[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 209 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

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.'';
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;
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;

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
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) expresses support for the bicentennial celebration of 
        the birth of Ulysses S. Grant, military leader and President;
            (2) designates the Ulysses S. Grant Association, housed at 
        the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library on the grounds of 
        Mississippi State University, as the designated institution for 
        organizing and leading the celebration of the bicentennial; and
            (3) encourages the people of the United States to join in 
        that bicentennial celebration to honor Ulysses S. Grant, one of 
        the major historical figures of the United States.
                                 <all>