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 County results Rice: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Adams: 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Massachusetts |
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The 1876 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 7. Incumbent Republican governor Alexander H. Rice was re-elected to a second term in office over former Minister to Great Britain Charles F. Adams.
Rice was nominated without opposition at the convention in Worcester on September 5. [1]
Former governor William Gaston, who had been the party nominee in the prior three elections, was considered an early favorite for a fourth nomination. [2] However, a movement to draft Charles F. Adams, the former Minister to Great Britain during the Civil War, was brought about by New York associates of Governor Samuel Tilden, who had become the party's presidential nominee and national leader at the 1876 Democratic National Convention in June. [2]
At the convention, the boom for Adams was led by delegates from Western Massachusetts and supported on the grounds that an Adams nomination would lend support to Tilden's reformist campaign for president. [2] Opposition to Adams came from conservative Bourbon Democrats, who opposed Adams for his former membership in the Republican Party, and Irish-born Democrats. [2]
U.S. representative William W. Warren was named permanent chairman of the convention at Worcester on September 6. [2] [3] He gave a long speech embracing Tilden, Adams, and Gaston and opposed to the Grant administration's policy of protective tariffs and failure to resume specie payments. [2] [a]
When the Committee on Resolutions was announced, competing cheers were made for Patrick Collins, a Gaston supporter from Boston, and James Scollay Whitney, an Adams supporter from the West. Whitney gave a speech explaining that a compromise would be reached between the parties and a recess was called. [2] During the recess, Gaston allegedly received a telegram from Tilden requesting his withdrawal. [3]
During a recess, Gaston withdrew his name from consideration. He was welcomed to the stage and withdrew his name, moving to nominate Adams by acclamation. Whitney declined calls to for him to "Call for the Nays!" and the ticket was carried without dissent recorded. [2] Gaston was made an elector-at-large for the Tilden ticket, [2] [3] though some hoped that he would be nominated for lieutenant governor on the assumption that Adams would join the Tilden cabinet. [2]
There were some rumors that Adams would decline the nomination, [4] but nothing came of them.
The Rice campaign faced opposition from prohibitionists, labor reformers, and conservative Republicans. There were rumors of U.S. representative Benjamin Butler, a powerful kingmaker from Lowell, throwing his support behind Prohibition candidate John I. Baker in revenge for Rice's support of Ebenezer R. Hoar's independent campaign against Butler. Adams's strength was among intellectuals, reformers, and in the West. [5]
During the campaign, U.S. senator James G. Blaine attacked Adams for his conduct during the War and his earlier proposal to preserve slavery by constitutional amendment. [6]
Ultimately, Rice won re-election with an increased majority, although far smaller than Rutherford B. Hayes's majority in the presidential election, owing to the Prohibition campaign against him.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Alexander H. Rice (incumbent) | 137,665 | 53.59% | ||
| Democratic | Charles Francis Adams Sr. | 106,850 | 41.59% | ||
| Prohibition | John I. Baker | 12,274 | 4.78% | ||
| Others | Others | 115 | 0.05% | ||
| Republican hold | Swing | ||||
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 1876. Republican Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio defeated Democrat Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Following President Ulysses S. Grant's decision to retire after his second term, U.S. Representative James G. Blaine emerged as frontrunner for the Republican nomination; however, Blaine was unable to win a majority at the 1876 Republican National Convention, which settled on Hayes as a compromise candidate. The 1876 Democratic National Convention nominated Tilden on the second ballot.
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Samuel Jones Tilden was an American politician who served as the 25th governor of New York and was the Democratic nominee in the disputed 1876 United States presidential election.
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The Massachusetts Republican Party (MassGOP) is the Massachusetts branch of the U.S. Republican Party.
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The 1884 presidential election was the first nationwide campaign in which Grover Cleveland participated and the first of two in which he emerged victorious. This election pitted Democratic Party nominee Cleveland against Republican party nominee James G. Blaine and the campaign centered on corruption, civil service reforms, and political scandals. In this election, Cleveland portrayed himself as the clean and honest candidate in contrast to Blaine, who was portrayed as corrupt.
The 1876 U.S. presidential election occurred at the twilight of Reconstruction and was between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. After an extremely heated election dispute, a compromise was eventually reached where Hayes would become U.S. President in exchange for the end of Reconstruction and a withdrawal of U.S. federal troops from the South.
The 1877 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 6. Incumbent Republican governor Alexander H. Rice was re-elected to a third term in office over former governor William Gaston.
The 1878 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 5. Former acting Governor Thomas Talbot, a Republican, defeated Benjamin Butler, who ran as an independent Greenback candidate with Democratic support. Butler's supporters secured a majority of delegates to the Democratic state convention, but his nomination was rejected by the state party committee after his supporters used violent tactics to exclude anti-Butler delegates from the convention hall.
William Alexander Gaston was an American lawyer, banker, and politician who was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of Massachusetts in 1902, 1903, and 1926 and the United States Senate in 1905 and 1922. Outside of politics, Gaston served as president of the Boston Elevated Railway and National Shawmut Bank.
The 1854 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 15. American Party candidate Henry J. Gardner was elected to his first term as governor, defeating incumbent Whig governor Emory Washburn.
The 1874 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1874. Republican acting Governor Thomas Talbot, who took office after the resignation of William B. Washburn, was defeated by Democrat William Gaston, a former Mayor of Boston.
The 1871 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1871. Incumbent Republican Governor William Claflin did not run for a fourth term in office. He was succeeded by Republican U.S. Representative William B. Washburn, who defeated Democrat John Quincy Adams II.
The 1867 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 5.
The 1833–34 Massachusetts gubernatorial election consisted of a popular election held on November 11, 1833 and a legislative vote held in January 1834. The task of electing the governor fell to the Massachusetts General Court because no candidate received the constitutionally required majority of the popular vote.
