Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1885 — PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS. [ARTICLE]

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.

A Brief History of the Campaigns and Candidates front Washington to Cleveland. There have been twenty-five Presidential campaigns in oar country’s history, as follows: The first election of electors in the United States was held the first Wednesday in January, 1789. They were not chosen as the representatives of party candidates, as became the custom later, but were selected according to the constitutional plan, to vote for two persons for President and Tice President. On the first Wednesday of February, 1789, the electoral college met, and chose George Washington President, and John Adams Vice President, of the United States. No ■votes w©re cast for President and Vice President distinctively, but each elector voted for two persons, and in the final count the person who had received the highest vote of all was pronounced President, and the one who had received the nest highest vote, Vice President. Each elector that time cast one vote for George Washington, giving him 69 votes in all, an unanimous election as President. Of the other electoral votes John Adams received 34, the nest highest number, and was elected Vice President, the remaining 35 votes were cast for John Jay, John Hancock, and others. 2. In 1792, at the second Presidential election, tho choice was made on the same plan, and Washington was again unanimously chosen, receiving one vote from each elector; John Adams was again elected Vice President, having received 77 votes out of 132. The chief opposing candidates for the Vice Presidency were George Clinton, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr. The two parties known as Federalists and AntiFederalists became outlined during the first administration of Washington, though both sides united in supporting the “Father of His Country” as most worthy of filling the office of its Chief Magistrate. 3. The third presidential campaign, in 1796. was the first well-defined party contest in the United States, though there was not yet any popular Presidential election, nor any nominations By party assemblies. But the Federalists, by common consent, supported John Adams, of Massachusetts, for President, and Thomas Pinckney, of Maryland, for Vice President Their opponents, now styled Democrat-Re-publicans, supported Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, for President, and Aaron Harr, Of New York, for Vice President Of the electoral votes John Adams had 71; Thomas Pinckney, 59; Thomas Jefferson, 68, and Aaron Burr, 30. Scattering votes were also cast for Samuel Adams, Oliver Ellsworth, George Clinton, John Jay, and others. According to the Constitution, therefore, John Adams, Federalist, was elected President, and Thomas Jefferson, DemocratRepnblican, Vice President 4. In 1800 the fourth Presidential campaign was inaugurated by party caucuses in Congress, pnting in nomination the candidates of the two opposing parties, the first assemblies made for this purpose. John Adams was put forward by his party for President, and <3. C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, for Vice President, and the other side renominated the candidates of 1796, Jefferson and Burr. In the vote of the electors, the Democrat-Republican candidates each received the same number of votes—73—thus throwing the election into the House of Representatives, as under the methods then in vogne it was impossible to decide who should be President. Adams had received 65 electoral votes and Pinckney 64. The Federalists had a majority in the House, and had they voted according to their inclinations would certainly have changed the result of the election, but by the constitution their choice was restricted to the two candidates having the highest electoral vote, who were of the opposite party. Feb. 17, 1801, on the thirty-sixth ballot, the House elected Thomas Jefferson President, and Aaron Burr Vice President. 6. In tiie fifth Presidential campaign, in 1804, the Demoorat-Repub-

licans supported Thomas Jefferson for a second term as'President and George Clinton, of New York, as Vice-Presi-dent. The Federalists supported C. C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, for President, and Rufus King, of New York, for Vice-President. The Federalists were overwhelmingly defeated, Jefferson and Clinton receiving 162 electoral votes, and Pinckney and King but 14 votes. ' ' 6. In 1808 the Democrat-Republi-cans supported James Madison, of Virginia, for President, and George Clinton for a second term as Vice-Presi-dent. The Federalists supported their ticket of 1804 again—C. C. Pinckney and Rufus King. Of the 176 electoral votes Madison received 122, and Clinton 113. Pinckney and King received 47 votes. George Clinton also received 6 votes for President, and there were 15 scattering votes for Vice-President 7. In 1812 James Madison was put forward for a second term as President by his party, with Eldridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, as Vice-President. These nominations were made, as had been the custom since 1800, by a party caucus in Congress. The candidates of the opposition were nominated by a party convention—the first ever held—at New York, in which eleven states were represented. These candidates were DeWirt Clinton, of New, York, for President, and Jared Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-President. Ont of 218 electoral votes, Madison received 128 and Gerry 131, while Clinton had 89 and Ingersoll 86 votes. 8. In 1816 the Democrat-Republi-cans chose, in Congressional caucus, James Monroe, of Virginia, for President, and Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, for Vice-President. The candidates of the Federalists were Rufus King,-of New York, and John E. Howard, of Maryland. Of a total of 221 electoral votes, Monroe and Tompkins received 183, while but 34 were cast for King and 22 for Howard, the remaining votes for Vice-President scattering. 9. The Federal party was now in the throes of dissolution, and in the next campaign, in 1820, no nominations whatever were made. Monroe and Tompkins were accepted as the only candidates in the field, and no general opposition whatever was made to their re-election. Monroe had 231 out of 235 electoral votes. Three electors had died between their election and

the time of the meeting of the college, and one elector voted for John Quincy Adams as President. Tompkins received 218 vote# for Vice-President, and the rest were scattering. 10. In 1824 occurred the famous “scrub race" for the Presidency. There were four candidates iu the field, namely, William H. Crawford, of Georgia; John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts; Henry Clay, of Kentucky; and Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, all belonging to the same political party. There were no party issues involved and it was purely a personal contest. Crawford was the candidate of the party caucus in Congress; the others were nominated by their especial followers. The result was that no choice was made. In that campaign the popular vote was for the first time recorded, and it, with-the electoral vote, stood as follows: Andrew Jackson, 155,872 popular and 99 electoral votes; John Q. Adams, 105,321 popular votes and 84 electoral; William H. Crawford, 44,282 popular votes and 41 lelectoral; Henry Clay, 46,587, popular and 37 electoral votes. As no one of the candidates had a majority of the entire vote, the election went to the House of Representatives, which, voting by States, elected Mr. Adams on the first ballot. He had the vote of thirteen States, Mr. Jackson seven, and Mr. Crawford four States. John C. Calhoun had already been elected as Vice-President, haying received 182 electoral votes. The remainder of the votes for Vice-President were scattering. 11. In 1828 there were two well defined parties, the adherents of Clay and Adams, calling themselves the National-Republicans, and constituting the foundation of the great Whig party, and the party of the Jackson men, now styled Democrats. This latter supporting Andrew Jackson for President, with John C. Calhoun for a second term as Vice President. Nominations in this campaign were made by party conventions, as they have been made ever since. Jfhe National-Republicans nominated John Q. Adams for a second term as President, and Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, ‘ for Vice President. Of 261 electoral votes Jackson received 178 for President, and Calhoun 171 for Vice President. Adams and Rush each had 83 electoral votes. Seven votes were also cast for William Smith, of South Carolina, for Vice President. The popular votes for Gen. Jackson was 647,231. That for Adams was 509,097.

12. In 1832 two minor parties had sprung up, tho Anti-Masonic, which was the outgrowth of the popular excitement in New York State over the disappearance of William Mprgan, and the Independent Democrats, a Southern clique upholding the nullification acts of South Carolina. There were therefore four tickets in the field: Andrew Jackson, of Tennesee, and Martin Van Buren, of New York, Democratic; Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, NationalRepublicans; William Wirt, of Maryland, and Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania, Anti-Masonic; John Floyd, of Virginia, and Henry Lee, of Massachusetts, Independent The reanlt of the election gave Jackson 218 out of 288 electoral votes, and Van Buren 189. There popular vote was 687,502. Clay and Sergeant had 49 electoral votes each, and a popular vote of 530,189. Eleven electoral votes were cast for Floyd and Lee by Sonth Carolina, and seven by Vermont for Wirt and Ellmaker, the combined popular vote on these two tickets being 33,108. Pennsylvania being violently opposed to Mr. Van Buren, cast her electoral votes —33 —for William Wilkins, of that State, for Vice President. 13. In 1836 the Democratic candidates were Martin Van Buren,, of New York, for President, and Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, for Vice President. The regular ticket, of the opposition pfrty, now called Whigs, was William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, President, and Francis Granger, of New

York, Vice President, but various States gave espeoial preference to othor candidates, and votes were dast for Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, and W. P. Mangum, of North Carolina,/for President, and for John Tylej of Virginia, and William Smith, of South Carolina, for Vice President. Of the 294 electoral votes, 170 were for Van Buren, and 147 for Johnson, with a popular vote of 761,549. The Whig rote was as follows: For President, Harrison, 73 electoral votes, White 26, Webster. 14, and Mangum 11, and for the candidates for Vice President, Granger 77, Tyler 47, and Smith 23. The combined popular; vote of the Whigs for all their candidates was 736,656. Mr. Van Bur6n was therefore elected as President, but as no candidate for Vice, President had enough electoral votes, choice was thrown into Congress, which elected Mr. Johnson.

14. In 1840, the candidates were not quite so numerous. The Whigs supported General Harrison and John Tyler; the Democrats nominated Van Buren and Johnson for a second term, and there wa3 also the ticket of a new party in the field, the Abolition, or “Liberty' Party,” whose candidates were James G. Birney, of New York, and Francis J. Lemoyne, of Pennsylvania. The Whig ticket received 234 electoral votes out of 294, and a popular vote of 1,275,017. The Democratic candidates had a popular vote of 1,128,702, with an electoral vote of 60 for Van Buren; and 48 for Johnson, the rest scattering for State favorites. The “Liberty Party” cast a popular vote of 7,059. 15. In 1844, the tickets were; Democratic, James K. Polk, of Tennessee, for President, and Geo. M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, Vice President; Whig Henry Clay, of Kentucky, President, and T. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, Vice President; Ab’olitionist, James G. Birney, of New York, and Thomas Morris, of Ohio. The election gave Polk and Dallas 170 electoral votes out of 275, and a popular vote of 1,337,249. Clay and Frelinghuysen had 105 electoral, and 1,299,068 popular votes. The “Liberty Party” gave a popular vote of 62,300. 16. In 1848, the Democratic candidates were Lewis Cass, of Michigan, and William O. Butler, of Kentucky; those of the Whigs were General Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, and Millard Fillmore, of New York; the “Liberty Party” consolidating with the wing of the Democracy that opposed the extension of slavery, called itself the FreeSoil party, and nominated Martin Van Bnren for President, and Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, for Vice President. The Whigs were victorious. Taylor and Fillmore receiving 163 out of 290 electoral votes, and a gopular vote of 1,860,101. Cass and utler had 1,220,544 popular and 127 electoral votes. Van Buren and Adams had no electoral vote, but polled a popular vote of 291,263. 17. In 1852 the tickets put in the field were: Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, and Wm. R. King, of Alabama, Democratic; Winfield Scott, of New Jersey, and William A. Graham, of North Carolina, Whig; John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, and George W. Julian, of Indiana, Free-Soil. Pierce and King were elected, with a popular vote-of 1,601,474, and 254 out of 296 electoral votes. Scott and Graham had 42 electoral votes, and a popular vote of 1,386,578. The Free-Soilers had a popular vote of 156,149. 18. In 1856 the Democratic candidates were James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, and John C. Breckinridge,-of of Kentucky. Those of the Republican party—which had been formed by a combination ”bf part of the Whig party and the Free-Soilers—were John C. Fremont, of Californian, and Wm. L. Dayton, of New Jersey. The “Old Line” Whig party, which had greatly declined in numbers, united with the American party—otherwise called the Know-Nothings —to support Millard Fillmore again for the Presidency, and Andrew J. Donelson, of Tennessee, for the Vice Presidency. The Democratic candidates received a popular vote of 1,838,169, and 174 out of 296 electoral votes; the Republicans had 114 electoral, and 1,341,264 popular votes, and the American party had 874,534 popular votes, and 8 electoral. 19. In 1860 there were four tickets voted for, viz: Republican, Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine r Democrat, John G. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon; ConstitutionalUnion, John Bell, of Tennessee, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, and the Independent-Democratic, Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, and Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia. The result of dhe election was as follows: Lincoln and Hamlin 180 electoral And 1,866,352 popular votes; Breckinridge and Lane, 72 electoral, 845,763 popular votes; Bell and Everett 39 electoral votes and 589,581 popular, and Donglas and Johnson, 1,375,157 popular, with but 12 electoral votes.

20. In 1864 the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln for - a second term as President and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, as Vice President, and scored a popular vote of 2,216,067, and an electoral vote of 212. George B. McClelland, of New Jfersey, and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, the Democratic candidates, had 1,808,725 popular and 21 electoral vetes. Eleven States, having 81 electoral votes trere not represented in this election. 21. In 1868 the Republican candidates, Ulysses S. Grant, of Illinois, and Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, had a popular vote of 3,015,071, and 212 electoral votes. The Democratic ticket on which were Horatio Seymour, of New York, and F. P. Blair, of Missouri, had 80 electoral and 2,709,613 popnlar votes. Three States, representing 23 electoral votes, took no part in the election. 22. In 1872 General tyrant was again supported by the Republicans for the Presidency, and Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, was their candidate for the Vice Presidency. The result of the election gave these 286 electoral and 3,597,070;p0pn1ar votes. A ooalition between the Democrats and a faction calling themselves Liberal ReSublicans nominated Horace Greely, of ew York, and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri. This ticket received 2,834,079 popular and 47 eleotoral votes, but as Mr. Greely died shortly after the

popular election, hie votes in the electoral college were given to Thomas Hendricks, Gratz Brown and others. Two other tickets had'been nominated —that of the “Straight Out” Democrats, which bore the names of Charles O’Conor, bf New York, and George W. Julian, of Indiana, and that of the Temperance party, James Black, of Pennsylvania, and John Bussell, of Michigan. The former of these had a popular vote of 29,408 and the latter 5,608. Seventeen electoral votes from the South were not counted in this election. 23. In 1876 the Democratic party choose for its candidates Governor Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. The other tickets were: Republican, Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and William A. Wheeler, of New York; Greenback, Peter Cooper, of and Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio; Prohibition, Green Clay Smith, of Kentucky, and G. T. Stewart, of Ohio. Of the popular vote, Hayes and Wheeler received 4,033,950, against 4,284,885 cast for Tilden and Hendricks, but by the decision of the electoral commission the disputed electoral votes were given to the Republican candidates, who were therefore declared elected by 185 electoral votes against 184. The Greenback ticket polled a vote of 81,740, that of the Temperance faction 9,522, while 2,636 of the popular votes were scattering. There was an Anti-Masonic ticket that year but it attracted no attention.

24. In 1880, James A. Garfield, of Ohio, and Chester A. Arthur, of New York, the Republican nominees had 214 electoral votes out of a total of 369, and a popular vote of 4,449,553. The Democratic candidates, Winfield S. Hancock, of Pennsylvania, and William H. English, of Indiana, had 4,442,035 popular, and 155 electoral votes (counting Georgia. General James B. Weaver, of lowa, and B. J. Chambers, of Texas, the nominees of the Greenback party, polled a popular vote of 507,306, and Neal Dow, of Maine, and A. M. Thompson, of Ohio, put in nomination by the Prohibitionists, had 10,305 votes, and about 3,000 were scattering, or given for favorite candidates not regularly nominated. 25. In 1884, there were four tickets: Republican, James G. Blaine, of Maine, and John A. Logan, of Illinois; Democratic, Stephen Grover Cleveland, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana; Greenback-Labor, B.F. Butler, of Massachusetts, and A. M. West, of Mississippi; Prohibition, John P. St. JohD, of Kansas, and William Daniel, of Maryland, not to mention the Equal Rights party, with Mrs. Belya A. Lockwood for President. The result of this election, according to the most reliable figures, gave 182 electoral votes to the Republican candidates, and 216 to the Democratic, while the popular vote divided as follows: Blaine 4,859,644; Cleveland 4,894,634; Butler, 133,002; St. John, 150,796; Mrs. Lockwood is creditably asserted to have received 5 votes. —lnter Ocean.