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General and future president Grant had his ups and downs in life. He was an alcoholic and had be disowned by his family, but when the civil war started he did his best to clean up his act. And he rose from obscurity in just eight years from an alcoholic, to one of the best generals of the union, to the president of the United States of America. But with all the cons of Grant there are many pro’s he had. Some of them you know and some of them you might of not, so I’ll be talking about the pro’s and cons of General Grant.
1: Grant made the KKK illegal,
As president of the United States he wasn’t considered the best but he did the amazing thing of making the KKK illegal which led to its decline even after his death. It’s the thing I admire about Grant was that even after the end of the civil war Grant continued to strive for equality among the American peoples. Making the KKK illegal was by far one of the most amazing things a person could do for racial equality.
2: 10,000 boxes of cigars,
During the civil war, Grant was praised for one of his victories *I can’t remember which one* and a great full people sent him 10,000 boxes of cigars as a sign of gratefulness. Grant was definitely pleased with the gifts as he quickly smoked all of those cigars. Sadly this would lead to him passing away from throat cancer.
3: Grant respected his enemy’s for their efforts,
At the end of the civil war, Robert E. Lee got on his horse after surrendering to Grant, he was filled with tears and he rode away. Officers and privates cheered but Grant told them to stop. Grant knew this was just the start of reconstruction of the country, and that the war for racial equality would still go on for years to come. Grant respected Lee’s efforts in battle and at the end both sides would work together to clean up the country to bring together as a whole.
4: Grant was a heavy alcoholic,
This is a con of Grant’s almost everyone knows about. It’s surprising that it didn’t kill him from drinking too much. His wife and superiors took it to keep Grant sober. Heck, his alcoholic behavior made him homeless for some time before the civil war so it’s clear he needed to be kept sober. However people’s efforts to keep Grant sober mostly worked. At the battle of Shiloh Grant was called a butcher for the many men he threw at the enemy that were killed or wounded, my ancestor among the wounded with his left hip being shot. People begged the president to get rid of Grant but Lincoln praises Grants efforts by sending him whiskey.