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1868 United States presidential election

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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

Republican candidates

Candidates gallery

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.

Presidential Ballot
Ulysses S. Grant 650
Vice Presidential Ballot
Ballot 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Before Shifts 5th After Shifts
Schuyler Colfax 115 145 165 186 226 541
Benjamin Wade 147 170 178 206 207 38
Reuben E. Fenton 126 144 139 144 139 69
Henry Wilson 119 114 101 87 56 0
Andrew G. Curtin 51 45 40 0 0 0
Hannibal Hamlin 28 30 25 25 20 0
James Speed 22 0 0 0 0 0
James Harlan 16 0 0 0 0 0
John A.J. Creswell 14 0 0 0 0 0
Samuel C. Pomeroy 6 0 0 0 0 0
William D. Kelley 4 0 0 0 0 0

Democratic Party nomination

Democratic candidates

Candidates gallery

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.

Presidential Ballot
Ballot 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd Before Shifts 22nd After Shifts
Horatio Seymour 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 317
George H. Pendleton 105 104 119.5 118.5 122 122.5 137.5 156.5 144 147.5 144.5 145.5 134.5 130 129.5 107.5 70.5 56.5 0 0 0 0 0
Winfield Scott Hancock 33.5 40.5 45.5 43.5 46 47 42.5 28 34.5 34 32.5 30 48.5 56 79.5 113.5 137.5 144.5 135.5 142.5 135.5 103.5 0
Thomas A. Hendricks 2.5 2 9.5 11.5 19.5 30 39.5 75 80.5 82.5 88 89 81 84.5 82.5 70.5 80 87 107.5 121 132 145.5 0
Andrew Johnson 65 52 34.5 32 24 21 12.5 6 5.5 6 5.5 4.5 4.5 0 5.5 5.5 6 10 0 0 5 4 0
Sanford E. Church 34 33 33 33 33 33 33 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Asa Packer 26 26 26 26 27 27 26 26 26.5 27.5 26 26 26 26 0 0 0 0 22 0 0 0 0
James E. English 16 12.5 7.5 7.5 7 6 6 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 16 19 7 0
James R. Doolittle 13 12.5 12 12 15 12 12 12 12 12 12.5 12.5 13 13 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 4 0
Joel Parker 13 15.5 13 13 13 13 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 3.5 0 0 0 0 0
Reverdy Johnson 8.5 8 11 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Francis Preston Blair 0.5 10.5 4.5 2 9.5 5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 13.5 13 0 0 0
Thomas Ewing 0 0.5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
John Q. Adams 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Salmon P. Chase 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.5 0.5 0 0 0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0 4 0 0
George B. McClellan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.5 0 0
Franklin Pierce 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
John T. Hoffman 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 0.5 0 0
Stephen J. Field 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 9 8 0 0
Thomas H. Seymour 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 0
Vice Presidential Ballot
Francis Preston Blair 317

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.

Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote(a) Electoral
vote(a) 		Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote(a)
Ulysses Simpson Grant Republican Illinois 3,013,650 52.7% 214 Schuyler Colfax Indiana 214
Horatio Seymour Democratic New York 2,708,744 47.3% 80 Francis Preston Blair, Jr. Missouri 80
Other 46 0.0% — Other —
Total 5,722,440 100% 294 294
Needed to win 148 148

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. (a) 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.[The copyright has expired.]
  • 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)

See also

External links

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