HARRISON.
"No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and
love, or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, and
so full of generous suggestion to enterprise and labor. God has placed
upon our head a diadem, and has laid at our feet power and wealth beyond
definition or calculation. But we must not forget that we take these
gifts upon the condition that justice and mercy shall hold the reins of
power, and that the upward avenues of hope shall be free to all the
people."
_Benjamin Harrison's Inaugural Address_, _March_ 4, 1889.
Three National Conventions met on May 15, 1888. The Union Labor
Convention at Cincnnati nominated Alson J. Streeter, of Illinois, for
President, and Samuel Evans, of Texas, for Vice-President; the United
Labor Convention, at the same place, nominated Robert H. Cowdrey, of
Illinois, and W. H. T. Wakefield, of Kansas; and the Equal Rights
Convention, at Des Moines, Iowa, nominated Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, of
the District of Columbia, for President, and Alfred H. Love, of
Pennsylvania, for Vice-President. The popular vote for these tickets in
the various States was small and did not influence the result. The
Prohibition Convention met at Indianapolis May 20, 1888, and nominated
Clinton B. Fisk, of New Jersey, and John A. Brooks, of Missouri; the
total Prohibition vote was 249,506, a gain of 100,000 over the total
vote of 1884.
In this year, for the first time since 1860, the Democratic National
Convention was held before the Republican National Convention. The
Democrats assembled at St. Louis, Missouri, on June 5, 1888, and
nominated Grover Cleveland without any opposition, something which had
not occurred in a Democratic Convention for forty-eight years; Allen G.
Thurman, of Ohio, was nominated for Vice-President on the first ballot.
The Democratic platform of 1888 reaffirmed that of 1884, and endorsed
the "views expressed by President Cleveland in his last earnest message
to Congress as a correct interpretation of that platform upon the
question of tariff reduction;" it welcomed a scrutiny of its four years
of executive power; advocated homesteads for the people, and civil
service and tariff reform. When the Republicans met at Chicago it
appeared that John Sherman, of Ohio, was the strongest candidate, and
that he might receive the nomination on the third or fourth ballot, but
there was a large number of "favorite sons," and no one could exactly
determine what might happen before the balloting was concluded. Mr.
Blaine, in the closing months of 1887, was unquestionably the unanimous
choice of the party, and he would probably have been nominated by
acclamation had he not in a letter from Florence, Italy, dated January
25, 1888, declined absolutely to be a candidate. So earnest, however,
was the desire for his nomination, that many of his friends refused to
be silenced by his emphatic declaration, and it became necessary for him
to write a second letter from Paris on May 17th, in which he reiterated
his former declaration, and refused to allow his name to be considered,
but he predicted that the tariff question would be the issue, and that
an overwhelming success for the Republican Party would be the result of
the campaign. The confusion caused by his withdrawal led to the large
number of candidates, but gradually the sentiment of the party began to
look for a man who would not only be able to carry the States won by the
Republicans in 1884, but who would also make the best showing in the
doubtful States, principal among which were New York and Indiana.
On Tuesday, June 19, 1888, at 12:30 p. m., the Republican National
Convention was called to order by Chairman B. F. Jones, of the National
Committee. After an eloquent prayer by Dr. Gunsaulus, of the Plymouth
Church, Chicago, the call for the convention was read by Secretary
Fessenden. The name of John M. Thurston, of Nebraska, for temporary
Chairman, was reported by the National Committee; the roll-call of
States was then made, at which the delegates announced the names of the
persons selected to serve on the Permanent Organization, Rules and Order
of Business, Credentials and Resolutions Committees. Considerable time
was consumed in a preliminary hearing of the factional fight in Virginia
between the Mahone and Wise Republicans. A notable feature of this
session of the convention was the speech by John C. Fremont, the first
candidate of the party for President. The convention adjourned at 3:30
p. m. until the following day at noon. On convening, the Committee on
Permanent Organization reported the name of M. M. Estee, of California,
for permanent President, and also the usual number of vice-presidents
and honorary secretaries. The Committee on Rules and Order of Business
reported and the report was adopted. One important rule was that no
change of votes could be made after the vote had been announced, until
after the result of the ballot had been announced; this tended to
prevent a stampede, and added materially to the deliberateness of the
convention. The Committee on Credentials not being ready to report, the
convention adjourned at 2:15 p. m. to meet again at 8 p. m.; at the
opening of the evening session neither of the Committees on Credentials
or Resolutions were ready to report, and the convention listened to
stirring speeches by William O. Bradley, of Kentucky, and Governor J. B.
Foraker, of Ohio. The Committee on Credentials then reported, and on the
Virginia contest seated the Mahone delegates-at-large and the Wise
District delegates from all but one district. The convention adjourned
at 11:25 p. m. to meet at 10 a. m. Thursday. On Thursday morning, after
the roll had been called for names and members of the National
Committee, the platform was reported by William McKinley, of Ohio, who
received a remarkable ovation as he moved forward to take the stand. It
was adopted unanimously by a rising vote, and was the longest ever
presented by a Republican Convention.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1888.
The Republicans of the United States, assembled by their delegates in
national convention, pause on the threshold of their proceedings to
honor the memory of their first great leader, the immortal champion of
liberty and the rights of the people--Abraham Lincoln; and to cover
also with wreaths of imperishable remembrance and gratitude the heroic
names of our later leaders, who have more recently been called away from
our councils--Grant, Garfield, Arthur, Logan, Conkling. May their
memories be faithfully cherished. We also recall, with our greetings and
with prayer for his recovery, the name of one of our living heroes,
whose memory will be treasured in the history both of Republicans and of
the Republic--the name of that noble soldier and favorite child of
victory, Phillip H. Sheridan.
In the spirit of those great leaders, and of our own devotion to human
liberty, and with that hostility to all forms of despotism and
oppression which is the fundamental idea of the Republican Party, we
send fraternal congratulations to our fellow-Americans of Brazil upon
their great act of emancipation, which completed the abolition of
slavery throughout the two American continents. We earnestly hope that
we may soon congratulate our fellow-citizens of Irish birth upon the
peaceful recovery of home rule for Ireland.
FREE SUFFRAGE.
We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to the national Constitution and to
the indissoluble union of the states; to the autonomy reserved to the
states under the Constitution; to the personal rights and liberties of
citizens in all the states and territories in the Union, and especially
to the supreme and sovereign right of every lawful citizen, rich or
poor, native or foreign born, white or black, to cast one free ballot in
public elections and to have that ballot duly counted. We hold the free
and honest popular ballot and the just and equal representation of all
the people to be the foundation of our republican government, and demand
effective legislation to secure the integrity and purity of elections,
which are the foundations of all public authority. We charge that the
present administration and Democratic majority in Congress owe their
existence to the suppression of the ballot by a criminal nullification
of the Constitution and laws of the United States.
PROTECTION TO AMERICAN INDUSTRIES.
We are uncompromisingly in favor of the American system of protection;
we protest against its destruction as proposed by the President and his
party. They serve the interests of Europe; we will support the interests
of America. We accept the issue and confidently appeal to the people for
their judgment. The protective system must be maintained. Its
abandonment has always been followed by general disaster to all
interests, except those of the usurer and the sheriff. We denounce the
Mills bill as destructive to the general business, the labor, and the
farming interests of the country, and we heartily indorse the consistent
and patriotic action of the Republican representatives in Congress in
opposing its passage.
DUTIES ON WOOL.
We condemn the proposition of the Democratic Party to place wool on the
free list, and we insist that the duties thereon shall be adjusted and
maintained so as to furnish full and adequate protection to that
industry.
THE INTERNAL REVENUE.
The Republican Party would effect all needed reduction of the national
revenue by repealing the taxes upon tobacco, which are an annoyance and
burden to agriculture, and the tax upon spirits used in the arts and for
mechanical purposes, and by such revision of the tariff laws as will
tend to check imports of such articles as are produced by our people,
the production of which gives employment to our labor, and release from
import duties those articles of foreign production (except luxuries) the
like of which cannot be produced at home. If there shall still remain a
larger revenue than is requisite for the wants of the government, we
favor the entire repeal of internal taxes rather than the surrender of
any part of our protective system, at the joint behests of the whisky
trusts and the agents of foreign manufacturers.
FOREIGN CONTRACT LABOR.
We declare our hostility to the introduction into this country of
foreign contract labor and of Chinese labor, alien to our civilization
and our Constitution, and we demand the rigid enforcement of the
existing laws against it, and favor such immediate legislation as will
exclude such labor from our shores.
COMBINATIONS OF CAPITAL.
We declare our opposition to all combinations of capital, organized in
trusts or otherwise, to control arbitrarily the condition of trade among
our citizens; and we recommend to Congress and the state legislatures,
in their respective jurisdictions, such legislation as will prevent the
execution of all schemes to oppress the people by undue charges on their
supplies or by unjust rates for the transportation of their products to
market. We approve the legislation by Congress to prevent alike unjust
burdens and unfair discrimination between the states.
HOMES FOR THE PEOPLE.
We reaffirm the policy of appropriating the public lands of the United
States to be homesteads for American citizens and settlers, not aliens,
which the Republican Party established in 1862, against the persistent
opposition of the Democrats in Congress, and which has brought our great
Western domain into such magnificent development. The restoration of
unearned railroad land-grants to the public domain for the use of actual
settlers, which was begun under the administration of President Arthur,
should be continued. We deny that the Democratic Party has ever restored
one acre to the people, but declare that by the joint action of the
Republicans and Democrats about 50,000,000 acres of unearned lands
originally granted for the construction of railroads have been restored
to the public domain, in pursuance of the conditions inserted by the
Republican Party in the original grants. We charge the Democratic
administration with failure to execute the laws securing to settlers
title to their homesteads, and with using appropriations made for that
purpose to harass innocent settlers with spies and prosecutions, under
the false pretense of exposing frauds and vindicating the law.
HOME RULE IN TERRITORIES.
The government by Congress of the territories is based upon necessity
only, to the end that they may become states in the Union; therefore,
whenever the conditions of population, material resources, public
intelligence and morality are such as to insure a stable local
government therein, the people of such territories should be permitted,
as a right inherent in them, the right to form for themselves
constitutions and state governments, and be admitted to the Union.
Pending the preparation for statehood, all officers thereof should be
selected from the bona fide residents and citizens of the territory
wherein they are to serve.
ADMITTANCE OF SOUTH DAKOTA.
South Dakota should of right be immediately admitted as a state in the
Union, under the constitution framed and adopted by her people, and we
heartily indorse the action of the Republican Senate in twice passing
bills for her admission. The refusal of the Democratic House of
Representatives, for partisan purposes, to favorably consider these
bills, is a willful violation of the sacred American principle of local
self-government, and merits the condemnation of all just men. The
pending bills in the Senate for acts to enable the people of Washington,
North Dakota, and Montana Territories to form constitutions and
establish state governments should be passed without unnecessary delay.
The Republican Party pledges itself to do all in its power to facilitate
the admission of the Territories of New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho and
Arizona to the enjoyment of self-government as states--such of them as
are now qualified as soon as possible, and the others as soon as they
may become so.
MORMONISM.
The political power of the Mormon Church in the territories as exercised
in the past is a menace to free institutions, a danger no longer to be
suffered. Therefore we pledge the Republican Party to appropriate
legislation asserting the sovereignity of the nation in all territories
where the same is questioned, and in furtherance of that end to a place
upon the statute books legislation stringent enough to divorce the
political from the ecclesiastical power, and thus stamp out the
attendant wickedness of polygamy.
[Illustration: John Sherman.]
BIMETALISM.
The Republican Party is in favor of the use of both gold and silver as
money, and condemns the policy of the Democratic administration in its
efforts to demonetize silver.
REDUCTION OF LETTER POSTAGE.
We demand the reduction of letter postage to one cent per ounce.
FREE SCHOOLS.
In a Republic like ours, where the citizen is the sovereign and the
official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of
the people, it is important that the sovereign--the people--should
possess intelligence. The free school is the promoter of that
intelligence which is to preserve us a free nation; therefore the state
or nation, or both combined, should support free institutions of
learning sufficient to afford to every child growing up in the land the
opportunity of a good common school education.
ARMY AND NAVY FORTIFICATIONS.
We earnestly recommend that prompt action be taken by Congress in the
enactment of such legislation as will best secure the rehabilitation of
our American merchant marine, and we protest against the passage by
Congress of a free-ship bill, as calculated to work injustice to labor
by lessening the wages of those engaged in preparing materials as well
as those directly employed in our shipyards. We demand appropriations
for the early rebuilding of our navy; for the construction of coast
fortifications and modern ordnance, and other approved modern means of
defense for the protection of our defenseless harbors and cities; for
the payment of just pensions to our soldiers; for the necessary works of
national importance in the improvement of harbors and the channels of
internal, coastwise, and foreign commerce; for the encouragement of the
shipping interests of the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific States, as well as
for the payment of the maturing public debt. This policy will give
employment to our labor, activity to our various industries, increase
the security of our country, promote trade, open new and direct markets
for our produce, and cheapen the cost of transportation. We affirm this
to be far better for our country than the Democratic policy of loaning
the government's money, without interest, to "pet banks."
THE MONROE DOCTRINE.
The conduct of foreign affairs by the present administration has been
distinguished by its inefficiency and its cowardice. Having withdrawn
from the Senate all pending treaties effected by Republican
administrations for the removal of foreign burdens and restrictions upon
our commerce and for its extension into better markets, it has neither
effected nor proposed any others in their stead. Professing adherence to
the Monroe doctrine, it has seen, with idle complacency, the extension
of foreign influence in Central America and of foreign trade everywhere
among our neighbors. It has refused to charter, sanction, or encourage
any American organization for constructing the Nicaraguan Canal, a work
of vital importance to the maintenance of the Monroe doctrine, and of
our national influence in Central and South America, and necessary for
the development of trade with our Pacific territory, with South America,
and with the islands and farther coasts of the Pacific Ocean.
PROTECTION OF OUR FISHERIES.
We arraign the Democratic administration for its weak and unpatriotic
treatment of the fisheries question, and its pusillanimous surrender of
the essential privileges to which our fishing vessels are entitled in
Canadian ports under the treaty of 1818, the reciprocal maritime
legislation of 1830, and the comity of nations, and which Canadian
vessels receive in the ports of the United States. We condemn the policy
of the present administration and the Democratic majority in Congress
toward our fisheries as unfriendly and conspicuously unpatriotic, and as
tending to destroy a valuable national industry and an indispensable
resource of defense against a foreign enemy. The name of American
applies alike to all citizens of the republic, and imposes upon all
alike the same obligation of obedience to the laws. At the same time
that citizenship is and must be the panoply and safeguard of him who
wears it, and protect him, whether high or low, rich or poor, in all his
civil rights. It should and must afford him protection at home and
follow and protect him abroad, in whatever land he may be, on a lawful
errand.
CIVIL-SERVICE REFORM.
The men who abandoned the Republican Party in 1884, and continue to
adhere to the Democratic Party have deserted not only the cause of
honest government, of sound finance, of freedom, of purity of the
ballot, but especially have deserted the cause of reform in the civil
service. We will not fail to keep our pledges because they have broken
theirs, or because their candidate has broken his. We therefore repeat
our declaration of 1884, to wit: "The reform of the civil service,
auspiciously begun under the Republican administration, should be
completed by the further extension of the reform system, already
established by law, to all the grades of the service to which it is
applicable. The spirit and purpose of the reform should be observed in
all executive appointments, and all laws at variance with the object of
existing reform legislation should be repealed, to the end that the
dangers to free institutions which lurk in the power of official
patronage may be wisely and effectively avoided.
PENSIONS FOR THE SOLDIERS.
The gratitude of the nation to the defenders of the Union cannot be
measured by laws. The legislation of Congress should conform to the
pledge made by a loyal people, and be so enlarged and extended as to
provide against the possibility that any man who honorably wore the
Federal uniform should become the inmate of an almshouse, or dependent
upon private charity. In the presence of an overflowing treasury, it
would be a public scandal to do less for those whose valorous service
preserved the government. We denounce the hostile spirit of President
Cleveland in his numerous vetoes of measures for pension relief, and the
action of the Democratic House of Representatives in refusing even a
consideration of general pension legislation.
In support of the principles herewith enunciated, we invite the
co-operation of patriotic men of all parties, and especially of all
workingmen, whose prosperity is seriously threatened by the free-trade
policy of the present administration.
Next in order of business was the presentation of candidates for
President. Mr. Warner presented the name of Jos. R. Hawley, of
Connecticut; Leonard Sweet nominated Walter Q. Gresham, of Illinois;
Albert G. Porter nominated Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, and at the
close of this speech the convention recessed until 3 p. m., at which
time Mr. Harrison's nomination was seconded by Mr. Terrill, of Texas,
and Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire; Mr. Hepburn, of Iowa, nominated Wm.
B. Allison; Robert E. Frazer nominated Russel A. Alger; Senator Hiscock
nominated Chauncey M. Depew; Daniel B. Hastings nominated John Sherman;
Mr. Smith nominated E. H. Fitler, and Governor Rush nominated Jeremiah
M. Rusk, and the convention adjourned at 7:26 p. m., until the morning,
when the balloting would begin.
On Friday, June 22d, the convention met about 11 a. m., and, after
taking three ballots without any result or indication of the nomination
of any person, adjourned to meet at an evening session. At the evening
session Mr. Depew withdrew his name, and after some miscellaneous
business the session adjourned without taking a ballot. On Saturday,
June 23d, two ballots were taken without any final result, but they
showed a decided increase for Mr. Harrison and indicated his nomination.
A recess was taken until 4 p. m., and on meeting at that hour the
convention adjourned without taking any further ballots, until Monday
morning. On Monday, the sixth, seventh and eighth ballots were taken,
resulting in the nomination of Mr. Harrison on the eighth, the
nomination being made unanimous on motion of Governor Foraker, of Ohio.
The votes for the principal candidates on the different ballots were as
follows:
1st 2d 3d 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
Sherman ......... 229 249 244 235 224 244 231 118
Gresham ......... 111 108 123 98 87 91 91 59
Depew ........... 99 99 91 ... ... ... ... ...
Alger ........... 84 116 122 135 142 137 120 100
Harrison ........ 80 91 94 217 213 231 278 544
Allison ......... 72 75 88 88 99 73 76 ...
Blaine .......... 35 33 35 42 48 40 15 5
Others who received votes on the various ballots were John J. Ingalls,
Jeremiah M. Rusk, W. W. Phelps, E. H. Fitler, Joseph R. Hawley, Robert
T. Lincoln, William McKinley, Jr. (who received votes on every ballot,
two on the first ballot, his highest, sixteen, on the seventh), Samuel
F. Miller, Frederick Douglas, Joseph B. Foraker, Frederick D. Grant and
Creed Haymond.
The man who was thus honored by the Republican Party over all of the
other eminent men before the convention was by no means an unknown
quantity. Mr. Harrison was born at North Bend, Ohio, August 20, 1833.
He was a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, and his
great-great-grandfather was one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence. After graduating from college he was admitted to the bar
and practiced law in Indianapolis; he was elected Reporter of the
Indiana Supreme Court in 1860, and left the position to become a
volunteer in the Federal army in 1862, and was made Colonel of an
Indiana regiment; his army record was good, and he left the service with
the brevet rank of Brigadier-General. Resuming his law practice he
became very successful, and his public speaking made him prominent. In
1876 he was defeated by a small majority for Governor of Indiana, and in
1880 his name had been presented to the Republican National Convention.
He had served in the United States Senate from 1881 to 1887.
Levi P. Morton, of New York, was nominated for Vice-President on the
first ballot, receiving 591 votes to 119 for Wm. W. Phelps and 103 for
Wm. O. Bradley, of Kentucky. Blanch K. Bruce, of Mississippi, and Walter
F. Thomas, of Texas, also received votes.
The campaign of 1888 was fought with earnestness and vigor on both
sides. The tariff question overshadowed all others at this period and
was made the great issue of the canvass. Like those of 1880 and 1884,
this campaign was not without a striking incident that had its influence
on the vote. On October 25, 1888, occurred the publication of the
Murchison correspondence, in which the British Minister, Lord
Sackville-West, in a letter dated September 13th, indiscreetly answered
a letter purporting to come from one Charles F. Murchison, of Pomona,
Cal., a naturalized Englishman, asking advice how to vote. Lord
Sackville-West's reply, while not direct, was that a vote for the
Democratic Party would be more friendly to England than one for the
Republican Party, a declaration which was immediately seized upon by the
Republicans and made much of to influence the votes of those who were
undecided on the tariff issue.
At the election on November 6th Harrison and Morton carried twenty
States, with their 233 electoral votes, and Cleveland and Thurman
carried eighteen States, with 123 electoral votes. The popular vote was:
Harrison ............. 5,439,853 Cleveland ............ 5,540,329
Fisk ................. 249,505 Streeter ............. 146,935
The Republicans also gained control of both branches of Congress.
President Harrison's term, reaching from March, 1889, to March, 1893,
was one of political turmoil. The first session of the Fifty-first
Congress convened on December 2, 1889, and Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, was
elected Speaker of the House. The majority of the Republicans being so
small, he soon announced his intention of ignoring the usual rule of not
counting a member as present unless he voted, and stated a new rule, of
counting those who were present as present, even though they did not
vote. This and other rulings were adopted by a party vote, and Mr. Reed
was called the "Czar" by the Democrats.
The most important work of this Congress and the great political event
of Harrison's administration was the enactment of the McKinley Tariff
Bill, which was reported to the House of Representatives on April 16,
1890, by William McKinley, Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means.
After considerable debate, it was passed by the House on May 21st, and
by the Senate in September, and became a law October 1, 1890. The
continued efforts of the Democrats brought the McKinley Tariff law into
much public disfavor, and resulted in overwhelming Democratic victories
in the Congressional elections in November, 1890, by which the Democrats
regained control of the House, and their minority of 18 in the
Fifty-first Congress was changed to a majority of 129 in the
Fifty-second.
A new party, the People's Party, which will be considered later,
appeared in politics with success for the first time at the elections in
1890. Other important measures advocated and adopted by the Republicans
in the Fifty-first Congress were more liberal Pension Laws (June 27,
1890), and the Sherman Anti-Trust Bill (June 26, 1890). The so-called
Sherman Silver Act of July 14, 1890, was in reality a concession to the
strong silver element which was appearing in both the great parties at
this time, and which was to have so momentous an influence on political
history in later presidential campaigns. This Act provided for the
purchase of 4,500,000 ounces of silver bullion each month, to be paid
for in paper money called Treasury Notes, redeemable on demand in gold
or silver, and for the coinage of 2,000,000 ounces per month in dollars;
after July 1, 1891, the silver was not to be coined, but might be stored
in the Treasury and silver certificates issued. The purchasing clause of
the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 was repealed.
As the time approached for the presidential campaign of 1892 the
political situation was peculiar. President Harrison was openly a
candidate for re-election, but he was unpopular with many of the strong
Republican leaders, who, as a matter of course, turned to Mr. Blaine,
then Secretary of State. Mr. Blaine, however, on February 6, 1892, wrote
Mr. Clarkson, Chairman of the National Republican Committee, declining
to be a candidate, but his friends, notwithstanding, persisted in
booming him. The country was astonished on June 4th, three days before
the Convention, to learn that Mr. Blaine had resigned from the Cabinet.
Did it mean that he was desirous of returning to private life, or of
withdrawing his declination and entering actively into the fight for the
nomination? Mr. Blaine did not explain, and the uncertainty was
perplexing as the day for the Convention approached.
In the Democratic Party the situation at first was equally uncertain as
to who might be the nominee, but as the State Delegations were chosen,
it was seen that Mr. Cleveland would again be nominated in spite of the
opposition of Gov. Hill and the New York delegation. Public attention
centered, in June, 1892, on Minneapolis and Chicago, where the
Republican and Democratic Conventions were to be held.