Part 24

7. Reform of abuses in the administration, the expulsion of corrupt men from office, the abrogation of useless offices, the restoration of rightful authority to, and the independence of, the executive and judicial departments of the Government, the subordination of the military to the civil power, to the end that the usurpations of Congress and the despotism of the sword may cease.

8. Equal rights and protection for naturalized and native-born citizens, at home and abroad; the assertion of American nationality which shall command the respect of foreign powers, and furnish an example and encouragement to peoples struggling for national integrity, constitutional liberty, and individual rights, and the maintenance of the rights of naturalized citizens against the absolute doctrine of immutable allegiance, and the claims of foreign powers to punish them for alleged crime committed beyond their jurisdiction.

In demanding these measures and reforms, we arraign the Radical party for its disregard of right, and the unparalleled oppression and tyranny which have marked its career.

After the most solemn and unanimous pledge of both Houses of Congress to prosecute the war exclusively for the maintenance of the Government and the preservation of the Union under the Constitution, it has repeatedly violated that most sacred pledge under which alone was rallied that noble volunteer army which carried our flag to victory. Instead of restoring the Union, it has, so far as in its power, dissolved it, and subjected ten States, in the time of profound peace, to military despotism and negro supremacy. It has nullified there the right of trial by jury; it has abolished the _habeas corpus_, that most sacred writ of liberty; it has overthrown the freedom of speech and the press; it has substituted arbitrary seizures and arrests, and military trials and secret star-chamber inquisitions for the constitutional tribunals; it has disregarded, in time of peace, the right of the people to be free from searches and seizures; it has entered the post and telegraph offices, and even the private rooms of individuals, and seized their private papers and letters without any specific charge or notice or affidavit, as required by the organic law; it has converted the American Capitol into a bastile; it has established a system of spies and official espionage to which no constitutional monarchy of Europe would now dare to resort; it has abolished the right of appeal, on important constitutional questions, to the supreme judicial tribunals, and threatened to curtail or destroy its original jurisdiction, which is irrevocably vested by the Constitution, while the learned Chief Justice has been subjected to the most atrocious calumnies, merely because he would not prostitute his high office to the support of the false and partisan charges preferred against the President. Its corruption and extravagance have exceeded anything known in history, and, by its frauds and monopolies, it has nearly doubled the burden of the debt created by the war. It has stripped the President of his constitutional power of appointment, even of his own Cabinet. Under its repeated assaults the pillars of the Government are rocking on their base, and should it succeed in November next and inaugurate its President, we will meet, as a subjected and conquered people, amid the ruins of liberty and the scattered fragments of the Constitution.

And we do declare and resolve that ever since the people of the United States threw off all subjection to the British crown the privilege and trust of suffrage have belonged to the several States, and have been granted, regulated, and controlled exclusively by the political power of each State respectively, and that any attempt by Congress, on any pretext whatever, to deprive any State of this right, or interfere with its exercise, is a flagrant usurpation of power, which can find no warrant in the Constitution, and, if sanctioned by the people, will subvert our form of government, and can only end in a single centralized and consolidated government, in which the separate existence of the States will be entirely absorbed, and unqualified despotism be established in place of a Federal union of coequal States. And that we regard the Reconstruction Acts (so-called) of Congress, as such, as usurpations, and unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void.

That our soldiers and sailors, who carried the flag of our country to victory against a most gallant and determined foe, must ever be gratefully remembered, and all the guarantees given in their favor must be faithfully carried into execution.

That the public lands should be distributed as widely as possible among the people, and should be disposed of either under the pre-emption or homestead lands, or sold in reasonable quantities, and to none but actual occupants, at the minimum price established by the Government. When grants of the public lands may be allowed, necessary for the encouragement of important public improvements, the proceeds of the sale of such lands, and not the lands themselves, should be so applied.

That the President of the United States, Andrew Johnson, in exercising the powers of his high office in resisting the aggressions of Congress upon the constitutional rights of the States and the people, is entitled to the gratitude of the whole American people, and in behalf of the Democratic party we tender him our thanks for his patriotic efforts in that regard.

Upon this platform the Democratic party appeal to every patriot, including all the conservative element and all who desire to support the Constitution and restore the Union, forgetting all past differences of opinion, to unite with us in the present great struggle for the liberties of the people; and that to all such, to whatever party they may have heretofore belonged, we extend the right hand of fellowship, and hail all such co-operating with us as friends and brethren.

_Resolved_, That this convention sympathize cordially with the workingmen of the United States in their efforts to protect the rights and interests of the laboring classes of the country.

_Resolved_, That the thanks of the convention are tendered to Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase for the justice, dignity, and impartiality with which he presided over the court of impeachment on the trial of President Andrew Johnson.

The ballots for President began on Tuesday and ended Thursday. The following table gives the ballots in detail:

════════╤══════════╤════════╤═══════════╤══════════╤═══════╤═══════╤════════╤══════════╤══════════╤════════╤═════════╤════════╤═══════════ │ Geo. H. │ Andrew │Winfield S.│ Sanford │ Asa │ Joel │James E.│ James R. │ Thos. A. │Horatio │ Francis │Reverdy │ BALLOTS.│Pendleton,│Johnson,│ Hancock, │E. Church,│Packer,│Parker,│English,│Doolittle,│Hendricks,│Seymour,│P. Blair,│Johnson,│Scattering. │ Ohio. │ Tenn. │ Penn. │ N. Y. │ Penn. │ N. J. │ Conn. │ Wis. │ Ind. │ N. Y. │ Mo. │ Md. │ ────────┼──────────┼────────┼───────────┼──────────┼───────┼───────┼────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼────────┼─────────── 1 │ 105 │ 65 │ 33-1/2 │ 33 │ 26 │ 13 │ 16 │ 13 │ 2-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 10-1/2 2 │ 104 │ 52 │ 40-1/2 │ 33 │ 26 │ 15-1/2│ 12-1/2│ 12-1/2 │ 2 │ ―― │ 10-1/2 │ 8 │ 1/2 3 │ 119-1/2 │ 34-1/2│ 45-1/2 │ 33 │ 26 │ 13 │ 7-1/2│ 12 │ 9-1/2 │ ―― │ 4-1/2 │ 11 │ 1 4 │ 118-1/2 │ 32 │ 43-1/2 │ 33 │ 26 │ 13 │ 7-1/2│ 8 │ 11-1/2 │ 9 │ 2 │ 16 │ 1 5 │ 122 │ 24 │ 46 │ 33 │ 27 │ 13 │ 7 │ 15 │ 19-1/2 │ ―― │ 9-1/2 │ ―― │ 1 6 │ 122-1/2 │ 21 │ 47 │ 33 │ 27 │ 13 │ 6 │ 12 │ 30 │ ―― │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― 7 │ 137-1/2 │ 12-1/2│ 42-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 │ 6 │ 12 │ 39-1/2 │ ―― │ 1/2 │ ―― │ ―― 8 │ 156-1/2 │ 6 │ 28 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 │ 6 │ 12 │ 75 │ ―― │ 1/2 │ ―― │ ―― 9 │ 144 │ 5-1/2│ 24-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 │ 6 │ 12 │ 80-1/2 │ ―― │ 1/2 │ ―― │ ―― 10 │ 147-1/2 │ 6 │ 34 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 │ ―― │ 12 │ 82-1/2 │ ―― │ 1/2 │ ―― │ ―― 11 │ 144-1/2 │ 5-1/2│ 32-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 │ ―― │ 12-1/2 │ 88 │ ―― │ 1/2 │ ―― │ ―― 12 │ 145-1/2 │ 4-1/2│ 30 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 │ ―― │ 12-1/2 │ 89 │ ―― │ 1/2 │ ―― │ 1-1/2 13 │ 134-1/2 │ 4-1/2│ 48-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 │ ―― │ 13 │ 81 │ ―― │ 1/2 │ ―― │ 1-1/2 14 │ 130 │ ―― │ 50 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 │ ―― │ 13 │ 84-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― 15 │ 129-1/2 │ 5-1/2│ 79-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 │ ―― │ 12 │ 82-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― 16 │ 107-1/2 │ 5-1/2│ 113-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ ―― │ 12 │ 70-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― 17 │ 70-1/2 │ 6 │ 137-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 │ ―― │ 12 │ 80 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 3-1/2 18 │ 56-1/2 │ 10 │ 144-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ 31-1/2│ ―― │ 12 │ 87 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 3-1/2 19 │ ―― │ ―― │ 135-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ 22 │ 6 │ 4 │ 107-1/2 │ ―― │ 13-1/2 │ ―― │ 5 20 │ ―― │ ―― │ 142-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 16 │ 12 │ 121 │ 2 │ 13 │ ―― │ 9 21 │ ―― │ ―― │ 135-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 19 │ 12 │ 132 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 5 22 │ ―― │ 4 │ 90-1/2 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 1 │ 4 │ 140-1/2 │ 21 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ════════╧══════════╧════════╧═══════════╧══════════╧═══════╧═══════╧════════╧══════════╧══════════╧════════╧═════════╧════════╧═══════════

Before the 22d ballot was announced delegations began to change their votes to Seymour, and the changes were continued amid great enthusiasm until he received the unanimous nomination. The twenty-one votes given him on the last ballot were all cast by Ohio delegates.

It was charged that the nomination of Seymour had been carefully planned by his friends before the meeting of the convention, in imitation of the nominations of Polk and Pierce, but in point of fact the nomination of Seymour was not planned by his friends nor had they any idea of nominating him when the convention met, as his name was not before the convention at all until the 22d ballot and the third day of balloting. He was most earnestly averse to accepting the nomination. His health was impaired, he had had many and very earnest political conflicts, and he felt himself physically and mentally unequal to the exacting duties of a campaign. His nomination was, as I have stated, conceived and executed for the purpose of defeating Chase.

Having failed to nominate a Republican for President, the convention unanimously nominated General Frank P. Blair, of Missouri, for Vice-President without the formality of a ballot. He was one of the most radical and aggressive of Republicans when the Republican party was organized in 1856, and brought the first important victory to that party when, in the early fall of 1856, he was elected to Congress from St. Louis, being the first Republican who ever represented a Southern State in the national Legislature. I remember meeting him in Washington just before the clash of arms began, after the bombardment of Sumter. He was impatient with Lincoln for not precipitating the war, and told me that he would go back to Missouri the next day, and that the country would soon hear of battles fought in that State. He executed his purpose, for it was through him chiefly or wholly that the early and bloody battles of Missouri were fought. He was one of the most brilliant of the corps commanders of the army, but had evidently fallen into disfavor with Grant, and Blair was as tireless a fighter as Grant himself. In a public letter, directed to J. C. Broadhead a short time before the convention met, General Blair denounced Grant as aiming at imperialism, and declared that his election to the Presidency would date the downfall of our Republican institutions.

General Blair spoke frequently during the contest, but his speeches were so violent that they gave offence to many conservative Democrats; and after the October elections, which were disastrous to the Democrats, the New York _World_, the leading Democratic organ, came out in a leader demanding that he be retired from the ticket; but Blair was not the man to retreat under fire. Seymour took the stump, to present the party in a more conservative attitude, and delivered a number of speeches, which rank among the ablest popular addresses of American politics; but he could not halt the tidal wave that swept Grant into the Presidency. The following table gives the electoral and popular vote:

═══════════════╤═══════════════════╦═════════════════ │ POPULAR VOTE. ║ ELECTORAL VOTE. STATES. ├─────────┬─────────╫────────┬──────── │ Grant. │ Seymour.║ Grant. │Seymour. ───────────────┼─────────┼─────────╫────────┼──────── Maine │ 70,426 │ 42,396 ║ 7 │ ―― New Hampshire │ 38,191 │ 31,224 ║ 5 │ ―― Vermont │ 44,167 │ 12,045 ║ 5 │ ―― Massachusetts │ 136,477 │ 59,408 ║ 12 │ ―― Rhode Island │ 12,993 │ 6,548 ║ 4 │ ―― Connecticut │ 50,641 │ 47,600 ║ 6 │ ―― New York │ 419,883 │ 429,883 ║ ―― │ 33 New Jersey │ 80,121 │ 83,001 ║ ―― │ 7 Pennsylvania │ 342,280 │ 313,382 ║ 26 │ ―― Delaware │ 7,623 │ 10,980 ║ ―― │ 3 Maryland │ 30,438 │ 62,357 ║ ―― │ 7 Virginia[20] │ ―――――― │ ―――――― ║ ―― │ ―― West Virginia │ 29,025 │ 20,306 ║ 5 │ ―― North Carolina │ 96,226 │ 84,090 ║ 9 │ ―― South Carolina │ 62,301 │ 45,237 ║ 6 │ ―― Georgia │ 57,134 │ 102,822 ║ ―― │ 9 Florida[21] │ ―――――― │ ―――――― ║ 3 │ ―― Alabama │ 76,366 │ 72,086 ║ 8 │ ―― Mississippi[20]│ ―――――― │ ―――――― ║ ―― │ ―― Louisiana │ 33,263 │ 80,225 ║ ―― │ 7 Texas[20] │ ―――――― │ ―――――― ║ ―― │ ―― Arkansas │ 22,152 │ 19,078 ║ 5 │ ―― Missouri │ 85,671 │ 59,788 ║ 11 │ ―― Tennessee │ 56,757 │ 26,311 ║ 10 │ ―― Kentucky │ 39,566 │ 115,889 ║ ―― │ 11 Ohio │ 280,128 │ 238,700 ║ 21 │ ―― Michigan │ 128,550 │ 97,069 ║ 8 │ ―― Indiana │ 176,552 │ 166,980 ║ 13 │ ―― Illinois │ 250,293 │ 199,143 ║ 16 │ ―― Wisconsin │ 108,857 │ 84,710 ║ 8 │ ―― Minnesota │ 43,542 │ 28,072 ║ 4 │ ―― Iowa │ 120,399 │ 74,040 ║ 8 │ ―― Nebraska │ 9,729 │ 5,439 ║ 3 │ ―― Kansas │ 31,049 │ 14,019 ║ 3 │ ―― Nevada │ 6,480 │ 5,218 ║ 3 │ ―― California │ 54,592 │ 54,078 ║ 5 │ ―― Oregon │ 10,961 │ 11,125 ║ ―― │ 3 ├─────────┼─────────╫────────┼─────── Totals │3,012,833│2,703,249║ 214 │ 80 ═══════════════╧═════════╧═════════╩════════╧═══════

[20] Did not vote.

[21] Chosen by Legislature.

There was dispute as to the right of some of the Southern States to participate in the election. It will be seen that West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky had all participated in the election. Fortunately, the disputed States did not in any way affect the result, and Congress passed a joint resolution declaring that none of the rebellious States should be entitled to electoral votes, unless at the time of the election they had adopted Constitutions since the 4th of March, 1867, and had an organized State Government, and unless such States had representation in Congress under the Reconstruction laws. Of course, President Johnson vetoed the measure, but it was promptly passed over the veto by both branches of Congress, and became a law. By that resolution, Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas were absolutely excluded from the election.

The other Southern States had representation in Congress, with the exception of Georgia. The question whether Georgia should be permitted to have her vote counted resulted in a very serious dispute, on which the Senate and the House divided, but Mr. Wade, President of the Senate, in declaring the result, counted the vote of Georgia and precipitated a very disgraceful scene, in which General Butler most offensively assailed the presiding officer. There was no question whatever as to the election of Grant and Colfax, and Congress duly declared them President and Vice-President of the United States.

The contest of 1868 crystallized the “Greenback” sentiment of the country under the leadership of George H. Pendleton, who was the nominee for Vice-President with McClellan in 1864, and who expected to capture the Democratic National Convention of 1868, to nominate himself for President on the Greenback platform. The Pendleton followers were the hustlers of that convention, and they were all decorated with a badge that was an imitation of the greenback. Gold had been at a high premium during the war, and was at a considerable premium in 1868, with resumption apparently very far off. The cheap-money idea had been industriously impressed upon the people by the demagogues of that day, and as many of the obligations of the United States were payable only in lawful money, while the bonds issued during the war were payable in coin, it was easy to make plausible appeal to the prejudices of the industrial classes, who were paying very high prices for all the necessaries of life.

This theory had been very widely discussed by the various shades of opposition to the Republicans, but the Pendleton movement for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency dignified it as a national issue, and it succeeded in making the New York Democratic platform go more than half way in favor of repudiation of our obligations by payment in greenbacks. The greenback issue thus vitalized became a very important one in many of the States and caused strange political revolutions, such as the election of Democratic Governors and Democratic Legislatures in Maine and Ohio.

It is doubtful whether the Republicans could have been lined up squarely in the support of the national credit with any other candidate than Grant, and one of the first acts that he signed as President distinctly provided for the payment in coin of all bonds of the Government bearing interest, and declared also that specie payments should be resumed as speedily as practicable. The Greenback party not only figured largely in State politics, but became formidable as a third party in national contests, and the free-silver theory of to-day is simply the old greenback issue of cheap money in another form.

THE GRANT-GREELEY CONTEST

1872

General Grant was a thorough soldier, with little qualification for civil duties and a natural distaste for politics. I doubt whether he had any defined political policy when he entered the Presidency. He believed in maintaining the credit of the Government, and accepted in a conservative way the general policy of the Republican party, but he knew little or nothing of the political leadership of the nation, and his friends generally felt that the success of his administration would depend very largely upon surrounding him with a Cabinet composed of the ablest and most sagacious men of the party, but Grant cherished no such ideas himself. He evidently assumed that politics could be run by general orders, as an army could be commanded, and it was that mistake that alienated a very large portion of the Republicans from him in the early period of his administration, and culminated in the Liberal Republican Convention at Cincinnati in 1872.

I had frequently met General Grant before his nomination and election to the Presidency, but only in the most casual way on social occasions, and never had any conversation with him, either on politics generally or on his candidacy for the Presidency. I was earnestly in favor of his nomination and election, because I believed that calling him to the Presidency would do more to reconcile the South and give better assurance of sectional tranquillity than the election of any of the leading Republican statesmen of that day. I had just changed my residence to Philadelphia, having suffered serious financial disaster in the burning of Chambersburg by McCausland, and it was my settled purpose after Grant’s election to cease active participation in politics and devote my efforts wholly to my profession.

My first and only meeting with Grant before his retirement from the Presidency, at which we had any protracted conversation, was a short time before his inauguration. Chief Justice Read, of Pennsylvania, handed me a letter, addressed to the President-elect, and asked me to deliver it in person when I next visited Washington. I did not know its contents, but inferred that it related to the appointment of Curtin to a Cabinet office. A few days thereafter when in Washington I called upon General Grant at his headquarters and delivered the letter, and after a very brief conversation, rose to take my leave. He had opened the letter in the meantime, and as I reached the door he called me back, saying that Judge Read’s letter strongly urged the appointment of Curtin to the Cabinet, and that he desired to tell me frankly as a close friend of Curtin why he could not meet the wishes of the many friends of Curtin by giving him a Cabinet portfolio. He spoke very highly of Curtin, and showed his appreciation of Curtin’s position by nominating him as Minister to Russia at an early day after his inauguration, and against the protest of Senator Cameron. In the course of the conversation I saw Grant’s crude theory of conducting a national administration. He said that his Cabinet officers would be his official confidential family, and he desired to appoint them entirely in accordance with his personal preferences. I said to him that it was certainly his right to have only men in his Cabinet who were entirely agreeable to himself, but that it was very important for him to have the ablest politicians of the country largely represented in it, to save his administration from the many political complications which would otherwise confront him.

I saw that Grant was not a willing listener to any suggestions, although given in the most courteous manner, and he answered with a somewhat liberal display of what some called “obstinacy” and others called “determination,” as one of the leading attributes of his character. I then spoke more freely and frankly, and finally said to him that if I were suddenly called to the command of the army, with little or no military experience, I would feel that my greatest need was generals; and I added that it was in no measure disrespectful to him to say that, having been called from the command of the army to the Presidency of the Republic, without experience in high civil duties, his greatest need was statesmen. The advice was not grateful to Grant; on the contrary, he was obviously fretted, as none of the many who sought favors at his hands had ventured to tell him the truth so plainly. When the conversation ended he gave me a moderately cordial good-by, and I never again met him, excepting once at the large banquet given by Mr. Childs on the evening after the opening of the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, until soon after he had retired from his eight years’ service in the Presidency, and never had any communication with him.