proposed to furnish the citizens of New Orleans, who were managing
the movement, all the money they needed on condition that when
the Democrats came into power and amended the Constitution, they
should give the Louisiana Lottery a twenty-five-year charter in the
Constitution. It was a hard bargain, but as they could do no better
they accepted the proffer, and a very large sum of money was thus
furnished and paid to the negroes and carpet-bag legislators, who
were very glad to get under cover with cash in their pockets, knowing
that the end of carpet-bag rule was near at hand. Packard finally
found himself abandoned by a majority of the undisputed Senators and
Representatives. His administration thus ended, and the promise of the
friends of Hayes, which Hayes manfully sustained, was fully performed,
and the property people of the South were given their right to govern
their own States as the price of assenting to Hayes as President.
The Nichols government kept faith with the Louisiana Lottery Company,
and the people of Louisiana have ever since been unjustly criticised as
the only State in the Union that gave the highest possible charter to
a lottery company, as they could not explain the inexorable conditions
which compelled them to do it. This was the last act of the great
political drama of 1876–77 that made Rutherford B. Hayes President.
The action of Tilden defeating Chase in the Democratic convention of
1868 had its sequel with mingled romance and reality in the defeat
of Tilden for the Presidency in 1877, when the vote of Louisiana was
passed upon by the Senate. Kate Chase Sprague was the most brilliant
woman in Washington society during the war period, and in every way
one of the most attractive. Her home in Washington was the centre of
the most accomplished men in public life, and among them was Roscoe
Conkling, the ablest of the Republican Senators. The contest for the
Presidency before the Electoral Commission in 1876–77 turned on the
vote of Louisiana, and it required the approving vote of the Senate
to give the electoral vote of that State to Hayes. Had it been given
to Tilden, he would have been the President. Many believed that Hayes
had not been elected and should not be declared elected, and among
those who shared that conviction was Mr. Conkling, although he did not
publicly express it.
The Senate was carefully canvassed, and enough Republican votes were
marshalled to throw the vote of the Senate in favor of Tilden on the
Louisiana issue if Conkling would lead in support of that policy, and
it was understood that he had agreed to do so. When the crucial time
came Conkling did not appear at all, and the anti-Hayes Republicans,
being without a leader, fell back to their party lines and gave the
vote of the State and the Presidential certificate to Hayes. It is
an open secret that Conkling resolved his doubts as urged by Mrs.
Sprague, who thereby avenged the defeat of her father in the Democratic
nomination of 1868, that had been accomplished by Tilden; and thus
Tilden lost the Presidency, to which he had been elected by a popular
majority of over 250,000.
THE GARFIELD-HANCOCK CONTEST
1880
The greatest battle ever fought in a national convention was witnessed
at Chicago where the Republican National Convention met on June 2,
1880. Grant had made his journey around the world, received the homage
of the highest rulers of every clime, and returned to be greeted with
a degree of popular enthusiasm that had never before been given to
any citizen of the Republic. During Grant’s absence his friends had
made tireless efforts to organize his forces in all the States, and
the friends of Blaine, who fought this battle royal with the friends
of Grant, had been equally earnest and ceaseless to give Blaine the
victory. It was indeed a battle of giants, and the auditorium in which
the convention was held was the most impressive picture I have ever
witnessed. There were not less than ten thousand spectators in addition
to the full delegations and alternates from the States. Neither of the
opposing chieftains ever had a majority in the body, but for a week
they stood up face to face with unbroken lines and belligerent leaders
in hand-to-hand conflict.
Among the delegates were Conkling, Garfield, Harrison, Logan, and many
other conspicuous and able leaders of the opposing factions. Blaine’s
people, with the aid of the field, weakened Grant’s lines by preventing
the unit rule in any delegation, whereby Grant lost a considerable
number of votes in New York, Pennsylvania, and other States. That was a
test of the distinctive Grant strength in the body. Conkling opened the
nominations by presenting the name of Grant, and he did it in imperial
grandeur and with a degree of eloquence that was most impressive. Next
to the speech of Ingersoll, who nominated Blaine in 1876, Conkling’s
appeal for the nomination of Grant will stand as the ablest of all the
many able deliverances in the history of American politics. I sat quite
close to him on the platform when he delivered it, and he was a most
interesting study. Had he been as discreet as he was eloquent, it would
have been a perfect exhibition of impressive oratory; but Conkling was
inspired not only by his love of Grant, but more influenced than he
confessed to himself by an intense hatred of Blaine, that he cherished
until his death.
[Illustration: JAMES A. GARFIELD]
He mortally offended every friend of Blaine, and thereby made it
impossible even to win the hesitating men in the Blaine ranks by
his keen and pungent fling at the delegates who disregarded their
instructions to vote as a unit for Grant, and by his aggressive
assault upon Blaine when he referred to Grant as a candidate “without
patronage, without emissaries, without committees, without bureaus,
without telegraph wires running from his house to this convention
or running from his house anywhere.” Unlike the Ingersoll speech
nominating Blaine in 1876, the speech of Conkling, able, eloquent, and
grand as it was, left Grant weaker, instead of stronger.
Very general interest centred in General Garfield, who was at the head
of the Ohio delegation, that was instructed for Senator Sherman for
President. Garfield knew the situation; he knew that a third candidate
must eventually be accepted, and he illy concealed his efforts to
advance himself, while ostensibly struggling for Sherman. His speech
nominating Sherman was a plea for peace rather than an aggressive
presentation of Sherman’s claims, and it was well understood that his
plea for peace was, in fact, a plea for himself. At various stages
of the balloting tidal waves of enthusiasm would start for Garfield,
and he narrowly escaped a spontaneous nomination. He was personally
very popular, of imposing presence, a most accomplished speaker, and
he was finally accepted by the friends of Blaine because he was not
the partisan of either Blaine or Grant, and also because they could
certainly win with him, and thus defeat Grant.
The convention became weary of what was evidently an equal contest
between the Grant and Blaine forces, and all who were not intensely
enlisted in the factional fight were glad to end the bitter struggle
by accepting Garfield. Grant’s memorable 306 stood by him and never
lowered their flag until they were defeated and fell with their faces
to the foe.
Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, was the permanent president of the
convention, and it was a battle of giants, lasting well in to
the second week. Mr. Joy, who presented the name of Blaine to the
convention, grievously disappointed the friends of the Plumed Knight.
His advocacy of his chief was tame compared with the masterly orations
of Conkling and Garfield, but his friends were in admirable fighting
trim, and no such heroic struggle as that between Blaine and Grant has
ever been recorded in the history of American politics. Conkling was
chairman of his delegation, and was offensively imperious in every
announcement that he made to the convention. His delegation had been
instructed to vote a unit for Grant, but the convention had unshackled
the delegates by allowing each one to cast his vote according to his
choice, and Conkling in announcing the vote for Blaine in New York
always did it with a sneer, and often with offensive expression.
A ballot was not reached until Monday of the second week in the
convention, and for two days the extraordinary spectacle was presented
of Grant and Blaine holding their forces with but little variation,
until the Blaine column finally broke for Garfield. The following table
presents the ballots in detail:
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BALLOTS.│ James A.│ Ulysses │James G.│ John │ Elihu B. │George F.│William│Rutherford│George W.│ Roscoe │ John F. │ Edmund │Philip H.│Benjamin │Total.│ Necessary
│Garfield.│S. Grant.│Blaine. │Sherman.│Washburne.│Edmunds. │Windom.│B. Hayes. │McCrary. │Conkling.│Hartranft.│J. Davis.│Sheridan.│Harrison.│ │to a choice.
────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼──────────┼─────────┼───────┼──────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────┼────────────
1st │ ―― │ 304 │ 284 │ 93 │ 31 │ 34 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
2d │ 1 │ 305 │ 282 │ 94 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
3d │ 1 │ 305 │ 282 │ 93 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 755 │ 378
4th │ 1 │ 305 │ 281 │ 95 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 755 │ 378
5th │ 1 │ 305 │ 281 │ 95 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 755 │ 378
6th │ 2 │ 305 │ 280 │ 95 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
7th │ 2 │ 305 │ 281 │ 94 │ 31 │ 32 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
8th │ 1 │ 306 │ 284 │ 91 │ 32 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
9th │ 2 │ 308 │ 282 │ 90 │ 32 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
10th │ 2 │ 305 │ 282 │ 92 │ 32 │ 31 │ 10 │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
11th │ 2 │ 305 │ 281 │ 93 │ 32 │ 31 │ 10 │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
12th │ 1 │ 304 │ 283 │ 92 │ 33 │ 31 │ 10 │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
13th │ 1 │ 305 │ 285 │ 89 │ 33 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
14th │ ―― │ 305 │ 285 │ 89 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
15th │ ―― │ 309 │ 281 │ 88 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
16th │ ―― │ 306 │ 283 │ 88 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 754 │ 378
17th │ ―― │ 303 │ 284 │ 90 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
18th │ ―― │ 305 │ 283 │ 91 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
19th │ 1 │ 305 │ 279 │ 96 │ 32 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
20th │ 1 │ 308 │ 276 │ 93 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
21st │ 1 │ 305 │ 276 │ 96 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
22d │ 1 │ 305 │ 275 │ 97 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
23d │ 2 │ 304 │ 275 │ 97 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
24th │ 2 │ 305 │ 279 │ 93 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
25th │ 2 │ 302 │ 281 │ 94 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
26th │ 2 │ 303 │ 280 │ 93 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
27th │ 2 │ 306 │ 277 │ 93 │ 36 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
28th │ 2 │ 307 │ 279 │ 91 │ 35 │ 31 │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
29th │ 2 │ 305 │ 278 │ 116 │ 35 │ 12 │ 7 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
30th │ 2 │ 306 │ 279 │ 120 │ 33 │ 11 │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
31st │ 1 │ 308 │ 276 │ 118 │ 37 │ 11 │ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
32d │ 1 │ 309 │ 270 │ 117 │ 44 │ 11 │ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
33d │ 1 │ 309 │ 276 │ 110 │ 44 │ 11 │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
34th │ 17 │ 312 │ 275 │ 107 │ 30 │ 11 │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 756 │ 379
35th │ 50 │ 313 │ 257 │ 99 │ 23 │ 11 │ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 756 │ 379
36th │ 399 │ 306 │ 42 │ 3 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 755 │ 378
════════╧═════════╧═════════╧════════╧════════╧══════════╧═════════╧═══════╧══════════╧═════════╧═════════╧══════════╧═════════╧═════════╧═════════╧══════╧════════════
While it was generally expected that the convention would eventually
stampede to Garfield, the movement was given vitality and form by
the Wisconsin delegation. The only name prominently discussed as a
compromise candidate in addition to that of Garfield was the name of
Senator Windom, of Minnesota, who had received the vote of his State
from the start. In a caucus of the delegation a small majority of the
Wisconsin delegation voted to prefer Garfield to Windom, and that
movement started the tide that gave the victory to Garfield. It is
quite possible that if Wisconsin had declared for Windom, instead of
Garfield, as it failed to do by only a very few votes, Windom might
have been made the candidate, as he occupied a very strong position in
the party, was free from factional alliances, and probably would have
been quite as strong a candidate with the people as Garfield. When
the Wisconsin delegation decided to break the deadlock by accepting
Garfield, it opened the door for the wearied anti-Grant gladiators to
find speedy and gratifying refuge. Grant’s column stood to him with
marvellous fidelity. He started with 304 votes, never fell below 302,
never rose above 313, and ended on the final ballot with 306. The
nomination of Garfield was made unanimous amidst the wildest enthusiasm.
Senator Conkling was in violent temper over the defeat of Grant, and
when he was asked to name a candidate for Vice-President he at first
petulantly refused to do so, but some of his more deliberate friends
suggested the name of Chester A. Arthur, who was in the delegation.
Arthur had acted as chairman during part of the balloting when Conkling
was absent, and his dignified and manly manner of announcing the vote
of his State contrasted very favorably with the offensive manner of
Conkling. Conkling assented to rather than dictated the nomination of
Arthur, and the 1st ballot for Vice-President was as follows:
Chester A. Arthur, N. Y. 468
Elihu B. Washburne, Ill. 199
Marshall Jewell, Conn. 43
Horace Maynard, Tenn. 30
Edmund J. Davis, Texas 20
Blanche K. Bruce (Col.), Miss. 8
James L. Alcorn, Miss. 4
Thomas Settle, Fla. 2
Stewart L. Woodford, N. Y. 1
[Illustration: CHESTER A. ARTHUR]
The nomination was promptly made unanimous. The following platform was
unanimously adopted:
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 the 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 four millions of human beings from
the likeness of things to the rank of citizens. It relieved Congress
from 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 for all the 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 where six per cent. bonds sold at eighty-six
per cent. to that where four per cent. bonds are eagerly sought at
a premium. Under its administration railways have increased from
thirty-one thousand miles in 1860 to more than eighty-two thousand
miles in 1879. Our foreign trade has increased from seven hundred
million dollars to one billion, one hundred and fifty million dollars
in the same time, and our exports, which were twenty million dollars
less than our imports in 1860, were two hundred and sixty-four
million 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
annually disbursed more than thirty million dollars for soldiers’
pensions. It has paid eight hundred and eighty-eight million dollars
of the public debt, and, by refunding the balance at lower rates,
has reduced the annual interest charge from nearly one hundred and
fifty-one million dollars to less than eighty-nine million dollars.
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 this 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 last twenty-one years has been
such as to commend itself to the favor of the nation, and 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 dissevered Union, now happily restored, should be
perpetuated, and that the liberties secured to this generation should
be transmitted undiminished to future generations; that the order
established and the credit acquired should never be impaired; that
the pensions promised should be extinguished by the full payment of
every dollar thereof; that the reviving industries should be further
promoted, and that the commerce, already so great, 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
tribunals.
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 duty. 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
an establishment of religion, but it is idle to hope that the nation
can be protected against the influences of sectarianism while 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 to the support of sectarian schools.
5. We affirm 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 grant 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 citizens of American birth
must be secured to citizens by American adoption; and that we esteem
it the duty of Congress to develop and improve our watercourses 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 hour of battle are undiminished
by the lapse of the fifteen years since their final victory—to do them
perpetual 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 Congress, or with
the United States and its treaty-making powers, the Republican party,
regarding the unrestricted immigration of the Chinese as an evil of
great magnitude, invoke the exercise of those powers to restrain and
limit that immigration by the enactment of such just, humane and
reasonable provisions 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 interposition between the
people and proposed partisan laws.
We charge upon the Democratic party the habitual sacrifice of
patriotism and justice to a supreme and insatiable lust of office
and patronage; that to obtain possession of the national and State
Governments and the control of place and position they have obstructed
all efforts to promote the purity and to conserve the freedom of
suffrage, and have devised fraudulent certifications and 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, and rescued
by the courageous 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
movements of the Government depend, and have crushed the rights of
individuals; have advocated the principles and sought the favor of
rebellion against the nation, and have endeavored to obliterate the
sacred memories of the war, and to overcome its inestimably valuable
results of nationality, personal freedom, and individual equality.
The equal, steady, and complete enforcement of laws and the protection
of all our citizens in the enjoyment of all 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, and the
nation cannot with safety delegate this duty to the States. The solid
South must be divided by the peaceful agencies of the ballot, and all
opinions must there find free expression, and 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 every legitimate means to restore all the States of
this Union to the most perfect harmony that may be practicable; and
we submit it to the practical, sensible people of the 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 the party which seeks to overthrow the existing
policy under which we are so prosperous, and thus bring distrust and
confusion where there are now order, confidence, and hope.
The Republican party, adhering to principles affirmed by its last
national convention of respect for the constitutional rule covering
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 department of the Government, and that Congress
shall so legislate that fitness, ascertained by proper, practical
tests, shall admit to the public service.
General Grant had become intensely interested in the contest for
a third term, and he had every reason to believe that it would be
accorded to him. Foreign travel and intelligent observation had
greatly enlarged his narrow political ideas and tempered his political
asperities, and he would undoubtedly have made a much better President
than ever he did before. But the unwritten law of the nation confronted
him, declaring that no man could fill the Presidential chair for a
longer period than did George Washington. It was that sentiment that
decided the contest against him.