A president surrounded by scandal, Ulysses S. Grant, the Union general during the Civil War but was also a firm supporter of enhancing civil rights and liberties among the recently emancipated African American population in the South. Grant's supporters agreed with personal views on Reconstruction, but they expected him to punish the South. Instead, Grant tried to act as a unifier. He used legislation like the 15th Amendment, which solidified the right to vote regardless of race, as well as federal troops to enforce the increased civil rights of formerly enslaved people and attack groups like the Ku Klux Klan, which were acting against Reconstruction. But, Grant's two terms were impacted by scandals. Though he was ridiculed by his peers, modern historians believe that Grant was a man of personal integrity who may have put his trust in the wrong people.