The 1880 Republican National Convention convened from June 2 to June 8, 1880, at the Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago, Illinois. James A. Garfield of Ohio and Chester A. Arthur of New York were the official candidates of the Republican Party for president and vice president. The Garfield–Arthur Republican ticket later defeated Democrats Winfield Scott Hancock and William Hayden English in the close 1880 presidential election. Ulysses S. Grant had served two terms as President from 1869 to 1877, and was seeking an unprecedented third term in office.
About 1880 Republican National Convention in brief
The 1880 Republican National Convention convened from June 2 to June 8, 1880, at the Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago, Illinois, United States. James A. Garfield of Ohio and Chester A. Arthur of New York were the official candidates of the Republican Party for president and vice president. The Garfield–Arthur Republican ticket later defeated Democrats Winfield Scott Hancock and William Hayden English in the close 1880 presidential election. Ulysses S. Grant had served two terms as President from 1869 to 1877, and was seeking an unprecedented third term in office. After Grant left the White House, he and his wife decided to use their US$85,000 of savings to travel around the world. With the backing of the Stalwarts and calls for a man of iron, Grant was confident he would receive the Republican nomination for the presidency. However, friends of Grant saw that his public support was slipping and took him aside to tell him that he would lose the nomination to Roscoe Conkling. Grant won the nomination by capturing 468 votes, and the longest-ever GOP National Convention was adjourned after the thirty-fifth ballot, with none of the candidates close to victory. The Republican Party of the United States was founded in 1788 and was led by President Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes had known since the dispute over the 1876 election that he was unlikely to win in 1880, and had announced at his 1877 inauguration that he wouldn’t run for a second term. Without an incumbent president in the race, the rival factions within the GOP eagerly anticipated the 1880 presidential elections.
The election was held on November 4, 1881, and Grant was re-elected to a third term as President of the U.S. Grant knew he could count on the support of Stalwart leaders to solidify his position in the House of Representatives. He did not think that there was any chance of failure, and did not become anxious to receive the nomination and become the party’s new president. Grant’s aide to the ex-president, Adam Badeau, commented that Grant’s nomination was ‘an act of God’ and that he had become ‘extremely anxious’ to become the GOP’s next president. He died in 1883, and his widow, Julia, became the first American woman to be elected to the post of first lady. Grant was succeeded by his son-in-law, Andrew Johnson, who went on to serve as president until his death in 1885. Grant died in office in 1887, leaving his wife Julia as the only member of his family to survive him to the end of his second term, and she died in 1888. The couple had a daughter, Julia Grant, who became a first lady and later a mother-of-three. The Grants had a son, James Grant, Jr., who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes. The Grant-Sherman ticket was backed by the Half-Breed faction of the GOP, which supported political machines and patronage. James G. Blaine, a former senator from Maine, was a senator and former representative from Maine.
You want to know more about 1880 Republican National Convention?
This page is based on the article 1880 Republican National Convention published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
