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Ulysses S. Grantb. 27 Apr 1822, Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio |
| Title: | President of the United States of America |
| Term: | 4 Mar 1869 - 4 Mar 1873 |
| Chronology: | 3 Nov 1868, electors appointed/popular voting |
| 2 Dec 1868, elected by vote of the electors | |
| 4 Mar 1869, sworn in, East Portico, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. | |
| 4 Mar 1873, 1st term expired | |
| Term: | 4 Mar 1873 - 4 Mar 1877 |
| Chronology: | 5 Nov 1872, electors appointed/popular voting |
| 4 Dec 1872, elected by vote of the electors | |
| 4 Mar 1873, sworn in, East Portico, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. | |
| 4 Mar 1877, 2nd term expired | |
| Names/titles: | Original name: Hiram Ulysses Grant; changed to Ulysses S. Grant c. 1839 [1] |
| Biography: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born in the family of a tanner; attended a school at Maysville, Kentucky (1836-1837), and Presbyterian Academy, Ripley, Ohio (1838-1839); graduated from the US Military Academy West Point (1843); commissioned brevet second lieutenant (1843); promoted to full second lieutenant (1845); served in the Mexican War (1846-1848) under General Zachary Taylor (President of the United States, 1849-1850); rapidly received new promotions reaching the rank of captain in 1853; resigned commission in 1854; farmer and realtor (1854-1860); clerk in a leather goods store owned by his father (1860-1861); rejoined US Army in 1861 as colonel of 21st Illinois Regiment; appointed brigadier general of volunteers (31 Jul 1861); given command of all troops in south-east Missouri (28 Aug 1861); promoted to major general of volunteers (17 Feb 1862); received surrender of Vicksburg (4 Jul 1863); promoted to major general in the regular army; won the Battle of Chattanooga (25 Nov 1863); promoted to lieutenant general (2 Mar 1864); assigned to command all armies of the United States (18 Mar 1864); unsuccessful candidate for presidential nomination (1864); received surrender of the Confederate army of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox (9 Apr 1865); appointed general of the armies of the United States (25 Jul 1866); appointed Secretary of War ad interim (12 Aug 1867 - 14 Jan 1868); elected President of the United States, 1868; signed a law pledging the government to redeem in gold the greenback currency issued during the Civil War (18 Mar 1868); submitted to the Senate a treaty of annexation with Santo Domingo (10 Jan 1870), subsequently rejected; negotiated the Treaty of Washington (8 May 1871) providing for the settlement by international tribunal of American claims against Great Britain; reelected president in 1872; second administration was plagued with scandals and charges of bribery, involving the members of Cabinet; was not a candidate for reelection in 1876; made a trip around the world (1877-1879); unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1880; president of Jay Gould's Mexican Southern Railroad, 1881; founder, Grant & Ward, stockbrokers, 1881. [2] |
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| Election results: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sources and notes: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [1] | When Grant arrived at West Point, he discovered that the congressman who appointed him, in doubt about his name, had used his middle name first and had used his mother's maiden name (Simpson) for a middle name. Officers insisted that Ulysses S. Grant had been appointed to West Point, Ulysses Hiram Grant had not. In time, Ulysses accepted U. S. Grant as his true name, insisting that his middle initial stood for "nothing." His family and Ohio friends continued to call him Ulysses; the other cadets nicknamed him "Uncle Sam" for his initials, soon shortened it to "Sam." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [2] | Ulysses S. Grant Chronology (web site of the Ulysses S. Grant Association). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [3] | 23 Southern electoral votes were excluded. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [4] | The presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the Liberal Republicans and the northern Democrats in 1872 were Horace Greeley and B. Gratz Brown. Greeley died on 29 Nov 1872, before his 66 electors voted. In the electoral balloting for President, 63 of Greeley's votes were scattered among four other men, including Brown. Three electoral votes cast for Greeley were not counted. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [5] | 14 Grant electoral votes from Arkansas and Louisiana were not counted. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Image: photograph of Ulysses S. Grant by Abraham Bogardus. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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