Ulysses
S. Grant18th President of the United States, 1869-1877
Ulysses Grant had gained fame as the hero of the Civil War, and in 1868 became the first West Point graduate to become President. But the qualities that had brought him military glory were not enough to solve the nation's problems in the 1870's. His enemies called him a poor President, and historians have generally agreed.
Grant's presidency was clouded by disgrace and dishonesty. Congressional investigations revealed widespread corruption in both state and local governments. Several of Grant's major appointees became involved in various scandals. But Grant himself was so honest that even his enemies never accused him of being involved personally; they did, however, revile him for his seemingly complete lack of judgement in his political appointments.
| Election of 1868 | Election of 1872 | ||
| Place of Nominating Convention | Chicago | Place of Nominating Convention | Philadelphia |
| Ballot on Which Nominated | 1st | Ballot on Which Nominated | 1st |
| Democratic Opponent | Horatio Seymour | Democratic-Liberal Republican Opponent | Horace Greeley |
| Electoral Vote | 214 to 80 | Electoral Vote | 286 to * (*Greeley died Nov. 29, 1872. His electoral votes were split among 4 candidates.) |
| Popular Vote | 3,013,421 to 2,706,829 | Popular Vote | 3,596,745 to 2,843,446 |
| His Vice-President and Cabinet | |
| Vice-President | Schuyler Colfax Henry Wilcox (1873) |
| Secretary of State | Elihu B. Washburne Hamilton Fish (1869) |
| Secretary of the Treasury | George S. Boutwell William A. Richardson (1873) Benjamin H. Bristow (1874) Lot M. Morrill (1876) |
| Secretary of War | John A. Rawlins William T. Sherman (1869) William W. Belknap (1869) Alphonso Taft (1876) James D. Cameron (1876) |
| Attorney General | E. Rockwood Hoar Amos T. Akerman (1870) George H. Williams (1871) Edwards Pierrepont (1875) Alphonso Taft (1876) |
| Postmaster General | John A. J. Creswell James W. Marshall (1874) Marshall Jewell (1874) James N. Tyner (1876) |
| Secretary of the Navy | Adolph E. Borie George M. Robeson (1869) |
| Secretary of the Interior | Jacob D. Cox Columbus Delano (1870) Zachariah Chandler (1875) |
| U.S. Events During His Administration | |
| Population in 1877 47,141,000 | |
| 1869 | Jay Gould, James Fisk, Jr., and others tried to corner the gold market, leading to a financial panic. |
| 1869 | The President of the Dominican Republic tried to sell his country to the United States. |
| 1869 | The Transcontinental Railroad was completed. |
| 1870 | The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution gave all men the right to vote, regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." |
| 1870 | Congress made it a federal crime to deprive anyone of his civil or political rights by interfering with the right to vote. |
| 1870 | Congress established the Department of Justice. |
| 1870 | The United States Weather Bureau was established. |
| 1871 | The Indian Appropriation Act ended tribal recognition and the treaty system, and made all Indians wards of the state. |
| 1871 | The city of Chicago was nearly burned to the ground in one of the worst disasters in U.S. history. |
| 1872 | The Geneva Tribunal of 1872 ruled that Great Britain should pay the United States $15,500,000 for losses caused by Confederate ships built in Britain. |
| 1872 | The Yellowstone area was set aside by Congress as the first national park. |
| 1873 | Congress investigated the relations of Credit Mobilier in conjunction with the Union Pacific Railroad. |
| September 1873 | Several important Eastern banks failed, touching off a financial panic across the country. |
| 1873 | Barbed wire was patented by Joseph Glidden. |
| 1874 | Congress investigated the Whiskey Ring. |
| 1874 | The Women's Christian Temperance Union was established in Cleveland, Ohio. |
| 1875 | The Hawaiian Reciprocity Treaty made the islands a virtual protectorate of the United States. |
| 1876 | Secretary of War William W. Belknap was impeached for accepting bribes from a trader at an Indian post. |
| 1876 | Indians massacred George Custer and his troops in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. |
| 1876 | Colorado was admitted to the Union as the 38th state. |
| 1876 | Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. |
| World Events During His Administration | |
| 1869 | The Suez Canal opened. |
| 1870 | Canada bought vast territories from the Hudson's Bay Company. |
| 1870-1871 | The Franco-Prussian War resulted in the unification of Germany. |
| 1871 | Heinrich Schliemann discovered ancient Troy. |
| 1877 | Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. |
The American President. Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. www.millercenter.virginia.edu/academic/americanpresident/grant
Presidents of the United States (POTUS). The Internet Public Library. www.ipl.org/div/potus/usgrant.html
Ulysses Grant: His Life and Career
Chicago
Horace Greeley
Joseph Glidden
George Custer
Hudson's Bay Company
Germany
Queen Victoria
India