Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant

Historical Context Note

Lucas Paul Richert (University of Saskatchewan)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Domains

Changes of government, elections and reigns

Dates

Date of occurrence 1869-03-04-1877-03-04

Places

United States (Location)

Resources

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In 1868, Republican Ulysses S. Grant was pitted against Democrat Horatio Seymour for the presidency. Grant narrowly won the popular vote but won the electoral college vote in a more convincing fashion, taking 214 votes to Seymour's 80. On economic policy, Grant made common cause with the nation's financial conservatives: the president pledged to redeem in gold all greenback currency that had been issued by the U.S. government during the Civil War. He signed a law to this effect. In 1872, President Grant comfortably won re-election. Thereafter, Grant managed to accomplish a compromise: he provided amnesty for Confederate leaders in the South and civil rights for former slaves. Grant also oversaw ratification of the 15th Amendment and worked tirelessly on its behalf. However, Grant's…

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199 words

Citation: Richert, Lucas Paul. "Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1147, accessed 07 May 2024.]

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