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Ulysses S. Grant
Historical figureUnited States1822-1885

Ulysses S. Grant

18th President of the United States (1869-1877) · Commanding General of the U.S. Army

Union general who won the Civil War and then served two terms as president, defending Black voting rights and fighting the Klan, while his administration was shaken by scandals.

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Profile on 12 axes8 of 12 documented
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stood

Ulysses S. Grant, axis by axis

  1. 01Ownership+35
    PublicPrivate

    Nationalization was not a live question in his day. The score reflects his backing for a private economy and a sound currency.

  2. 02Markets+30
    PlannedFree

    His 1874 veto of an inflation bill and his approval of a return to gold show that he wanted a gold-backed dollar, not a larger supply of paper money.

  3. 03Welfare+40
    SharedSelf-reliant

    Offered almost no federal aid in the hard years after the Panic of 1873. Welfare systems did not yet exist.

  4. 04Authority-10
    DemocraticStrong leader

    Won two elections and favored Black voting rights and civil service reform. But he put up with patronage and graft around him. The score is near the middle.

  5. 05Security+40
    LibertyOrder

    Broke the Klan through the Enforcement Acts, federal soldiers and a suspension of habeas corpus in part of South Carolina.

  6. 06Structure+60
    LocalCentral

    Applied national power to defend voters and the Reconstruction governments of the former Confederate states.

  7. 07MoralityNo clear record
    ProgressiveTraditional

    Nothing is recorded on family or social norms beyond what was ordinary then, so this axis is null.

  8. 08Religion-30
    SecularReligious

    His 1875 call to keep public money from church schools is a separationist stand. Historians also tie it to the anti-Catholic mood of the period.

  9. 09TechnologyNo clear record
    EmbraceCaution

    No recorded view, given the nineteenth-century setting.

  10. 10CultureNo clear record
    MulticulturalNational identity

    The record is mixed: he supported citizenship for Black Americans and a Native American policy built on assimilation, yet his 1862 order driving Jews out of a war zone is a lasting blot. This axis is null.

  11. 11TradeNo clear record
    GlobalProtected

    The sources used show no position on the tariff, so this axis is null.

  12. 12Foreign policy-15
    CooperationStrength

    Handled the Alabama Claims against Britain through arbitration. He also tried to annex Santo Domingo and failed.

4 axes have no clear record, so matching leaves them out.

Who was Ulysses S. Grant?

Grant trained at West Point and fought in the Mexican War, but he was little known when the Civil War broke out. By 1865 he was in charge of all Union armies and received Lee's surrender at Appomattox. He ran for president as a Republican, won in 1868 and was re-elected four years later. His two terms saw the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, federal enforcement of Reconstruction and a Peace Policy toward Native Americans. They also saw scandals among his appointees and the long depression after 1873. Once out of office, he lost his money to a fraudster. He finished his well-regarded memoirs shortly before dying of cancer in 1885.

Political views

  • Urged the states to approve the Fifteenth Amendment, which forbids refusing anyone the vote because of race.Source: millercenter.org
  • The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 became law under him, and he used it against violent terror aimed at Black Southerners.Source: millercenter.org
  • Set aside habeas corpus in several South Carolina counties in 1871, and used soldiers to back up marshals who arrested Klansmen.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • Was the first president to call for a professional civil service, and set up the first Civil Service Commission.Source: millercenter.org
  • Blocked a bill to print more money in 1874. In 1875 he approved a law that set a date to bring the dollar back to gold.Source: millercenter.org
  • Under the 1871 Treaty of Washington, he let an international tribunal decide the Alabama Claims against Britain.Source: millercenter.org
  • Proposed a constitutional amendment in 1875 to guarantee free public schooling and keep tax money away from religious schools.Source: en.wikipedia.org

Legacy

Grant's reputation among historians has climbed steadily since the late twentieth century. His admirers argue that no other president of that century did more for Black Americans' rights, citing the Fifteenth Amendment and the war on the Klan, and they praise his diplomacy. Critics, then and today, point to the scandals of his years in office. One of them, the Whiskey Ring, reached his private secretary. They say Grant trusted the wrong men. His Peace Policy sought to assimilate Native Americans, yet the Great Sioux War of 1876 and the seizure of the Black Hills followed. Many also remember the 1862 order against Jews in his district, which Lincoln canceled and Grant later regretted.

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Ulysses S. Grant: questions

Was Ulysses S. Grant a good president?

Views have shifted. Older books dwelt on corruption in his government. Newer work credits him for defending Black civil rights and for diplomatic wins, and ranks him much higher.

What did Grant do about the Ku Klux Klan?

He passed the 1871 Klan Act, sent troops and marshals south and put aside habeas corpus in part of South Carolina. For a time this crushed the first Klan.

Was Grant himself corrupt?

No proof ever showed that he gained from affairs such as the Whiskey Ring. Yet historians blame him for trusting people who did, and for acting slowly against them.

Sources