Frases de Ulysses S. Grant
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Ulysses S. Grant, nacido Hiram Ulysses Grant, fue el comandante general del Ejército de los Estados Unidos al final de la guerra de Secesión y el 18.º Presidente de los Estados Unidos . Como comandante general, trabajó estrechamente con el presidente Abraham Lincoln liderando el Ejército de la Unión hasta la victoria sobre el bando Confederado. Con el apoyo del Congreso, implementó la Reconstrucción, a menudo en desacuerdo con el presidente Andrew Johnson. Elegido dos veces presidente, lideró a los republicanos en su esfuerzo por erradicar los vestigios del nacionalismo confederado y la esclavitud, protegió a la ciudadanía afroestadounidense y fomentó la prosperidad económica. Aunque los ocho años de su presidencia han sido a veces criticados por numerosos escándalos en la administración y por su incapacidad para aliviar la depresión económica tras el Pánico de 1093, es reconocido como un presidente que gobernó relativamente bien en su contexto histórico y que persiguió la justicia para todos.

Grant se graduó en la academia militar de West Point y sirvió durante la Guerra de México-Estados Unidos . Tras este conflicto, contrajo matrimonio con Julia Boggs Dent en 1848, unión de la que nacieron cuatro hijos. Grant se retiró del ejército en 1854 y sufrió apuros económicos en su vida civil. Cuando estalló la Guerra de Secesión en 1861, se reincorporó al ejército. En 1862 tomó el control de Kentucky y de la mayor parte de Tennessee, y lideró a las fuerzas de la Unión en la victoria en Shiloh, con lo que se ganó una reputación de comandante agresivo. En julio de 1863, después de una serie de batallas coordinadas, Grant derrotó a los ejércitos confederados y conquistó Vicksburg, otorgando así el control del río Misisipi a la Unión y dividiendo a los confederados en dos. Tras sus victorias en la campaña de Chattanooga, Lincoln lo ascendió a teniente general y comandante general del ejército en marzo de 1864. Desde esta responsabilidad, Grant se enfrentó a Robert E. Lee en varias batallas sangrientas y atrapó a las fuerzas de su enemigo en su defensa de Richmond, la capital confederada. En otros teatros bélicos, Grant también coordinó una serie de exitosas campañas que finalmente llevaron a la rendición de Lee en Appomattox, con lo que puso fin efectivo la guerra. Los historiadores han alabado el genio militar de Grant y sus estrategias se estudian en los libros de historia bélica, aunque una minoría defiende que ganó por fuerza bruta más que por su estrategia superior.

Acabada la guerra, Grant encabezó la supervisión militar de la Reconstrucción en los antiguos estados confederados. Elegido presidente en 1868, estabilizó la nación en un período turbulento y persiguió al Ku Klux Klan usando al ejército y al recién creado Departamento de Justicia, al tiempo que reforzaba al partido republicano en el sur del país. En las elecciones los republicanos vencieron en once estados y algunos afroamericanos resultaron elegidos para puestos en la administración nacional, pero la minoría negra comenzó a ser atacada en el sur a pesar de los intentos de Grant por protegerlos. En 1871 el presidente fundó la Comisión del Servicio Civil para apaciguar a los reformadores. Un año después volvió a ganar las elecciones imponiéndose a una coalición de demócratas y liberales republicanos. En los estados sureños las coaliciones republicanas se escindieron y resultaron derrotadas en favor de los llamados «Redentores del Sur», una facción blanca que recurrió a la violencia, el fraude electoral y el racismo. A ello se sumaron varios escándalos de corrupción que salpicaron a miembros de la administración federal. La Política de Paz de Grant con los nativos americanos fue un punto de partida audaz pero acabó resultando un fracaso.

En política exterior, abogó por incrementar el comercio y evitar conflictos con otras naciones. Junto al Secretario de Estado Hamilton Fish, resolvió con éxito las Reclamaciones de Alabama a través del Tratado de Washington con Reino Unido. Asimismo, ambos evitaron la guerra con España durante el Asunto del Virginius gracias a la negociación de una resolución pacífica. Por otra parte, el Congreso rechazó la iniciativa de Grant para anexionarse República Dominicana, creando una brecha entre los republicanos. Su administración implementó un patrón oro y trató de fortalecer el dólar. La respuesta inmediata de Grant al Pánico de 1873 no impidió una grave depresión industrial que resultó en un aumento del desempleo, deflación y bancarrotas. Su mandato finalizó en 1877 e inmediatamente Grant se embarcó en una gira mundial de dos años que atrajo una gran atención internacional hacia su persona y su país.

En 1880 Grant no tuvo éxito en conseguir la candidatura republicana para un tercer mandato presidencial. Golpeado por varios reveses financieros y enfermo de un cáncer de laringe terminal, escribió sus memorias, las cuales serían un enorme éxito financiero y crítico. Su fallecimiento en 1885 desató una oleada de unidad nacional. Los logros históricos y el legado de Ulysses S. Grant han sido objeto de diversa consideración a lo largo de las décadas. Popularmente ha tenido fama de bebedor, algo que los historiadores coinciden en que es algo exagerado y nunca afectó negativamente a sus decisiones. Las primeras valoraciones históricas fueron muy negativas con la presidencia de Grant y los estudiosos la siguen considerando por debajo de la media, pero en tiempos recientes se aprecia su apoyo a los derechos civiles. Wikipedia  

✵ 27. abril 1822 – 23. julio 1885
Ulysses S. Grant Foto
Ulysses S. Grant: 177   frases 0   Me gusta

Ulysses S. Grant: Frases en inglés

“Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately you occasionally find men disgrace labor.”

Speech at Midland International Arbitration Union, Birmingham, United Kingdom (1877).
1870s

“Is he really dead?”

After hearing of John Sedgwick's death, as quoted in The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7–12, 1864 https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0807121363 (1997), by Gordon C. Rhea, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, p. 95.
1860s

“There had to be an end of slavery. Then we were fighting an enemy with whom we could not make a peace. We had to destroy him. No convention, no treaty was possible. Only destruction.”

To Otto von Bismarck in June 1878, as quoted in Around the World with General Grant http://www.granthomepage.com/grantslavery.htm (1879), by John Russell Young, The American News Company, New York, vol. 7, p. 416
1870s, Around the World with General Grant (1879)

“With a soldier the flag is paramount. I know the struggle with my conscience during the Mexican War. I have never altogether forgiven myself for going into that. I had very strong opinions on the subject. I do not think there was ever a more wicked war than that waged by the United States on Mexico. I thought so at the time, when I was a youngster, only I had not moral courage enough to resign. I had taken an oath to serve eight years, unless sooner discharged, and I considered my supreme duty was to my flag. I had a horror of the Mexican War, and I have always believed that it was on our part most unjust. The wickedness was not in the way our soldiers conducted it, but in the conduct of our government in declaring war. The troops behaved well in Mexico, and the government acted handsomely about the peace. We had no claim on Mexico. Texas had no claim beyond the Nueces River, and yet we pushed on to the Rio Grande and crossed it. I am always ashamed of my country when I think of that invasion. Once in Mexico, however, and the people, those who had property, were our friends. We could have held Mexico, and made it a permanent section of the Union with the consent of all classes whose consent was worth having. Overtures were made to Scott and Worth to remain in the country with their armies.”

On the Mexican–American War, p. 448 https://archive.org/details/aroundworldgrant02younuoft/page/n4
1870s, Around the World with General Grant (1879)

“The Mexicans are a good people. They live on little and work hard. They suffer from the influence of the Church, which, while I was in Mexico at least, was as bad as could be. The Mexicans were good soldiers, but badly commanded. The country is rich, and if the people could be assured a good government, they would prosper. See what we have made of Texas and California — empires. There are the same materials for new empires in Mexico. I have always had a deep interest in Mexico and her people, and have always wished them well. I suppose the fact that I served there as a young man, and the impressions the country made upon my young mind, have a good deal to do with this. When I was in London, talking with Lord Beaconsfield, he spoke of Mexico. He said he wished to heaven we had taken the country, that England would not like anything better than to see the United States annex it. I suppose that will be the future of the country. Now that slavery is out of the way there could be no better future for Mexico than absorption in the United States. But it would have to come, as San Domingo tried to come, by the free will of the people. I would not fire a gun to annex territory. I consider it too great a privilege to belong to the United States for us to go around gunning for new territories. Then the question of annexation means the question of suffrage, and that becomes more and more serious every day with us. That is one of the grave problems of our future.”

On Mexicans and Mexico's future, pp. 448–449 https://archive.org/details/aroundworldgrant02younuoft/page/n4
1870s, Around the World with General Grant (1879)

“I am a Republican, as the two great political parties as now divided, because the Republican party is a National party, seeking the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens. There is not a precinct in this vast Nation where a Democrat cannot cast his ballot and have it counted as cast. No matter what the prominence of the opposite party, he can proclaim his political opinions, even if he is only one among a thousand, without fear and without proscription on account of his opinions.”

As quoted in Words of Our Hero, Ulysses S. Grant https://books.google.com/books?id=wqJBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22the+one+thing+i+never+wanted+to+see+again+was+a+military+parade%22&source=bl&ots=zH525oYpJn&sig=ACfU3U0GLPNgij-FmXIDwgWp_Kg8zDskWg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4uc7PzKniAhUq1lkKHWhlBfQQ6AEwBXoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22the%20one%20thing%20i%20never%20wanted%20to%20see%20again%20was%20a%20military%20parade%22&f=false, by Jeremiah Chaplin, p. 57
1880s, Speech at Warren, Ohio (1880)

“I am a Republican for many other reasons. The Republican party assures protection to life and property, the public credit and the payment of the debts of the Government, State, county, or municipality so far as it can control. The Democratic party does not promise this; if it does, it has broken its promises to the extent of hundreds of millions, as many Northern Democrats can testify to their sorrow.”

As quoted in Words of Our Hero, Ulysses S. Grant https://books.google.com/books?id=wqJBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22the+one+thing+i+never+wanted+to+see+again+was+a+military+parade%22&source=bl&ots=zH525oYpJn&sig=ACfU3U0GLPNgij-FmXIDwgWp_Kg8zDskWg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4uc7PzKniAhUq1lkKHWhlBfQQ6AEwBXoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22the%20one%20thing%20i%20never%20wanted%20to%20see%20again%20was%20a%20military%20parade%22&f=false, by Jeremiah Chaplin, p. 58
1880s, Speech at Warren, Ohio (1880)

“The Republican party is a party of progress and of liberality toward its opponents. It encourages the poor to strive to better their children, to enable them to compete successfully with their more fortunate associates, and, in fine, it secures an entire equality before the law of every citizen, no matter what his race, nationality, or previous condition. It tolerates no privileged class. Every one has the opportunity to make himself all he is capable of.”

Ulysses S. Grant, as quoted in Words of Our Hero, Ulysses S. Grant https://books.google.com/books?id=wqJBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22the+one+thing+i+never+wanted+to+see+again+was+a+military+parade%22&source=bl&ots=zH525oYpJn&sig=ACfU3U0GLPNgij-FmXIDwgWp_Kg8zDskWg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4uc7PzKniAhUq1lkKHWhlBfQQ6AEwBXoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22the%20one%20thing%20i%20never%20wanted%20to%20see%20again%20was%20a%20military%20parade%22&f=false, by Jeremiah Chaplin, p. 59
1880s, Speech at Warren, Ohio (1880)

“I rise only to say that I do not intend to say anything. I thank you for your hearty welcomes and good cheers.”

U.S. Grant's "perfect speech" which he used on several occasions beginning in 1865, as quoted in Grant: A Biography (1982) by William S. McFeely, p. 234
1860s

“I feel that we are on the eve of a new era, when there is to be great harmony between the Federal and Confederate. I cannot stay to be a living witness to the correctness of this prophecy; but I feel it within me that it is to be so. The universally kind feeling expressed for me at a time when it was supposed that each day would prove my last, seemed to me the beginning of the answer to "Let us have peace."”

The expression of these kindly feelings were not restricted to a section of the country, nor to a division of the people. They came from individual citizens of all nationalities; from all denominations — the Protestant, the Catholic, and the Jew; and from the various societies of the land — scientific, educational, religious or otherwise. Politics did not enter into the matter at all.
I am not egotist enough to suppose all this significance should be given because I was the object of it. But the war between the States was a very bloody and a very costly war. One side or the other had to yield principles they deemed dearer than life before it could be brought to an end. I commanded the whole of the mighty host engaged on the victorious side. I was, no matter whether deservedly so or not, a representative of that side of the controversy. It is a significant and gratifying fact that Confederates should have joined heartily in this spontaneous move. I hope the good feeling inaugurated may continue to the end.

Conclusion
1880s, Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885)

“There was no time during the rebellion when I did not think, and often say, that the South was more to be benefited by its defeat than the North. The latter had the people, the institutions, and the territory to make a great and prosperous nation. The former was burdened with an institution abhorrent to all civilized people not brought up under it, and one which degraded labor, kept it in ignorance, and enervated the governing class. With the outside world at war with this institution, they could not have extended their territory. The labor of the country was not skilled, nor allowed to become so. The whites could not toil without becoming degraded, and those who did were denominated 'poor white trash.'”

The system of labor would have soon exhausted the soil and left the people poor. The non-slaveholders would have left the country, and the small slaveholder must have sold out to his more fortunate neighbor. Soon the slaves would have outnumbered the masters, and, not being in sympathy with them, would have risen in their might and exterminated them. The war was expensive to the South as well as to the North, both in blood and treasure, but it was worth all it cost.

Ch. 41
1880s, Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885)

“Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do.”

As quoted in "Campaigning with Grant" http://books.google.com/books?id=Y7TPAAAAMAAJ&q="Oh+I+am+heartily+tired+of+hearing+about+what+Lee+is+going+to+do+Some+of+you+always+seem+to+think+he+is+suddenly+going+to+turn+a+double+somersault+and+land+in+our+rear+and+on+both+of+our+flanks+at+the+same+time+Go+back+to+your+command+and+try+to+think+what+we+are+going+to+do+ourselves+instead+of+what+Lee+is+going+to+do"&pg=PA230#v=onepage (December 1896), by General Horace Porter, The Century Magazine
1860s

“Though I have been trained as a soldier, and participated in many battles, there never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword. I look forward to an epoch when a court, recognized by all nations, will settle international differences, instead of keeping large standing armies as they do in Europe.”

As quoted in "International Arbitration" by W. H. Dellenback in The Commencement Annual, University of Michigan (30 June 1892) and in A Half Century of International Problems: A Lawyer's Views (1954) by Frederic René Coudert, p. 180

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