Category Archives: The Grant Administration

a separate equality?

In 1870 Charles Sumner introduced a Civil Rights bill in the United States Senate. While on his deathbed in March 1874, Senator Sumner implored his onlookers to make sure the Civil Rights bill did not fail. That plea might have … Continue reading

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banditti busters?

Louisiana’s political affairs were still unsettled in the aftermath of the September 1874 Battle of Liberty Place, in which the white supremacist White League began an insurrection to take control of the state government. At that time federal troops put … Continue reading

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let the good time roll

Are you ready for some jollification? President Ulysses S. Grant’s sixth Thanksgiving Day proclamation (from Pilgrim Hall Museum): THANKSGIVING DAY 1874 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – A PROCLAMATION We are reminded by the changing seasons … Continue reading

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Battle in New Orleans

According to Eric Foner in Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, every election in Louisiana “between 1868 and 1876 was marked by rampant violence and pervasive fraud.” The results of the 1872 Louisiana gubernatorial election were highly disputed. Both carpetbagger Republican … Continue reading

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Laurels to the Chief

The Panic of 1873 led to a long-lasting depression in Europe and North America. In early 1874 Congress passed a bill that would expand the supply of paper currency not redeemable in gold. On April 22, 1874 President Ulysses. S. … Continue reading

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four more

President Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated for his second term on March 4, 1873. From the March 22, 1873 issue of Harper’s Weekly: THE SECOND INAUGURATION. THE second inauguration of ULYSSES S. GRANT as President of the United States was … Continue reading

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more or less traditionary

It was becoming a tradition. 150 years ago, for the tenth year in a row, the United States president proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving for a Thursday at the end of November. THANKSGIVING DAY 1872 BY THE PRESIDENT OF … Continue reading

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the golden character

According to documentation at Project Gutenberg, President Ulysses S. Grant sent his first annual message to Congress when it reconvened early in December 1869. It was a long report; overall things seemed pretty peaceable. Reconstruction in the Southern states was … Continue reading

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“soil is trod by none but freemen”

In his first year as Commander-in-Chief, President Ulysses S. Grant followed the tradition begun by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 by calling for a national day of Thanksgiving on a Thursday in November. The new president opted for a slightly earlier … Continue reading

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death of a wagon master

Right from the get-go there were issues with President Ulysses S. Grant’s cabinet. Six months later there was another problem – Grant’s trusted aide, confidant, and Secretary of War, John A. Rawlins died after a long bout with tuberculosis. From … Continue reading

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