The beginning of our unit on US Grant

4. Burial sites of
presidents
SIX presidents are buried in New York State !
8th Martin Van Buren 21st Chester A Arthur
13th Millard Fillmore 26th Teddy Roosevelt
18th US Grant 32nd F.D. Roosevelt

5. Questions for Ranger
Don
Visiting on Wed
Feb 24th!
• What’s the president like in real life?
• How long have you been working for the NPS?
• Did you always think you were going to be a Park
Ranger?
• What’s your favorite NPS site that you’ve worked
at?

6. Questions for Ranger
Don
Visiting on Wed
Feb 24th!
• What’s the president like in real life?
• How long have you been working for the NPS?
• Did you always think you were going to be a Park
Ranger?
• What’s your favorite NPS site that you’ve worked at?
• What did you major in in college?

7. General Grant Memorial
Baggage

8. General Grant Memorial
Field trip
The second week of
MARCH
VIDEO:
http://www.biography.com/people/ulysses-s-
grant-9318285
Designer: John Duncan
Material: Granite and Marble
Style: Neo-Classical, based on
Napoleon’s Tomb in Paris,
France
Claim to Fame: Largest
Mausoleum in the USA.

9. General Grant Memorial
Designer: John Duncan
Material: Granite and Marble
Style: Neo-Classical, based on
Napoleon’s Tomb in Paris,
France
Claim to Fame: Largest
Mausoleum in the USA.

10. General Grant Memorial
What did Grant do before the civil war?
How did he become a general?
How is he perceived in the north vs south
How did he die?
Did he ever do things as president or general that people didn’t like?
Why isn’t Grant ever mentioned as a person who gave blacks equal rights?
What is a funeral parade?
Why is Grant’s memorial here?
Did he own slaves? (his wife’s family did, and apparently he worked alongside them, and
eventually granted their freedom.)
Where did the drunk-Grant rumor come from?
Why didn’t he do more to stop the KKK?
Why is he barely “present” in history?
Why is he on the $50 bill?
What were Grant’s views on women’s rights?
Was he actually a national hero? How?
How was Grant perceived internationally?

11. General Grant Memorial
-Was he the kind of General that
fought alongside his soldiers?
Last year of the war he was commander of
everything and he could have stayed in DC…but
he stayed WITH the troops As a young man he’s
an officer, a lieutenant in the Mexican War…at
the outbreak of the civil war he’s a
nobody…lived in Missouri and Illinois for a bit.
Lincoln asks for volunteers, like state militia that
are not regular army. Because of his history at
Westpoint..he’s recommended that he advise
the governor of IL…and he commands this group
of Volunteers from IL. The more he wins the
higher his rank.
Shiloh first day is bloody and catastrophic,
Sherman suggests they should surrender.
Second day, they take back the field, apparently
there’s more dead at this one battle than all the
wars previously COMBINED. Later
Gettysburg….etc.

12. General Grant Memorial
Did Grant actually want to bring justice to
African Americans or was he just following
the popular views when he was president?
Grant was the type to act from his own
personal/political views. Also, he believed that if you
could fight as a good soldier, then you should have all
the same rights as an American citizen.
Moreover, he had two main reasons for running for
president:
1. He hated Johnson, and thought that he had been
too forgiving with the south during reconstruction.
Grant wanted to “make the gains of the civil war
into a real thing.”
2. He wanted to bring honor back to the presidency,
and ensure the equality of all these new
Americans by strictly resisting “black codes” and
“anti-vagrancy” laws that kept African Americans
from gaining equality in the south.

13. Ulysses S. Grant’s life
…before the Civil War
• Born in 1822 in Ohio
• Educated at Westpoint Military Academy,
graduated in the middle of his class.
• Previously worked as a tanner (his family’s
business), farmer (his wife’s family’s business,
and a leather store (again, his family’s
business).

14. Ulysses S. Grant’s life
…before the Civil War
• Slaves owned by his Father-in-Law in
Missouri…
– “White Haven, now Ulysses S. Grant NHS,
mirrored the rest of the nation during the years
before the war. Grant opposed his father-in-law's
ownership of slaves, but recognized his legal right
to do so. In March 1859, Grant acted on his
beliefs; purchasing William Jones in order to
"manumit”, emancipate and set free said William
from slavery forever.”
Manumit: to release from slavery, set free

15. General Grant
….during the Civil War
• How he got involved in the war…
• Strategies he used…
• Important battles…
MAYBE LATER!!

16. President Grant
….after the Civil War
(1869-1877)
• First president to be elected by without
winning a majority of the white vote, as many
freed slaves saw Grant as central to their
emancipation.
• At the time, he was the youngest man to be
elected president (at age 46)
• Known for restoring stability to the United
States.

17. President Grant’s
African American Suffrage
• “The question of suffrage is one which is likely to
agitate the public so long as a portion of the citizens
of the nation are excluded from its privileges in any
State. It seems to me very desirable that this
question should be settled now, and I entertain the
hope and express the desire that it may be by the
ratification of the fifteenth article of amendment to
the Constitution.”
– From Grant’s first inaugural address 1869

18. President Grant
the 15th Amendment
• The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African-
American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of
citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any state on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
• Although ratified on in February 1870, the promise of the 15th
Amendment would not be fully realized for almost a century.
Through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests, voter ID laws, and
other means,
– Southern states were able to effectively disenfranchise African
Americans and not follow the 15th Amendment. It would take the
passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before the majority of
African Americans in the South were registered to vote.

19. What would YOU do to get the southern states to allow
African-Americans the right to vote in the late 1800s?
• Kai: I would try to make a compromise…or a
LAW….and ENFORCE the law!
• Joie: Not sure if it would work…but….I’d make it
clear that whites and blacks (and everyone else?)
had universal requirements across the country.
THEN…once everyone hates the new
restrictions…remove them all!
• KEN KEN: Maybe make a federal law that doesn’t
diminish the State laws…but adds to them?

20. What would YOU do to get the southern states to allow
African-Americans the right to vote in the late 1800s?
• Nawal: Set up some kinda federal voting systems…. Or
federal regulations. More federal officials to make sure
that these obstacles are not in place.
• Zenzi: I would form some kinda law that if you don’t
follow it, you would be arrested.. And also I would
confiscate lands to give to those who don’t own
property.
• Nyle: I would set up a new system that integrates the
different races to defy stereotypes…it’s not just a
problem of voting…it’s deeper than that.
• Guzzy: FIRST THING: Reform the whole education
system….to remove the social stigmas of racism.

21. President Grant
….after the Civil War
(1869-1877)
• Grant played a big role in dismantling the KKK
during Reconstruction. After the newly formed
Ku Klux Klan began murdering and terrorizing
black Americans in the late-1860s, President
Grant mobilized the Justice Department and
secured thousands of indictments against their
leaders.
Indictment: to be formally charged for your crimes

22. President Grant
….after the Civil War
(1869-1877)
• Between 1870 and 1871 Congress passed the
Enforcement Acts -- criminal codes that protected
blacks' right to vote, hold office, serve on juries,
and receive equal protection of laws. If the states
failed to act, the laws allowed the federal
government to intervene. The target of the acts was
the Ku Klux Klan, whose members were murdering
many blacks and some whites because they voted,
held office, or were involved with schools.

23. Video of Ranger Don
• Michelle: BAEEEE
• Gizzzle: He’s calm and nonchalant. He seems
passionate, not excited. Not throwin’ facts at
people.
• Myar: He reminds me of a daffodil….(WHAT?!) like
he’s meant to be at the memorial site.
• Jojo: He seems very observant about the mood of
the National Mall.
• Kai: He seems passionate about what he does. Not
all park rangers like their jobs…but he seems like he
really respects it and loves it.

24. Video of Ranger Don
• Notice: Park Rangers do NOT carry weapons.
• Raphael: He seems to really care about his
work with memorials and likes his job. He’s
excited (sort of)
• Arvin: He has ideas related to what each site
means.

25. President Grant
….after the Civil War
(1869-1877)
• The Enforcement Act of 1870 (The Civil Rights Act of 1870)
(#enforcement1) established penalties for anyone interfering
with a person's right to vote (15th amendment rights) and
gave federal courts the power to enforce the law.
– The act also authorized the President to use the army to enforce
the act with federal marshals and to charge offenders in cases of
election fraud, bribery or intimidation of voters, and conspiracies
to prevent citizens from exercising their constitutional rights.
• The Civil Rights act however was ineffective at curtailing
these problems, and less than a year later, in 1871, the next
Enforcement Act (#enforcement2) was put into law.

26. President Grant
The Second Enforcement Act
1871 (#kukluxklanact)
• In APRIL of 1871, areas of South Carolina were STILL not
abiding by the two enforcement acts, and President Grant
oversaw passage of the so-called “Ku Klux Act,” which armed
him with the power to declare martial law and suspend
habeas corpus in areas deemed to be in a state of
insurrection. The law got its first test later that year, when
Grant sent troops into South Carolina and ran thousands of
Klansmen out of the state. Thanks to his administration’s
efforts, the hooded extremists were effectively cowed into
submission over the next few years. They wouldn’t resurface
in force until the 1910s.
Martial Law: when the military restricts ordinary laws and rights

28. President Grant’s
last push for civil rights
The Civil Rights Act of 1875
The last biracial U.S. Congress of the 19th century
passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875. This
groundbreaking act prohibited segregation, and
protected all Americans, regardless of race, in their
access to public accommodations and facilities such
as restaurants, theaters, trains and other public
transportation, and protected the right to serve on
juries.
Pbs.org
History.house.gov
Grantstomb.org

29. President Grant’s
last push for civil
rights
• The Civil Rights Act of 1875, however, was not enforced
properly, and the Supreme Court declared it
unconstitutional in 1883.
• The fight for civil rights moved to the judicial realm. In
1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson
that designating separate railway cars for whites and
blacks was constitutional, as long as the facilities were
"equal." The "separate but equal" doctrine stood until
1954, when the Supreme Court ordered school
desegregation in the case of Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka.
Pbs.org
History.house.gov
Grantstomb.org

30. General/President
Grant’s Legacy vs “Lost
Cause”
Few major figures in American history have been so denigrated and disgraced
as Grant. How did this happen?
A big part of the answer can be found in the successful campaign by
historians sympathetic to the Confederacy’s “Lost Cause:” this is a name
commonly given to a literary and academic movement that sought to
reconcile the traditional Southern white society to the defeat of the
Confederate States of America in the Civil War.
Common “Lost Cause” attitudes would say that the Civil War was fought over
the issue of states’ rights, and not related to slavery.
This ‘Lost-cause’ movement was very much led by William A. Dunning of
Columbia University, who portrayed Grant as only a drunken butcher general
and as an weak president who pandered to Radical Republicans. These
distortions still thrive in countless history textbooks and classrooms, in
movies and on television shows, as well as on popular websites.

31. While president, Grant believed
that he was carrying out Abraham
Lincoln’s plan of a prosperous
reunited country, in the end going
further than Lincoln had
envisioned to ensure and secure
black civil rights.
Frederick Douglass , a Social
Activist, Writer, (and more) had
called Grant “The last of the
‘radicals’” since after Grant’s
presidency, conservatism swept
through the the political scene of
America.
General/President
Grant’s Legacy vs “Lost
Cause”
William Archibald Dunning was an
American historian and political
scientist at Columbia University best
known for his work on the
Reconstruction era after the Civil War.
One of his most renowned works,
Reconstruction, Political and Economic
(1907) details the struggles of white
Southerners during Reconstruction.
Dunning portrays former plantation
owners as honorable citizens with the
South's best interest always in mind
and regards Confederate soldiers as
heroes.

32. Choosing our groups
Your group should be made up of people you are
comfortable working with, and respectfully
disagreeing with.
We have $250 to split amongst these groups. If we have 5 groups, that’s
$50 per group to cover the cost of props, costumes, etc.
Choose the 4-5 people you would like to work
with. Together, you’ll be assembling:
– Academic Research
– Panel Discussions (presentations and Q&A)
– Video Project
Write these names down on a sheet of paper to hand to Kozak tomorrow.
If you would prefer to work alone, that’s fine, please let me know.

33. The traditional or Dunning School of
Reconstruction was not just an interpretation of
history. It was part of the edifice of the Jim Crow
System.
It was an explanation for and justification of
taking the right to vote away from black people
on the grounds that they completely abused it
during Reconstruction. It was a justification for the
white South resisting outside efforts in changing
race relation because of the worry of having
another Reconstruction.
Post-Presidency ….
Interview
With Historian
Eric Foner
2015

34. ”All of the alleged horrors of Reconstruction
helped to freeze the minds of the white South in
resistance to any change whatsoever. And it was
only after the Civil Rights revolution swept away
the racist underpinnings of that old view—i.e., that
black people are incapable of taking part in
American democracy—that you could get a new
view of Reconstruction widely accepted. For a long
time it was an intellectual straightjacket for much
of the white South, and historians have a lot to
answer for in helping to propagate a racist system
in this country.”
Post-Presidency ….
Interview
With Historian
Eric Foner
2015

35. Post-Presidency ….
Joan Waugh
Historian
2011
“And yet, despite all of this, Grant’s legacy today is
largely forgotten. His memoirs are unread, his
monuments are unvisited and in disrepair, and his
reputation is synonymous with brutal warfare and
overwhelming corruption in public office. In the
1950s, comedian Groucho Marx would pose a
standard question to contestants on his quiz show,
“Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?” The answer
[these days] seems to be “Who cares?”

36. General Grant Memorial
Why do you think
so few actually visit
this site?
• Jojo: I think because there’s all these myths
about him that people believe…like the
drunkard idea.
• Ruhith: Historians and the media have added
this false idea of Grant in a negative way.
• Joie: Some folks just don’t know about
him…he’s mentioned for the Civil War…but
he’s not mentioned as some amazing guy.
• Myar: He doesn’t get the same
recognition…because of historical slander.
(libel…not slander.)
• Kenny: he’s only mentioned briefly in a Civil
War sense…
• Kai: He’s dead, and people drag his name in
the dirt, despite the positive things he’s done.

37. General Grant Memorial
Why do you think
so few actually visit
this site?
• Tina: Back in the 1800s Grant was one of
the top three presidents…but most
people today only hear about stereotypes
(butcher, drunk)
• Nyle: There’s not that much fascination,
due to the amount of time that’s passed.
• Zenzi: He’s not spoken about as much as
Washington…we just know him as a
General. Not a president.
• Guzzy: Agree with ZENZI! We don’t really
learn about him. Also, people just wanna
forget about the Civil War Era skipping
forward to the Jim Crow era.
• Jakara: It’s kind of something that you
stumble upon…people aren’t all like “LETS
GO TO THE TOMB!!!
ANTEBELLUM ??