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Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Point
Pleasant, Ohio. He achieved national fame as a hero of the American
Civil War, in which he commanded Union forces as a general, and as
general-in-chief (1864–1869). Grant served two terms in the White
House as the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877).
Grant won many important battles during the Civil War and is often
credited with defeating the Confederacy. As President, many
historians consider him less successful: he led an Administration
plagued by scandal and the corruption of his subordinates, and was
criticized for failing to respond strongly; at the same time he
governed during the contentious period of Reconstruction of the
South, struggled to preserve Reconstruction, and took an unpopular
stand in favor of the legal and voting rights of blacks.
To Grant's credit, he was respected both in the North and South, and
avoided a perception of retribution on the part of the Federal
government that might have provoked an insurgency.
Ulysses S. Grant suffered from throat cancer and passed away on July
23, 1885, in Wilton, New York.
A number of government
agencies were instituted during the Grant administration:
Department of Justice (1870)
Post Office Department (1872)
Office of the Solicitor General (1870)
"Advisory Board on Civil Service" (1871); after it expired in
1873, it became the role model for the "Civil Service Commission"
instituted in 1883 by President Chester A. Arthur, a Grant
faithful. (Today it is known as the Office of Personnel
Management.)
Office of the Surgeon General (1871)
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