細節
GRANT, Ulysses S. Autographed letter signed ("U. S. Grant"), as presidential candidate, to Frederick Dent, Galena, Illinois, 1 October 1868. 2 pages, 8vo, on ruled paper.
GRANT ESCAPES TO GALENA FROM THE "ARMY OF OFFICE SEEKERS" AND THEIR "BEGGING LETTERS"
Confident of success in his first presidential run, Grant returns to Galena--the site of such painful failure and frustration just a decade before--and decides to stay in the Midwest until election day. He asks his brother-in-law to protect him from pestering office seekers. "I go this evening to St. Louis again [site of wife Julia's family] and will be gone about one week. For anxious inquiries about when I will be back to Washington tell them that you do not know. In reality I do not know; probably just before the Nov. election. I have not been followed here yet by the Army of office seekers. Tell Parker & Lut not to send any more letters here to me, or the family. We can wait until we go to Washington. The great majority of them prove to be begging letters. The family are all well and send a great deal of love to Helen & the children."
Grant had not the slightest doubt he would win the Presidential canvass next month--the first to follow Appomattox and all the drama of Andrew Johnson's short and tumultuous term. He did not campaign at all but issued a public letter that included a four-word sentence of characteristic eloquence and brevity: "Let us have peace." While the Democratic candidate, former New York governor Horatio Seymour, made a respectable showing in the popular vote (2.7 million to Grant's 3 million), the Electoral College count went 214 for Grant and only 80 for Seymour. Three sizeable Democratic states, Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi, had still to be readmitted to the Union. Grant's easy victory was not simply the result of his war record, but also because of the strong leadership role he played in the Reconstruction battles between the Congressional Republicans and President Johnson. By 1868 he was the most important as well as the most respected figure in American politics. How different from the 38-year old Galena store clerk who lived off the charity of his father and brother only ten years before!
GRANT ESCAPES TO GALENA FROM THE "ARMY OF OFFICE SEEKERS" AND THEIR "BEGGING LETTERS"
Confident of success in his first presidential run, Grant returns to Galena--the site of such painful failure and frustration just a decade before--and decides to stay in the Midwest until election day. He asks his brother-in-law to protect him from pestering office seekers. "I go this evening to St. Louis again [site of wife Julia's family] and will be gone about one week. For anxious inquiries about when I will be back to Washington tell them that you do not know. In reality I do not know; probably just before the Nov. election. I have not been followed here yet by the Army of office seekers. Tell Parker & Lut not to send any more letters here to me, or the family. We can wait until we go to Washington. The great majority of them prove to be begging letters. The family are all well and send a great deal of love to Helen & the children."
Grant had not the slightest doubt he would win the Presidential canvass next month--the first to follow Appomattox and all the drama of Andrew Johnson's short and tumultuous term. He did not campaign at all but issued a public letter that included a four-word sentence of characteristic eloquence and brevity: "Let us have peace." While the Democratic candidate, former New York governor Horatio Seymour, made a respectable showing in the popular vote (2.7 million to Grant's 3 million), the Electoral College count went 214 for Grant and only 80 for Seymour. Three sizeable Democratic states, Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi, had still to be readmitted to the Union. Grant's easy victory was not simply the result of his war record, but also because of the strong leadership role he played in the Reconstruction battles between the Congressional Republicans and President Johnson. By 1868 he was the most important as well as the most respected figure in American politics. How different from the 38-year old Galena store clerk who lived off the charity of his father and brother only ten years before!