12. The time for another presidential election was already at hand. General Ulysses S. Grant was nominated by the Republicans, and Horatio Seymour, of New York, by the Democrats. The canvass was one of great excitement. The questions most discussed by the political speakers were those arising out of the civil war. The principles advocated by the majority in Congress furnished the Republican platform of 1868, and on that platform General Grant was elected by a large majority. As Vice-president, Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, was chosen.
CHAPTER LI.
Grant's Administration, 1869-1877.
ULYSSES S. Grant, eighteenth President of the United States, was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822. At the age of seventeen he entered the Military Academy at West Point, and was graduated in 1843. He served with distinction in the Mexican war; but his first national reputation was won by the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson. From that time he rapidly rose in rank, and in March, 1864, was appointed lieutenant-general and general-in-chief of the Union army.
Ulysses S. Grant.
The Pacific Railroad.
2. The first great event of the new administration was the completion of the Pacific Railroad. The first division of the road extended from Omaha, Nebraska, to Ogden, Utah, a distance of one thousand and thirty-two miles. The western division reached from Ogden to San Francisco, a distance of eight hundred and eighty-two miles. On the 10th of May, 1869, the work was completed with appropriate ceremonies.