Why Crédit Mobilier Became a Reconstruction Problem

The Civil War expanded the federal government’s role in national economic development. The railroad demonstrated what federal support and private capital could accomplish together, but Crédit Mobilier exposed how difficult that partnership could be to oversee when corporate and political interests overlapped.

1873 political cartoon showing Brother Jonathan examining a wounded American eagle injured by corruption and other national problems, including Credit Mobilier. — “A Badly Used Bird,” 1873. Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-68771. No known restrictions on publication. Library of Congress record.

The cartoon places Crédit Mobilier alongside other national controversies and “general dishonesty,” showing how the scandal entered a wider Reconstruction-era debate about corruption and the health of American government.

Sources: White; Kens; Summers; Library of Congress.

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