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United States presidential election, 1868

← 1864 November 3, 1868 1872 →

Nominee Ulysses S. Grant Horatio Seymour Party Republican Democratic Home state Illinois New York Running mate Schuyler Colfax Francis Preston Blair, Jr. Electoral vote 214 80 States carried 26 8 Popular vote 3,013,650 2,708,744 Percentage 52.7% 47.3%

Presidential election results map. red denotes states won by Grant/Colfax, Blue denotes those won by Seymour/Blair, Green denotes those states still under Union martial rule. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

President before election Andrew Johnson National Union Elected President Ulysses S. Grant Republican

The United States presidential election of 1868 was the first presidential election to take place during Reconstruction. Three of the former Confederate states (Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia) were not yet readmitted to the Union and therefore could not vote in the election. The incumbent President, Andrew Johnson, was unsuccessful in his attempt to receive the Democratic presidential nomination because he had alienated so many people and had not built up a political base. Instead the Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour to take on the Republican candidate, Civil War hero General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was one of the most popular men in the North due to his effort in winning the Civil War. Grant won a 6% popular vote victory over Horatio Seymour even with massive popularity in the North, Freedmen voting in all of the South, and the disenfranchisement of some Southern whites.

Background

Reconstruction was a hotly debated issue north and south. Seymour wanted to carry out a Reconstruction policy which would emphasize peaceful reconciliation with the South, a policy similar to that advocated by Abraham Lincoln and President Andrew Johnson. Grant, on the other hand, was willing to support the Reconstruction plans of the Radical Republicans in Congress. The Radical Republicans wanted to punish the South and former rebels. The Republican platform left the issue of Black Suffrage in the North to the States while emphasizing granting political rights to the freedmen as the basis for the foundation of Republican Parties in the conquered south.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

• Ulysses S. Grant, Commanding General of the U.S. Army from Illinois

Candidates gallery

• General Ulysses S. Grant of Illinois

By 1868, Republicans felt strong enough to drop the Union Party label. The Republicans badly needed a popular hero for their presidential candidate in 1868. The Democratic Party still controlled many large Northern states that had a great percentage of the electoral votes. General Ulysses S. Grant announced he was a Republican and was unanimously nominated as the party's standard bearer. Speaker Schuyler Colfax, a Radical Republican, was nominated for Vice President.

Democratic Party nomination

• Horatio Seymour, former U.S. governor of New York
• George H. Pendleton, former U.S. representative and 1864 vice-presidential nominee from Ohio
• Winfield S. Hancock, U.S. Army major general from Pennsylvania
• Thomas A. Hendricks, U.S. senator from Indiana
• Andrew Johnson, President of the United States from Tennessee
• Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United States from Ohio
• Sanford E. Church, former Lieutenant Governor of New York
• Asa Packer, former U.S. representative from Pennsylvania
• James E. English, U.S. governor of Connecticut
• James R. Doolittle, U.S. senator from Wisconsin
• Joel Parker, former U.S. governor of New Jersey

Candidates gallery

• Former Governor Horatio Seymour of New York
• Former Representative George H. Pendleton of Ohio
• General Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania
• Senator Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana
• President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee
• Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase of Ohio
• Former Lieutenant Governor Sanford E. Church of New York Former Lieutenant Governor Sanford E. Church of New York
• Former Representative Asa Packer of Pennsylvania
• Governor James E. English of Connecticut
• Senator James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin
• Former Governor Joel Parker of New Jersey

President Andrew Johnson had some initial support, but his refusal to ask the Democrats to nominate him eventually made Democrats vote for alternatives on future ballots. Johnson was powerless on Reconstruction issues and had never used his patronage to build a base of supporters. Other contenders included mainly favorite son candidates, such as Asa Packer, James E. English, James R. Doolittle, and Joel Parker. Sanford E. Church was offered as a stalking horse to test the strength of support for Salmon P. Chase.

Two-time New York Governor Horatio Seymour emerged as the Presidential nominee for the Democrats, garnering 317 delegate votes to defeat 1864 Vice Presidential nominee George H. Pendleton (157 delegates), future Vice President Thomas Andrews Hendricks (146) and eventual 1880 Democratic presidential nominee Winfield Scott Hancock. Francis Preston Blair, Jr. was nominated for Vice President after John A. McClernand, Augustus C. Dodge, and Thomas Ewing, Jr. withdrew their names from consideration.

General election

Results

Grant swept the Electoral College winning the popular and electoral votes of every region. (31 states participated, with the addition of Nebraska. However the "unreconstructed" states of Texas, Mississippi and Virginia were not allowed to participate.)

The Radical Republicans regarded black suffrage as a way to ensure that the Republicans would not become a minority party of the restored Union. Therefore, the Republicans took steps to protect their political power by passing the Fifteenth Amendment.

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1868 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 27, 2005. Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005. Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia did not participate in the election of 1868 due to Reconstruction. In Florida, the state legislature cast its electoral vote.

Close states

Red font color denotes states won by Republican Ulysses S. Grant; blue denotes those won by Democrat Horatio Seymour.

States where the margin of victory was under 5% (101 electoral votes)

1. California 0.48%
2. Oregon 0.74%
3. New York 1.18%
4. New Jersey 1.76%
5. Alabama 2.50%
6. Indiana 2.79%
7. Connecticut 2.98%
8. Pennsylvania 4.41%

States where the margin of victory was between 5% and 10% (35 electoral votes)

1. North Carolina 6.82%
2. Arkansas 7.37%
3. Ohio 8.01%

References

• Gambill, Edward. Conservative Ordeal: Northern Democrats and Reconstruction, 1865-1868. (Iowa State University Press: 1981).
• Edward McPherson. The Political History of the United States of America During the Period of Reconstruction (1875) large collection of speeches and primary documents, 1865-1870, complete text online.
• Rhodes, James G. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 6. (1920). 1865-72; detailed narrative history
• Simpson, Brooks D. Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868 (1991).
• Summers, Mark Wahlgren.The Press Gang: Newspapers and Politics, 1865-1878 (1994)

1. World Book

See also

• American election campaigns in the 19th century
• History of the United States (1865–1918)
• History of the United States Democratic Party
• History of the United States Republican Party
• Reconstruction era of the United States
• Third Party System
• United States House elections, 1868

External links

• 1868 popular vote by counties
• 1868 State-by-state Popular vote
• How close was the 1868 election? - Michael Sheppard, Michigan State University

Navigation

• History of the United States (1865–1918)
• United States presidential election, 1868
• Ulysses S. Grant