Part 32

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.

He was at his home in Galena, not far from Chicago, during the sessions of the convention, but while he was advised of what transpired from day to day, he gave no directions and made no suggestions to his friends. He had the ablest galaxy of leaders that ever appeared in a national convention in support of any one candidate, and he trusted them implicitly. On the morning after the convention adjourned he came to Chicago, and I met him at the Palmer House, where he had come to confer with his discomfited friends. His face gave no sign of the disappointment he had suffered. He met his friends in even a more genial way than was his custom. He expressed himself as entirely content with the decision of the convention, and greatly appreciated the support that had been given him. He never looked better in his life, and while I could not congratulate him, I could truthfully express my gratification at seeing him the picture of health and comfort.

He was then in entire accord with his leading friends in their purpose to prevent the election of Garfield, and for two months after the campaign opened Garfield would have been overwhelmingly beaten, but after Conkling’s conference with Garfield in Ohio, Grant’s friends gave a most zealous support to Garfield’s election, and barely saved him by the aid of Tammany’s betrayal of Hancock.

The Democratic National Convention met at Cincinnati on the 22d of June, with John W. Stevenson, of Kentucky, as permanent president. The dispute over contested seats lasted until the second day. Massachusetts, that had never voted for a Democratic candidate for President, put up the fiercest fight between disputing delegations, and New York had a bitter factional quarrel between delegations chosen by the regular Democrats and another chosen by the Tammany people. The Tammany followers, under the lead of John Kelly, were very vindictive in their opposition to Tilden, openly declaring that they would not support Tilden if nominated, and the Tammany delegation was rejected. The position of Tilden was regarded as doubtful until well on in the second day of the contest, when an elaborate letter from him was read to the convention withdrawing his name. The letter had been prepared by Tilden and given to a trusted friend to use it only if it became evident that Tilden could not be again nominated, or that he could not be elected if nominated. The judgment of his most dispassionate friends was that he might be nominated, but that he could not be elected, with the fierce opposition of Tammany and his failure to assert his right to the Presidency in 1877.

After Tilden’s withdrawal the contest was really between Hancock and Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsylvania. If the Tilden strength had been concentrated on Randall at the opening of the convention, his nomination would have been within the range of probability, but even after Tilden withdrew he hesitated until the 2d ballot before he gave Randall any support. Bayard was a close second to Hancock on the 1st ballot, but he was at no time within sight of a nomination.

It was on this occasion that the late Daniel Dougherty made the most eloquent speech of his life, presenting the name of Hancock to the convention. He was not a member of the delegation, but was called into it for the purpose on the morning of the day that the nomination was to be made. He hurried around to my room at the St. Nicholas, as he hesitated about accepting the duty assigned him. He always prepared his important speeches and memorized them. I earnestly urged him to go at once to his room and write a short speech and be prepared to deliver it. He finally decided to do so, and in a speech of not over twenty minutes he delivered the greatest oration of his life.

Only two ballots were had for President, and on the second Hancock was so largely in the lead, having 320 to 128-1/2 for Randall, that the delegations began to change their votes until Hancock had 705 to 33 for all others. The following table gives the ballots in detail:

══════════════════════════════════╤═════════╤═════════╤═════════ CANDIDATES. │ First. │ Second. │ After │ │ │ changes. ──────────────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────── Winfield S. Hancock, Pennsylvania │ 171 │ 320 │ 705 Thomas F. Bayard, Delaware │ 153-1/2│ 113 │ 2 Henry B. Payne, Ohio │ 81 │ ―― │ ―― Allen G. Thurman, Ohio │ 68-1/2│ 50 │ ―― Stephen J. Field, California │ 65 │ 65-1/2│ ―― William R. Morrison, Illinois │ 62 │ ―― │ ―― Thomas A. Hendricks, Indiana │ 50-1/2│ 31 │ 30 Samuel J. Tilden, New York │ 38 │ 6 │ 1 Horatio Seymour, New York │ 8 │ ―― │ ―― Samuel J. Randall, Pennsylvania │ ―― │ 128-1/2│ ―― Scattering │ 31 │ 22 │ ―― ══════════════════════════════════╧═════════╧═════════╧═════════

As Indiana was one of the debatable States, William H. English, of that State, was nominated for Vice-President, with only Richard M. Bishop, of Ohio, named against him. Before the ballot had proceeded to any considerable extent, Bishop’s name was withdrawn, and English given a unanimous nomination. The following platform was unanimously adopted:

The Democrats of the United States, in convention assembled, declare—

1. We pledge ourselves anew to the constitutional doctrines and traditions of the Democratic party, as illustrated by the teachings and example of a long line of Democratic statesmen and patriots, and embodied in the platform of the last national convention of the party.

2. Opposition to centralizationism and to that dangerous spirit of encroachment which tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever be the form of government, a real despotism. No sumptuary laws; separation of Church and State for the good of each; common schools fostered and protected.

3. Home rule; honest money, consisting of gold and silver, and paper convertible into coin on demand; the strict maintenance of the public faith, State and national; and a tariff for revenue only.

4. The subordination of the military to the civil power, and a general and thorough reform of the civil service.

5. The right to a free ballot is the right preservative of all rights, and must and shall be maintained in every part of the United States.

6. The existing administration is the representative of conspiracy only, and its claim of right to surround the ballot-boxes with troops and deputy marshals, to intimidate and obstruct the electors, and the unprecedented use of the veto to maintain its corrupt and despotic power, insult the people and imperil their institutions.

7. The grand fraud of 1876–77, by which, upon a false count of the electoral votes of two States, the candidate defeated at the polls was declared to be President, and, for the first time in American history, the will of the people was set aside under a threat of military violence, struck a deadly blow at our system of representative government; the Democratic party, to preserve the country from a civil war, submitted for a time in firm and patriotic faith that the people would punish this crime in 1880; this issue precedes and dwarfs every other; it imposes a more sacred duty upon the people of the Union than ever addressed the conscience of a nation of freemen.

8. We execrate the course of this administration in making places in the civil service a reward for political crime, and demand a reform by statute which shall make it forever impossible for the defeated candidate to bribe his way to the seat of a usurper by billeting villains upon the people.

9. The resolution of Samuel J. Tilden not again to be a candidate for the exalted place to which he was elected by a majority of his countrymen, and from which he was excluded by the leaders of the Republican party, is received by the Democrats of the United States with sensibility, and they declare their confidence in his wisdom, patriotism, and integrity, unshaken by the assaults of a common enemy, and they further assure him that he is followed into the retirement he has chosen for himself by the sympathy and respect of his fellow-citizens, who regard him as one who, by elevating the standards of public morality, merits the lasting gratitude of his country and his party.

10. Free ships and a living chance for American commerce on the seas and on the land. No discrimination in favor of transportation lines, corporations, or monopolies.

11. Amendment of the Burlingame treaty. No more Chinese immigration, except for travel, education, and foreign commerce, and therein carefully guarded.

12. Public money and public credit for public purposes solely, and public land for actual settlers.

13. The Democratic party is the friend of labor and the laboring man, and pledges itself to protect him alike against the cormorant and the commune.

14. We congratulate the country upon the honesty and thrift of a Democratic Congress, which has reduced the public expenditure forty million dollars a year; upon the continuation of prosperity at home and the national honor abroad; and, above all, upon the promise of such a change in the administration of the Government as shall insure us genuine and lasting reform in every department of the public service.

The National Greenback party held its national convention at Chicago on the 9th of June, with Richard Trevellick, of Michigan, as permanent president. A single ballot was had for President, resulting as follows:

James B. Weaver, Iowa. 224-1/2 Henry B. Wright, Penn. 126-1/2 Stephen D. Dillaye, N. Y. 119 Benj. F. Butler, Mass. 95 Solon Chase, Maine. 89 Edward P. Allis, Wis. 41 Alexander Campbell, Ill. 21

Before the vote was finally announced delegations speedily changed their votes to Weaver, and he was declared unanimously chosen as the candidate. B. B. Chambers, of Texas, was nominated for Vice-President by 403 votes to 311 for Allanson M. West, of Mississippi. The following platform was adopted:

1. That the right to make and issue money is a sovereign power to be maintained by the people for the common benefit. The delegation of this right to corporations is a surrender of the central attribute of sovereignty, void of constitutional sanction, conferring upon a subordinate irresponsible power absolute dominion over industry and commerce. All money, whether metallic or paper, should be issued and its volume controlled by the Government, and not by or through banking corporations, and, when so issued, should be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private.

2. That the bonds of the United States should not be refunded, but paid as rapidly as practicable, according to contract. To enable the Government to meet these obligations, legal tender currency should be substituted for the notes of the national banks, the national banking system abolished, and the unlimited coinage of silver, as well as gold, established by law.

3. That labor should be so protected by national and State authority as to equalize its burdens and insure a just distribution of its results; the eight-hour law of Congress should be enforced; the sanitary condition of industrial establishments placed under rigid control; the competition of contract labor abolished; a bureau of labor statistics established; factories, mines, and workshops inspected; the employment of children under fourteen years of age forbidden; and wages paid in cash.

4. Slavery being simply cheap labor, and cheap labor being simply slavery, the importation and presence of Chinese serfs necessarily tends to brutalize and degrade American labor; therefore immediate steps should be taken to abrogate the Burlingame treaty.

5. Railroad land grants forfeited by reason of non-fulfilment of contract should be immediately reclaimed by Government; and henceforth the public domain reserved exclusively as homes for actual settlers.

6. It is the duty of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. All lines of communication and transportation should be brought under such legislative control as shall secure moderate, fair, and uniform rates for passenger and freight traffic.

7. We denounce, as destructive to prosperity and dangerous to liberty, the action of the old parties in fostering and sustaining gigantic land, railroad, and money corporations, invested with, and exercising, powers belonging to the Government, and yet not responsible to it for the manner of their exercise.

8. That the Constitution, in giving Congress the power to borrow money, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy, never intended that the men who loaned their money for an interest consideration should be preferred to the soldier and sailor who perilled their lives and shed their blood on land and sea in defence of their country; and we condemn the cruel class legislation of the Republican party, which, while professing great gratitude to the soldier, has most unjustly discriminated against him and in favor of the bondholder.

9. All property should bear its just proportion of taxation; and we demand a graduated income tax.

10. We denounce as most dangerous the efforts everywhere manifest to restrict the right of suffrage.

11. We are opposed to an increase of the standing army in time of peace, and the insidious scheme to establish an enormous military power under the guise of militia laws.

12. We demand absolute democratic rules for the government of Congress, placing all representatives of the people upon an equal footing, and taking away from committees a veto power greater than that of the President.

13. We demand a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, instead of a government of the bondholders, by the bondholders, and for the bondholders; and we denounce every attempt to stir up sectional strife as an effort to conceal monstrous crimes against the people.

14. In the furtherance of these ends, we ask the co-operation of all fair-minded people. We have no quarrel with individuals, wage no war upon classes, but only against vicious institutions. We are not content to endure further discipline from our present actual rulers, who, having dominion over money, over transportation, over land and labor, and largely over the press and the machinery of government, wield unwarrantable power over our institutions, and over our life and property.

15. That every citizen of due age, sound mind, and not a felon, be fully enfranchised, and that this resolution be referred to the States, with recommendation for their favorable consideration.

The Prohibition convention met at Cleveland on the 17th of June. The platform was substantially a repetition of the platform of 1876, and General Neal Dow, of Maine, was presented for President, and A. M. Thompson, of Ohio, for Vice-President.

The few scattered fragments of the American party held a convention on the 27th of June, and nominated John W. Phelps, of Vermont, for President, and Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, for Vice-President. Their platform declared against secret societies, Freemasonry in particular, and all other anti-Christian movements. The party was not heard of in the contest.

The Presidential contest of 1880 was remarkable for the absence of bitterness or vituperation. Garfield and Hancock were both highly respected, and I cannot recall a struggle for the Presidency that exhibited less of the asperities which are usually displayed in the struggle for the political control of the nation. Hancock was beaten on the popular vote by a majority of but little over 7000, and he lost his election by Tammany failing to give him a cordial support in New York.

The following table presents the popular and electoral vote of 1880:

═══════════════╤═══════════════════════════════════════════╦═══════════════════ │ POPULAR VOTE. ║ ELECTORAL │ ║ VOTE. STATES. ├────────────┬───────────┬─────────┬────────╫──────────┬──────── │ James A. │Winfield S.│ James B.│ Neal ║ │ │ Garfield, │ Hancock, │ Weaver, │ Dow, ║Garfield. │Hancock. │ Ohio. │ Penn. │ Iowa. │ Maine. ║ │ ───────────────┼────────────┼───────────┼─────────┼────────╫──────────┼──────── Maine │ 74,039 │ 65,171[28]│ 4,408 │ 93 ║ 7 │ ―― New Hampshire │ 44,852 │ 40,794 │ 528 │ 180 ║ 5 │ ―― Vermont │ 45,567 │ 18,316 │ 1,215 │ ―――― ║ 5 │ ―― Massachusetts │ 165,205 │ 111,960 │ 4,548 │ 682 ║ 13 │ ―― Rhode Island │ 18,195 │ 10,779 │ 236 │ 20 ║ 4 │ ―― Connecticut │ 67,071 │ 64,415 │ 868 │ 409 ║ 6 │ ―― New York │ 555,544 │ 534,511 │ 12,373 │ 1,517 ║ 35 │ ―― New Jersey │ 120,555 │ 122,565 │ 2,617 │ 191 ║ ―― │ 9 Pennsylvania │ 444,704 │ 407,428 │ 20,668 │ 1,939 ║ 29 │ ―― Delaware │ 14,133 │ 15,275 │ 120 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 3 Maryland │ 78,515 │ 93,706 │ 818 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 8 Virginia │ 84,020 │128,586[29]│ ―――― │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 11 West Virginia │ 46,243 │ 57,391 │ 9,079 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 5 North Carolina │ 115,874 │ 124,268 │ 1,126 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 10 South Carolina │ 58,071 │ 112,312 │ 566 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 7 Georgia │ 54,086 │ 102,470 │ 969 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 11 Florida │ 23,654 │ 27,964 │ ―――― │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 4 Alabama │ 56,221 │ 91,185 │ 4,642 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 10 Mississippi │ 34,854 │ 75,750 │ 5,797 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 8 Louisiana │ 38,637[30]│ 65,067 │ 439 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 8 Texas │ 57,893 │ 156,428 │ 27,405 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 8 Arkansas │ 42,436 │ 60,775 │ 4,079 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 6 Missouri │ 153,567 │ 208,609 │ 35,135 │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 15 Tennessee │ 107,677 │ 128,191 │ 5,917 │ 43 ║ ―― │ 12 Kentucky │ 106,306 │ 149,068 │ 11,499 │ 258 ║ ―― │ 12 Ohio │ 375,048 │ 340,821 │ 6,456 │ 2,616 ║ 22 │ ―― Michigan │ 185,341 │ 131,597 │ 34,895 │ 942 ║ 11 │ ―― Indiana │ 232,164 │ 225,522 │ 12,986 │ ―――― ║ 15 │ ―― Illinois │ 318,037 │ 277,321 │ 26,358 │ 443 ║ 21 │ ―― Wisconsin │ 144,400 │ 114,649 │ 7,986 │ 69 ║ 10 │ ―― Minnesota │ 93,903 │ 53,315 │ 3,267 │ 286 ║ 5 │ ―― Iowa │ 183,927 │ 105,845 │ 32,701 │ 592 ║ 11 │ ―― Nebraska │ 54,979 │ 28,523 │ 3,950 │ ―――― ║ 3 │ ―― Kansas │ 121,549 │ 59,801 │ 10,851 │ 25 ║ 5 │ ―― Colorado │ 27,450 │ 24,647 │ 1,435 │ ―――― ║ 3 │ ―― Nevada │ 8,732 │ 9,613 │ ―――― │ ―――― ║ ―― │ 3 California │ 80,348 │ 80,426 │ 3,892 │ ―――― ║ 1 │ 5 Oregon │ 20,619 │ 19,948 │ 249 │ ―――― ║ 3 │ ―― ├────────────┼───────────┼─────────┼────────╫──────────┼──────── Totals │4,454,416 │ 4,444,952 │ 308,578 │ 10,305 ║ 214 │ 155 ═══════════════╧════════════╧═══════════╧═════════╧════════╩══════════╧════════

[28] Votes for a fusion electoral ticket, made up of three Democrats and four Greenbackers. A “straight” Greenback ticket was also voted for.

[29] Two Democratic tickets were voted for in Virginia. The regular ticket received 96,912, and was successful; the “Readjusters” polled 31,674 votes.

[30] Two Republican tickets were voted for.