GREETINGS! From five more historic Presidents of our United States of America.
Ulysses Simpson Grant, Republican, was born in 1822. He graduated from the West Point Academy. Very much a military man, he fought in The Mexican War, in many victories in The Civil War. Those included the Battles of Chattanooga, and Vicksburg. Forcing the Confederate surrender there at Appomattox, under Robert E. Lee. The events of the Presidential term featured the first transcontinental railroad, and the Civil Rights Act, giving blacks the right to jury duty, and public accommodations. Grant died of cancer in 1885.
Rutherford Birchard Hayes, also Republican, also born in 1822. He was a graduate of Harvard Law School, and he began his law practice. He represented Ohio in the House of Representatives, and later became Governor. He also served as a Major in The Civil War. Hayes was nominated for President on the seventh ballot. Then a controversial special electoral commission aided him in defeating Samuel Alden. Hayes pledged to serve only one term, which he did, 1877-1881.
Republican, James Abram Garfield studied and later taught at Hiram college and graduated from Williams College. He spent more years at Hiram, teaching and principal, and became a lay preacher for the Disciples of Christ denomination. He was nominated for President in 1880 despite a party split. Serving only eleven weeks, he was assassinated by a disgruntled party faction member.
Chester Alan Arthur, a Republican, was President 1881-1885. Born 1829, he headed a law firm in New York City in 1856. He was Garfield’s Vice President. On Sept. 20, 1881, he took the oath of President’s office after Garfield’s death by assassination. During Arthur’s term, major railroads reached the Pacific Coast, and western settlement was in full swing.
Democrat, Grover Cleveland, served two terms, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. He was active in New York State and New Jersey. He was Mayor in Buffalo, New York, and later Governor. He dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, Oct. 28, 1886. In 1887 came the Interstate Commerce Act, the first federal program to regulate railroads and private business. Financial panic and depression occurred for four years, and 1894 saw a march on Washington, D.C., of five-hundred unemployed mid-westerners…”Coxey’s Army”…demanding unemployment relief. Pullman strike riots forced the U.S. Mails to keep moving under police guard. Cleveland lost the Presidential nomination to William Jennings Bryan. He died in New Jersey in 1908.
Patricia Roberts is a freelance writer and Bible historian and resides at Devonshire Acres. She has a bachelor of arts degree in arts, journalism and home economics.