Jenna+G.+-+UG+-+FA11

//April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885// //Political Party: Republican Party// //Terms in Office: (Two Terms) March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1877// //Vice Presidents: Schuyler Colfax (1869-1873) and Henry Wilson (1873-1875) none (1875-1877)// Ulysses Grant said he tried to help the surrounding nations by annexing them, but really he just wanted to push his views on these new territories. One of the places he wanted to annex was the Dominican Republic. He wanted to annex the Dominican Republic to allow Freedmen (former slaves now freed), who were oppressed by the United States, to work. Also he hoped that by annexing the Dominican Republic, Brazil would be forced to abandon slavery. Unfortunately for Grant the Senate did not agree with his ideas of annexing the Dominican Republic, and the proposal was shot down. This is the only real improvement Grant himself tried to push for U.S. globalization. On the other hand, Grant’s administration, especially his Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, helped the foreign affairs of the United States to become stronger, and more peaceful. Fish helped the American–British relationship immensely by creating the Treaty of Washington. The Treaty of Washington settled various disputes between the U.S. and Britain, such as the Alabama Claims. The Alabama Claims were a series of claims for damages done to America by Britain, especially the assistance the British gave to the Confederates during the Civil War. Britain paid the United States $15.5 million for damages done by warships built and created in Britain and then sold to the Confederacy. Hamilton Fish also helped improve the American–Spanish relationship in 1873 by settling the Virginius Affair peacefully. The Virginius was a merchant ship captured by the Spanish. While the ship was flying an American Flag under an American registry, it was secretively owned by Cuban insurgents. Eight of the passengers were then executed because they were trying to illegally get to Cuba to help overthrow the Cuban government. Many Americans were very angered by this and wanted to declare war with Spain immediately, but luckily Fish kept them out of a war. Fish met with the Spanish Ambassador who was deeply sorry and surrendered the Virginius and paid an indemnity to the families of the Americans who were executed. Hamilton Fish is the main reason positive foreign affairs took place in America during Grant’s presidency.
 * __ Ulysses S. Grant __**
 * Theme:** **Globalization**

Ulysses Grant was a great general and leader on the battlefield, but when it came to politics he didn’t really know what he was doing. He was elected president because he was a war hero and everyone loved him, but when he came to be president he did not know what to do. Grant was a shy man as president and let the Congress and his Cabinet assume most of the power. Since he gave all the power to the Congress and Cabinet he was not really the one making all the decisions for the country therefore he deserves a C for his overall grade as president. During his presidency there were some bad events that took place such as the scandals, but there were also some good ones, such as the Ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. Since he was not the one really controlling the presidency, and there was no true positive or negative outcome of his presidency he deserves just an average grade, for being an average President.
 * Introduction:**

As President one of Grant’s big goals was to gain peace with the Native Americans, he wanted new and better relations with the western Indian tribes. He had a “peace policy” and the goal of this policy was to get rid of, or at least minimize the conflicts between the military and Indians, and eventually having the Indians accepted as citizens. His goal of better Indian relations was becoming a reality, the number of Indian wars per year decreased by more then half, and the military started protecting the Indian lands better so they were not intruded. In his second term, Grant, signed the Appropriations Act of 1870-1871, which treated the Native Americans as individuals and ended the government from treating the tribes as independent sovereign nations. Overall Grant achieved his goal of getting the Indians to be accepted as individuals, and peace between the American citizens and the Indians. A second goal Grant had during his presidency was to open Korea to Western markets so United States could trade with Korea. America planned to get Korea to agree to these plans by showing Naval display of military force, but this did not go over so well. The U.S. tried to be superior and show power to Korea by surrounding the mouth of the Salee River while the Korean officers negotiated the idea of having foreign relations with the United States. Korea then fired on the Americans and America left giving Korea ten days to change its mind, but when Korea did not change its mind, America began a series of assaults. This small battle was known as the Battle of Ganghwa, where many Koreans died and five Korean forts were destroyed. America then retreated realizing the Koreans would not change their mind. Grant was out of office when Korea and America started to build a relationship, and in 1881 Korea and America finally agreed to a treaty.
 * Goals:**

Grant did not really have any relationship with the Congressmen. He had a neutral relationship with them, it wasn’t too good, but it wasn’t too bad. Ulysses Grant thought the President was just expected to do the bare minimum, and do no more or less then what Congress asked of him. Grant was a very private man and had a shy personality making it hard for the Congressmen to truly get to know him; therefore, they did not have a very deep bond, causing them to be distant. The Congress sometimes passed the few laws that Grant proposed, but Grant usually always passed Congress’ proposed laws. Grant as President should have had the higher power, and Congress should have followed his orders and listened to him, but they had it backwards. The Congress tended to tell Grant what to do and he would follow their orders, Congress had most of the power in the relationship and was the brains for Ulysses Grant during his Presidency.
 * Congress:**

Grant’s Presidency was very unstable, with a lot of ups and downs; there were a few good things done during his presidency, as well as a few bad things. Some of the good things that Grant did during his presidency consisted of the Constitutional amendment was ratified, the Treaty if Washington, and the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Even though these were good things that went on during Grant’s presidency he really wasn’t too involved in these events, manly the Congress and the cabinet controlled his presidency. In 1875 the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified; the amendment now stated that the right of U.S. citizens to vote can not be denied by the U.S. or any state due to that person’s race, color, or previous status, such as being a slave or indentured servant. During Grant’s presidency another positive that took place was the Treaty of Washington. This treaty greatly improved the British-American relationship by settling disputes between the countries. But Ulysses Grant was not really involved with this treaty and the improvements of American affairs, his Secretary of State Hamilton Fish worked hard to improve this American relationship. Another positive that came out of Grant’s presidency but was not proposed by him was the Civil Rights Act of 1875. This act assured that blacks had equal enjoyment of accommodations and public facilities. This act greatly helped to include blacks in with the rest of society as equals, until 1883 when the Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional. Even tough all these great thing went on during Grant’s Presidency, he wasn’t really involved in the making of these great events. Grant’s presidency also had some flaws though, such as the dismantling of the Freedman’s Bureau and the large amount of scandals. The Freedman’s Bureau had aided the blacks in their transition to freedom from slavery. But Grant signed to get rife of this law to help the blacks. Also during Grant’s presidency there were many scandals that occurred; five of the largest scandals were, the Black Friday scandal, the Crédit Mobilier, the Delinquent tax corruption, the whisky rebellion, and the Belknap bribery. Grant was not involved in any of these scandals but he was framed for being involved with the Black Friday Scandal. The Black Friday Scandal took place during the 1869 and was when a group of men tried to corner the gold market. James Fisk and Jay Gould were the two main men involved with this scandal, they tried to be seen with Grant so it looked like he was in their corner, which he was not. Fisk and Gould drove up the price of gold by aggressively purchasing it. Grant then ordered Secretary Boutwell to sell off $4 million in federal gold, causing the price of gold to nosedive. This scandal led to the damage of many businesses and personal peoples finances to be destroyed. Unfortunately Grant did not create these scandals but since they were during hos presidency he has gotten a bad name for them. These are just some of the main negatives that occurred during Grant’s presidency.
 * Pros/Cons:**

One thing that Grant did during his presidency that had an impact on the future of America was fighting for blacks equal rights, shown through the ratification of the fifteenth amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The Civil Rights Act tried to give blacks more rights in the nation, but it was then eliminated, for being unconstitutional in 1883. The fifteenth Amendment though had a lot of impact on the future, because it said you could not be denied the right to vote due to race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This definitely impacted America, then when it was put into place, and still today. We still follow this law today, everyone is given the right to vote and it cannot be denied due to race, or color. Although Grant did not do much for our country the little that he did do, such as fighting for African American’s rights was very influential to our nation.
 * Future Impact:**

After Grant’s Presidency America was not really any better or worse off then before he came to office. Some bad things happened during his presidency that hurt the economy, such as the Black Friday scandal, and the Panic of 1873 that most of the world went through. But on the other hand many good things came out of Grant’s presidency such as the blacks getting more protection, acceptance, and equality. From an economic stand point, the country was worse off after Grant’s presidency; but from a social view the nation was better off. This is why Grant’s presidency did not really change America that much overall, but in certain areas he influenced the country, especially the social and economic areas of the nation. Grant receives a C overall for his presidency because some bad and good things occurred during his presidency, but not too many of bad or good, leaving him just average. Considering though that most the things that happened during Grant’s Presidency were not done by him makes his grade a little lower; because it really wasn’t him impacting the country, it was the Congress and the President’s Cabinet.
 * America after Grant’s Presidency:**

**Works Citied:**

"American President: Ulysses S. Grant: Impact and Legacy." //Miller Center//. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. .

DeGregorio, William. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents seventh edition//. New Jersey: Barricade Books Inc., 2009. Print.

SparkNotes: Ulysses S. Grant: The White House." //SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides//. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. .

"Ulysses S. Grant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2011. .