"Let Us Have Peace": Ulysses S. Grant and the Election of 1868

A campaign flyer from the 1868 presidential election promoting the candidacy of Ulysses S. Grant for president and Schuyler Colfax for vice president.

Wikimedia Commons

The presidential election of 1868 propelled General Ulysses S. Grant into the presidency of the United States for the first of his two terms. This election was the first to be held since the end of the Civil War. Slavery had come to an end through the 13^th Amendment, while the recently ratified 14^th Amendment made all formerly enslaved African Americans citizens of the United States. Now there was active discussion about a proposed 15^th Amendment that would end racial discrimination in voting. The 1868 election was therefore a referendum on whether Reconstruction would continue. Was it best for the federal government to continue overseeing affairs in the former Confederate states until all civil rights laws were adhered to, or was it best for the military to leave and Reconstruction ended immediately?

General Ulysses S. Grant was the foremost military hero of the Union war effort. Loose talk of Grant running for president had emerged in the last presidential election in 1864, but Grant stated that his role was on the battlefield, not the White House. Grant and Lincoln formed a mutual admiration and respect for each other as the Civil War progressed and after congressional approval, Lincoln commissioned Grant Lieutenant General with the command of all Union armies. Grant also evolved to support emancipation and the enlistment of African Americans into the Union Army, paralleling him with Lincoln’s policies as the war progressed. With Lincoln’s assassination just days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Grant, Vice President Andrew Johnson became President. Despite at first trying to work with Johnson, it soon became clear that he and General Grant differed greatly with civil rights for African Americans. Johnson, a Unionist Southerner, vetoed all civil rights legislation passed by Congress. Congress was able to override Johnson’s vetoes. Grant meanwhile supported Congressional civil rights legislation, which put Grant increasingly in the ranks of the Republican Party.

The Republican Party had always been a loose coalition since its founding in the mid-1850s. Originally formed in opposition to the antebellum expansion of slavery and held together to support the union war effort during the Civil War, the party was fractious with other political issues such as taxation, tariffs, and civil service reform. Even the extent of African American civil rights was debated vigorously within the party. However, Johnson’s resistance to any civil rights legislation and his growing leniency to former Confederates, coupled with violent resistance on the part of white supremacists towards civil rights legislation, pushed Republicans to find a candidate who could overcome the Democrats in 1868. Grant was a favorite among many Republicans, but some wished Grant would clarify his positions clearer. Republican Senator Ben Wade said, “as quick as I’d talk politics, he’d talk horses, and he could talk for hours on that without getting tired.” Nevertheless, Grant’s reputation in the Civil War as well as his commitment to civil rights were strong cases for him as the standard bearer for the party. He was someone whom different factions of the party could support. Grant was nominated unanimously. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the House for much of the Civil War, was selected to serve as Grant’s Vice-Presidential candidate. Grant accepted the party platform based on continuing Reconstruction, protecting the rights of loyal southerners including African Americans, and ultimately granting all male citizens the right to vote. Other issues included reducing taxes, working towards the elimination of the national debt, and promoting westward expansion and economic growth. The Grant campaign’s slogan was “Let Us Have Peace.”

The Grant campaign was intentionally vague with its messaging and instead promoted General Grant's war record and the theme of "Let Us Have Peace." This drawing by Thomas Nast captured the spirit of the Grant-Colfax ticket.

Princeton University Library

Grant’s opponents in the Democratic party nominated New York Governor Horatio Seymour, who as wartime governor of New York supported the Union war effort but was against many Lincoln policies during the war, including emancipation. His running mate was former Union General and Congressman from Missouri, Francis P. Blair. The Democratic platform included halting congressional reconstruction (and with-it civil rights), allowing white southerners to form state governments which would give them the power to enfranchise whom they chose, and support for equal taxation and one uniform currency.

Grant let others campaign for him, but one issue that came back to haunt Grant during the campaign and forced his response was his December 1862 wartime General Orders No. 11, expelling all people with the Jewish faith from his department. This was Grant’s impulsive reaction to try to root out the illicit cotton trade in his department with the Confederate enemy. Although the order was quickly rescinded, charges of antisemitism persisted through the election of 1868. Democrats capitalized on this issue and Jewish leaders sought an explanation from the General. Grant responded to one such letter from his friend and Congressman from Illinois, Isaac Morris who had forwarded Grant a letter from a Jewish formal Confederate officer, Adolph Moses. Grant wrote back, “give Mr. Moses assurances that I have no prejudice against sect or race but want each individual to be judged by his own merit. Order No. 11 does not sustain this statement, I admit but then I do not sustain that order.”

On election day, November 3, 1868, forty-six-year-old Ulysses S. Grant was in Galena, Illinois. Although he voted, he did not vote on the Presidential ticket (did not vote for himself). However, he need not have worried. Grant trounced Seymour in the electoral college (214-80). The popular vote was closer. Grant had over three million votes but only won the popular vote by 400,000. Grant did receive some help to put him over the top on the popular vote. The Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 had divided the former Confederate states into five military districts. One aspect of this military rule was African American men in these jurisdictions were granted suffrage, and under federal protection they voted overwhelmingly for Grant. Ulysses S. Grant was now President-elect. In a speech to those gathered around him in Galena he proclaimed, ““The Responsibilities of the position I feel, but accept them without fear.”

Further Reading

Simon, John Y. ed., The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant Volume19: July 1, 1868-October 31, 1869. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1995, PP 64-65.

Simpson, Brooks D. Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction 1861-1868. Chapel Hill/London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1991. PP 205-251.

Smith, Jean Edward. Grant. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2001. PP. 432-433 and 458-460.The Election of 1868.

American Battlefield Trust. The Election of 1868 | American Battlefield Trust (battlefields.org)