Tomb of General Ulysses S. Grant, Riverside Drive, New York City / Grant Wright, 1897.

Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th President of the United States (1869–77). During American Civil War, as Commanding General of the United States Army (1864–69), Grant under President Abraham Lincoln, he led the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy. Twice elected president, Grant led the Republicans in their effort to remove the remains of Confederate nationalism and slavery, protect African-American citizenship. His presidency has often come under criticism for protecting corrupt associates and in his second term leading the nation into a severe economic depression. "I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution."

Alois Senefelder, the inventor of lithography, introduced the subject of colored lithography in 1818. Printers in other countries, such as France and England, were also started producing color prints. The first American chromolithograph—a portrait of Reverend F. W. P. Greenwood—was created by William Sharp in 1840. Chromolithographs became so popular in American culture that the era has been labeled as "chromo civilization". During the Victorian times, chromolithographs populated children's and fine arts publications, as well as advertising art, in trade cards, labels, and posters. They were also used for advertisements, popular prints, and medical or scientific books.