Ulysses S. Grant Thought Civil War Was Punishment For This

Ulysses S. Grant served in both the Civil War and the Mexican-American War, of course claiming massive fame as the great hero of the Civil War which would carry him on to the White House and two terms as U.S. president.
However, as Grant wrote in his presidential memoirs, he believed that the Civil War was actually punishment for an earlier transgression of the United States. In this video, Mr. Droste explains.
#usgrant #civilwar #apush

[@bernardfogel7636]

Earlier this year, I read the Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. He did think the war with Mexico was unjust, I missed somehow, his thought, that the Civil War was punishment for the war with Mexico. Everytime I listen to your videos, I learn something new! Thank you, Mr. Droste!

[@MudPig6110]

I just finished reading his memoirs and I definitely don’t remember him specifically stating that the Civil War was punishment for the Mexican War. I’m sure he felt that the added territory further aggravated the already high tension between the North and South when it came to outlawing slaves in new territories. You have to wonder why the South clung to slavery so much when it was a tiny percentage of southerners who owned slaves. The elites definitely led Southern boys into hellfire all for their pocket books. Many of my family fought on the Southern side, luckily many of them survived after being captured.

[@markberryhill2715]

Snake fascinating tidbit of history. Grant was a genius,as well as a prophet.

[@johnbowen2956]

This was a very good summary of Grant's opinion of the Mexican-American War. I read his memoirs a few years ago and his affection for the Mexican people and his admiration of the geographic beauty of their country deeply impressed me. Another aspect of his memoir that intrigued me was his observation of many of his junior comrades who later became high-ranking officers and generals in the Confederate army. Many of these men had their adoring publicists working as journalists in newspapers sympathetic to the Comfederacy. Grant noted that the accounts of these men's exploits during the Civil War seemed exaggerated compared with their actions which he personality witnessed during the Mexican War. You probably know that Grant was destitute before he wrote his memoirs, owing to trusting some very unscrupulous financiers who caused him to lose his money. Mark Twain encouraged Grant to write his memoirs, so that Mrs. Grant would not live in poverty after the General's death. Grant completed his memoirs three weeks before he died. They were a publishing success and saved Mrs. Grant from living a life of penury. Many scholars consider Grant's memoirs among the best in military history. I consider Grant one of the most honorable leaders that have served the United States. He was a real man of integrity and of humanity.

[@laurelanderson6782]

Given the transportation technology of the time period and the inhospitable nature of the land & weather in massive swaths of the western half of the North American continent, anyone who believed in “Manifest Destiny” should be considered as delusional

[@fatfeline1086]

Ah but yiu forget the dicovery of gold in Ca in the late 1840's. The craze that followed, plus some forward thinking folf interested in opeing up trade with the pacific rim, fueled the effort to convince the masses to "manifest" destiny.

[@carlcushmanhybels8159]

It was a 'Where there's a will there's a way' idea and a "It's Fate" justification, including to run over all Native Americans and take/ 'buy'/ treaty their land: Claiming, and believing, it was "Manifest Destiny" for the USA to spread "Sea to shining sea."

[@LABoyko]

The genesis for the Civil War predates the Mexican War. Southern firebrand John Calhoun urged seccesion during the Jackson administration of the 1830's and was nearly successful.

[@alancoe1002]

Jackson may have originated the saying: South Carolina is too small to be a country, too large to be an insane asylum.

[@bonnielarsen7022]

😂

[@josephosheavideos3992]

I had never heard this assessment of Ulysses S. Grant that the Mexican War was unjust. Interestingly, Abraham Lincoln also thought this war was unjust, and voted against President James Polk's request for a declaration of war when the House of Representatives (of which Lincoln was a member) voted on it. Further, Grant was not the only prominent Northerner who thought the Civil War was divine punishment for the country's sins. President Lincoln also believed this (though he thought the particular sin was slavery) as did a number of members of Congress. In fact, in 1863, Sen. John Harlan of Iowa even introduced a measure into Congress calling for the Union to engage in a day of national fasting to atone for the country's sins, including that of slavery. Both houses of Congress passed the bill, which Lincoln quickly signed into law. Thus, on April 30, 1863; the United States actually did observe a National Day of Fasting.

[@MrDrosteHistory]

Lincoln was not yet a member of the US House when the war was declared. He did, however, introduce something called the spot resolution and was vocally against the war. If you check out my channel, I have a video on this as well. Lincoln in his one term as a Congressman had no problem calling out President Polk.

[@chrisdjernaes9658]

Appears Grant was either re-writing History or ignorant of History. As the old adages says, History is written by the Victors.

[@ottodachat]

somehow this video made me think of the Spanish American war, and how the US initially got involved with the alleged bombing of USS Maine. The explosion proved a catalyst for invasion of Cuba and other Spanish colonies, like the Philippines. So really all the US needed in the Mexican-American war was an incident like the USS Maine. Really no different than the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the so called Polish attack on Gleiwitz, leading to the invasion of Poland 1939. Create a threat and then steal some other country's real estate

[@mmartinez6754]

and Iraq.

[@carlcushmanhybels8159]

Grant was correct, historically, in that the Mexican War was a war of land greed on the part of the US Govt.: Polk did indeed order the US military to provoke Mexico to attack. Then to jump on that as justification to invade Mexico. US military occupied an island in the middle of the Rio Grande. They claimed this was US territory. When Mexico attacked soldiers on the small island: Voila! US could and did loudly claim: "Mexico has attacked the Sovereign soil of the USA! We must retaliate! This injustice will not stand!" The Mexican WAr was not popular in parts of the East Coast. That said, the USA gained a great deal of land ! I don't want to give back NM, most of AZ, California... BTW, LBJ used a similar trick to get US further into the Vietnam War: The Tonkin Gulf incident (disputed, no evidence assertion N. Viet had attacked a US ship). I'd never heard before Grant thought our Civil War was Karma justice for the Mexican War.

[@Odonanmarg]

Hmm.

[@redjirachi1]

When I think of the word "based" I usually don't think of Grant Oh who am I kidding, he drank and fought the KKK. The man was always based!

[@mmartinez6754]

same thing as Iraq

[@Star_Dust696]

All of this dude subcribers where his students

[@MrDrosteHistory]

lol yeah, all 10k and 1 million plus views.