[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 101 (Tuesday, June 23, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4549-S4550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 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

  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:

                              S. Res. 209

       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;

[[Page S4550]]

       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.

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