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The Greatest Presidents Essay

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Since 1776, The United States of America has been an independant country, presided over by presidents. This year, 2016, the country will greet its forty-fourth president, but forty-three if Grover Cleveland is counted twice. Some say that the greatest presidents, however, presided in 1860 to 1877. These three presidents, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant, rose to the occasion and helped to shape the United States of America to be the great nation that stands today. In Hodgenville, Kentucky on April 12th, 1809, the 16th president was born. A senator until he decided that his ideas and voice was decent enough, Lincoln ran for president in 1860. Since he was the only republican in the race, he won easily against Breckinridge, Douglas, and Bell. He won with a landslide Electoral College vote of one-hundred eighty, compared to the next highest at seventy-two. His election to presidency caused the start of the Civil War and he worked hard throughout his next four years to abolish slavery in the whole country. In 1862 he passed the Emancipation Proclamation and abolished slavery in the …show more content…

Grant born on April 27th, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio, was elected after Johnson in 1869, making him the 18th President of the United States of America. His election was won by a complete landslide, two-hundred fourteen Electoral College votes, compared to Horatio Seymour, a Democrat, with eighty votes. His second election in 1872 was against multiple Democrats, Hendricks, Greeley, and other various candidates, again landsliding the competition with a win of two-hundred eighty-six votes. Grant was considered another one of the great presidents. In his two terms of presidency, Grants managed to sign the Civil Rights Acts of 1870 and 1875, which guaranteed equal rights to African-Americans, encouraged passage of the 15th Amendment, and successfully presided over the Panic of 1873. These are just the tip of the iceberg, as he did so much more for

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