Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the U.S. (Source: Library of Congress)
President Ulysses S, Grant, Speech to veterans of the Army of Tennessee (September 30, 1875)
“Resolve that neither the State nor the nation shall support institutions of learning other than those sufficient to afford every child the opportunity of a good common-school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistic dogmas. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school supported entirely by private contribution. Keep the church and state forever separate.”
(Source: Jean Edward Smith, Grant, p. 570)
At a time when the debate over public support for sectarian education and religious exercises in public schools was being hotly contested, President Grant waded into the subject. At the time it was largely a Catholic-Protestant dispute, as many American Catholics were trying to battle the overtly Protestant tone of public school education.
Grant’s views were remarkable at the time, as Grant biographer Jean Edward Smith wrote:
The President’s demand for the separation of church and state took the wind from militant Protestants advocating a pro-religion amendment to the Constitution.
(Grant, p. 570)
Ulysses S. Grant died on July 23, 1885. His New York Times obituary appeared on July 24, 1885. At the time of his death, Grant was one of the most admired men in American and when he was later entombed in New York City, more than one million people lined the streets to view the passing of his body.
You can read more about Grant’s life and Presidency in Don’t Know Much About the American Presidents, Don’t Know Much About History and Don’t Know Much About the Civil War.
