Happy Birthday Ulysses (if that is your real name)
Ulysses S. Grant seems to frequent this blog, but today we really must pay the man his due since it's his birthday. He was born on April 27, 1822, some 188 years ago today, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. His birth name was Hiram Ulysses Grant, but really, would you want to be called Hiram?
At the age of 17, the young Ulysses entered West Point, sponsored by Congressman Thomas L. Hamer, who mistakenly nominated him as Ulysses S. Grant. He adopted this name with middle initial only. His nickname became "Sam" among army colleagues since U.S. stood for Uncle Sam. He graduated from West Point in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39.
Grant was a proficient horseman and while at West Point he set an equestrian horse jumping record that lasted for 25 years. He writes about his love of horses in his autobiography. He was known as a hard drinker (something I've already journalled about in this blog), but that seemed to be under control during his presidency.
Grant is best known for his military career, mainly in the civil war. He was regarded as an average president, criticized for some of the scandals that occurred mainly in his second term. (Go here if you want to see a list of them.) However he actually has a pretty good record in the field of civil rights. He succeeded Andrew Johnson, who had made a shambles out of Abraham Lincoln's efforts to protect freed slaves in an effort to appease his southern neighbours.
Grant supported amnesty for former Confederates and signed the Amnesty Act of 1872. He stationed troops in the South to fight the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and prop up Republican governors, but not so many as to create resentment in the general population.
Grant's 1868 campaign slogan was "Let us have peace." As president for two terms, Grant made many advances in civil and human rights. In 1869 and 1871, he signed bills promoting black voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. He won passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave freed men the vote, and the Ku Klux Klan Act, which empowered the president "to arrest and break up disguised marauders." Grant also pressed for the former slaves to be "possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should carry with it." In 1875 Grant was the first President to sign a congressional civil rights act (not surprisingly called the Civil Rights Act of 1875), which entitled African-Americans to equal treatment in public accommodations and jury selection, something very progressive for its day.
Grant's attempts to make amends to native Americans marked a radical reversal of what had long been the government's policy. "Wars of extermination... are demoralizing and wicked," he told Congress and he lobbied (though not always with success) to preserve native American lands from encroachment by the westward advance of pioneers.
In 1884, Grant was swindled by a investment banker William Ward, leaving him with over $150,000 in debts. Rather than declare bankruptcy, Grant paid the debts by depleting his own savings and by selling off his civil war memorabilia. When his family left in debt from the Ward swindle and Grant was gravely ill from throat cancer, he began a series of literary works that would improve his reputation and eventually bring his family out of bankruptcy. He first wrote several articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century Magazine which were warmly received. Mark Twain offered Grant a generous contract for the publication of his memoirs, including 75% of the book's sales as royalties.
Terminally ill, Grant finished his memoir just a few days before his death. The Memoirs sold over 300,000 copies, earning the Grant family over $450,000. Twain promoted the book as "the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar." Grant's memoir has been regarded by writers as diverse as Matthew Arnold and Gertrude Stein as one of the finest works of its kind ever written.
