The American Presidential Election of 1880

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The 24th episode in a very long series about the American presidential elections from 1788 to the present. In 1880, the country is still divided yet seemingly united in another very close election.

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The 24th Presidential election in American history took place on November 2, 1880.

Back in 1876, while running for President, Rutherford Hayes promised he would not seek a second term. Unlike Frank Underwood, Rutherford actually stayed true to his word. In 1880, he was leaving that job open for someone else. But who else? Well, Republicans had a hard time figuring out who would take his place. Republican leaders met in June in what would become the longest Republican National Convention in history. Two major factions within the Republican Party made the decision for a nominee a difficult one. One faction, the Stalwarts, tended to revolve around New York Senator Roscoe Conkling. They generally favored a thing called patronage (also known as the spoils system) which basically said you should reward the people who got you elected. The other faction, the Half-Breeds (they got that name because their opponents called them only “half Republican”), revolved around Maine Senator James Blaine. They generally did not like patronage, saying people should be appointed on merit alone and not by political favors or obligations.

That was pretty much the only big issue dividing the Republicans, surprisingly. After deciding against it in 1876, Ulysses Grant shocked several people when he decided to run for a third term. Many Republicans were all for it, but he had opponents. The aforementioned James Blaine, John Sherman, the brother of Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman and former Senator from Ohio, and James Garfield, a Representative from Ohio. It took a long time, but the Republicans nominated neither a Stalwart or a Half-Breed in the end. They nominated a guy who definitely did not expect to get nominated- James Garfield. Some of the Stalwarts weren’t so sure about Garfield, so Chester Arthur, a Stalwart from New York, was nominated as his running mate.

Under the shadow of Samuel Tilden’s devastating defeat four years earlier, the Democrats held their convention soon after. The two leading candidates were Major General Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania and Thomas Bayard, a Senator from Delaware. The Democrats finally had their war hero- Hancock served most of his life in the Army. He was a Civil War veteran, and the dude even fought in the Mexican American War for crying out loud. So yeah, Bayard didn’t stand a chance. Hancock was the nominee, with William Hayden English, a businessman and former Representative from Indiana, as his running mate.

The Greenback Party had gained some momentum since their first presidential try in 1876. Hoping to actually win some actual electoral votes this time, they nominated James Weaver, a Representative and Civil War general from Iowa. Unlike Garfield and Hancock, he went around the country giving speeches to promote his campaign. Weaver’s running mate was Barzillai Chambers, a surveyor and lawyer who fought with the Confederates in the Civil War, believe it or not.

What was fascinating to me about this election is that the Presidential candidates didn’t seem to disagree a whole lot, although you would never know it living at the time. For example, a hot button issue in the final weeks before election day was Chinese immigration. In reality, the Republicans, Democrats, and Greenbackers all wanted to limit Chinese immigration. They all agreed! So what’s the issue?