III 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 209 

Designating the Ulysses S. Grant Association as the organization to implement the bicentennial celebration of the birth of Ulysses S. Grant, 

Civil War General and 2-term President of the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 23, 2015 

Mr. BLUNT (for himself, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. WICKER, Mr. 

BROWN, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. KIRK, Mr. SCHUMER, and Mrs. 

GILLIBRAND) submitted the following resolution; which was considered 

and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Designating the Ulysses S. Grant Association as the organization to implement the bicentennial celebration of the 

birth of Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War General and 2- 

term President of the United States. 

Whereas Ulysses S. Grant was born in southern Ohio on 

April 27, 1822, to Jesse Grant and Hannah Simpson 

Grant; 

Whereas the first line of the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant 

proudly states: ‘‘My Family is American, and has been 

for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral.’’; 


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•SRES 209 ATS 

Whereas Ulysses S. Grant attended school in Georgetown, 

Ohio, graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1843, and entered the United States Army; 

Whereas Ulysses S. Grant served in a variety of military 

posts from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast, including posts in New York, Michigan, and California, and 

a post at the famous Jefferson Barracks in Missouri; 

Whereas Ulysses S. Grant distinguished himself in combat 

during the Mexican-American War and worked tirelessly 

to succeed in civilian life; 

Whereas, as a civilian farmer in Missouri, Ulysses S. Grant— 

(1) met and married his wife, Julia Dent, for whom 

Ulysses S. Grant built a home named Hardscrabble; 

(2) worked alongside slaves and emancipated the 

only slave that Ulysses S. Grant owned; and 

(3) continued to own land while Ulysses S. Grant 

was President; 

Whereas when the Civil War erupted, Ulysses S. Grant left 

Galena, Illinois to rejoin the United States Army, gained 

the colonelcy of the 21st Illinois Volunteer Regiment, and 

began his meteoric military rise; 

Whereas during the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant led troops 

in numerous victorious battles including— 

(1) in Tennessee, at Forts Henry and Donelson and 

at Shiloh and Chattanooga; and 

(2) in Mississippi, at Vicksburg; 

Whereas President Abraham Lincoln chose Ulysses S. Grant 

to be Commanding General during the Civil War, and in 

that role Ulysses S. Grant revolutionized warfare in Virginia to preserve the Union; 


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•SRES 209 ATS 

Whereas in gratitude, the people of the United States twice 

elected Ulysses S. Grant President of the United States; 

Whereas during his Presidency from 1869 to 1877, Ulysses 

S. Grant worked valiantly to help former slaves become 

full citizens and some prominent historians consider him 

to be the first modern President of the United States; 

Whereas after leaving the Presidency, Ulysses S. Grant became the first President of the United States to tour the 

world; 

Whereas Ulysses S. Grant established a foreign policy that 

the United States followed into the 20th century and beyond; 

Whereas Ulysses S. Grant authored his memoirs, a significant piece of 19th-century nonfiction, while courageously 

battling cancer, which eventually took his voice and his 

life but did not silence the noble words that he left as a 

legacy; 

Whereas the Ulysses S. Grant Association was founded during the Centennial of the Civil War in 1962 by the leading historians of that era and the Civil War Centennial 

Commissions of New York, Illinois, and Ohio, 3 States 

where Ulysses S. Grant lived; 

Whereas, in the years since it was founded in 1962, the Ulysses S. Grant Association— 

(1) has produced 32 volumes of ‘‘The Papers of 

Ulysses S. Grant’’, the major source for the study of the 

life of Ulysses S. Grant and the 19th century in which 

he lived; and 

(2) has worked toward the publication of the first 

scholarly edition of the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, 

which as of May 2015, is nearing completion; 


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•SRES 209 ATS 

Whereas the Ulysses S. Grant Association was first 

headquartered at the Ohio Historical Society located on 

the campus of Ohio State University, later moved to 

Southern Illinois University, and relocated in 2008 to 

Mississippi State University; and 

Whereas in 2012, the Ulysses S. Grant Association established the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, the 

world center for Ulysses S. Grant scholars and tourists: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) expresses support for the bicentennial cele3 bration of the birth of Ulysses S. Grant, military 

4 leader and President; 

5 (2) designates the Ulysses S. Grant Association, 

6 housed at the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library 

7 on the grounds of Mississippi State University, as 

8 the designated institution for organizing and leading 

9 the celebration of the bicentennial; and 

10 (3) encourages the people of the United States 

11 to join in that bicentennial celebration to honor 

12 Ulysses S. Grant, one of the major historical figures 

13 of the United States. 

Æ 


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