United States presidential election, 1880

 

< 1876  1884 >
United States presidential election, 1880
2 November 1880
	Winner	Runner up
Nominee	James Abram Garfield	Winfield Scott Hancock
Party	Republican	Democratic
Home State	Ohio	Pennsylvania
Running mate	Chester Alan Arthur	William Hayden English
Electoral Vote	214	155(a)
States Carried	19	19
Popular Vote	4,446,158	4,444,260
Percentage	48.3%	48.3%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Garfield/Arthur, Red denotes those won by Hancock/English. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
Before Election Rutherford Birchard Hayes Republican		After Election James Abram Garfield Republican

The United States presidential election of 1880 was largely seen as a referendum on the Republicans' relaxation of Reconstruction efforts in the southern states. There were no pressing issues of the day save tariffs, with the Republicans supporting higher tariffs and the Democrats supporting lower ones.

Incumbent President Rutherford Hayes did not seek re-election, keeping a promise made during the 1876 campaign. The Republican Party eventually chose another Ohioan, James Abram Garfield, as their standard-bearer. The Democratic Party meanwhile chose Civil War General Winfield Scott Hancock as their nominee. Despite capturing less than 10,000 more popular votes than Hancock, Garfield was easily elected, capturing 214 of the states' 369 electoral votes. It is to date the smallest popular vote victory in American history.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

Republican candidates

Senator James G. Blaine of Maine

Representative James A. Garfield of Ohio

Former President Ulysses S. Grant of Illinois

Secretary of Treasury John Sherman of Ohio

While Hayes didn't seek renomination, former President Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) openly sought nomination to a third term. Going into the Chicago convention he was the front-runner, but opponents supported a number of other candidates, including James Gillespie Blaine of Maine and Ohio's John Sherman. James Garfield, who was representing the Ohio delegation, gave a major speech in support of Sherman but soon found himself among those receiving delegate votes. On the 36th ballot, Garfield garnered 399 delegate votes, outlasting Grant (who had 313), Blaine (285) and Sherman to win the nomination. After Levi P. Morton backed out of the nomination to avoid a dispute, Chester A. Arthur was subsequently chosen as Garfield's running mate by a large margin over Elihu B. Washburne. The convention is also noteworthy as it was the first at which delegates cast votes for an African-American, Blanche Kelso Bruce.

Democratic Party nomination

The Democratic Party convention in Cincinnati, Ohio was a wild affair, with literally dozens of names being presented as potential Presidential nominees. In the end, Civil War General Winfield Scott Hancock was nominated with 705 delegate votes, besting Thomas F. Bayard, Sr. (154), Samuel J. Randall (129), Henry B. Payne (81), Allen Granberry Thurman (69), Stephen J. Field (66), and a host of other candidates. William Hayden English was subsequently nominated as Hancock's running mate.

Greenback Labor Party nomination

Dissatisfied with the fiscal policies of both parties, the Greenback Labor Party, a minor force in the 1876 election, returned with James Baird Weaver as its Presidential nominee and Benjamin Chambers as his running mate.

American Party nomination

The mistrust of the Masonic movement had led to the creation of a new nativist political party, reusing the old name of the American Party. Former Civil War general John W. Phelps, the head of the Vermont Anti-Masonic movement, was nominated for President and former Kansas senator Samuel C. Pomeroy was nominated for Vice President.

General election

Campaign

Democrats began by attacking the contested 1876 election, with Republicans bringing up the Civil War again, but the campaign soon shifted to personality. Garfield campaigned as a hard-working, self-made man. Republicans avoided direct attacks on Hancock, who was widely-respected for his service at Gettysburg, but claimed that the general would act as a figurehead for corrupt Democrats,^[1] like the ones who tried to defame Garfield with the Morey Letter. The Democrats campaigned on Republican corruption, attacking Garfield and especially his running mate Arthur.

The end of the effects of the Panic of 1873 combined with a well-funded and well-run campaign gave the advantage to Garfield.

Results

Presidential Candidate	Party	Home State	Popular Vote		Electoral Vote	Running Mate	Running Mate's Home State	Running Mate's Electoral Vote
			Count	Percentage
James Abram Garfield	Republican	Ohio	4,446,158	48.3%	214	Chester Alan Arthur	New York	214
Winfield Scott Hancock	Democratic	Pennsylvania	4,444,260	48.3%	155(a)	William Hayden English	Indiana	155(a)
James Baird Weaver	Greenback Labor	Iowa	305,997	3.3%	0	Benjamin J. Chambers	Texas	0
Neal Dow	Prohibition	Maine	10,305	0.1%	0	Henry Adams Thompson	Ohio	0
John Wolcott Phelps	American	Vermont	700	0.0%	0	Samuel Clarke Pomeroy	Kansas	0
Other			3,631	0.0%	0	Other		0
Total			9,211,051	100.0%	369	Total		369
Needed to win					185	Needed to win		185

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1880 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).

Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005).

^(a) See “Georgia's vote” below.

Georgia's vote

According to II, Section 1, clause 3 of the Constitution, “The Congress may determine the Time of chusing [sic] the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.” In 1792, Congress had set the date for the Electoral College to vote at the first Wednesday in December, and it was still set to that day in 1880, when it fell on December 1. However, Georgia's electors failed to cast their ballots on December 1, instead voting on the following Wednesday, December 8. Congress chose to count Georgia's vote in the official tally, but it is arguable that Georgia's electoral vote was constitutionally invalid, and thus that Hancock's electoral vote should be 144, not 155.

References

See also

• American election campaigns in the 19th century
• History of the United States (1865–1918)
• Third Party System

External links

• 1880 popular vote by counties
• Harp Week
• The Republican Campaign Textbook 1880
• Caricature by Joseph Keppler of 1880 Presidential Candidates

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