Ulysses S. Grant

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Ulysses S. Grant 18th President of the United States (March 4, 1869 to March 3, 1877) Nickname: “Hero of Appomattox” Born: April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio Died: July 23, 1885, in Mount McGregor, New York

Father: Jesse Root Grant Mother: Hannah Simpson Grant Married: Julia Boggs Dent Grant (1826-1902), on August 22, 1848 Children: Frederick Dent Grant (1850-1912); Ulysses Simpson Grant (1852-1929); Ellen Wrenshall Grant (1855-1922); Jesse Root Grant (1858-1934) Religion: Methodist Education: Graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. (1843) Occupation: Soldier Political Party: Republican Other Government Positions:

• None

Presidential Salary: $25,000/year (increased to $50,000/year in 1873)

Vice Presidents: Schuyler Colfax (1869-73); Henry Wilson (1873-75) Cabinet:

Secretary of State

Elihu B. Washburne (1869)

Hamilton Fish (1869-77)

Secretary of the Treasury

George S. Boutwell (1869-73)

William A. Richardson (1873-74)

Benjamin H. Bristow (1874-76)

Lot M. Morrill (1876-77)

Secretary of War

John A. Rawlins (1869)

William T. Sherman (1869)

William W. Belknap (1869-76)

Alphonso Taft (1876)

James D. Cameron (1876-77)

Attorney General

Ebenezer R. Hoar (1869-70)

Amos T. Akerman (1870-71)

George H. Williams (1871-75)

Edwards Pierrepont (1875-76)

Alphonso Taft (1876-77)

Postmaster General

John A. J. Creswell (1869-74)

James W. Marshall (1874)

Marshall Jewell (1874-76)

James N. Tyner (1876-77)

Secretary of the Navy

Adolph E. Borie (1869)

George M. Robeson (1869-77)

Secretary of the Interior

Jacob D. Cox, Jr. (1869-70)

Columbus Delano (1870-75)

Zachariah Chandler (1875-77)

Supreme Court Appointments:

Chief Justice

Morrison Remick Waite (1874-88)

Associate Justice

William Strong (1870-80)

Joseph P. Bradley (1870-92)

Ward Hunt (1873-82)

Notable Events:

• 1869
  • Travel across the United States becomes possible for the first time with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.
  • Jay Gould and James Fisk Jr. try to monopolize the gold market triggering the Black Friday financial crisis.
  • A attempt is made to annex Santo Domingo (modern day Dominican Republic). It fails when The treaty is defeated in the Senate.
• 1870
  • Construction work for the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
  • Virginia, Mississippi and Texas are readmitted into the Union following their Reconstruction.
  • African-American men are granted the right to vote via the Fifteenth Amendment.
  • A proclamation is issued against the Fenian Raids.
  • The Department of Justice is established.
• 1871
  • The Federal Election Law is passed, directing federal supervision of national elections to ensure fair treatment of black voters in the South.
  • The Indian Appropriations Act is passed, recognizing the American Indian population as individuals under the state rather than as sovereign nations.
  • The Ku Klux Klan Act is passed.
  • The Treaty of Washington is signed.
  • An investigation is launched into corruption in New York’s Tammnay Hall and its power broking head Boss Tweed.
  • The Great Chicago Fire breaks out.
  • Trials against Klansmen in South Carolina begin.
• 1872
  • Legislation establishing Yellowstone National Park is passed. It is the first national park to be created.
  • Grant is reelected.
• 1873
  • The House of Representatives launches an investigation into the Credit Mobilier scandal. Two of its own members are censured for their involvement.
  • Congress demonetizes silver coins with the Coinage Act of 1873. This move is later dubbed the “Crime of ’73“.
  • The Panic of 1973 is caused by the failure of the bank Jay Cooke & Company.
• 1874
  • The paramilitary group White League massacres Republicans and black witnesses in Louisiana. A presidential proclamation is issued against it.
  • The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union is created.
• 1875
  • The Treaty of Reciprocity is signed with Hawaii.
  • The Civil Rights Act of 1875 is signed into law.
  • The Whiskey Ring scandal takes place.
• 1876
  • The Battle of Little Bighorn is fought.
  • Colorado becomes a state.
  • The presidential election results are disputed.
• 1877
  • The Electoral Commission is created.
  • The Compromise of 1877 is accepted.

Internet Biographies:

Ulysses S. Grant — from The Presidents of the United States of America

Compiled by the White House.

Ulysses S. Grant — from American Presidents: Life Portraits — C-SPAN

Biographical information, trivia, key events, video, and other reference materials. Website created to accompany C-SPAN’s 20th Anniversary Television Series, American Presidents: Life Portraits.

Ulysses S. Grant — from U.S. Presidents

From the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in addition to information on the Presidents themselves, they have first lady and cabinet member biographies, listings of presidential staff and advisers, and timelines detailing significant events in the lives of each administration.

Historical Documents:

First Inaugural Address (1869)

Second Inaugural Address (1873)

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume 1 (1885)

Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Volume 2 (1885)

Other Internet Resources:

Fort Donelson National Battlefield

Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant led the Union Army in Tennessee to its first major victory of the Civil War at this site on February 16, 1862.

General Grant National Memorial

Tourist information on Grant’s tomb, located in New York, New York.

The Ulysses S. Grant Information Center

Great information resource and research starting point for students and researchers alike, created by and maintained by The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minnesota.

Grant Cottage at Mount McGregor, New York

The site where Grant wrote his autobiography and eventually passed away from throat cancer.

The Ulysses S. Grant Homepage

Articles, photographs, and many other biographical resources on Grant. Includes a bibliography and chronology.

Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site

Tourist information on the St. Louis County, Missouri site that was the pre-Civil War home of Grant and his wife. Grant’s White Haven farm is now undergoing restoration.

Points of Interest:

• Like in Truman’s name, the “S” in Grant’s name does not stand for anything. It was mistakenly added by a benefactor on his application to West Point and stuck.
• It was to Grant that General Lee surrendered at the end of the Civil War.
• Grant was supposed to accompany Abraham Lincoln to the Ford Theatre the night he was shot, and was supposedly a target himself.

Previous President: Andrew Johnson | Next President: Rutherford Birchard Hayes

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