Past Campaigns: The 1868 Democratic Party Race
By the time the 1868 Presidential Election came around, the Radical Republicans had been waiting for almost four years to be rid of their nemesis Andrew Johnson, who had become President following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in April of 1865. Elected in 1864 under the unity banner of the National Union Party, Johnson had been a Democrat all of his life, and was selected to run with Lincoln because he was a Senator from a Confederate state who had chosen to remain in Congress and oppose secession. But by 1868, Johnson had alienated many in Congress. He had been impeached and had narrowly survived being thrown out of office in a Senate trial. Although Johnson remained in office for the remainder of his term, he was the lamest of lame ducks.
For the Republicans, it was almost a foregone conclusion that their candidate in 1868 would be General Ulysses Grant, the famed Union General during the civil war. Grant announced that he was indeed a Republican, and he was nominated unanimously as the party's candidate at its convention held in Chicago on May 20 and 21. But what about the Democrats? Nominating a candidate who could defeat Grant was a daunting and almost impossible task, especially with Reconstruction in effect in the former Confederate states, where Republicans now controlled the ballot box and limited who could and couldn't vote.
When the Democrats met for their convention at Tammany Hall in New York City on Independence Day, their convention had a slogan which would be unthinkable today in all but the most racist of parties. Banners with the slogan proclaimed: "This is a white man's country, Let a white man rule". The convention marked the return of Democratic Party politicians from the southern states.
The front-runner in the early balloting was George H. Pendleton of Ohio. He was a former Congressman who was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1864, running as a peace Democrat with war Democrat George B. McClellan when the pair lost to Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He later became known as the principal author of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883.
Others seeking the nomination included incumbent president Andrew Johnson, Union General Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania, former Lieutenant Governor Sanford Church of New York, former Representative Asa Packer of Pennsylvania, former Governor Joel Parker of New Jersey, Governor James E. English of Connecticut, Senator James Rood Doolittle of Wisconsin, and Senator Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana.
Pendleton led on the first fifteen ballots, but his vote total ranged between 104 and 156 votes, nowhere near the 212 needed for a two-thirds majority. His support declined gradually after the eighth ballot. On the sixteenth ballot he was passed by Hancock, who led for the next six ballots, but Hancock could not get more than 144 votes, and by the twenty-first ballot, Hancock and Hendricks were less than three votes apart, with neither candidate nearing the two-thirds required.
The convention chairman was Horatio Seymour, former governor of New York. He had received 9 votes on the fourth ballot from the state of North Carolina, but no votes in any of the the other of the first twenty-one ballots. When Seymour received his nine votes, this had caused what was described as "loud and enthusiastic cheering". Seymour told the convention that he was not interested in being the party's candidate. He said: :"I must not be nominated by this Convention, as I could not accept the nomination if tendered. My own inclination prompted me to decline at the outset; my honor compels me to do so now. It is impossible, consistently with my position, to allow my name to be mentioned in this Convention against my protest. The clerk will proceed with the call."
After numerous indecisive ballots, a number of compromise candidates were proposed, including New York City Mayor John T. Hoffman, former Missouri Congressman Francis P. Blair, and US Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Johnson Field, but none of these candidates, however, gained any support. On the thirteenth ballot one delegate even voted for former President Franklin Pierce.
For twenty-one ballots, the no candidate could gain a majority. The party was divided regionally, east versus West, as well as ideologically, conservatives battling radicals. No compromise seemed reachable between supporters of Hancock and Hendricks and each was determined that the other should not receive the nomination. Because of the two-thirds rule of the convention, a compromise candidate was needed. Seymour wanted it to be Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, but this did not occur.
On the twenty-second ballot, the chairman of the Ohio delegation announced, "at the unanimous request and demand of the delegation I place Horatio Seymour in nomination with twenty-one votes-against his inclination, but no longer against his honor." The delegates once again cheered loudly at this prospect and Seymour had to wait for the rousing cheers to die down before he could address the delegates and once again decline. He told the crowd: "I have no terms in which to tell of my regret that my name has been brought before this convention. God knows that my life and all that I value most in life I would give for the good of my country, which I believe to be identified with that of the Democratic party."
When someone from the crowd shouted "Take the nomination, then!" Seymour continued to resist. He said "but when I said that I could not be a candidate, I mean it! I could not receive the nomination without placing not only myself but the Democratic party in a false position. God bless you for your kindness to me, but your candidate I cannot be."
Seymour left to platform. The Ohio chairman announced that his delegation would not accept Seymour's declination. Utah's chairman rose to add his delegation's support for Seymour and while Seymour was waiting off stage, the convention nominated him unanimously. It was with considerable reluctance that Seymour accepted the role his party had thrust upon him. While some candidates have coyly pretended that they never had presidential aspirations, in Seymour's case the sentiment appears to be very genuine.
The delegates unanimously nominated General Francis Preston Blair, Jr. for vice-president on the first ballot after General John A. McClernand, former Senator Augustus C. Dodge of Iowa, and Major General Thomas Ewing, Jr. all withdrew their names from consideration. Blair's nomination reflected the party's desire to balance the ticket east and west as well as north and south.
Seymour committed himself to the campaign. He knew that he faced considerable challenges. His opponent, General Grant, enjoyed the support of a unified Republican party and most of the nation's press. Despite the tradition that presidential nominees did not actively campaign, Seymour took a tour of the Midwest and the mid-Atlantic states in mid-October. He campaigned on a promise of conservative and limited government, and he opposed the Reconstruction policies of the Republicans in Congress.
Seymour's campaign was also marked by undisguised appeals to racism. Grant was branded as the candidate of the black man while Seymour was the "White Man's" candidate. The Republicans campaign by what was known as "waving the bloody shirt", that is claiming that if the Democrats were elected, all that was gained during the civil war from the deaths of union soldiers, would be lost.
Seymour ran a much better campaign than expected, and by October many Republicans were afraid of defeat. He was vigorously attacked by pro-union newspapers, who likened him to the inept James Buchanan. They also alleged that insanity ran through the Seymour family, citing as evidence the suicide of his father. The Democrats also got down in the mud in their criticism of Grant and the Republicans. Blair went on a national speaking tour in which he warned that electing Grant would result in the rule of "a semi-barbarous race of blacks who are worshipers of fetishes and poligamists" and wanted to "subject the white women to their unbridled lust." Seymour's rhetoric was more restrained. He emphasized his idea that change in the South should be accomplished at the state level, without national interference. He said that state civil authority should take precedence over military action.
Grant was victorious on election day, but not by as large a margin as many had predicted. Seymour was defeated decisively in the electoral vote by a count of 214 to 80. Grant received 3,013,650 votes (52.7%) compared to 2,708,744 (47.3%) for Seymour.
For the Republicans, it was almost a foregone conclusion that their candidate in 1868 would be General Ulysses Grant, the famed Union General during the civil war. Grant announced that he was indeed a Republican, and he was nominated unanimously as the party's candidate at its convention held in Chicago on May 20 and 21. But what about the Democrats? Nominating a candidate who could defeat Grant was a daunting and almost impossible task, especially with Reconstruction in effect in the former Confederate states, where Republicans now controlled the ballot box and limited who could and couldn't vote.
When the Democrats met for their convention at Tammany Hall in New York City on Independence Day, their convention had a slogan which would be unthinkable today in all but the most racist of parties. Banners with the slogan proclaimed: "This is a white man's country, Let a white man rule". The convention marked the return of Democratic Party politicians from the southern states.
The front-runner in the early balloting was George H. Pendleton of Ohio. He was a former Congressman who was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1864, running as a peace Democrat with war Democrat George B. McClellan when the pair lost to Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He later became known as the principal author of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883.
Others seeking the nomination included incumbent president Andrew Johnson, Union General Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania, former Lieutenant Governor Sanford Church of New York, former Representative Asa Packer of Pennsylvania, former Governor Joel Parker of New Jersey, Governor James E. English of Connecticut, Senator James Rood Doolittle of Wisconsin, and Senator Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana.
Pendleton led on the first fifteen ballots, but his vote total ranged between 104 and 156 votes, nowhere near the 212 needed for a two-thirds majority. His support declined gradually after the eighth ballot. On the sixteenth ballot he was passed by Hancock, who led for the next six ballots, but Hancock could not get more than 144 votes, and by the twenty-first ballot, Hancock and Hendricks were less than three votes apart, with neither candidate nearing the two-thirds required.
The convention chairman was Horatio Seymour, former governor of New York. He had received 9 votes on the fourth ballot from the state of North Carolina, but no votes in any of the the other of the first twenty-one ballots. When Seymour received his nine votes, this had caused what was described as "loud and enthusiastic cheering". Seymour told the convention that he was not interested in being the party's candidate. He said: :"I must not be nominated by this Convention, as I could not accept the nomination if tendered. My own inclination prompted me to decline at the outset; my honor compels me to do so now. It is impossible, consistently with my position, to allow my name to be mentioned in this Convention against my protest. The clerk will proceed with the call."
After numerous indecisive ballots, a number of compromise candidates were proposed, including New York City Mayor John T. Hoffman, former Missouri Congressman Francis P. Blair, and US Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Johnson Field, but none of these candidates, however, gained any support. On the thirteenth ballot one delegate even voted for former President Franklin Pierce.
For twenty-one ballots, the no candidate could gain a majority. The party was divided regionally, east versus West, as well as ideologically, conservatives battling radicals. No compromise seemed reachable between supporters of Hancock and Hendricks and each was determined that the other should not receive the nomination. Because of the two-thirds rule of the convention, a compromise candidate was needed. Seymour wanted it to be Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, but this did not occur.
On the twenty-second ballot, the chairman of the Ohio delegation announced, "at the unanimous request and demand of the delegation I place Horatio Seymour in nomination with twenty-one votes-against his inclination, but no longer against his honor." The delegates once again cheered loudly at this prospect and Seymour had to wait for the rousing cheers to die down before he could address the delegates and once again decline. He told the crowd: "I have no terms in which to tell of my regret that my name has been brought before this convention. God knows that my life and all that I value most in life I would give for the good of my country, which I believe to be identified with that of the Democratic party."
When someone from the crowd shouted "Take the nomination, then!" Seymour continued to resist. He said "but when I said that I could not be a candidate, I mean it! I could not receive the nomination without placing not only myself but the Democratic party in a false position. God bless you for your kindness to me, but your candidate I cannot be."
Seymour left to platform. The Ohio chairman announced that his delegation would not accept Seymour's declination. Utah's chairman rose to add his delegation's support for Seymour and while Seymour was waiting off stage, the convention nominated him unanimously. It was with considerable reluctance that Seymour accepted the role his party had thrust upon him. While some candidates have coyly pretended that they never had presidential aspirations, in Seymour's case the sentiment appears to be very genuine.
The delegates unanimously nominated General Francis Preston Blair, Jr. for vice-president on the first ballot after General John A. McClernand, former Senator Augustus C. Dodge of Iowa, and Major General Thomas Ewing, Jr. all withdrew their names from consideration. Blair's nomination reflected the party's desire to balance the ticket east and west as well as north and south.
Seymour committed himself to the campaign. He knew that he faced considerable challenges. His opponent, General Grant, enjoyed the support of a unified Republican party and most of the nation's press. Despite the tradition that presidential nominees did not actively campaign, Seymour took a tour of the Midwest and the mid-Atlantic states in mid-October. He campaigned on a promise of conservative and limited government, and he opposed the Reconstruction policies of the Republicans in Congress.
Seymour's campaign was also marked by undisguised appeals to racism. Grant was branded as the candidate of the black man while Seymour was the "White Man's" candidate. The Republicans campaign by what was known as "waving the bloody shirt", that is claiming that if the Democrats were elected, all that was gained during the civil war from the deaths of union soldiers, would be lost.
Seymour ran a much better campaign than expected, and by October many Republicans were afraid of defeat. He was vigorously attacked by pro-union newspapers, who likened him to the inept James Buchanan. They also alleged that insanity ran through the Seymour family, citing as evidence the suicide of his father. The Democrats also got down in the mud in their criticism of Grant and the Republicans. Blair went on a national speaking tour in which he warned that electing Grant would result in the rule of "a semi-barbarous race of blacks who are worshipers of fetishes and poligamists" and wanted to "subject the white women to their unbridled lust." Seymour's rhetoric was more restrained. He emphasized his idea that change in the South should be accomplished at the state level, without national interference. He said that state civil authority should take precedence over military action.
Grant was victorious on election day, but not by as large a margin as many had predicted. Seymour was defeated decisively in the electoral vote by a count of 214 to 80. Grant received 3,013,650 votes (52.7%) compared to 2,708,744 (47.3%) for Seymour.