1872 Democratic National Convention

Last updated

1872 Democratic National Convention
1872 presidential election
Horace Greeley restored (cropped).jpg BGratzBrown.png
Nominees
Greeley and Brown
Convention
Date(s)July 9–10, 1872
City Baltimore, Maryland
Venue Ford's Grand Opera House, East Fayette Street (between North Howard & Eutaw Streets)
Candidates
Presidential nominee Horace Greeley of New York
Vice-presidential nominee Benjamin Gratz Brown of Missouri
  1868  ·  1876  
Interior of Ford's Grand Opera House of John T. Ford (1829-1894) on East Fayette Street between North Howard and Eutaw Streets in Baltimore during the 1872 Democratic National Convention. Built 1871, razed 1964. 1872 Democratic National Convention - Maryland (cropped).jpg
Interior of Ford's Grand Opera House of John T. Ford (1829–1894) on East Fayette Street between North Howard and Eutaw Streets in Baltimore during the 1872 Democratic National Convention. Built 1871, razed 1964.

The 1872 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held at Ford's Grand Opera House on East Fayette Street, between North Howard and North Eutaw Streets, in Baltimore, Maryland on July 9 and 10, 1872. It resulted in the nomination of newspaper publisher Horace Greeley of New York and Governor Benjamin Gratz Brown of Missouri for president and vice president, a ticket previously nominated by the rump Liberal Republican faction convention meeting, also held in Baltimore's newly built premier Opera House of nationally well-known theatre owner/operator John T. Ford (infamous as the owner of the Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. where 16th President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865) of the major Republican Party, which had already re-nominated incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant of the regular Republicans for another term. [1]

Contents

The convention was called to order by Democratic National Committee chairman August Belmont. Thomas Jefferson Randolph served as the convention's temporary chairman and James R. Doolittle served as permanent president. At six hours in length, stretched over two days, the convention was the shortest meeting of a major political party convention in history. [2]

The convention

Accepting the "Liberal Republican" platform meant the Democrats had accepted the "New Departure", rejecting the anti-Reconstruction platform of 1868: they realized that in order to win, they had to look forward and not try to refight the Civil War. [3]

While Greeley's long reputation in the years before as the most aggressive attacker of the earlier Democratic Party, its principles, its leadership, and its activists cooled enthusiasm among many of the delegates for the potential nominee, it was accepted that the Democrats would only split the anti-Grant vote and all but assure Grant of re-election if they nominated any other candidate.

Presidential nomination

Presidential candidates

Major General William B. Franklin was approached by a group of Democrats from Pennsylvania and New Jersey who urged him to run against Horace Greeley for the party's presidential nomination. Citing a need for party unity, Franklin declined their suggestion. On the first ballot, Pennsylvania and New Jersey would cast the majority of votes against Greeley.

Horace Greeley received 686 of the 732 delegate votes cast on the first ballot. The motion to have Greeley's nomination be declared unanimous was carried.

Presidential Ballot
1stUnanimous
Greeley 686732
Black 210
Bayard 150
Groesbeck 20
Not Voting80

Source: Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held at Baltimore, July 9, 1872 . (September 3, 2012).


Vice presidential nomination

Vice presidential candidates

Benjamin G. Brown received 713 of the 732 delegate votes cast on the first ballot.

Vice Presidential Ballot
1st
Brown 713
Stevenson 6
Not Voting13

Source: Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held at Baltimore, July 9, 1872 . (September 3, 2012).


Straight-Out Democrats Convention

A splinter, conservative group of Democrats broke off due to their dissatisfaction with the nomination of Greeley.

Calling themselves the Straight-Out Democrats, they held a Straight-Out Democratic National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. They nominated for President Charles O'Conor, who told them by telegram that he would not accept their nomination, and John Quincy Adams II for vice president. The candidates received 23,054 votes (0.35%) in the election, and no Electoral College electors.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1852 United States presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 1852. Democratic nominee Franklin Pierce defeated Whig nominee General Winfield Scott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1864 United States presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1864, near the end of the American Civil War. Incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of the National Union Party easily defeated the Democratic nominee, former General George B. McClellan, by a wide margin of 212–21 in the electoral college, with 55% of the popular vote. For the election, the Republican Party and some Democrats created the National Union Party, especially to attract War Democrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1868 United States presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 1868. In the first election of the Reconstruction Era, Republican nominee Ulysses S. Grant defeated Horatio Seymour of the Democratic Party. It was the first presidential election to take place after the conclusion of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. It was the first election in which African Americans could vote in the reconstructed Southern states, in accordance with the First Reconstruction Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1872 United States presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 1872. Incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant, the Republican nominee, defeated Democratic-endorsed Liberal Republican nominee Horace Greeley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1932 United States presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1932. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York and the vice presidential nominee of the 1920 presidential election. The election marked the effective end of the Fourth Party System, which had been dominated by Republicans, and it was the first time since 1916 that a Democrat was elected president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Soil Party</span> Precursor to the Republican Party in the United States

The Free Soil Party, also called the Free Democratic Party or the Free Democracy, was a political party in the United States from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was focused on opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories of the United States. The 1848 presidential election took place in the aftermath of the Mexican–American War and debates over the extension of slavery into the Mexican Cession. After the Whig Party and the Democratic Party nominated presidential candidates who were unwilling to rule out the extension of slavery into the Mexican Cession, anti-slavery Democrats and Whigs joined with members of the Liberty Party to form the new Free Soil Party. Running as the Free Soil presidential candidate, former President Martin Van Buren won 10.1 percent of the popular vote, the strongest popular vote performance by a third party up to that point in U.S. history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States presidential nominating convention</span>

A United States presidential nominating convention is a political convention held every four years in the United States by most of the political parties who will be fielding nominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The formal purpose of such a convention is to select the party's nominees for popular election as President and Vice President, as well as to adopt a statement of party principles and goals known as the party platform and adopt the rules for the party's activities, including the presidential nominating process for the next election cycle. Conventions remain an important part of the political process despite the nominees almost always being determined during the primary season, as they provide positive publicity for the nominee and party, which can then lead to a convention bounce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. Gratz Brown</span> American politician (1826–1885)

Benjamin Gratz Brown was an American politician. He was a U.S. Senator, the 20th Governor of Missouri, and the Liberal Republican and Democratic Party vice presidential candidate in the presidential election of 1872.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal Republican Party (United States)</span> Political party in the United States

The Liberal Republican Party was an American political party that was organized in May 1872 to oppose the reelection of President Ulysses S. Grant and his Radical Republican supporters in the presidential election of 1872. The party emerged in Missouri under the leadership of Senator Carl Schurz and soon attracted other opponents of Grant; Liberal Republicans decried the scandals of the Grant administration and sought civil service reform. The party opposed Grant's Reconstruction policies, particularly the Enforcement Acts. It lost in a landslide, and disappeared from the national stage after the 1872 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1860 Republican National Convention</span> United States presidential nominating convention

The 1860 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that met May 16–18 in Chicago, Illinois. It was held to nominate the Republican Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election. The convention selected former representative Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for president and Senator Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1860 Democratic National Conventions</span> Series of American presidential nominating conventions

The 1860 Democratic National Conventions were a series of presidential nominating conventions held to nominate the Democratic Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 Republican National Convention</span> Political convention of the Republican Party

The 1968 Republican National Convention was held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Dade County, Florida, USA, from August 5 to August 8, 1968, to select the party's nominee in the general election. It nominated former Vice President Richard Nixon for president and Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew for vice president. It was the fourth time Nixon had been nominated on the Republican ticket as either its vice presidential or presidential candidate (1960). Symbolic of the South's changing political affiliation, this was the first Republican National Convention held in a prior Confederate State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1856 Republican National Convention</span> American political convention

The 1856 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that met from June 17 to June 19, 1856, at Musical Fund Hall at 808 Locust Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the first national nominating convention of the Republican Party, founded two years earlier in 1854. It was held to nominate the party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1856 election. The convention selected John C. Frémont, a former United States Senator from California, for president, and former Senator William L. Dayton of New Jersey for vice president. The convention also appointed members of the newly established Republican National Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1852 Whig National Convention</span> U.S. political event held in Baltimore, Maryland

The 1852 Whig National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held from June 16 to June 21, in Baltimore, Maryland. It nominated the Whig Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1852 election. The convention selected General-in-Chief Winfield Scott for president and U.S. secretary of the navy William A. Graham for vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1936 Democratic National Convention</span> U.S. political event held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The 1936 Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from June 23 to 27, 1936. The convention resulted in the nomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John N. Garner for reelection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1872 United States elections</span>

The 1872 United States elections were held on November 5, electing the members of the 43rd United States Congress. The election took place during the Third Party System. The election took place during the Reconstruction Era, and many Southerners were barred from voting. Despite a split in the party, the Republicans retained control of the presidency and both houses of Congress.

An influential group of dissident Republicans split from the party to form the Liberal Republican Party in 1870. At the party's only national convention, held in Cincinnati in 1872, New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley was nominated for president on the sixth ballot, defeating Charles Francis Adams. Missouri Governor Benjamin Gratz Brown was nominated for vice-president on the second ballot. They were also nominated at the 1872 Democratic National Convention two months later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horace Greeley 1872 presidential campaign</span> American political campaign

In 1872, Horace Greeley ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States. He served as the candidate of both the Democrats and the Liberal Republicans, in the 1872 election. In the run-up to the 1872 United States presidential election, major changes occurred in the United States. Specifically, the 15th Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote for the first time, while the government cracked down on the Ku Klux Klan. In addition, the economy was still in good shape and President Ulysses S. Grant's corruption scandals for the most part was still not public knowledge. With this background, the incumbent U.S. President was able to decisively defeat Greeley.

"Straight-Out Democratic Party" is the name used by three minor American political parties between 1872 and 1890.

References

  1. Matthew T. Downey, "Horace Greeley and the Politicians: The Liberal Republican Convention in 1872." Journal of American History 53.4 (1967): 727–750 online.
  2. CNN.com: Think you know your Democratic convention trivia?
  3. Dunning 198

Primary sources

Preceded by
1868
New York, New York
Democratic National Conventions Succeeded by
1876
St. Louis, Missouri