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Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant) April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885 Political Party - Republican Party Dates in Office – March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1877 (Two Terms) Vice Presidents – Shuyler Colfax (1869-1873) and Henry Wilson (1873-1875) __Thematic Context – American Identity__ Since colonial times, Americans have valued self rule and a democracy governed by the people. Democracy and freedom have become defining factors in the American identity. A large part of a democratic republic is granting suffrage to all legal citizens. Early in American history, only males who owned land were given the right to vote. However, since that time, many developments have taken place to enfranchise all citizens. Two major developments took place during Grant’s presidency to grant suffrage to blacks and women. The previous two Reconstruction amendments, the 13th and 14th, while extremely successful in granting more rights to blacks, declined to mention any right to vote. This was to the disappointment of the Radical Republicans, one of whom was Ulysses S. Grant. Congress then worked to propose the third and final Reconstruction amendment, which would prohibit states denying the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The ratification of the fifteenth amendment in 1870 was possibly the most important outcome of the Reconstruction movement as the right to have a voice in government was the ultimate goal of many. President Grant supported the amendment’s ratification and stated that he was very proud to have signed it. However, the fifteenth amendment did not end African Americans’ struggle for equality. Many abolitionists were pleased enough with blacks gaining their freedom and felt no desire to push for further social reform. In 1877, the Reconstruction Era ended and Southern governments were free to pass oppressive legislation without the constant watchful eye of the federal government. These laws, known collectively as the Jim Crow Laws, prevented blacks from voting through the use of state required literacy tests, registration laws, and poll taxes. The Supreme Court also decided in //Plessy v. Ferguson// that segregation was legal under the Constitution. African Americans would have to fight for many more years to receive equal treatment. Grant’s presidency was also an important time for the struggle for women’s suffrage. Though not attained at a federal level, women had many successes and took great strides towards enfranchising all women. In 1869, the Wyoming Territory became the first in the country to grant women the right to vote. Women suffragists, including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, were overjoyed with this development and encouraged women to move to the territory. Suffragists were also impressed that granting women suffrage did not result in the many negative consequences men feared would threaten American government. The granting of suffrage in Wyoming and then Utah in 1870 gave many suffragists hope that women may be granted suffrage at the federal level. Suffragists were also given more motivation for their cause during the debate over the ratification of the fifteenth amendment. The amendment had protected the right to vote from discrimination based on race, but not gender. The suffragist movement split over their support of the amendment. The National Woman Suffrage Association opposed ratification unless it also gave women the vote. The American Woman Suffrage Association, on the other hand, believed enfranchising blacks would lead to women’s suffrage as well. These two groups later merged into one organization, but they would fight for their cause for many more years until the passage of the 19th amendment would finally grant women the right to vote. Grant’s presidency proved to be a very important time in the movement to grant two suppressed groups a basic right of all American citizens. This notion of equal say in government for all citizens has become one of the most important aspects of American identity.

__Thesis__ Ulysses S. Grant, eighteenth president of the United States, never had much of a chance to be a great president. He had little experience or education in politics, and was elected instead on the basis of his achievements as a general in the Civil War. Because he was more accustomed to leading an army compared to a country, Ulysses S. Grant disappointed many while in office. The Panic in 1873 and a number of scandals ruined Grant’s reputation as president. They also undermined his few yet extraordinary successes in foreign policy and Reconstruction. America needed a strong and confident president to correct the many issues that had remained unsolved during Johnson’s presidency. The inexperienced Grant instead added to these problems. For this, he deserves a D for his two terms as president.

__Goals__ Ulysses S. Grant announced his ambitious goals in his inaugural addresses while not completely understanding what the politics of the day would allow. Chief among these was Grant’s ultimate goal to serve the public by working effectively with Congress. Grant, though an honest man himself, had the misfortune of being associated with several scandals. Overall, he and his administration failed at working to serve the public, as they had failures in achieving almost all of their other goals. Grant had ambitious goals regarding the Reconstruction of the South. He desired to unite the country by avoiding party politics and sectional differences. Grant ultimately failed in this goal, though he did have a number of successes within this goal. A prominent general in the Civil War, Grant brought his radical plans to the presidency. He was a strong supporter of the 15th amendment and played a large role in ensuring its passage to guarantee blacks the right to vote. Grant also supported a series of force acts and civil rights acts that protected blacks and their right to vote from terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. However, Grant’s commitment to furthering the status of African Americans was hindered by the public sentiment. Though opposed morally to slavery, most Americans were still incredibly racist and felt no desire to promote racial equality. Other issues, like the economic panic, drew attention further away from protecting blacks. Therefore, the federal government was forced to abandon the Reconstruction movement, making less and less attempts to pass or enforce legislation until Reconstruction officially ended in 1877. Grant was also a supporter of hard money and outlined his plan to back the U.S. currency in gold. During the Civil War, the United States had printed paper money, known as greenbacks. Since the end of the war, much of the money was removed from circulation, and Grant intended to continue this and back the money with gold. Grant fulfilled this promise with his decisions regarding several laws on this issue. First, Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1873, which demonetized silver, putting the United States on a monometallic system, backing the U.S. currency in strictly gold. He also vetoed a bill in 1874 to continue the printing of greenbacks. Then, in 1875, Congress passed the Specie Resumption Act, which declared that bank notes could be redeemed at face value for gold. In a simple sense, Grant clearly succeeded in attaining this goal. However, the issue of the economy at this time was not simple. Having a large amount of paper money in circulation had caused inflation and the value of the dollar dropped. The same was true for coining a large amount of silver. Inflation had very positive effects for farmers and debtors as they could pay off debts much more easily. The end to the coinage of silver and the removal of greenbacks from circulation caused deflation. This hurt farmers and debtors, who were already hurting from the Economic Panic of 1873. In fact, the Coinage Act of 1873 came to be known as the Crime of ’73 from its critics. Grant’s economic plans succeeded in raising the value of U.S. currency to the face value of gold, but it was at the expense of farmers and debtors. In fact, Grant’s hard money policies were opposed by so many Democrats that they succeeded in voting in a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. Grant also had an ambitious plan for improving the U.S.’s relationship with the Native population. Like many of Grant’s other goals, he only partially succeeded in attaining this goal. His Peace Policy was accepted by many tribes, though there continued to be disputes between Natives and western Americans. However, his Peace Policy did mark a shift towards a friendlier relationship with Native Americans.

__Congress__ After Andrew Johnson’s presidency, Congress had grown used to taking the lead role in running the country. Ulysses S. Grant, with no previous political experience, often looked to Congress for guidance. His belief in the supremacy of the legislative branch did not lead to a particularly positive relationship with Congress. Grant was not in position to fight with Congress and was quick to accept compromises. For the first six years of Grant’s presidency, the Republican Party held the majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. However, for the last two years of his presidency, the Democrats gained a majority in the House of Representatives due to the debate over hard money versus paper money. The Republicans had established that they supported backing the national currency in gold despite the fact that many farmers would be hurt by their decision. The Democrats therefore were motivated to vote their members into office. Even though he mostly had the support of his party, Grant still exercised a total of 93 vetoes, 4 of which were overridden by Congress. The most important bill Grant vetoed was an inflation bill in 1874 that called for the increased printing of paper money. This veto showed the differences between the Republican and Democratic Parties at this time regarding the money debate since Democrats and Republicans disagreed on few other issues. Congress during Grant’s presidency was also affected by the numerous scandals that occurred. Many Congressmen were guilty of accepting bribes and this no doubt affected Congress’s relationship with Grant, who was repeatedly accused of scandals himself.

__Positive__ Possibly the best decisions Grant made in office was to support certain Reconstruction laws. Though the whole of Grant’s Reconstruction Plan failed, many of his early decisions regarding Reconstruction had very positive effects for the African Americans in the South. One of the greatest successes during Grant’s presidency was his signing of the fifteenth amendment, which finally gave voting rights to blacks at the federal level. This amendment had many positive outcomes, the first of which gave blacks the basic right to vote, an important step in further their place in American society as free men. Blacks used their right to elect Republican leaders into office. An increased number of blacks also ran for office following the ratification of this amendment. Because it had such a strong effect on African American’s involvement in government, it should be counted as one of the most positive decisions Grant was essential to protecting blacks as well. At this time, the Ku Klux Klan had been intimidating blacks into not voting. Grant took strong action against this. He was personally responsible for creating the Civil Rights Act in 1871 to prevent more members from joining the Klan. Grant also took advantage of the Force Acts to impose order, especially after riots attempted to overthrow interracial government. These efforts had an especially positive effect, destroying the Klan’s activities primarily in South Carolina and as well as in other former Confederate states. Because of Grant’s efforts, blacks could enjoy their rights to vote and hold office without violence from their opposition. Grant’s dedication to improving the status of African Americans in the United States was among the most positive aspects of his presidency. Though Grant was forced to abandon Reconstruction, his early successes in the matter should not be overlooked.

__Negative__ Ulysses S. Grant had many failures while in office, including the economic panic and issues regarding Reconstruction. However, none of Grant’s failures marred his presidency as much as the number of scandals with which he was associated. Therefore, Grant’s worst decision in office was to be so trusting and loyal to his friends in office despite their actions. The first of these scandals was the Black Friday scandal initiated by Jim Fisk and Jay Gould. These two men planned to corner the gold market by taking advantage of inexperience in politics and stopping his treasury from releasing gold. When the men bought large amounts of gold, the price rose dramatically and many businessmen were hurt financially. Even though it was determined later that Grant had been unaware of pair’s intention, the public was nevertheless outraged that the president had allowed for such a scandal to take place. Other scandals did involve members of Grant’s administration. Congressmen accepted bribes to stall an investigation on the Crédit Mobilier Scandal. Grant’s personal secretary, Orville E. Babcock, was involved in the Whiskey Ring where he and others stole millions of dollars from the treasury that had been collected from taxes on whiskey. Violating his own statement that all men involved should be punished, Grant helped Babcock escape his charges. Grant was also very upset when Secretary of War William Belknap was forced to resign after accepting kickbacks from traders at the reservations. The scandals during Grant’s presidency were immoral and had harmful effects on the government and honest citizens. This did not go unnoticed by the general public and they began to demand civil service reform. Those who were particularly concerned with the corruption in government formed the Liberal Republican Party. Their opposition to the original Republicans succeeded in initiating small attempts at reforming the government and the issue of reform became very important in future presidential elections. Though Grant was not involved in any scandals directly, they are what his presidency in most known for. Because of this, his willingness to trust those who weren’t honest was Grant’s worst decision in office and had the most negative outcomes.

__Influence__ Although President Grant proved to be a disappointing leader during domestic troubles, he had more success in foreign policy. Grant appointed many unqualified people to high office and many of these appointments ended in scandal and disaster. However, Grant made a very good decision when he appointed Hamilton Fish as secretary of state. Fish had many successes, though the influential was the Treaty of Washington in 1871. During the Civil War, several commerce raiders had been built in Britain against the approval of the London government and fought for the Confederates. One of these raiders, the //Alabama,// captured more than 60 Union merchant ships and inflicted a large amount of damage. The //Alabama// incident and subsequent claims for payment of collateral damage put a great amount of tension between the United States and Britain. Fish then called for a very successful joint commission to meet. Delegates from the U.S., Britain, and Canada decided to send the claims through arbitration. There, the panel decided on the Treaty of Washington, which stated that Britain owed the United States fifteen and a half million dollars. This treaty had many positive outcomes. The success of the arbitration panel set a precedent for its use in future international disputes. The treaty also decreased tension between the United States and Britain. Periods of peace such as this one paved the way for the Great Rapprochement beginning in the 1890s. During the Great Rapprochement, the Britons’ support of the U.S. during the Spanish-American War allowed America to become an imperial power. The positive effects of this treaty expanded beyond 1877. Therefore, this decision was the most influential one made by Grant’s administration.

__Conclusion__ America’s state did not improve after Grant’s presidency. However, the country’s state did not decrease much either. Grant’s predecessor, Andrew Johnson, also received the presidency for irrational reasons and was just as inept at running the country. Grant succeeded at improving international relations and raising the value of the American dollar to face value. However, this did not stop Americans from experiencing many troubles during the Panic of 1873. Grant also failed to solve the biggest issue he was facing after his administration abandoned the cause Reconstruction of the Union and protecting civil rights. In addition, the numerous scandals that occurred during Grant’s presidency added civil service reform to a growing list of problems. Because Grant continued the inadequate standard of leadership established by Johnson rather than correcting it, he deserves a D for his presidency.

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