Ulysses S. Grant

Served as president from 1869-1877
Era: Reconstruction Era

American Identity and Culture
Grant’s presidency took place towards the middle and the end of the Reconstruction period. In 1872, Congress ratified the Amnesty Act of 1872 which removed the restriction on people who used to be affiliated with the Confederacy, except for the major leaders in the Confederacy. The act proved that the northerners were ready to forget the resentment they had towards the Confederates. However, the act also allowed for the southern conservatives to vote for the Democrats which would allow them to regain control over the state governments. Grant’s domestic policies often tried to alleviate the resentment of the northerners towards the southerners so that the southerners could live in the United States peacefully.
Economic Transformation and Globalization
After the Civil War, the South’s agricultural based economy was destroyed since they no longer had any slaves to tend to the back breaking labor. Initially, white landowners tried to force free blacks into contracts to work in the fields. The contracts that the whites tried to force upon the freed blacks attempted to make the signer agree to permanent labor. However, freed blacks did not want to work for white landowners and instead wanted self-sufficiency. This forced the whites to adopt a system known as sharecropping. In sharecropping, the owner provided the seeds and other farming supplies in exchange for half of the crops.
During Grant’s second term of presidency, the panic of 1873 struck the United States. The cause of the panic of 1873 was mainly due to industries and railroads being constantly built and financers over speculating. As a result, many northerners lost their homes and jobs. People who worked in the cities and on farms often tried to earn money by demanding greenback paper money in which was not supported by gold. The following year, Grant vetoed a bill that distributed greenbacks. By vetoing the bill, Grant showed his support for the bankers and creditors who favored hard money.
Environment
President Grant, unlike any other presidents, wanted to defend the Native Americans. He believed they were “harmless” and wanted to protect them from Americans who only wanted to take their lands. Grant understood that if the Americans were to take the Native Americans land, then the Native Americans would not have anywhere else to live. In Grant’s inauguration address, he stated his desire to aid the Native Americans. Grant’s bold words did not benefit him in the election as he gained more Americans who hated him for defending the Native Americans since they wanted to expand westward. In 1869, Grant initiated a Peace Policy that attempted to change the Native Americans beliefs, customs, and lifestyle to be more like the Americans in hopes that one day they are able to apply for citizenship. However, Grant’s Peace Policy had a flaw. By trying to teach the Native Americans to farm, the Native Americans did not have the fertile land necessary for farming. As a result, Grant’s actions were useless in aiding the Native Americans because the Americans still wanted to expand westward and seize Native American territory.
Politics and Citizenship
Following the thirteenth and fourteenth amendment, Congress passed the fifteenth amendment in 1869. The amendment stated that a state cannot deny a citizen’s right to vote based on color or race. As a result the fifteenth amendment secured suffrage for African Americans. In 1875, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 which promised equal accommodations in public places such as railroads, hotels, and theaters. The act also stated that it courts were not allowed to prohibit African Americans from juries. However the act was not enforced.
As a president, Grant had no political experience whatsoever. President Grant only held military experience in which helped him to understand to send only the minimum amount of troops needed in the South, so that the Southerners would not rebel against the federal government. Grant only sent the troops to protect the civilians who were being attacked by the Ku Klux Klan.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
After the Civil War, blacks gained their freedom. To blacks, freedom meant being able to reunite with their families after being separated because of slavery. Freedom also meant being able to get an education to learn to read and write. Freedom meant being able to travel around the states without permission from their masters. After being freed, blacks no longer wanted to depend on their white masters and instead depend on themselves. This belief of autonomy led African Americans to create their own black churches, schools, colleges, and communities.
In 1867, Nathaniel Bedford Forrest (an ex-Confederate leader) founded an organization known as the Ku Klux Klan. The group was mainly composed of southern whites who tried to scare the white reformers and blacks. The organization burned buildings owned by blacks and murdered freedmen so they did not have a chance to vote. In 1870, Congress ratified the Force Acts of 1870 and 1871 which gave power to federal officials to stop the organization and to protect citizen’s rights in the South.
War and Diplomacy
In 1871, the Treaty of Washington was negotiated between the United States and Britain. Sir John Rose from Britain was sent to the United States to negotiate with U.S Secretary of State Hamilton Fish to settle the dispute of the Alabama territory. The issue was that the United States had claimed Alabama as a U.S territory, but Britain stated that they had claims on Alabama. As a result, the treaty corrected the misunderstanding between the United States and Britain and strengthened their alliance.
One of President Grant’s many motives was to have Haiti under the United States control. Grant wanted Haiti as a place for freedmen to live and work and wanted to make use of Haiti’s natural resources. Grant sent Orville E. Babcock to negotiate in hopes of having a treaty signed to annex Haiti. Unfortunately, Grant’s goal was never accomplished because Senator Charles Sumner was against the annexing of Haiti because he believed it would cause a shortage in labor in the South.