The Good Sides Of Ulysses S. Grant
In the book
The American Nation, it was stated that some people believed that "To doubt Grant is to doubt Christ." The election results showed that President Grant was still highly respected for his Civil War leadership, since he won in all but six states (which were all south of the Mason-Dixon line). By July 4, 1876, the United States of America had become the world's largest supplier of food and leading industrial power. No other country had progressed so much in one hundred years!
President Grant has been greatly condemned by many for apparent weaknesses in integrity. I only remembered being told of his sloppy way of wearing his army uniform and his drinking problem. But I learned the following facts in 1983: Grant stopped drinking alcohol by the time he became President and he also helped organize a lodge of the Sons of Temperance! He also learned to wear his clothes better. Also, contrary to popular opinion, he never swore and didn't like off-color jokes. He also tried his best to help the American Indians. He kept his promise to the South's General Lee by persuading the United States Congress not to punish him.
President Grant and his Cabinet attended one of Dwight L. Moody's 1875 Philadelphia revival meetings. Also, old "Uncle John" Vassar (another evangelist of that age) met with President Grant. After the formal salutations, Mr. Vassar would not let go of the President's hand until he had told him of the Lord Jesus Christ and courteously asked him about his "new birth" experience.
Mr. Grant shared the following challenge in a Sunday school publication: "Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties; write its precepts on your hearts and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this Book we are indebted for the progress made in civilization, and this we must look as our guide in the future."
After his Presidency, he failed in business. (Back then they did not have pensions for former political office holders to retire on.) But General Lee advised him to write his personal memoirs. Grant did so while he was dying of cancer in 1885. Grant struggled in this writing hoping that the royalties from the publisher would provide for his family after his death. They did for over 10 years. On July 2, 1885, he wrote a letter which included the following statement: "If it is within God's providence that I should go now, I am ready to obey His call without a murmur."
Right after he died, a note with a locket containing a strand of his wife's hair was found in his robe. The note said: "Look after our dear children and direct them in the paths of rectitude. It would distress me far more that one of them could depart an honorable, upright, and virtuous life than it would know that they were prostrated on a bed of sickness from which they would never rise again.... I bid you a final fond farewell until we meet in another and, I trust, a better world."
Ulysses S. Grant was spiritually concerned even though he had shortcomings and worldly failures. God loves all believers and this divine love is not based on success in the secular world. If we believe and love God, we will be careful how we view other people.
Conclusion for this report: (1) Don't be quick to judge others negatively no matter who tells you or where you read about them. (2) Be careful who you praise and who you follow. (3) Learn from your history, especially from yours or others' mistakes. (4) Try to produce the best history you can, full of properly benefiting others.
Dr. Fair, who had his doctorate degree in US History, was shocked by that essay. But my references made him speechless.