Coalition - a temporary alliance of political factions or partiers for some specific purpose. “The Republicans now freed from the Union party coalition of war days, enthusiastically nominated Grant…”

Corner - to gain exclusive control of a commodity in order to fix its price. “The crafty pair concocted a plot in 1869

Eccentric - deviating from the norm; peculiar, unconventional. “…the eccentric editor had long blasted them as traitors…”

Amnesty - a general pardon for offenses or crimes against a government. “The Republican Congress IN 1872 passed a general amnesty act….”

Hard money - scarce money with high purchase value. “… ‘Hard money’ people everywhere looked forward to the complete disappearance of greenbacks.”

Sound money - money adequately backed by capital assets or reserves. “Grant’s name continued to be associated with sound money….”

Contraction - in finance, reducing the available supply of money, thus tending to raise interest rates and lower prices. “Coupled with the reduction of greenbacks, this policy was called ‘contraction.”

Soft money - plentiful or inflated money.  “Soft money advocates continued to clamor for the unlimited coinage of all silver mined….”

Fraternal organization - a society of men drawn together for social purposes and sometimes to pursue other common goals. “….the Grand Army of the Republic was a politically potent fraternal organization of several hundred thousand Union veterans of the Civil War.”

Consensus - common or unanimous opinion. “How can this apparent paradox of political consensus and partisan fervor be explained?”

Kickback - the return of a portion of the money received in a sale or contract, often secretly or illegally, in exchange for favors. “The lifeblood of both parties was patronage-disbursing jobs by the bucketful in return for cotes, kickbacks and party service.”

Stock dividends - a portion of the profits of a corporation distributed to owners of a company’s stock. “…Garfield’s alleged receipt of $329 in stock dividends in the Credit Mobilier scandal.”

Pull - political influence or special advantage. “it established a merit system of making appointment to office on the basis of aptitude rather than a ‘pull.’”
Laissez-faire - the doctrine of noninterference, especially by the government, in matters of economics or business. “The new president was a staunch apostle of the hands off creed of laissez-faire…”

Pork barrel - in American politics, government appropriations for political purposes, especially projects designed to please legislators lock constituency. “One way to reduce the surplus was to squander it on pensions and ‘pork-barrel’ bills…”