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Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) Republican Party Term 1 1869- 1873 Term 2 1873- 1877 Schuyler Colfax-VP First Term Henry Wilson-VP 1873-1875 No VP 1875-1877

President Grant's time in office was sabotage by corruption and scandal. He did his best to control the country in its state of reconstruction, but did not handle it in the best way and did not leave a high mark on America. I would give his C for his presidency because he did not have the best handle on things but he did help the economy and pass some important legislature.

Grant was president during the end of the reconstruction era. He ran on the slogan 'let us have peace.' So he did his best to keep the peace among both the north and the south. He also tried to keep the peace among the whites and the blacks. He was in favor of having fewer troops in the south and also supported quickly reinstating the southern states into the Union. He did his best to protect the blacks by passing the fifteenth amendment and the civil rights bill.

During Grant's presidency the Senate had a republican majority and so was the House primarily, except the last two years of his presidency the House went to the democrats. He did have a good relationship with congress since most of congress was of his same party. They successfully reunited the Union to its completion. He also passed many useful acts including the Force Act that helped suppress the KKK, the Civil Rights Act that attempted to improve the life of African Americans and the Fifteenth Amendment which gave African Americans their rights.

The most positive thing that President Grant and his administration did was pass the Fifteenth amendment. This was crucial to making the United States a better place to live and a more equal nation. It also helped to advance blacks in American society, and though they were not always treated equal this act did give them rights, or tried its best to give them rights at a national level. The most negative thing to come out of the Grant administration is the scandal that was always present. The first big scandal that was related back to the Grant administration was black Friday which was a Wall Street gold scandal that Grant eventually saw and ruined for the people who had designed the scheme to get rich. The Whiskey Ring was also a scandal that involved many of Grant's Cabinet along with many other high government officials. They took millions of tax dollars for personal use and this was highly upsetting to the American people.

The most important decision to affect future generations was the passing of the Fifteenth amendment. Because many of the southern states did not uphold the liberties that were given to other races by the Fifteenth amendment many minorities became upset. This eventually led to the civil rights movement which affected many generations, including ours. The equality of our nation is what it is now because of that movement which was for right. The Fifteenth amendment helped to advance the minorities in our country and create a more humane place to live.

I believe that the country was better off then when Grant took office because of the new stability of the country, but there were a lot of new things that were wrong with the country. Scandal was all over the Grant administration, and though Grant was never directly linked to any corruption he did not punish nearly hard enough and was did not stand up as a strong president and leader that he should have been. That is why I would give him a C, not all was bad, but there was still a lot that could have been done better to improve the state of the nation.

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