![]() However, revisionist challenges to this narrative have received significant support in recent times. Historical assessments have often ranked Grant as one of the worst presidents in American history. Grant was a modern general and "a skillful leader who had a natural grasp of tactics and strategy". At the time of his death, he was memorialized as a symbol of national unity. In the final year of his life, facing severe financial reversals and dying of throat cancer, he wrote his memoirs, which proved to be a major critical and financial success. In 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination for a third term. In his retirement, Grant was the first president to circumnavigate the world on his tour, dining with Queen Victoria and meeting many prominent foreign leaders. In the intensely disputed presidential election of 1876, Grant facilitated the approval by Congress of a peaceful compromise. The Panic of 1873 plunged the nation into a severe economic depression that allowed the Democrats to win the House majority. Grant's administration prosecuted Mormon polygamists (1871), and vice crimes like pornography, and abortion (1873–1877). Grant appointed Zachariah Chandler, who cleaned up corruption in the Interior. Grant appointed Benjamin Bristow and Edwards Pierrepont, who served as Grant's anti-corruption team. Grant appointed John Brooks Henderson and David Dyer, who prosecuted the Whiskey Ring. However, modern scholarship has better appreciated Grant's appointed reformers and prosecutions. The Grant administration is traditionally known for prevalent scandals including the Gold Ring and the Whiskey Ring. However, his prized Caribbean Dominican Republic annexation was rejected by the Senate. Grant's foreign policy was mostly peaceful, without war, the Alabama Claims against Great Britain skillfully resolved. Grant's Native American policy was to assimilate Indians into White culture the Great Sioux War was fought during his term. The Liberal Republicans and Democrats united behind Grant's opponent in the presidential election of 1872, but Grant was handily reelected. In 1871, Grant created the first Civil Service Commission, advancing the civil service more than any prior president. He appointed African Americans and Jewish Americans to prominent federal offices. Under Grant, the Union was completely restored. As president, Grant stabilized the post-war national economy, supported Congressional Reconstruction, ratification of the 15th Amendment, and crushed the Ku Klux Klan. Later, Grant openly broke with Johnson over Reconstruction policies Grant used the Reconstruction Acts, which had been passed over Johnson's veto, to enforce civil rights for recently freed African Americans.Ī war hero, drawn in by his sense of duty, Grant was unanimously nominated by the Republican Party and was elected president in 1868. A week later, Lincoln was assassinated and was succeeded by President Andrew Johnson, who promoted Grant to General of the Army in 1866. On April 9, 1865, Lee formally surrendered to Grant. After Lee fled Petersburg, Grant defeated him at Appomattox. Lee during the high-casualty Overland Campaign and at Petersburg. ![]() For thirteen months, Grant fought Robert E. President Abraham Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general after his victory at Chattanooga. In 1863 he led the Vicksburg campaign, which gained control of the Mississippi River, dealing a serious strategic blow to the Confederacy, splitting it in two. He joined the Union Army after the American Civil War broke out in 1861 and rose to prominence after winning several early Union victories on the Western Theater. Grant resigned from the army in 1854 and returned to his family but lived in poverty. In 1848, he married Julia Dent, and together they had four children. Admitted to West Point, Grant graduated 21st in the class of 1843 and served with distinction in the Mexican–American War. Raised in Ohio, Grant possessed an exceptional ability with horses. Later, as president, Grant was an effective civil rights executive who signed the bill that created the Justice Department and worked with Radical Republicans to protect African Americans during Reconstruction. As Commanding General, he led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War in 1865 and thereafter briefly served as Secretary of War. ![]() Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant / ˈ h aɪ r ə m juː ˈ l ɪ s iː z/ HY-rəm yoo- LISS-eez April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. ![]()
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