JESSE GRANT CRAMER

With Portraits

1912

PREFACE

There has of late years been a tendency, as a result of the teachings of certain historical authorities, to minimize the influence of the leadership of the so-called Great Men, and to question the importance of their work as a factor in shaping the history of the time.  Great events are referred to as brought about by such general influences as “the spirit of the time” (Goethe’s Zeitgeist), the “movement of humanity,” or “forces of society.”  If we accepted the theories of the writers of this school, we should be forced to the conclusion that generations of men move across the world’s stage impelled by forces entirely outside of themselves; and that as far as the opportunity of individual action is concerned, that is for action initiated and completed under his own will-power, man might almost as well be a squirrel working in a revolving cage.  The squirrel imagines that he moves the cylinder, but the outsider knows that the movement is predetermined, and that there is no change of position and no net result from the exertion.

A large number of people hold, notwithstanding, to the old-time feeling expressed, and doubtless exaggerated and over-emphasized, in such books as Carlyle’s Hero Worship.  They are unwilling, and in fact they find it practically impossible, to get away from the belief that the thought of the time is directed by the great thinkers, and that the action of the community is influenced and largely shaped by the power, whether this be utilized for good or for evil, of the great men of action.

In any case, men will continue to be interested in the personalities of the leaders whose names are connected with the great events of history.  The citizens of each nation look back with legitimate pride upon the patriotic work of those who have helped to found the state, or to maintain its existence.

Among the national leaders whose names will always hold an honorable place in American history is Ulysses S. Grant, the simple-hearted man and capable soldier, to whose patriotism, courage, persistence, and skill was so largely due the successful termination of the war between the States, the contest which assured the foundations of the Republic.  We are interested not only in learning what this man did, but in coming to know, as far as may be practicable, what manner of man he was.  It is all-important in a study of development of character to have placed within reach the utterances of the man himself.  There is no utterance that can give as faithful a picture of a man’s method of thought and principle of action as the personal letter written, with no thought of later publication, to those who are near to him.