innocence, the congressional investigation revealed that in 1868 Colfax had taken a $1,200 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=1200|start_year=1868}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) gift check for 20 shares of Crédit Mobilier stock from Ames. Colfax had deposited $1,200 in his bank account at the same time Ames recorded that he had paid Colfax $1,200.{{sfn|Chernow|2017}} Making matters worse for Colfax, the investigation also revealed that Colfax had also received a $4,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=4000|start_year=1868}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) gift in 1868 from a contractor who supplied envelopes to the federal government while Colfax was chairman of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, and so had influence in the awarding of such contracts.{{sfn|MacDonald 1930|p=298}} Afterward, a resolution to [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeach]] the vice president was introduced in the House, but failed to pass by a mostly party-line vote, mainly because the incidents took place during his tenure as congressman and because just a few weeks remained in his term.{{sfn|MacDonald 1930|p=298}}

His political career ruined, Colfax left office under a cloud at the end of his term and never ran for office again.<ref name=iron/>{{sfn|MacDonald 1930|p=298}}<ref name=unfinishednation>{{cite book | last=Brinkley |first=Alan |title=The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People |edition=5th  |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2008 |location=New York City |pages=409 |isbn=978-0-07-330702-2}}</ref> His only consolation on that bitterly cold<ref>{{cite web| title=The 22nd Presidential Inauguration: Ulysses S. Grant March 04, 1873| url=https://www.inaugural.senate.gov/about/past-inaugural-ceremonies/22nd-inaugural-ceremonies/index.html| website=inaugural.senate.gov| publisher=The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies| access-date=April 7, 2019| archive-date=September 21, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921060055/https://www.inaugural.senate.gov/about/past-inaugural-ceremonies/22nd-inaugural-ceremonies/index.html| url-status=dead}}</ref> March day was a hand-written letter from Ulysses Grant. In it, the president wrote,

{{blockquote|I sympathize with you in the recent congressional investigations; that I have watched them closely, and that I am satisfied now as I have ever been of your integrity, patriotism and freedom from the charges imputed as if I knew of my own knowledge your innocence. Our official relations have been so pleasant that I would like to keep up the personal relations engendered, through life.{{sfn|Chernow|2017|p=753}}}}