A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 7, Part 1: Ulysses S. Grant

For over a century, historians and citizens have turned to these pages to hear the president speak in his own words. This volume gathers the official messages, speeches, and papers of Ulysses S. Grant, the Union general who became the 18th president during the most fractious years of Reconstruction. Here is Grant's first inaugural address, pledging stability and protection of citizens' rights. Here too are the diplomatic exchanges that shaped post-war America, the political maneuvering surrounding the disputed election of 1876, and the legislation that grappled with the national debt, civil service reform, and the fragile restoration of the Southern states. The compilation continues into the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes, whose contested ascension marked the formal end of Reconstruction. What makes these documents endure is their immediacy. This is not history written about history. It is the raw material of governance, the debates and decisions as they happened, captured in the formal language of the era. For scholars, students, and anyone seeking to understand the foundations of modern America, these pages offer an indispensable window into the ambitions, struggles, and contradictions of the post-Civil War years.