GARFIELD AND ARTHUR.
"The doctrines announced by the Chicago Convention are not the temporary
devices of a party to attract votes and carry an election; they are
deliberate convictions, resulting from a careful study of the spirit of
our institutions, the events of our history, and the best impulses of
our people ... If elected, it will be my purpose to enforce strict
obedience to the Constitution and the laws, and to promote, as best I
may, the interest and honor of the whole country, relying for support
upon the wisdom of Congress, the intelligence and patriotism of the
people, and the favor of God."
_James A. Garfield_, _Letter of Acceptance_.
_Mentor_, _Ohio_, _July_ 10, 1880.
General Grant arrived at San Francisco in December, 1879, from his
triumphal tour of the world, and his journey eastward was made the
occasion of a great popular welcome and ovation. This wide-spread
enthusiasm lent encouragement to those who were intent upon his
nomination for a third term, and they proceeded to strengthen his
prospects. Senators Conkling, of New York, Cameron, of Pennsylvania, and
Logan, of Illinois, formed a powerful combination in favor of General
Grant, and they were successful in their preliminary work of forcing the
adoption of the unit rule on the delegations of their States, but it
soon became apparent that many of the delegates would vote as they saw
fit, and would appeal, if necessary, to the convention to sustain them.
James G. Blaine was the next strongest candidate, and to his standard
rallied a strong host of supporters, many of whom were opposed to a
third term for any person. As near as the preliminary figuring could be
done it showed the strength of Grant and Blaine to be nearly the same,
and this gave hope to the friends of John Sherman that he might be
decided on as a compromise candidate, if it became impossible to
nominate either Grant or Blaine.
The Seventh Republican National Convention met in the Exposition Hall at
Chicago, Ill., on Wednesday, June 2, 1880, and was called to order by
Senator J. Donald Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Chairman of the National
Committee. George F. Hoar, of Massachusetts, was chosen temporary
Chairman, the various committees were then appointed, but owing to
contests among the delegates from several States, nothing further could
be done, and the convention adjourned early in the afternoon. On the
following morning Mr. Hoar was reported as permanent president, and the
usual number of vice-presidents and secretaries were also reported.
Owing to the delay in the report of the Committee on Credentials nothing
further of any moment was done on this day, and the convention adjourned
about 7:30 p. m., after an unsuccessful attempt, on motion of Mr.
Henderson, of Iowa, to force the Committee on Rules to report. In the
vote on a substitute to this motion a most important ruling was made--
the vote of Alabama was reported in full for the substitute, but one of
the delegates protested and asked the right to cast his vote against it.
This was permitted by the president, and the ruling was allowed to stand
by the convention, and was thus a condemnation of the unit system of
voting. Upon the opening of the third day of the convention (Friday),
Mr. Conkling offered a resolution that as the sense of the convention
every member of it was bound in honor to support its nominee, no matter
who was nominated, and that no man should hold a seat who was not ready
to so agree. Out of a total of 719 votes, three (all from West Virginia)
were cast against the resolution, whereupon Mr. Conkling offered a
second resolution that these delegates did not deserve and had forfeited
their votes. The delegates explained that they did not wish it
understood that they would not support the nominee, but they simply
desired to register their disapproval of the expediency of the
resolution. This incident is of the greatest importance in the history
of this convention, because it brought Mr. Garfield to his feet in a
brief but weighty speech, in which he defended those who had voted in
the negative, and finally induced Mr. Conkling to withdraw his second
resolution. This speech attracted the attention of the entire
convention, and Mr. Garfield from that moment became one of the great
leaders in the convention. Mr. Garfield then reported the rules which
were adopted, with one amendment, after considerable debate. The great
contest of the convention next to the presidental nomination was the
report of the Committee on Credentials, in which it was attempted by the
friends of Gen. Grant to force the unit rule on the convention. The
majority report of this committee favored district representation, and
at last this was decided on after a long and remarkable debate extending
through Friday until 2 o'clock in the morning and all of the Saturday
session until 5 p. m.
Edwards Pierrepont, of New York, reported the platform, which was
adopted after one amendment inserting a civil service reform plank.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1880.
The Republican Party, in national convention assembled, at the end of
twenty years since the federal government was first committed to its
charge, submits to the people of the United States this brief report
of its administration:
It suppressed a rebellion which had armed nearly a million of men to
subvert the national authority; it reconstructed the union of the states
with freedom instead of slavery as its corner stone; it transformed
4,000,000 human beings from the likeness of things to the rank of
citizens; it relieved Congress of the infamous work of hunting fugitive
slaves, and charged it to see that slavery does not exist.
It has raised the value of our paper currency from thirty-eight per cent
to the par of gold; it has restored, upon a solid basis, payment in coin
of all national obligations, and has given us a currency absolutely good
and equal in every part of our extended country; it has lifted the
credit of the nation from the point of where six percent bonds sold at
eighty-six to that where a percent bonds are eagerly sought at a
premium.
Under its administration railways have increased from 31,000 miles in
1860 to more than 82,000 miles in 1879.
Our foreign trade increased from $700,000,000 to $1,150,000,000 in the
same time, and our exports, which were $20,000,000 less than our imports
in 1860, were $265,000,000 more than our imports in 1879.
Without resorting to loans, it has, since the war closed, defrayed the
ordinary expenses of government, besides the accruing interest on the
public debt, and has disbursed annually more than $30,000,000 for
soldiers' and sailors' pensions. It has paid $880,000,000 of the public
debt, and, by refunding the balance at lower rates, has reduced the
annual interest charge from nearly $150,000,000 to less than
$89,000,000.
All the industries of the country have revived, labor is in demand,
wages have increased, and throughout the entire country there is
evidence of a coming prosperity greater than we have ever enjoyed.
Upon this record the Republican Party asks for the continued confidence
and support of the people, and the convention submits for their approval
the following statement of the principles and purposes which will
continue to guide and inspire its efforts.
1. We affirm that the work of the Republican Party for the last twenty
years has been such as to commend it to the favor of the nation; that
the fruits of the costly victories which we have achieved through
immense difficulties should be preserved; that the peace regained should
be cherished; that the Union should be perpetuated, and that the liberty
secured to this generation should be transmitted undiminished to other
generations; that the order established and the credit acquired should
never be impaired; that the pensions promised should be paid; that the
debt, so much reduced, should be extinguished by the full payment of
every dollar thereof; that the reviving industries should be further
promoted, and that the commerce, already increasing, should be steadily
encouraged.
2. The Constitution of the United States is a supreme law, and not a
mere contract. Out of confederated states it made a sovereign nation.
Some powers are denied to the nation, while others are denied to the
states; but the boundary between the powers delegated and those reserved
is to be determined by the national, and not by the state tribunal.
3. The work of popular education is one left to the care of the several
states, but it is the duty of the national government to aid that work
to the extent of its constitutional ability. The intelligence of the
nation is but the aggregate of the intelligence in the several states,
and the destiny of the nation must be guided, not by the genius of any
one state, but by the average genius of all.
4. The Constitution wisely forbids Congress to make any law respecting
the establishment of religion, but it is idle to hope that the nation
can be protected against the influence of secret sectarianism which each
state is exposed to its domination. We therefore recommend that the
Constitution be so amended as to lay the same prohibition upon the
legislature of each state, and to forbid the appropriation of public
funds for the support of sectarian schools.
5. We reaffirm the belief avowed in 1876, that the duties levied for the
purpose of revenue should so discriminate as to favor American labor;
that no further grants of the public domain should be made to any
railway or other corporation; that slavery having perished in the
states, its twin barbarity--polygamy--must die in the territories;
that everywhere the protection accorded to a citizen of American birth
must be secured to citizens by American adoption; that we deem it the
duty of Congress to develop and improve our seacoast and harbors, but
insist that further subsidies to private persons or corporations must
cease; that the obligations of the Republic to the men who preserved its
integrity in the day of battle are undiminished by the lapse of fifteen
years since their final victory--to do them honor is and shall forever
be the grateful privilege and sacred duty of the American people.
6. Since the authority to regulate immigration and intercourse between
the United States and foreign nations rests with the Congress of the
United States and the treaty-making power, the Republican Party,
regarding the unrestricted immigration of Chinese as a matter of grave
concernment under the exercise of both these powers, would limit and
restrict that immigration by the enactment of such just, humane and
reasonable laws and treaties as will produce that result.
7. That the purity and patriotism which characterized the earlier career
of Rutherford B. Hayes in peace and war, and which guided the thoughts
of our immediate predecessors to him for a presidential candidate, have
continued to inspire him in his career as Chief Executive; and that
history will accord to his administration the honors which are due to an
efficient, just and courteous discharge of the public business, and will
honor his vetoes interposed between the people and attempted partisan
laws.
8. We charge upon the Democratic Party the habitual sacrifice of
patriotism and justice to a supreme and insatiable lust for office and
patronage; that to obtain possession of the national government and
control of the place, they have obstructed all efforts to promote the
purity and to conserve the freedom of the sufferage, and have devised
fraudulent ballots and invented fraudulent certification of returns;
have labored to unseat lawfully elected members of Congress, to secure
at all hazards the vote of a majority of the states in the House of
Representatives; have endeavored to occupy by force and fraud the places
of trust given to others by the people of Maine, rescued by the courage
and action of Maine's patriotic sons; have, by methods vicious in
principle and tyrannical in practice, attached partisan legislation to
appropriation bills upon whose passage the very movement of the
government depended; have crushed the rights of the individual; have
advocated the principles and sought the favor of the rebellion against
the nation, and have endeavored to obliterate the sacred memories and to
overcome its inestimably valuable results of nationality, personal
freedom, and individual equality.
The equal, steady, and complete enforcement of the laws and the
protection of all our citizens in the enjoyment of all the privileges
and immunities guaranteed by the Constitution, are the first duties of
the nation.
The dangers of a "Solid South" can only be averted by a faithful
performance of every promise which the nation has made to the citizen.
The execution of the laws, and the punishment of all those who violate
them, are the only safe methods by which an enduring peace can be
secured and genuine prosperity established throughout the South.
Whatever promises the nation makes the nation must perform. A nation
cannot with safety relegate this duty to the states. The "Solid South"
must be divided by the peaceful agencies of the ballot, and all honest
opinions must there find free expression. To this end the honest voter
must be protected against terrorism, violence or fraud.
And we affirm it to be the duty and the purpose of the Republican Party
to use all legitimate means to restore all the states of this Union to
the most perfect harmony which may be possible, and we submit to the
practical, sensible people of these United States to say whether it
would not be dangerous to the dearest interests of our country at this
time to surrender the administration of the national government to a
party which seeks to overthrow the existing policy under which we are
now so prosperous, and thus bring distrust and confusion where there is
now order, confidence and hope.
9. The Republican Party, adhering to the principles affirmed by its last
national convention of respect for the constitutional rules governing
appointments to office, adopts the declaration of President Hayes that
the reform of the civil service should be thorough, radical and
complete. To this end it demands the co-operation of the legislative
with the executive departments of the government, and that Congress
shall so legislate that fitness, ascertained by proper practical tests,
shall admit to the public service.
The opening words of the fifth plank became the deciding issue of the
campaign. The nominations for President were made at the evening session
Saturday. James G. Blaine was first placed in nomination by Thomas F.
Joy, and seconded by F. M. Pixley and Wm. P. Frye; Ulysses S. Grant was
nominated by Roscoe Conkling and seconded by Wm. O. Bradley; John
Sherman was nominated by James A. Garfield and seconded by F. C. Winkler
and R. B. Elliott; William Windom was nominated by E. F. Drake; George
F. Edmunds by Frederick Billings, and Elihu B. Washburn by J. E.
Cassady. The nominating speeches concluded near midnight, and aroused
the utmost enthusiasm among the 15,000 men and women who were packed in
the great hall. The convention adjourned at midnight to meet and begin
balloting on Monday morning. The first ballot on Monday morning resulted
as follows, 756 delegates being present:
Grant ................ 304 Edmunds .............. 34
Blaine ............... 284 Washburne ............ 30
Sherman .............. 93 Windom ............... 10
Twenty-eight ballots were taken on Monday with very little material
change. Mr. Garfield received one vote on the second ballot, and
afterwards received not more than two votes on any ballot until the
thirty-fourth, taken on Tuesday, when Wisconsin broke and gave sixteen
votes for Garfield, and this was the beginning of the movement by the
Blaine and Sherman forces to combine and nominate Mr. Garfield, who was
named on the thirty-sixth ballot. The vote for General Grant was solid
until the end, never falling below that of the first ballot, 304. The
concluding ballots are here given:
34th 35th 36th
Ballot. Ballot. Ballot.
Grant ......... 312 313 306
Blaine ........ 275 257 42
Sherman ....... 107 99 3
Edmunds ....... 11 11
Washburne ..... 30 23 5
Windom ........ 4 3
Garfield ...... 17 50 399
Mr. Garfield was nominated, and the convention gave way to almost twenty
minutes of cheering and enthusiasm, at the conclusion of which Roscoe
Conkling moved that the nomination be made unanimous. As a concession to
the disappointed Grant forces, Chester A. Arthur, of New York, was
nominated for Vice-President on the first ballot over Elihu B.
Washburne, Marshall Jewell, Thomas Settle, Horace Maynard and Edmund J.
Davis, the ballot standing 468 for Arthur and 193 for Washburne, his
nearest competitor, with scattering votes for the rest.
Although the nomination of Mr. Garfield, like that of Mr. Hayes, was
totally unexpected, he was not unknown, and had already, by his services
and career, earned for himself an enviable place in the nation's
history. Born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in 1831, he had risen from an
honorable poverty to the presidency of a College at the age of 26. He
served one term in the Ohio Senate, and at the opening of the Civil War
he was commissioned a Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteers, and without any
military experience and with a small force he routed a large body of
Confederates at Middle Creek, Ky., in January, 1862, for which he
received the highest praise from his superiors and the rank of
Brigadier-General from President Lincoln. The rest of his military
career was equally satisfactory and prominent, and he reached the rank
of Major-General after Chickamauga. Resigning his commission, he took
his seat in the House of Representatives in December, 1863, and
immediately became a leader of the Republican forces, and his
legislative work had been most conspicuous. He served from the
Thirty-eighth to the Forty-Sixth Congresses inclusive, was on the
Electoral Commission of 1877, and at the time of his nomination had been
elected from Ohio to the United States Senate, but had not yet taken his
seat.
The Greenback-Labor Convention met at Chicago, June 9th, and nominated
James B. Weaver, of Iowa, for President, and B. F. Chambers, of Texas,
for Vice-President, declaring in its platform that all money should be
issued and its volume controlled by the Government; that the public
domain should be kept for settlers, and that Congress should regulate
commerce between the States. The Prohibition Convention at Cleveland,
June 17th, nominated Neal Dow, of Maine, for President, and A. M.
Thompson, of Ohio, for Vice-President. The last of the great party
conventions, that of the Democrats, met at Cincinnati, June 22d, and
nominated General Winfield S. Hancock, of Pennsylvania, for President,
on the second ballot, and William H. English, of Indiana, for
Vice-President by acclamation. The Democratic platform was concise, and
in sharp contrast to the verbose platform of 1876; it demanded an honest
money of gold and silver, and paper convertible into coin on demand;
tariff for revenue only; and that the public land be given to none but
actual settlers.
For the first time since 1844 there was no agitation in any of the party
platforms of the slave or southern questions, and all parties agreed on
the Chinese question. The campaign opened with defeat for the
Republicans in Maine, but this led to greater efforts in the West. Late
in the canvass the tariff issue became the most prominent one, and the
declaration of the Democratic party for a tariff for revenue only was
used against them with tremendous effect by the Republicans. Special
efforts were made to gain the October States, and the Republican cause
was greatly strengthened and perhaps won in them by several speeches
delivered by General Grant and Senator Conkling. In desperation the
Democrats, near the end of the canvass (October 20th), published
broadcast a letter purporting to come from Mr. Garfield and addressed to
"H. L. Morey." The letter stated opinions on the Chinese question which,
if true, would have cost many votes, but the letter was promptly shown
to be a contemptible forgery, and so plain was the evidence that the
letter was disavowed by most Democrats. The election on November 2d was
a victory for Garfield and Arthur, who received 214 electoral votes to
155 for Hancock and English. The popular vote was:
Garfield ............ 4,454,416 Weaver .............. 308,578
Hancock ............. 4,444,952 Dow ................. 10,305
An analysis of the popular and electoral vote disclosed the fact that
every former slave State was carried by the Democratic Party, and the
"Solid South" for the Democrats again became a factor in national
politics.
Mr. Garfield was inaugurated March 4, 1881, and almost immediately was
involved in the controversy between the "Stalwart" and the "Half Breed"
Republicans in New York, the former being led by Senators Roscoe
Conkling and Thomas C. Platt, and the latter being those who were
opposed to the machine-like politics of the State. The "Stalwarts" had
gained great strength during Gen. Grant's administration, but had been
checked by President Hayes; they were the strongest advocates of Gen.
Grant for a third term, and were greatly disappointed over his defeat in
the convention, but had loyally supported the nominee, and had now made
up their minds to control the Federal patronage in New York. President
Garfield was drawn into the muddle by his appointment of William H.
Robertson, a "Half Breed," to the Collectorship of New York. This called
forth a protest signed by Postmaster-General James, Vice-President
Arthur and Senators Conkling and Platt, the Senators announcing that
they would oppose the confirmation in the Senate. This caused the
President to withdraw all New York appointments until the matter should
be settled, and as it was seen that the nomination would be confirmed,
Senators Conkling and Platt resigned (May 16th), and appealed to the New
York Legislature for re-election, but they were defeated, Elbridge C.
Lapham and Warren Miller being elected in their places. The controversy
excited the whole country, and it was believed by many to have
influenced the deplorable tragedy which took place July 2, 1881. About
9:30 a. m., on that day, the President and Mr. Blaine entered the
Baltimore & Potomac station in Washington to join a party which would
leave that morning for Long Branch, where the President was to join his
wife. The President and Mr. Blaine entered the Ladies' Waiting Room, and
shortly afterward two shots, fired by Charles Jules Guiteau, were heard,
and the President fell mortally wounded. He lingered in great suffering
until September 19th, when he died at Elberon, New Jersey, whither he
had been removed from Washington.
[Illustration: Chester A. Arthur.]
Vice-President Arthur was at his home in New York City at the time of
President Garfield's death, and there took the oath of office as
President in the early morning hours of September 20th, and took the
formal oath in Washington on September 22d. It is of interest to know
something of the man who was called, by these distressing circumstances,
to the presidential chair.
President Arthur was born at Fairfield, Vermont, October 5, 1830; after
teaching school, he studied law and was admitted to practice in New York
City; he served honorably and notably during the Civil War, most of the
time as a staff officer, and at its conclusion became active in local
politics in New York City, and was Collector of the Port of New York
from 1871 to 1878, being removed in the latter year by President Hayes.
His nomination was made to satisfy the "Stalwarts," and he took an
active part in the controversy between President Garfield and the New
York Senators, and now came to the office of President, with the popular
mind, agitated by the murder of the President and the factional fight in
New York, greatly incensed and antagonized against any one connected
with the "Stalwarts." President Arthur soon gained the confidence of the
people by the conservatism and dignity of his administration, and his
term was a satisfactory and prosperous one.
The Forty-seventh Congress opened its first session on December 5, 1881,
with David Davis presiding in the Senate; in the House, Joseph Warren
Keifer, Republican, of Ohio, was elected Speaker by 148 votes to 129 for
Samuel J. Randall, and the Republicans were again in control of both
branches of Congress. The legislation of this Congress was marked by the
redemption of the party pledges of the preceding campaign. The Edmunds
law (March, 1882) was directed at polygamy in Utah and the territories.
Immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States was suspended for
ten years (May 6, 1882), a previous bill making the time twenty years
having been vetoed by President Arthur. A bill was also approved (May
15, 1882) appointing a Tariff Commission. The Commission met in
Washington in July. It was constituted from both political parties, and
was composed of men of high standing. When the second session of the
Forty-seventh Congress convened on December 4, 1882, it listened to the
second annual message from President Arthur, in which the main subject
to receive attention was the rapid reduction of the national debt by the
large annual surplus revenue. The Tariff Commission at the same time
submitted an exhaustive report, containing a schedule of duties
recommended by it; after considerable debate and many changes in the
schedule, a tariff bill was passed and approved by the President, March
3, 1883, the Democrats steadily opposing it.
Civil Service Reform was taken up and provided for in the Pendleton
Civil Service Reform bill (January, 1883), which provided for a
non-partisan commission and defined their duties; the effect of this
bill was to withdraw from politics the employes of the Government.
The strong prejudices which accompanied Mr. Arthur into office never
fully disappeared; during 1882 and 1883 there was considerable public
unrest which had its natural influence on political action; it was
caused by dissatisfaction among the laboring classes against
combinations of capital, which were now resulting from the extraordinary
development of the nation's resources, and also because many producers
were dissatisfied with the provisions of the new tariff schedule.
Although the country was enjoying great prosperity and business
confidence, there was a feeling for a change of politics and men. These
various causes, and the fact that the strong slavery and sectional
issues had disappeared from politics, were demoralizing to the
Republican strength in many of the pivotal States, and portended an
exceedingly close election in the campaign of 1884. Ohio elected a
Democratic Secretary of State in 1882, and followed it the next year by
electing Mr. Hoadley, Democrat, over Mr. Foraker, Republican, for
Governor. Many other important Democratic victories were gained in 1882
--Pennsylvania electing a Democratic Governor and New York electing
Grover Cleveland by the enormous majority of 192,000, a victory which
secured him the Democratic presidential nomination in 1884. President
Arthur was a candidate for the presidential nomination in 1884, and his
strength came mainly from the South, but the overwhelming Republican
sentiment in the northern and western States demanded the nomination of
one whose distinguished services and magnetic personality would
unquestionably, with a united party behind him, bring another victory to
the party in its eighth national contest.