Ulysses S. Grant and the Presidential Election of 1880

Ulysses S. Grant in the early 1880s. Cabinet Card photo by Abraham Bogardus, New York City.

Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site Collections

The presidential election of 1880 featured bitter in-fighting within the Republican Party, intense partisan politics during the election campaign, and the very real prospect of Ulysses S. Grant running for an unprecedented third term as president of the United States. Grant did not win the Republican Party’s nomination, but he nevertheless played an important role within the party during this time.

Grant had previously won the elections of 1868 and 1872, serving two terms and eight years at the White House. After his 1872 reelection, opponents were quick to argue that Grant had his eyes on a third term. Historian Michael F. Holt points out that Democrats complained that Grant was too quick to send troops to the South to quell violence at the polls, particularly against Black voters. Likewise, they complained about federal marshals being sent to large Northern cities like New York when claims of election fraud were made against party machines and immigrant voters. “Democrats charged Grant with ‘Caesarism,’ or plotting to undermine republican self-government,” argues Holt.

Grant was also slow—at least in the eyes of some concerned fellow Republicans—in disavowing any intention of running for a third term. On May 29, 1875, Grant wrote a letter in which he stated that “I am not, nor have I ever been, a candidate for renomination. I would not accept a nomination if it were tendered.” However, Grant also added that he would not run “unless it should come under such circumstances as to make it an imperative duty—circumstances not likely to arise.” The president’s unclear qualifier appeared to leave open the door for a third term run. Grant also argued that only a constitutional amendment imposing a term limit upon the presidency would effectively prevent a president from running for a third term in the future (the 22^nd amendment was later ratified in 1951).

Rutherford B. Hayes was elected president in 1876. After his inauguration, Ulysses and Julia Grant decided to take a vacation to Europe. Their trip turned into a two-and-a-half year world tour to more than 30 countries. Pro-Grant Republicans were delighted. They believed that being out of the country and away from the political battles of the Hayes administration would serve Grant well for a run in 1880. During the world tour, Grant met with political and military leaders around the world and even served as a mediator in a dispute over the Ryukyu Islands between China and Japan. These experiences gave Grant extensive foreign policy knowledge and enhanced his skills as a statesman and diplomat. One could argue that Grant was arguably the nation’s most qualified candidate for president in 1880.

The Republican Party’s convention in June 1880 began with three candidates at the forefront: Grant (who did not ask to have his name removed as a candidate), former Speaker of the House James G. Blaine, and Senator John Sherman (brother to the famous general and close friend of Grant, William T. Sherman). Many people believed that Grant had the nomination secured. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch expressed hope that Grant would be nominated and predicted that “the other candidates will fare about as well as a fox at a stork’s dinner party.” Senator Roscoe Conkling, Grant’s closet ally and most vocal supporter at the convention, declared that “nothing but an act of God could prevent Grant’s nomination.”

Several issues emerged for pro-Grant delegates at the convention, however. Conkling himself was a problem. Loud, irascible, aggressive, arrogant, and dedicated to the patronage system of awarding government jobs to party loyalists, Conkling’s “Stalwart” faction had many enemies within the party. Grant’s own record on addressing corruption within his administration—both real and imaged—combined with ongoing concerns about a president serving three terms concerned many delegates. Additionally, of vital importance to the convention was the matter of whether to accept the “unit rule” for selecting a candidate. The unit rule mandated that state delegations had to vote unanimously for their preferred candidate. For example, the New York delegation had previously met and a majority voted for Grant. Under the unit rule, any dissenting voters within the New York delegation would have had to cast their votes for Grant at the convention. After bitter debate on the floor, the unit rule was abandoned. Individual delegates would be allowed to vote for their preferred candidate.

The Immortal 306 set their sights on nominating Grant to be the Republican Party's nominee in 1884 after his failed nomination at the 1880 convention. Cropped from an illustration by J.A. Wales, "He Toots for Garfield and Drums for Grant," Puck, October 6, 1880.

Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site Collections

Grant had a majority of votes on the first ballot, garnering 304 votes to Blaine’s 284, Sherman’s 93, and a small cluster of votes for other candidates. However, he did not have the 379 votes needed to secure the nomination. Another 34 ballots failed to secure the nomination for any candidate, but a dark horse soon emerged. Representative James A. Garfield made a speech to the convention arguing for unity and for the ability of delegates to vote freely for their preferred candidate in opposition to the unit rule. “There never can be a convention . . . that shall bind my vote against my will on any question whatever,” Garfield remarked. Many delegates took note of Garfield’s poise, demeanor, and appeal across party factions. He emerged as an ideal candidate for the party. On the thirty-sixth ballot, 399 delegates voted for Garfield and gave him the nomination. For Grant’s part, 306 delegates stuck with him to the last vote, including some Black delegates who thought Grant was the best candidate for defending civil rights in the South. These delegates referred to themselves as “The Immortal 306” for years after the convention. Regardless, Grant had lost the nomination.

A satirical cartoon in Puck Magazine depicted Ulysses S. Grant surrendering his sword of "Imperialism" to James A. Garfield, the Republican party's nominee for the 1880 presidential election.

Library of Congress

Although both men were from Ohio, served as generals during the Civil War, were part of the same political party, and even had vacation homes in Long Branch, New Jersey, Grant and Garfield did not have a particularly close relationship. In fact, the relationship became strained after Garfield’s nomination. Adam Badeau, a former aide to Grant during the Civil War, remarked that “[Grant] sent no congratulations to his victor and gave no intimation of the course he intended to pursue. The result of the Convention was entirely unanticipated by him, and his disappointment was certainly keen.” Garfield asked Grant (and Roscoe Conkling) to speak at a Republican mass meeting in Warren, Ohio, on September 28, 1880. Grant obliged and gave a powerful speech, remarking that the nation could not live up to the ideals of political equality so long as Black and white Republicans in the South could not cast their ballots without fear of intimidation, violence, or murder.

“I am a Republican . . . because the Republican party is a National party seeking the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens,” remarked Grant. “There is not a precinct in this vast Nation where a Democrat cannot cast his ballot and have it counted as cast. No matter what prominence of the opposite party, he can proclaim his political opinions, even if he is only one among a thousand, without fear and without proscription on account of his opinions. There are fourteen States, and localities in some other States where Republicans have not this privilege.” However, while Grant campaigned for the Republican Party, he did not mention its presidential nominee by name, greatly disappointing Garfield and giving the impression that Grant was not fully supportive of him.

Joseph Keppler's December 22, 1880, cartoon in Puck Magazine depicted James A. Garfield as hosting fellow Republicans around his Christmas tree to enjoy gifts of patronage and power while Winfield Scott Hancock and fellow Democrats are left out in the cold. Grant is seen holding a toy soldier.

Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site Collections

The election was one of the most competitive in U.S. history. Approximately 80% of the eligible voting population cast a ballot. Garfield defeated his Democratic opponent, Winfield Scott Hancock, by only 1,898 votes (0.1%), the smallest popular vote margin ever recorded in a U.S. presidential election. Garfield won the electoral college 214-155, giving him the White House. Grant continued to try and exert his influence over Garfield after the election. He corresponded with Garfield about appointing Stalwart candidates in his cabinet and in other government positions, but Garfield typically went his own way, such as selecting William H. Robertson to be Collector of the Port of New York. During the summer of 1881, President Garfield remarked in his diary that “it is now evident (which I had not supposed) that Grant had his heart fully set on the nomination at Chicago, and was deeply hurt at his failure. He is talking wildly and unjustly.”

Less than two weeks after writing about Grant in his diary, Garfield was shot twice from behind by a disgruntled office seeker. When First Lady Lucretia Garfield heard the news of the shooting from their Long Branch vacation home, Grant was the first person to comfort her. According to historian Candice Millard:

Taking Lucretia’s hand in his, the former president and retired general was at first “so overcome with emotion,” one member of Grant’s party would recall, ”he could scarcely speak.” Finally, he was able to tell Lucretia that he had brought with him something that he hoped would give her a measure of comfort. He had just received a telegram from a friend in Washington who was certain that the president’s wounds were not mortal. From what he knew of the injury, Grant agreed. He had known many soldiers to survive similar wounds. Although he did not stay long, Grant’s words and, perhaps even more, his kindness were an emotional life raft for Lucretia, something to cling to until she could see James.

Tragically, after two months of agonizing treatment and poor medical care, President James A. Garfield died from an infection in his wound on September 19, 1881. The New York Times reported that after hearing the news, Grant was seen "weeping bitterly . . . Col. Fred Grant [the Grants' oldest son] said to the Times's reporter that though he had seen his father under many trying circumstances he had never before known him to be so terribly affected." The next day, Grant wrote to a Garfield confidant, "Please convey to the bereaved family of the Prest my heartfelt sympathy & sorrow for them in their deep affliction[.] A Nation will mourn with them for the loss of a chief magistrate so recently called to preside over its destiny[.] I will return to [Long Branch] in the morning to tender my services if they can be made useful."

Further Reading

Benjamin T. Arrington, The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2020.

Adam Badeau, Grant in Peace: From Appomattox to Mount McGregor, A Personal Memoir. Hartford: S.S. Scranton & Co., 1887.

Michael F. Holt, By One Vote: The Disputed Presidential Election of 1876. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008.

Candice Millard, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President. New York: Doubleday, 2011.

John Y. Simon, ed. The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 29: October 1, 1878 - September 30, 1880. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2008.

John Y. Simon, ed. The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 30: October 1, 1880 - December 31, 1882. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2008.