Nathan Clegg
6L
December 9, 2011
President Number: 18th
Years Served: 1869-1877
Political Party: Republican
Date of Birth: April 27, 1822
Place of Birth: Point Pleasant, Ohio
Date of Death: July 23, 1885
Place of Death: Mount McGregor,
New
York
Hiram
Ulysses Grant was born on April 27, 1822 at Point Pleasant, Ohio. Later on
when he was going to college he changed his name to Ulysses S. Grant. Ulysses parents
were Jesse Grant and Hannah Grant. He also had five brothers and sisters. They were
Samuel, Clara, Virginia, Orville, and Mary. The family moved when Ulysses was just 18
months old to Georgetown, Ohio. When he was a kid he went to local schools in
Georgetown and in his father’s tanning shop. His best subject in school was math. During
his free time he loved to ride horses. After the local schools he went to the
Presbyterian Academy and then later on to West Point.
After college Ulysses served in the Mexican War. When he was in the war he
served under Zachary Taylor. After the Mexican War he went home and later got
enlisted in the Civil War. After showing bravery and leadership he got promoted to
brigadier general of volunteers. After he captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in the
Mississippi River Valley, President Lincoln promoted him to major general of volunteers.
After Ulysses captured Vicksburg on the Mississippi River he was appointed to Generalin-Chief of the Union armies. Finally on April 9, 1865 Grant got General Robert E. Lee to
surrender. He even wrote out the peace treaty himself. During his campaign he told the
public that he wanted to free the slaves and keep the Confederates from power again.
The other candidates didn’t even come close to him. The people thought he would be a
good leader just like in the war. He married Julia Boggs Dent on August 22, 1848.
During his presidency Ulysses S. Grant wanted to put the Kuklux Klan in jail. He
wanted to do this because the Kuklux Klan was a group of people who want the colored
people to be slaves and stay slaves. If the black people didn’t do what they wanted they
would most likely kill them. President Grant also passed the 15th Amendment, which gave
black men the right to vote. Before this black men couldn’t vote because they were
slaves and people were prejudice towards them. Although President Grant tried to put
the Kuklux Klan in jail and gave black men the right to vote he often got distracted and
people called him one of the lousiest presidents.
After his second term he tried to run again but he failed miserably. Back then
you could run for president as many times as you wanted. After he ran for president but
failed he went on a world tour. Ulysses visited many countries including Japan and
Britain. President Grant was the first person ever to shake the Japanese Emperor’s
hand. After a Wall Street fraud he became bankrupt. He took the advice of his friend
Mark Twain and wrote an autobiography about his only success in life: war. He learned
one day that he had cancer of the throat. He had just finished the book before he died.
The book earned his family $450,000. Ulysses S. Grant died on July 23, 1885 at Mount
McGregor, New York.
Famous Quote: “My failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent”