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)

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Changes of government, elections and reigns

Dates

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

Places

United States (Location)

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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 26 November 2024.]

Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant

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