was the 18thpresident of the United States following his success as military commander in the American Civil War. Under Grant, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military, secession and the war, which ended with the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army at Appomattox Court House. As president, Grant led the Radical Republicans in their effort to eliminate vestiges of Confederate nationalism and slavery, protect African American citizenship, and pursued Reconstruction in the former Confederate states. In foreign policy, Grant sought to increase American trade and influence, while remaining at peace with the world. Although his Republican Party split in 1872 as reformers denounced him, Grant was easily reelected. During his second term the country's economy was devastated by the Panic of 1873, while investigations exposed corruption scandals in the administration. While still below average, his reputation among scholars has significantly improved in recent years because of greater appreciation for his commitment to civil rights, moral courage in his prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan, and enforcement of voting rights. There are abundant historical material resources on Grant and his role during the Civil War and thereafter. However, there have been few historical scholarly studies, mostly negative, on his presidency. Analysis of Grant's presidency by some modern scholars, including Grant biographers Jean Edward Smith and H.W. Brands, have generally been more positive and less critical of Grant. Encyclopedic presidential summary biographies of Grant rely heavily on secondary sources and tend to offer non scholarly negative views of Grant. According to one bibliographical source, to obtain a more complete assessment of Grant and his presidency during Reconstruction both contemporary, primary, and scholarly accounts of Grant, his Inaugural Addresses, including his communications and annual messages to Congress are recommended readings. In May 2012, on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Ulysses S. Grant Foundation, Mississippi State University was selected as the permanent location for Ulysses S. Grant's Presidential Library. Historian John Y. Simon edited Grant's letters into a 32-volume scholarly edition published by Southern Illinois University Press. For a comprehensive scholarly annotated bibliography covering several thousand books, articles and archival sources see Marie Ellen Kelsey, ed. Ulysses S. Grant: A Bibliography: A Bibliography
Biographical and political
scholarly review and response by Calhoun at DOI: 10.14296/RiH/2014/2270
