Ulysses S. Grant Essay Example for Free

Ulysses S. Grant Essay Ulysses S. Grant, an army General and the 18th president of the United States of America is considered one of the greatest war strategists and generals in American history. His rise to fame was brought about by his successful exploits and exceptional military leadership serving as a Union General in the Civil War. Most notable of which are the decisive wins in the battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania and the siege of Petersburg which eventually led to the Confederacys surrender. But while his contemporaries hold him to the highest regard as a military leader, the same could not be said about his presidency. Political leadership proved to be unsuitable for him, and while his dignity was said to be unquestionable, his presidency is severely criticized and condemned due to rampant corruption and perceived inadequacy. Grant was baptized Hiram Ulysses Grant in Point Pleasant, Ohio on April 27, 1822, the eldest in a brood of six. He came from a family which Grant (2002) proudly asserts as all-American: â€Å"My family is American, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral† (p. 12). His parents were Jesse Root Grant, a tannery and farmland owner, and Hannah Simpson Grant, a frontier woman (McFeely, 1981). Grants family relocated to Georgetown in 1823, where he started his formal education—this place was to be his home until his seventeenth year, before he goes off to West Point. He attended the school of Richardson and Rand in Maysville, Kentucky, then the Presbyterian Academy, a private school in Ripley, Ohio. (Grant, 2002) Grant (2002) found his childhood â€Å"uneventful† (p. 17) and professed no inclination towards his studies. He did show exceptional equestrian skills and was noted for his diligence. With his skills, he was put in charge of doing any work that required proficiency with horses—tilling land, hauling wood, plowing and furrowing the land, etc. His lack of business skills (an issue which would later on figure significantly in his life) was evinced in one situation when the eight year-old Grant was given some money by his father to buy a colt, with the instruction of bargaining with the owner. Grant said to him: â€Å"Papa says I may offer you twenty dollars for the colt, but if you won’t take that, I am to offer twenty-two and a half, and if you won’t take that, to give you twenty-five† (Grant, 2002, p. 20). Needless to say, the owner got the colt full price. At age seventeen, he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, and a registration mistake made by the appointing congressman omitted Hiram from his name and added Simpson, his mothers maiden name. Grant, however, did not correct the mistake, and he has been known by that name ever since. Grant was an average student, graduating 21st in a class of 39 (McFeely, 1981). He did not care to have a career in the military (he wanted instead to teach) and saw his West Point appointment as just another opportunity to travel, he said: â€Å"A military life had no charms for me, and I had not the faintest idea of staying in the army even if I should be graduated, which I did not expect† (Grant, 2002, p. 26). After graduation he was stationed in St. Louis, Missouri where he met and and pursued Julia Dent. They later married in 1848 (McFeely, 1981). During the outbreak of the Mexican War, grant fought his first battles under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, where he took part in important offensive missions. After the war, he went back to St. Louis, Missouri to tend to his family and establish several business and farming ventures (Grant, 2002). However, even with the help from relatives and friends, his business endeavors failed (due in part to his less than adequate business skills) and he faced great financial difficulties (McFeely, 1981). Grant then moved back to work in Galena, Illinois when his father offered his a clerical position at his store (Grant, 2002). When the south broke away from the Union, signaling the start of the Civil War, Grant decided to fight under the Union banner. He gathered volunteers to Springfield and enlisted his services to the government. As a colonel, he successfully took control of an unruly volunteer regiment and was promoted to brigadier general. He proved to be a great military leader and went on to lead many successful campaigns. His skill as a military strategist and tactician earned him the respect of his contemporaries and made him a household name. (McFeely, 1981) He fought on to lead the Union in a series of decisive victories—battles in Belmont, Fort Donelson, Fort Henry—and became the commander of the Union army. When asked about his terms of accepting surrender, his reply was â€Å"no terms, except an unconditional and immediate surrender† (McFeely, 1981, 135). This, as well as the unconditional surrender of more than 14,000 confederacy soldiers at Donelson earned him the nickname â€Å"Unconditional Surrender Grant† (McFeely, 1981, 135). He also launched an exhaustive and grueling campaign to wear out and capture the Confederate forces. This culminated in the siege of Petersburg which forced General Robert E. Lee to flee and eventually surrender his army at Appomattox Court House (McFeely, 1981). After the war, he was nominated as the Republican candidate for the presidential elections and won, although he was reluctant to accept the post. After learning of his victory, he told his wife: I am afraid I am elected (Goode, 1999, p. 18). He entered the White House at age 46, the youngest president in American history. He took part in many notable policies, especially those that aim to reduce national debt and re-establish public credit (Hesseltine, 1935). The reconstruction of southern states were also facilitated under his reign. However, corruption was so widespread in the administration that it overshadowed everything—it even came to be called as â€Å"Grantism† (Goode, 1999), which was regarded by many â€Å"unfair† considering Grant himself didnt take part in the corruption (Skidmore, 2005). Grant was also criticized for his passivity and for his haphazard appointment of officials. Many, if not most of the people under him, even those he appointed were involved in numerous scandals and for exploiting the governments coffers (Hesseltine, 1935 and Goode, 1999). After his presidency, Grant was only relieved to leave the politicians life—â€Å"I certainly never had any taste for political life (Goode, 1999, p. 18) he confessed. He retired and lived a comfortable life with his wife in New York, until he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He has completed written his Memoirs a few days after his death and it remains one of the most popular presidential autobiographies in history. When grant died in 1885, fire bells rang throughout the country, however, â€Å"it was for Grant the soldier that they rang, not for Grant the president† (Goode, 1999, p. 19). References Grant, U. S. (2002). Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. Boston: WGBH Educational Foundation. Goode, S. (1999, July). Ulysses S. Grant: The Unheroic Hero. World and I, 14, 16-19. Hesseltine, W. B. (1935). Ulysses S. Grant: Politician. New York: Dodd, Mead Company. McFeely, W. S. (1981). Grant: A Biography. New York : Norton. Skidmore, M. J. (2005). The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: A Reconsideration. White House Studies, 5, 255-265.

Kimchi Journal :: China Chicken Virus Kimchi Essays

Kimchi Lifesaver Finals are finally over and I will be leaving for Korea in two days. I haven't been to Korea in nearly ten years but I still remember the savory foods vendors sell along the streets of Myong Dong Market. My grandmother called me today with some unfortunate news. She informed me about a bird flu called Avian Influenza that has infected poultry across the farms in South Korea. "You need not worry, sweetie," my grandmother said in Korean. Strict measures were taken so that farms would not further spread this disease. Nonetheless, grandmother told me to pack my warm clothes and prepare myself for some good Korean food. I can hardly wait. December 25, 2003 A kimchi Christmas. I have been eating kimchi like there is no tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I love kimchi. However, I have been eating more than my stomach and breath can handle. Scientists from Seoul National University came out with a study a few days ago stating that a lactic enzyme in kimchi has remedial effects on chicken and other types of poultry. I assume kimchi's "antibacterial powers" have kept my family and I clean from this epidemic. With what I could understand from the Korean news, the bird flu is extremely infectious to organisms such as poultry. I went on the Center for Disease Control website to get a much more comprehendible version of the epidemic. It conveyed that the disease spreads rapidly from bird to bird as large amounts of the virus are secreted in bird droppings, contaminating earthly surroundings. The technical term for the disease is called Avian Influenza A H5N1. The big scare, The World Health Organization admits, is that this strain has the unique capacity to jump the species barrier, causing several diseases in humans. I will not be eating chicken for a while. January 5, 2004 I am finally back in the States. It is such a relief that we do not have to deal with Avian Influenza here. Although CDC said the risk of H51N flu in the United States is low, I cannot help but think that travelers such as myself could contract the virus and bring it back to infect others. This wouldn't happen to us though. January 13, 2004 Kimchi Journal :: China Chicken Virus Kimchi Essays Kimchi Lifesaver Finals are finally over and I will be leaving for Korea in two days. I haven't been to Korea in nearly ten years but I still remember the savory foods vendors sell along the streets of Myong Dong Market. My grandmother called me today with some unfortunate news. She informed me about a bird flu called Avian Influenza that has infected poultry across the farms in South Korea. "You need not worry, sweetie," my grandmother said in Korean. Strict measures were taken so that farms would not further spread this disease. Nonetheless, grandmother told me to pack my warm clothes and prepare myself for some good Korean food. I can hardly wait. December 25, 2003 A kimchi Christmas. I have been eating kimchi like there is no tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I love kimchi. However, I have been eating more than my stomach and breath can handle. Scientists from Seoul National University came out with a study a few days ago stating that a lactic enzyme in kimchi has remedial effects on chicken and other types of poultry. I assume kimchi's "antibacterial powers" have kept my family and I clean from this epidemic. With what I could understand from the Korean news, the bird flu is extremely infectious to organisms such as poultry. I went on the Center for Disease Control website to get a much more comprehendible version of the epidemic. It conveyed that the disease spreads rapidly from bird to bird as large amounts of the virus are secreted in bird droppings, contaminating earthly surroundings. The technical term for the disease is called Avian Influenza A H5N1. The big scare, The World Health Organization admits, is that this strain has the unique capacity to jump the species barrier, causing several diseases in humans. I will not be eating chicken for a while. January 5, 2004 I am finally back in the States. It is such a relief that we do not have to deal with Avian Influenza here. Although CDC said the risk of H51N flu in the United States is low, I cannot help but think that travelers such as myself could contract the virus and bring it back to infect others. This wouldn't happen to us though. January 13, 2004

Explore how love and lovers is presented in Romeo and Juliet and The Labrotory Essay

Explore how love and lovers is presented in Romeo and Juliet and The Labrotory. Love. Love is a feeling of a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone, An intense feeling of deep affection. Love in Romeo and Juliet is a brutal, powerful emotion that captures individuals and catapults them against their world, and at times, against themselves. In The Laboratory love is presented as a unpleasant feeling, filled with jealousy, obsession and overall revenge, which is also a dramatic monologue which evokes the audiences emotions. Love is another important thematic ingredient in Romeo and Juliet, which presents various types of love: the sensual, physical love embraced by the Nurse; the Traditional or contractual love represented by Paris; and the passionate, romantic love of Romeo and Juliet. †love is Too rude, Too boist’rous, and it pricks like a thorn†. In The laboratory Browning explores the jealousy and vengeful of someone disappointed in love, and how far they would travel to be happy themselves and see their lover suffer who has previously made her suffer. In the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet we are introduced to Romeo and Benvolio. Romeo reminisces about Rosaline which evokes the lover’s experience of daydreaming about his beloved, but in such a jumbled way, that it’s more frustrating than enjoyable.†Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms† However this scene presents that Romeo is in love with Rosalines beauty. Romeo receives unrequited love which makes him feel melancholy and depressed. This can also be described as fickle love as he falls in and out love quickly. Romeo is in love with Rosaline at the start of the play, which is presented as an immature infatuation. Today, we might use the term â€Å"puppy love† to describe this. Romeo’s love for Rosaline is shallow and nobody really believes that it will last, including Friar Laurence. †Thou chid’st me oft for loving Rosaline† Romeo is speaking in rhyme throughout this scene. He says, â€Å"Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs, Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes†. From this the reader may assume that Romeo takes love very seriously, it is also represents a stereotypical form of love poetry. This may indicate that there is nothing special about his love with Rosaline. In this scene Romeo also uses oxymoron’s to describe his love for Rosaline. He describes love as â€Å"sick health†. This illustrates the idea that he is confused and not making any sense because he is talking in an irrational way. Benvolio tells Romeo to â€Å"Examine other beauties†. This quotationportrays the idea that maybe Benvolio has seen this before from Romeo and he knows the time will come when Romeo will fall in love with another lady. The audience will feel that Romeo is acting like a lovesick teenager. Likewise in The Laboratory the women is suffering from unrequited love and is consumed with evil and twisted thoughts. She’s feeling betrayed and paranoid – she refers back to them as laughing at her, imagining her at church praying for her lover to return back to her. †While they laugh, laugh at me, at me fled to the dearer† William Shakespeare and Robert Browning both portray unrequited love and the different paths it leads to, as in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is melancholy and sulking, however he is not doing anything to make the situation better. †Out of her favor where I am in love† In The Laboratory the women is creating a deadly poison due to her partner cheating on her and her receiving unrequited love. The women deals with the situation in a very pitiless, demanding way. †Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste† Love between Romeo and Juliet is the main love portrayed in the play. Our classic idea of romantic love is embodied in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare presents this as a force of nature, so strong that it transcends societal conventions. This idea is established in the play’s prologue with the line â€Å"a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.† Romeo and Juliet still love each other and don’t let their hatred of each other’s family get in the way of their love. â€Å"Love give me strength, and strength shall help afford†. Romeo being hurt and melancholy at the beginning of the place make the audience question does he truly feel love or not. Romeo falls for Juliet as soon as he sees her, Which Shakespeare describes as love at first sight. â€Å"Did my heart love till now?† Shake spare also portrays that Romeo falls in love with Rosalines and Juliets appearances, due to it being love at first sight. He describes Rosaline as the moon which is beautiful but the moon always goes down when the sun rises who is Juliet. †As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear-Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear† The same as in The Laboratory the women believes her ex partner has feel in love with not the women’s personality but her looks. †Shes not little, no minion like me!, That why she ensnared him: this will never free† Both play and poem portray that the men have fell in love with the women’s looks. Romeo falls for Juliet as soon as he sees her which obviously tells the readers that he fell in love at first sight with her beautiful face, likewise the man has cheated on left his partner to be with a more curvy women, again falling for her looks. A love we are introduced to in Romeo and Juliet is the love between Juliet and the Nurse which is such of a mother and daughter, It portrays warmth, trust and laughter. Juliet loves her mother in a dutiful daughter way, but they do not have a warm, close relationship. All the nurse wants is for Juliet to be happy and this is why she helps in forgetting the family feud and helping Juliet marry Romeo. This effect Shakespeare portrays adds great effect and makes the relationship between Juliet and the Nurse similar to if the Nurse was the actual mother of Juliet. â€Å"I nursed her daughter that you talked withal†. In the Laboratory no such love is presented. Its as if the women is alone in the world which is causing her to go insane. However it could also be said that the women is confiding in the old man, as he is the only one who knows about her plan as did the nurse with Juliet’s plan. She is so thrilled with her plan, she celebrates with the apothecary. †You may kiss me, old man, on my mouth if you will!† Both Shake spare and Browning portray love in similar but different ways. Juliets affection with the nurse is positive and merry, with girlish talks, However The women in The Laboratory is showing love to the old man just for full filling her evil command. In The Laboratory and Romeo and Juliet tradition plays a very large role. Paris’ love for Juliet in Romeo and Juliet is born out of tradition, not passion. He has identified her as a good candidate for a wife and approaches her father to arrange the marriage. Although this was the tradition at the time, it also says something about Paris’ staid attitude towards love. †Younger than she are happy mothers made.† Also in The Laboratory Browning does not make any direct or uniform attacks on organized religion. He does not use any references to religion or tradition as it would of made the poem calm, and without them it gives the poem a more horrific, evil tone. Many of the friendships in the play are as sincere as Romeo and Juliet’s love for one another. The close relationships between Juliet and her Nurse, and between Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio are meaningful and heartfelt. They care deeply for another and protect each others honor – this ultimately costs Mercutio his life. This platonic love is offset by the sexual innuendos made by some characters – particularly Juliet’s Nurse and Mercutio. Their view of love is earthy and purely sexual, creating an effective contrast with Romeo and Juliet’s romanticism. At the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is very upset which gives Mercutio and opportunity to involve humor and sex. â€Å"O’er ladies lips, who’s straight on kisses dream†. He uses more sexual innuendo throughout the play when the subject of love is mentioned. The Nurse also links love and sex throughout the play. This is more marked when she finds out Juliet is to marry Romeo. We can see how excited she is about the physical opportunity for Juliet because she comments immediately on Romeo’s physical traits. â€Å"†¦His face be better than any man’s†. Although both Mercutio and the Nurse refer to the sexual act, the Nurse’s language is crude and lacks the refinement of Mercutio’s wit. Here Shakespeare presents to us a member of the lower classes, deprived from a formal education. Also Juliet awaits Romeo to consummate their marriage, she refers wholeheartedly to her sexual desires – having ‘bought the mansion of a love, but not yet possessed it’ suggesting that she recognizes the contractual element of marriage and desires to experience the physical side. Juliet also refers to ‘white as snow on a raven’s back’ which implies that her virginal purity is set against the darkness of the blood that she will lose as her hymen is split. Love is portrayed, therefore, as being courtly and flirtatious in the early scenes but sexual and foreshadowing death in the later scenes. In The Laboratory there is no use of sexual language however the women believes that her partner and the women Elise commit sexual acts. †Where they are, what they do: they believe my tears flow† The word flow could also be described as the women crying a river. Her tears as soon dried up and is happy by the end at the death of her rival and suffering of her lover. The language used in the Laboratory has various features such as; alliteration, personification, metaphor etc. Alliteration is used to add affect and give the reader a repetitive sound. â€Å"brand, burn up, bite†, â€Å"moisten and mash†, â€Å"poison to poison thee, prithee† Also the use of exclamation marks shows excitement, and reinforces the delight. In the same way Shake pare has also used various literary devices. such as oxymoron’s †Poor living corpse, closed in a dead man’s tomb!† Dramatic irony, †indeed, I never shall be satisfied / With Romeo, till I behold him-dead- † etc. Poison is often the weapon of choice for female killers. It requires little or no physical strength to administer, and can be done secretly. It also leaves little evidence thus making it difficult to detect the culprit. In both Romeo and Juliet and The laboratory the females use poison, which leads to death. However Juliet also dies by suicide. and the women in The laboratory dies from the poison. Browning writes ‘The delicate droplet, my whole fortunes fee’ showing that she’s incredibly dedicated in getting this guy and she’s spent her whole fortune on the poison and she’s not going to give up until the deed is complete. Romeo and Juliet has become forever associated with love. The play has become an iconic story of love and passion, and the name â€Å"Romeo† is still used to describe young lovers. Shakespeare’s treatment of love in the play is complex and multifaceted. He uses love in its many guises to thread together the key relationships in the play. In the Laboratory the women’s anger and revenge seems controlled as looking at the structure, all stanzas are end-stopped, indicating some clear structure and thought behind the lady. Hence, any sympathy we had for her almost disappears as she must know she is doing bad being that her state of mind is quite clear.

How Knowledge and Learning Survived in the Middle Ages

They began as men alone, solitary ascetics in wattle huts in the desert who lived off berries and nuts, contemplating the nature of God and praying for salvation. Before long, others joined them, living nearby for comfort and safety rather than friendship or festivity. Individuals of wisdom and experience like Saint Anthony taught the ways of spiritual harmony to monks who sat at their feet. Rules were established by holy men like  Saint Pachomius  and Saint Benedict to govern what had become a community despite their intentions. Holy Learning Monasteries, abbeys, and priories were built to house men or women (or both, in the case of double monasteries) who sought spiritual peace. For the sake of their souls, people came to live lives of work, self-sacrifice, and strict religious observance to help fellow humans. Towns and sometimes cities grew around them, and the brothers or sisters served the secular community in many ways—by growing grain, making wine, raising sheep, and so on—while usually keeping separate. Monks and nuns filled many roles, perhaps the most significant and far-reaching being keepers of knowledge. Books and Manuscripts Very early in their collective history, the monasteries of Western Europe became repositories for manuscripts. Part of the Rule of Saint Benedict charged followers with reading holy writings every day. While knights underwent special education that prepared them for the battlefield and the court and artisans learned their craft from their masters, the contemplative life of a monk provided the perfect setting for learning to read and write, as well as acquiring and copying manuscripts whenever the opportunity arose. Reverence for books and their knowledge was not surprising among monastics, who turned creative energy toward writing their own books and turning manuscripts into beautiful works of art. Books were acquired, but not necessarily hoarded. Monasteries made money selling copied manuscripts by the page. A  book of hours  would be made expressly for the layman; one penny per page would be considered a fair price. It was not unknown for a monastery to sell part of its library for operating funds. Still, they prized books among their most precious treasures. Whenever they had time or a warning, if a monastic community came under attack—usually from raiders like the Danes or Magyars, but sometimes from their secular rulers—monks would take whatever treasures they could into hiding in the forest or another remote area until danger passed. Manuscripts were always among such valuables. Secular Concerns Though theology and spirituality dominated a monastic life, not all books collected in the library were religious. Histories, biographies, epic poetry, science, and mathematics were all collected and studied in the monastery. One might be more likely to find bibles, hymnals, graduals, lectionaries, or missals, but secular pursuits were also important to a seeker of knowledge. Thus was the monastery both a repository and distributor of wisdom and learning. Almost all scholarship took place inside the monastery until the 12th century, when Viking raids ceased as an expected part of everyday life. Occasionally a high-born lord would learn letters from his mother, but mostly it was the monks who taught the oblates⠁  Ã¢â‚¬â€monks-to-be⠁  Ã¢â‚¬â€in the classical tradition. Using first a stylus on wax, then later a quill and ink on parchment once command of their letters improved, young boys learned grammar, rhetoric, and logic. When they mastered these subjects, they moved on to arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Latin was the only language used during instruction. Discipline was strict, but not necessarily severe. Outgrowing Monastery Traditions Teachers did not always limit themselves to knowledge taught and retaught for centuries. There were advances in mathematics and astronomy from several sources, including Muslim influences. Teaching methods were not as dry as one might expect; in the 10th century, Gerbert, a renowned monastic, used practical demonstrations whenever possible. He created a prototypical telescope to observe heavenly bodies and used organistrum (a kind of hurdy-gurdy) to teach and practice music. Not all young men were suited to monastic life, though most were at first forced into it. Eventually, some monasteries began maintaining schools outside of their cloisters for men not destined for the cloth. In time, these secular schools grew, became more common, and evolved into universities. Still supported by the Church, they were no longer part of the monastic world. With the advent of the printing press, monks were no longer needed to transcribe manuscripts. Slowly, monastics relinquished those responsibilities to return to the purpose for which they originally gathered: the quest for spiritual peace. Their role as keepers of knowledge lasted a thousand years, making Renaissance movements and the birth of the modern age possible. Scholars will forever be in their debt. Resources and Further Reading Moorhouse, Geoffrey. Sun Dancing: A Medieval Vision. Collins, 2009.Rowling, Marjorie. Life in Medieval Times. Berkley Publishing Group, 1979.