Rachel+F.+-+UG+-+SP10

Ulysses S. Grant __//** //Lifetime: April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885 // //Political Party: Republican // //Terms: March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1873; March 4, 1873 – March 5, 1877 (2 terms) // //Vice President: Schuyler Colfax, 1869-1873; Henry Wilson, 1873-1875 (died in office) //
 * //__[[image:http://billdunlap.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/ulysses-s-grant-national-historic-site-2.jpg width="268" height="338"]]

 The eighteenth president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant deserves an average C for his two terms he was in office. The decent actions he performed such as the 15th Amendment and the Alabama Claims balanced out damaging parts of his administration like the political scandals and the Panic of 1873. On the whole, he was just a “so-so” president.

Ulysses S. Grant did not have many solid goals he wanted to achieve while in office. However, he did want to continue the reconstruction process in the south as a part of being in the Republican Party. Within reconstruction, Grant wanted to meet the needs of the recently freed slaves and get the south to reconvene with the Union and the Republican Party. In spite of his wishes, these two goals were very difficult to achieve at the same time. By helping the former slaves, the southern whites were unhappy with the Union and the Republicans. Therefore, both goals could not be completed. Grant had two other goals he mentioned in his first inaugural address about the Native Americans and United States’ debt. He wanted the United States to rethink how they were treating the Indians by moving towards the “Peace Policy.” This idea would move Native Americans toward white civilization and hence citizenship and help them to become farmers. The “Peace Policy” backfired in a way because it did not really help the Indians and Americans continued to push them out of their lands even though they were government established. The other goal he mentioned in his first inaugural address had to do with reducing the debt of the United States. He did not achieve this goal especially since he already had his hands full with the economy in solving the Panic of 1873.

Grant had an adequate relationship with his Congress during his terms as president. Both the House and the Senate had a decent majority of Republicans during the 41st – 43rd congresses, but in the 45th, the Democrats had control of the House. Despite this fact, Grant and Congress still were not on the best of terms. He actually vetoed 94 pieces of legislation, but of those only four were overridden. Grant believed in the Jacksonian Democracy. Therefore, he did not understand the need for a stronger executive branch and felt the need to lean on state governments and Congress. Moreover, he did not assume the presidential role of party leader, which led to tension in Congress. On the other hand, when Grant was carrying out reconstruction actions supported by his party, many southern whites began protests. Because of this, he asked Congress to pass certain measures so he could take control of the situation. They obliged passing both the Force Bill of 1870 and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. The Force Bill of 1870 allowed the president to send troops into the rebellious areas; the KKK Act of 1871 expanded Grant’s power in using federal force to end the influence of groups such as the KKK. In the end, Grant had a decent relationship with his Congress.

The most positive outcome that came out of the Grant Administration was the Treaty of Washington in 1871. Also called the “Alabama Claims,” the agreement had to do with numerous things that were settled between the United States, Britain and Canada. During the Civil War, Britain claimed to be neutral. However, many British people were interested in the South’s cotton production and created warships for Confederate use. Americans asserted that Britain owed the U.S. for disturbing Union trading, lengthening the war and violating its neutrality statement. Furthermore, America and Britain were still disagreeing about certain Canadian issues such as fishing rights and given areas of the border. Grant’s Secretary of State Hamilton Fish convinced him it would be a good idea to settle these issues and therefore even attempt at better relations with Britain. Negotiators from all three sides (United States, Britain, and Canada) met in Washington to come up with a settlement. Most of the problems were solved in this agreement and the outcome was the Treaty of Washington which stated that Britain owed the United States $15.5 million. The Senate approved the resolution and despite the obvious favoring of America in the document, it greatly improved the British-American relations. Evidently, Grant made a good decision in settling these issues with Britain.

On the flip side, the most negative outcome of the Grant Administration was all of the political scandals that occurred. Even though Grant was not directly involved in any of the scandals, Congressmen and Cabinet member alike took part in some of the scandals. The first scandal that involved Congressmen was the Crédit Mobilier. The actual “scandal” part of this was the fact that in order to keep their corruption under wraps, the company owners got vital Congressmen to buy stock, therefore investing money into the company meaning they wouldn’t want it to go under. Due to this, investigations that were supposed to take place were bypassed keeping the company afloat. The second scandal that appeared in his administration was the Whiskey Ring which involved his personal secretary and a general he had appointed. Since whiskey taxes were raised to help pay off debt from the war, General John McDonald, the appointee to the position of supervisor at the IRS in St. Louis, MO, seized the opportunity to swindle the government out of millions of dollars. His personal secretary, Orville Babcock, was charged with cheating the government out of tax dollars as well. Grant wanted to testify in person on behalf of Babcock because he believed Babcock was innocent. However, he was convinced this was a bad idea by his cabinet members. Grant still sent in a statement swearing by Babcock, which in the end helped him off the hook. He probably would have been convicted without the help of Grant. As the above evidence shows, the Grant Administration held poor judgment in their actions and Grant himself trusted his advisors a little too much for the country’s good.

The decision made by Grant’s Administration that had most impact of the future was the passing of the 15th Amendment. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution gave the freedom to vote to all __men__ of any color or race regardless of previous bondage. Seeing as anyone over the age of 18 is allowed to vote now, this amendment certainly had an influence on the future in more than one way. Clearly, since any color of men can vote today in the United States, the amendment still remains in effect and was never repealed. Moreover, as time passed, more and more colored men exercised their right and got a say in the government. It also paved a path nicely for the women’s suffrage fight, which succeeded, and then even how old a person needed to be to vote. Evidently, this amendment had much impact on the future in ways that look beyond the obvious.

Overall, the country was probably better with Grant as president. This would mainly be because of the settlement of Britain that happened under his secretary of state and things such as the 15th Amendment. The largest thing holding back his presidency was all of the scandals that occurred and tarnished his administration. In general, he was only an average president and therefore deserved his C.

"American President: Ulysses S. Grant: Foreign Affairs." //Miller Center of Public Affairs//. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 April 2010. [].  Bailey, Thomas A., Lizabeth Cohen, and David M. Kennedy. //The American Pageant: A History of the Republic //. 12 ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. Print.
 * __Works Cited: __**

Degregorio, William A.. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition (Complete Book of Us Presidents) //. 7 ed. Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2009. Print.

"Presidential Vetoes, 1789–2008 — Infoplease.com." //Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. — Infoplease.com //. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 April 2010. [] .

"The Ulysses S. Grant Administrations." //Presidential Administration Profiles for Students//. Online Edition. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. <[|http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/]>.

Picture: []