Home About Chat Users Issues Party Candidates Polling Firms Media News Polls Calendar Key Races United States President Senate House Governors International

New User Account
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource." 
Email: Password:

  Grant, Ulysses S.
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationRepublican  
<-  1870-01-01  
 
NameUlysses S. Grant
Address
Galena, Illinois , United States
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born April 27, 1822
DiedJuly 23, 1885 (63 years)
Contributor411 Name Removed
Last ModifedBrentinCO
Nov 05, 2023 10:25am
Tags English - Married - Alcoholic - Cancer - Army - NRA - Christian - Methodist - Straight -
InfoLate in the administration of Andrew Johnson, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant quarreled with the President and aligned himself with the Radical Republicans. He was, as the symbol of Union victory during the Civil War, their logical candidate for President in 1868.

When he was elected, the American people hoped for an end to turmoil. Grant provided neither vigor nor reform. Looking to Congress for direction, he seemed bewildered. One visitor to the White House noted “a puzzled pathos, as of a man with a problem before him of which he does not understand the terms.”

Born in 1822, Grant was the son of an Ohio tanner. He went to West Point rather against his will and graduated in the middle of his class. In the Mexican War he fought under Gen. Zachary Taylor.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Grant was working in his father’s leather store in Galena, Illinois. He was appointed by the Governor to command an unruly volunteer regiment. Grant whipped it into shape and by September 1861 he had risen to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers.

He sought to win control of the Mississippi Valley. In February 1862 he took Fort Henry and attacked Fort Donelson. When the Confederate commander asked for terms, Grant replied, “No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.” The Confederates surrendered, and President Lincoln promoted Grant to major general of volunteers.

At Shiloh in April, Grant fought one of the bloodiest battles in the West and came out less well. President Lincoln fended off demands for his removal by saying, “I can’t spare this man–he fights.”

For his next major objective, Grant maneuvered and fought skillfully to win Vicksburg, the key city on the Mississippi, and thus cut the Confederacy in two. Then he broke the Confederate hold on Chattanooga.

Lincoln appointed him General-in-Chief in March 1864. Grant directed Sherman to drive through the South while he himself, with the Army of the Potomac, pinned down Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

Finally, on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House, Lee surrendered. Grant wrote out magnanimous terms of surrender that would prevent treason trials.

As President, Grant presided over the Government much as he had run the Army. Indeed he brought part of his Army staff to the White House.

Although a man of scrupulous honesty, Grant as President accepted handsome presents from admirers. Worse, he allowed himself to be seen with two speculators, Jay Gould and James Fisk. When Grant realized their scheme to corner the market in gold, he authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to sell enough gold to wreck their plans, but the speculation had already wrought havoc with business.

During his campaign for re-election in 1872, Grant was attacked by Liberal Republican reformers. He called them “narrow-headed men,” their eyes so close together that “they can look out of the same gimlet hole without winking.” The General’s friends in the Republican Party came to be known proudly as “the Old Guard.”

Grant allowed Radical Reconstruction to run its course in the South, bolstering it at times with military force.

After retiring from the Presidency, Grant became a partner in a financial firm, which went bankrupt. About that time he learned that he had cancer of the throat. He started writing his recollections to pay off his debts and provide for his family, racing against death to produce a memoir that ultimately earned nearly $450,000. Soon after completing the last page, in 1885, he died.

[Link]

JOB APPROVAL POLLS
DateFirmApproveDisapproveDon't Know
06/13/2007-06/24/2007 Rasmussen Reports 58.00% ( 0.0) 24.00% ( 0.0) 18.00% ( 0.0)

BOOKS
Title Purchase Contributor

EVENTS
Start Date End Date Type Title Contributor

NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor
Apr 26, 2022 04:05pm Opinion President Ulysses S. Grant Deserves More Respect  Article IndyGeorgia 
Nov 19, 2009 10:20am General Gen. Grant considered for (OH) statue in Washington  Article Thomas Walker 

DISCUSSION
Importance? 10.00000 Average

FAMILY
Wife Julia Boggs Dent Grant Aug 22, 1848-Jul 23, 1885
Son Frederick Dent Grant 1850-1912
Son Ulysses Simpson "Buck" Grant, Jr. 1852-1929
Daughter Ellen Wrenshall "Nellie" Grant Sartoris Jones 1855-1922
Son Jesse Root Grant 1858-1934
Father In-Law Frederick Dent 1787-1873

INFORMATION LINKS
Congressional Gold Medal Recipient General Ulysses S. Grant  Discuss
President Ulysses Grant Inaugural Address March 4, 1869  Discuss
President Ulysses Grant Inaugural Address March 4, 1873  Discuss
Ulysses Grant - Eighth Annual Message (December 5, 1876)  Discuss
Ulysses Grant - Fifth Annual Message (December 1, 1873)  Discuss
Ulysses Grant - First Annual Message (December 6, 1869)  Discuss
Ulysses Grant - Fourth Annual Message (December 2, 1872)  Discuss
Ulysses Grant - Second Annual Message (December 5, 1870)  Discuss
Ulysses Grant - Seventh Annual Message (December 7, 1875)  Discuss
Ulysses Grant - Sixth Annual Message (December 7, 1874)  Discuss
Ulysses Grant - Third Annual Message (December 4, 1871)  Discuss
RACES
  06/08/1880 US President - R Convention Lost 25.85% (-7.10%)
  12/04/1872 US President Won 81.95% (+69.91%)
  11/05/1872 MN US President Won 61.35% (+22.89%)
  11/05/1872 NC US President Won 57.38% (+14.92%)
  11/05/1872 VA US President Won 50.47% (+0.98%)
  11/05/1872 IA US President Won 60.81% (+27.90%)
  11/05/1872 MS US President Won 63.48% (+26.95%)
  11/05/1872 WV US President Won 51.74% (+4.46%)
  11/05/1872 SC US President Won 75.73% (+51.95%)
  11/05/1872 CA US President Won 56.38% (+13.87%)
  11/05/1872 KS US President Won 66.54% (+33.81%)
  11/05/1872 KY US President Lost 46.47% (-5.82%)
  11/05/1872 MO US President Lost 43.65% (-11.81%)
  11/05/1872 OR US President Won 58.78% (+20.27%)
  11/05/1872 WI US President Won 54.62% (+9.69%)
  11/05/1872 CT US President Won 52.41% (+4.81%)
  11/05/1872 LA US President Won 55.69% (+11.37%)
  11/05/1872 NE US President Won 70.68% (+41.36%)
  11/05/1872 PA US President Won 62.07% (+24.42%)
  11/05/1872 DE US President Won 51.00% (+4.23%)
  11/05/1872 ME US President Won 67.86% (+35.73%)
  11/05/1872 NV US President Won 57.43% (+14.86%)
  11/05/1872 RI US President Won 71.94% (+43.89%)
  11/05/1872 FL US President Won 53.52% (+7.04%)
  11/05/1872 MD US President Lost 49.66% (-0.69%)
  11/05/1872 NH US President Won 53.94% (+8.33%)
  11/05/1872 TN US President Lost 47.52% (-4.95%)
  11/05/1872 GA US President Lost 43.65% (-9.63%)
  11/05/1872 MI US President Won 62.63% (+27.13%)
  11/05/1872 NJ US President Won 54.52% (+9.04%)
  11/05/1872 TX US President Lost 41.41% (-17.08%)
  11/05/1872 IL US President Won 56.27% (+13.27%)
  11/05/1872 MA US President Won 69.27% (+38.55%)
  11/05/1872 NY US President Won 53.12% (+6.44%)
  11/05/1872 VT US President Won 79.15% (+58.30%)
  11/05/1872 AR US President Won 52.17% (+4.35%)
  11/05/1872 IN US President Won 53.22% (+6.44%)
  11/05/1872 AL US President Won 53.19% (+6.38%)
  11/05/1872 US President National Vote Won 55.72% (+11.82%)
  11/05/1872 OH US President Won 53.22% (+7.09%)
  06/06/1872 US President - R Convention Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  05/23/1872 US President - National Workingmen Convention Won 97.61% (+95.22%)
  12/02/1868 US President Won 72.79% (+45.58%)
  11/03/1868 DE US President Lost 41.00% (-18.01%)
  11/03/1868 LA US President Lost 29.31% (-41.38%)
  11/03/1868 NJ US President Lost 49.12% (-1.76%)
  11/03/1868 OH US President Won 54.02% (+8.03%)
  11/03/1868 FL US President Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  11/03/1868 MD US President Lost 32.80% (-34.40%)
  11/03/1868 NV US President Won 55.39% (+10.77%)
  11/03/1868 VT US President Won 78.57% (+57.13%)
  11/03/1868 GA US President Lost 35.73% (-28.53%)
  11/03/1868 MA US President Won 69.66% (+39.34%)
  11/03/1868 NY US President Lost 49.41% (-1.18%)
  11/03/1868 WI US President Won 56.25% (+12.50%)
  11/03/1868 SC US President Won 57.93% (+15.87%)
  11/03/1868 IA US President Won 61.92% (+23.84%)
  11/03/1868 ME US President Won 62.41% (+24.82%)
  11/03/1868 NH US President Won 55.22% (+10.46%)
  11/03/1868 WV US President Won 58.83% (+17.66%)
  11/03/1868 AL US President Won 51.39% (+2.78%)
  11/03/1868 IL US President Won 55.69% (+11.38%)
  11/03/1868 MI US President Won 56.98% (+13.96%)
  11/03/1868 OR US President Lost 49.63% (-0.74%)
  11/03/1868 AR US President Won 53.68% (+7.37%)
  11/03/1868 IN US President Won 51.39% (+2.79%)
  11/03/1868 MO US President Won 56.96% (+13.92%)
  11/03/1868 PA US President Won 52.20% (+4.41%)
  11/03/1868 KS US President Won 68.82% (+37.65%)
  11/03/1868 NC US President Won 53.41% (+6.82%)
  11/03/1868 RI US President Won 66.72% (+33.43%)
  11/03/1868 CT US President Won 51.53% (+3.05%)
  11/03/1868 KY US President Lost 25.45% (-49.10%)
  11/03/1868 NE US President Won 63.91% (+27.81%)
  11/03/1868 TN US President Won 69.26% (+38.53%)
  11/03/1868 US President National Vote Won 52.66% (+5.33%)
  11/03/1868 MN US President Won 60.88% (+21.76%)
  11/03/1868 CA US President Won 50.24% (+0.48%)
  05/21/1868 US President - R Convention Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  06/08/1864 US President - R Convention Lost 4.24% (-90.94%)
  03/08/1864 Army Commanding General Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
ENDORSEMENTS
Santo Domingo Annexation by the United States - Feb 19, 1870 YES Yes
US President National Vote - Nov 04, 1856 D James Buchanan