Balie Peyton lived a life of contrasts. As a congressman from Tennessee in the nineteenth century, he shaped national policy. Elected as a follower of President Andrew Jackson, he turned against the Jackson administration in his second term and helped found the opposition Whig Party. He quit Congress after two terms, but remained active in politics. Peyton also had another love -- thoroughbred horses -- but financial success in turf matters always seemed to elude him. In the ultimate contrast, Balie Peyton was a loyal Unionist from a Southern state. He opposed Tennessee's secession from the republic, and urged reconciliation. Although a slaveholder, the issues of slavery and Southern rights weren't enough to change his loyalty, not even when his son joined the Confederate Army and died in battle. Rich in detail and drawn mainly from original sources, Balie Peyton of Tennessee celebrates the many facets of the life of this American patriot and statesman.
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Inaugurated for a second term on March 4, 1873, Ulysses S. Grant gave an address that was both inspiring and curiously bitter.
This is my ground, and I am sitting on it.” In May, Sioux leaders traveled to the capital, where Grant renewed efforts to persuade them to relocate to Indian Territory, “south of where you now live, where the climate is very much better ...
After whites massacred black militia in South Carolina, Grant warned that unchecked persecution would lead to "bloody revolution." As violence spread, Grant struggled to position limited forces where they could do the most good.
During the winter of 1864–65, the end of the Civil War neared as Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant maintained pressure against the dying Confederacy.
In his third annual message to the nation, Ulysses S. Grant stated the obvious: "The condition of the Southern States is, unhappily, not such as all true patriotic citizens would like to see.
Initial enthusiasm soon gave way to rancor, as factions split over where to place the fair. Grant favored Central Park, but public sentiment intervened, and funding evaporated. By March, Grant resigned.
In spite of his public silence, Grant was caught in the dispute between Congress and President Andrew Johnson. His position became intolerable after Johnson publicly accused Grant of dishonesty.