Trevor Pultz Ryan Castelow

Hiram Ulysses, which was his birth name, was born on April 27 th, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio. When he reached the age of 17, he entered the United States Military through U.S. Congressman Thomas L. Hamer’s nomination. The congressman nominated Hiram Ulyesses Grant as “Ulysses S. Grant”. He graduated from the USMA in 1843 ranked 21 st out of a class of 39. While at the academy he became known as fearless and a very good horseman. Grant had worked up through the ranks starting out as a regimental quartermaster which his job was to manage supplies and equipment during the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848 under General Zachary Taylor and General Winfield Scott. Though Lieutenant Grant was assigned as a quartermaster he worked close to the front lines.

Ulysses adopted the new name, congressman Thomas L. Hamer gave him, with middle initial only. Also, because “U.S.” also stands for “Uncle Sam”, Ulysses was known by “Sam” around his fellow army collegues.

After confederate armies fired upon Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called out for 75,000 militia volunteers. Grant helped in the recruiting of these volunteers. In August, was appointed to the ranks of Brigadier General of the militia volunteers by Lincoln. Ulysses was general-in-chief in the Union Army from during the Civil War.

As commanding General of the Army, Grant didn’t have too good of a relationship with President Andrew Johnson who was a Southern Democrat who had preferred a different approach to dealing with the south. Johnson tried to use Grant by offering him Secretary of War to defeat the Radical Republicans, however, he declined but kept his military command.

In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant was chosen as the Republican candidate for the 1869 presidential election. Grant’s campaign slogan was “Let Us Have Peace”. His main points where to extend the human & civil rights.

In the general election Grant won against former New York Governor Horatio Seymour with a lead of 300,000 votes out of a total 5,716,082 vote cast. Grant received 214 Electoral College votes to Seymour’s 80 Electoral College votes. Grant became the 18 th United States president and the 2 nd president from Ohio in He was re-elected to the office in Grant watched over the last half of the country’s Reconstruction. Grant made advances in Civil and Human Rights throughout his presidency.

Black Friday was the first scandal to affect Grant’s administration. It was planned by 2 financiers, who were Wall Street manipulators, to “corner” the price of gold with regard to the nation’s economic welfare. Other scandals during Grant’s presidency include The Whiskey Ring scandal in which distillers bribed Treasury Department agents. In turn the agents aided the distillers in evading their taxes between 12 to 15 million dollars.

Good, President Grant wasn’t the most memorable president but he did quite a bit to move the Recreation period after the Civil War along.

Credits Ulysses S. Grant Presentation Trevor Pultz Ryan Castelow Bibliography En.wikipedia.org