1.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
2.
Historic districts in the United States
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Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided into two categories, contributing and non-contributing. Districts greatly vary in size, some have hundreds of structures, the U. S. federal government designates historic districts through the United States Department of Interior under the auspices of the National Park Service. Federally designated historic districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, state-level historic districts may follow similar criteria or may require adherence to certain historic rehabilitation standards. Local historic district designation offers, by far, the most legal protection for historic properties because most land use decisions are made at the local level, local districts are generally administered by the county or municipal government. The first U. S. historic district was established in Charleston, South Carolina in 1931, Charleston city government designated an Old and Historic District by local ordinance and created a board of architectural review to oversee it. New Orleans followed in 1937, establishing the Vieux Carré Commission, other localities picked up on the concept, with the city of Philadelphia enacting its historic preservation ordinance in 1955. The Supreme Court case validated the protection of resources as an entirely permissible governmental goal. In 1966 the federal government created the National Register of Historic Places, conference of Mayors had stated Americans suffered from rootlessness. By the 1980s there were thousands of federally designated historic districts, Historic districts are generally two types of properties, contributing and non-contributing. In general, contributing properties are integral parts of the historic context, in addition to the two types of classification within historic districts, properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places are classified into five broad categories. They are, building, structure, site, district and object, all but the eponymous district category are also applied to historic districts listed on the National Register. A listing on the National Register of Historic Places is governmental acknowledgment of a historic district, however, the Register is an honorary status with some federal financial incentives. The National Register of Historic Places defines a historic district per U. S. federal law, a district may also comprise individual elements separated geographically but linked by association or history. Districts established under U. S. federal guidelines generally begin the process of designation through a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, the National Register is the official recognition by the U. S. government of cultural resources worthy of preservation. While designation through the National Register does offer a district or property some protections, if the federal government is not involved, then the listing on the National Register provides the site, property or district no protections. If, however, company A was under federal contract the Smith House would be protected, a federal designation is little more than recognition by the government that the resource is worthy of preservation. Usually, the National Register does not list religious structures, moved structures, reconstructed structures, however, if a property falls into one of those categories and are integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria then an exception allowing their listing will be made. Historic district listings, like all National Register nominations, can be rejected on the basis of owner disapproval, in the case of historic districts, a majority of owners must object in order to nullify a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places
3.
Schuylkill River
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The Schuylkill River is an important river running west to east in eastern Pennsylvania, which was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal. Several of its tributaries drain parts of the center-southern and easternmost Coal Regions in the state. It flows for 135 miles before joining the Delaware River as one of its largest tributaries in Philadelphia, in 1682 William Penn chose the left bank of the confluence upon which he founded the planned city of Philadelphia on lands purchased from the native Delaware nation. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River, and its length was once part of the Delaware peoples southern territories. The waters of its upper end rise in what are called the richest anthracite coal fields in the world. The West Branch starts near Minersville and joins the branch at the town of Schuylkill Haven. It then combines with the Little Schuylkill River downstream in the town of Port Clinton, the Tulpehocken Creek joins it at the western edge of Reading. Wissahickon Creek joins it in northwest Philadelphia, other major tributaries include, Maiden Creek, Manatawny Creek, French Creek, and Perkiomen Creek. The Schuylkill joins the Delaware at the site of the former Philadelphia Navy Yard, now the Philadelphia Naval Business Center, the Lenape or Delaware Indians were the original inhabitants of the area around this river, which they called Tool-pay Hanna or Tool-pay Hok Ing. The river was discovered by European explorers from the Netherlands, Sweden and it was through historical documents called various names, including Manayunk, Manajungh, Manaiunk, and Lenni Bikbi. The Swedish explorer called it Menejackse kill or alternately Skiar kill or the Linde River, the headwaters of the river, up near Reading, was later called Tulpehocken by the English. The river was given the Dutch name Schuylkill. Another explanation is that the name translates to hideout creek in one of the Algonquian languages spoken by a Delaware tribe in their confederation. The two then backed the flagging effort to improve navigation on the Schuylkill, which efforts date back to legislation measures as early as 1762. The success, along with the opening of the first operable sections of New Yorks Erie Canal spurred stockholders of the Schuylkill Canal to finally fund the works. In the 1830s railway technology and new railroads grew in leaps and bounds, from 1820 to the 1860s Iron works, foundries, manufacturing mills, blast furnaces, rolling mills, rail yards, rail roads, warehouses and train stations sprang up throughout the valley. Tiny farm villages grew into vibrant company towns then transitioned into small cities as an industry and supporting businesses transformed local economics. Restoration of the river has been funded by money left for that purpose in Benjamin Franklins will, silt and coal dust from upstream industries, particularly coal mining and washing operations in the headwaters, led to extensive silting of the river through the early 20th century
4.
Wissahickon Creek
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Wissahickon Creek is a tributary of the Schuylkill River in Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania in the United States. Wissahickon Creek rises in Montgomery County, runs approximately 23 miles passing through and its watershed covers about 64 square miles. Much of the creek now runs through or next to parkland, the beauty of this area attracted the attention of literary personages like Edgar Allan Poe and John Greenleaf Whittier. The gorge area is now part of the Fairmount Park system in Philadelphia, the name of the creek comes from the Lenape word wiessahitkonk, for catfish creek or stream of yellowish color. Whitpaine was a land owner in the days of William Penn. Industry sprang up along the Wissahickon not long after European settlement, a few of the dams built for the mills remain visible today. Though at first fairly tame, in its last 7 miles and its dramatic geography and dense forest attract thousands of walkers, riders, and bikers. The most popular trail for exploring the lower Wissahickon valley is Forbidden Drive and it received its familiar name in the 1920s when automobiles were first banned from the road. Bicyclists and equestrians may use Forbidden Drive without a permit, other trails in the area are more restricted, with some prohibiting cyclists or equestrians, and the others requiring a permit for bicyclists and equestrians. All users of the park are asked to stay on marked trails to protect against erosion, a paved path on the west bank connects the junction of Forbidden Drive and Lincoln Drive south to Ridge Avenue at the confluence of the Wissahickon and Schuylkill River. Forbidden Drive is also accessible at its midpoint at the Valley Green Inn, Valley Green Road can be reached from Springfield Avenue in Chestnut Hill, two blocks west of St. Martins Lane and the St. Martins railroad station on the Chestnut Hill West Line. Just above Valley Green, Wises Mill Road meets Forbidden Drive and he will thus strike the Wissahiccon, at one of its best reaches. Forbidden Drive ends at Northwestern Avenue after crossing Bells Mill Road, a number of trails climb out of the valley from Forbidden Drive to the upper trails which run along the precipitous walls of the valley. Many of these trails have been marked with colored blazes. The green blazed trail has been designated a multi-use trail approved for mountain bikers with permits, the blue blazed trail has been designated a hiking trail only. All trails in the Andorra Natural Area are prohibited to all bicycles, Devils Pool is an attraction best reached from Valley Green by crossing the stream and taking the footpath on the eastern bank, going downstream to the mouth of the Cresheim Creek. As the ravine widens into the Cresheim, the waters gather in a basin surrounded on either side by rocky outcroppings before flowing into the Wissahickon Creek, legend has it that the Native American Lenape tribes used this as a spiritual area. Although it is not legal due to levels of pollutants, Devils pool has become a popular area to swim, lounge
5.
Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
6.
Frederick Law Olmsted
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Frederick Law Olmsted was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, in Washington, D. C. he worked on the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building. The quality of Olmsteds landscape architecture was recognized by his contemporaries and his work, especially in Central Park in New York City, set a standard of excellence that continues to influence landscape architecture in the United States. Olmsted was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 26,1822 and his father, John Olmsted, was a prosperous merchant who took a lively interest in nature, people, and places, Frederick Law and his younger brother, John Hull, also showed this interest. His mother, Charlotte Law Olmsted, died before his fourth birthday and his father remarried in 1827 to Mary Ann Bull, who shared her husbands strong love of nature and had perhaps a more cultivated taste. When the young Olmsted was almost ready to enter Yale College, after working as an apprentice seaman, merchant, and journalist, Olmsted settled on a 125-acre farm in January 1848 on the south shore of Staten Island NY, which his father helped him acquire. This farm, originally named the Akerly Homestead, was renamed Tosomock Farm by Olmsted and it was later renamed The Woods of Arden by owner Erastus Wiman. On June 13,1859, Olmsted married Mary Cleveland Olmsted, Daniel Fawcett Tiemann, the mayor of New York, officiated the wedding. He adopted her three children, John Charles Olmsted, Charlotte Olmsted and Owen Olmsted, Frederick and Mary had two children together who survived infancy, a daughter, Marion and a son Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Their first child, John Theodore Olmsted, was born on June 13,1860, Olmsted had a significant career in journalism. In 1850 he traveled to England to visit gardens, where he was greatly impressed by Joseph Paxtons Birkenhead Park. He subsequently wrote and published Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England in 1852 and this supported his getting additional work. Interested in the economy, he was commissioned by the New York Daily Times to embark on an extensive research journey through the American South. His dispatches to the Times were collected into three volumes which remain vivid first-person social documents of the pre-war South. A one-volume abridgment, Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom, was published during the first six months of the American Civil War at the suggestion of Olmsteds English publisher. To this he wrote a new introduction in which he stated explicitly his views on the effect of slavery on the economy and my own observation of the real condition of the people of our Slave States, gave me. He argued that slavery had made the slave states inefficient and backward both economically and socially, the citizens of the cotton States, as a whole, are poor. They work little, and that little, badly, they earn little, they sell little, they buy little and their destitution is not material only, it is intellectual and it is moral
7.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
8.
Northeast Philadelphia
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There is no such place as East Philadelphia. The name however may refer to, Northeast Philadelphia Camden, New Jersey South Detroit
9.
West Philadelphia
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West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An alternate definition includes all city land west of the Schuylkill, the eastern side of West Philadelphia is also known as University City. The topography of West Philadelphia is composed of rolling hills rising slowly from the Schuylkill River toward Cobbs Creek in the west and this gradual elevation makes the skyline of Center City visible from many points in West Philadelphia. The Wynnefield neighborhood is a frequently used by photographers and organizers of civic events. According to the 2010 census,216,433 people live among the ZIP codes of 19104,19131,19139,19143 and 19151, since the 1980s, gentrification, immigration, and the Urban Indian relocation movement have brought more racial diversity. Arrivals from East Asia and Latin America, mainly Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, warner was the first known European west of the Schuylkill. In 1840, the property was transformed into a cemetery with an arboretum of over 1,000 trees and it holds the graves of many famous Philadelphians. Satterlee Hospital, one of the largest Union Army hospitals of the Civil War, operated from 1862 to 1865, part of its grounds are now the northern section of Clark Park. West Philadelphia was among the early suburbs, and a portion of it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the West Philadelphia Streetcar Suburb Historic District. The western portion of the neighborhood was home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country. The area has declined in prominence over the last 50 years, thanks in part to increasing crime, West Philadelphia drew national attention in 1978 and 1985 for violent clashes between police and an Afro-centric, back-to-nature group called MOVE. During the latter confrontation, police firebombed the headquarters, killing 11 people and destroying an entire block of Osage Avenue. Many young professionals and families have moved into the area, in 2008, the area around the Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia Zoo, and the Mann Music Center was designated the Centennial District, an area to be revitalized by the countrys 250th birthday in 2026. Most of the houses in West Philadelphia are row houses, although there are areas of semi-detached and detached houses, the earliest developments began in 1850 and the final period of mass construction ended in 1930. Developers found they could increase profits by catering to this group, shrinking lot sizes. Initial development was divided into lots and sold in 1852 with the condition that substantial stone or brick buildings be erected. The houses in this grouping are primarily three-story Italianate buildings, linked by material, decorative detail, located around Chester Avenue, an additional but smaller and less ornate 16 Italianate, brownstone, semi-detached houses, similar in form to the initial houses. The setback of these houses was 25 feet, allowing generous front yards, another development on Locust Street, a project by banker and West Philly resident Clarence Howard Clark, was composed of three-story, two-bay, brick, restrained Queen Anne rowhouses
10.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park
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Bordered by the South Philadelphia Sports Complex on South Broad Street, Interstate highway-95/Philadelphia Naval Yard and Pattison Avenue/ Packer Park residential neighborhood. The park was built to the design of Olmsted Brothers, the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted, the parkland was reclaimed mostly from marshlands of Greenwich Island, one of several islands in the area created by river channels present in the 18th and 19th centuries. The use of the park for the Sesquicentennial Exposition in 1926 and subsequent improvements have moderately changed the original design, the original plan of the Olmsted Brothers still remains highly visible and significant west of Broad Street. The official name was changed from League Island Park to Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park in the late 1940s, the parks boathouse, gazebo and American Swedish Historical Museum are reminders of the 1926 Exposition. In 2000, the park was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, FDR Park is located on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, a hydrographic province which includes extreme southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. The Coastal Plain supports different plants and animals than the adjacent Piedmont of Pennsylvania, because of the extreme development of the Coastal Plain in Pennsylvania, many of these distinctive plants and animals are rare in the state. The ponds and lagoons are remnants of the marsh and channel system which originally occupied the area between the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers. The Pennsylvania Audubon Society has designated the park as an Important Bird Area, Audubon Society of Pennsylvania has said that FDR Park is one of the best places in Philadelphia to observe birds. This is because it contains a variety of different habitats, including wetlands, in terms of the category of birds, the park is best known as a place to observe waterfowl. Many different species occur during migration, and there are also pied-billed grebe, double-crested cormorants, American coots and other kinds of non-duck waterfowl. Many other birds may also be seen from warblers to raptors, baseball, Carpenters Cup Classic annual playoffs between local High School teams with the final game at Citizens Bank Park
11.
South Philadelphia
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South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west. A diverse community, South Philadelphia is known for its large Italian American population, South Philadelphia also contains large Irish American and African American populations as well. South Philadelphia began as a town of Philadelphia, with small townships such as Moyamensing. Towards the end of the Industrial Revolution, the area saw rapid growth in population, South Philadelphias urbanized border eventually expanded to reach that of Philadelphia proper, or what is today known as Center City Philadelphia. The immigrants and migrants became the basis of South Philadelphias unique, the later immigrant populations of Italians and Poles were also Catholic. Initially, these populations attended existing Catholic churches but built their own ethno-national churches when possible, a smaller but significant Greek immigrant community also flourished around this time, leading to the establishment of Greek Orthodox parishes in South Philadelphia. Despite this dramatic growth in population, the low funding of education by the city resulted in the first public high school not being formed in South Philadelphia until 1934. Attracted to the jobs, the new residents of South Philadelphia created communities that continued many of their Old World traditions. While many of the new arrivals were Catholic, neighborhood parishes reflected their ethnic, monsignor James F. Today, many of South Philadelphias communities are largely Italian American. In addition, South Philadelphia continues to be home to many ethnic Irish American communities, the neighborhood of Pennsport remains primarily a working class Irish-American neighborhood and the cultural center of Irish-American South Philadelphia. In addition, there has been an increase in recent years of immigrants from Russia, Mexico, and Central American nations such as Honduras, Guatemala, portions of South Philadelphia are within Philadelphia City Council Districts 1 and 2. As of 2014 Councilman Mark Squilla and Councilman Kenyatta Johnson represent the two districts, the Philadelphia Fire Department operates nine fire stations serving South Philadelphia. Most of South Philadelphia resides in Fire Battalion 1, headquartered at 711 South Broad Street, portions of South Philadelphia reside in Battalion 4, headquartered at North 4th Street and Arch Street, and Battalion 11, headquartered at 43rd Street and Market Street. The Philadelphia Police Department patrols three districts located within South Philadelphia, the three patrol districts serving South Philadelphia are the 1st, 3rd, and 17th districts. According to the United States Census Bureau, South Philadelphia has an area of 9.7 sq. miles, in 2010, the areas population was 168,782. In addition, the area contains smaller but historically significant Greek American, many residents have lived in the neighborhood for decades. Many family-owned businesses are found in South Philadelphia, on January 22,2010 the Associated Press said South Philadelphia has been growing more diverse for decades, but the last 20 years have seen the greatest influx of Asian and Hispanic families. David Elesh, a Temple University urban sociologist, said that of the almost 60,000 Philadelphia residents who reported being born in China, as of the 2010 Census, there are 168,782 people in 78,440 housing units
12.
Ulysses S. Grant
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Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States. As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War and he implemented Congressional Reconstruction, often at odds with President Andrew Johnson. His presidency has often criticized for tolerating corruption and for the severe economic depression in his second term. Grant graduated in 1843 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, after the war he married Julia Boggs Dent in 1848, their marriage producing four children. Grant initially retired from the Army in 1854 and he struggled financially in civilian life. When the Civil War began in 1861, he rejoined the U. S. Army, in 1862, Grant took control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee, and led Union forces to victory in the Battle of Shiloh, earning a reputation as an aggressive commander. He incorporated displaced African American slaves into the Union war effort, in July 1863, after a series of coordinated battles, Grant defeated Confederate armies and seized Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy in two. After his victories in the Chattanooga Campaign, Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles, trapping Lees army in their defense of Richmond. Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns in other theaters, as well, in April 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, effectively ending the war. Historians have hailed Grants military genius, and his strategies are featured in history textbooks. After the Civil War, Grant led the armys supervision of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states and he also used the army to build the Republican Party in the South. After the disenfranchisement of some former Confederates, Republicans gained majorities, in his second term, the Republican coalitions in the South splintered and were defeated one by one as redeemers regained control using coercion and violence. In May 1875, Grant authorized his Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow to shut down and his peace policy with the Indians initially reduced frontier violence, but is best known for the Great Sioux War of 1876. Grant responded to charges of corruption in executive offices more than any other 19th Century president and he appointed the first Civil Service Commission and signed legislation ending the corrupt moiety system. In foreign policy, Grant sought to trade and influence while remaining at peace with the world. His administration successfully resolved the Alabama claims by the Treaty of Washington with Great Britain, Grant avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair, but Congress rejected his attempted annexation of the Dominican Republic. His administration implemented a standard and sought to strengthen the dollar. Grant left office in 1877 and embarked on a two-year diplomatic world tour that captured the nations attention, in 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination for a third term
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