United States presidential election, 1868

Infobox Election
election_name = United States presidential election, 1868
country = United States
type = presidential
ongoing = no
previous_election = United States presidential election, 1864
previous_year = 1864
next_election = United States presidential election, 1872
next_year = 1872
election_date = November 3, 1868


nominee1 = Ulysses S. Grant
party1 = Republican Party (United States)
home_state1 = Illinois
running_mate1 = Schuyler Colfax
electoral_vote1 = 214
states_carried1 = 26
popular_vote1 = 3,013,650
percentage1 = 52.7%


nominee2 = Horatio Seymour
party2 = Democratic Party (United States)
home_state2 = New York
running_mate2 = Francis Preston Blair, Jr.
electoral_vote2 = 80
states_carried2 = 8
popular_vote2 = 2,708,744
percentage2 = 47.3%
map_

---

map_size = 350px
map_caption = 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.
title = President
before_election = Andrew Johnson
before_party = National Union Party (United States)
after_election = Ulysses S. Grant
after_party = Republican Party (United States)

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. Surprisingly, Grant was only able to win a narrow victory in the popular vote 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 mild Reconstruction, similar to the one proposed by Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Grant, on the other hand, was willing to support the harsh Reconstruction plans of the Radical Republicans.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

Republican candidates

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

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.

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" status 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 PV source| year=1868| as of=July 27, 2005

Source (Electoral Vote): National Archives EV source| year=1868| as of=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."

References

* Gambill, Edward. "Conservative Ordeal: Northern Democrats and Reconstruction, 1865-1868." (Iowa State University Press: 1981).
* [http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN04007498&id=kaG2Am68tuAC&pg=PP3&dq=mcpherson+period+of+reconstruction 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

* 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

* [http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/1868.htm 1868 popular vote by counties]
* [http://www.multied.com/elections/1868Pop.html 1868 State-by-state Popular vote]
* [http://www.msu.edu/~sheppa28/elections.html#1868 How close was the 1868 election?] - Michael Sheppard, Michigan State University

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