1888 United States presidential election

1888 United States presidential election

The 1888 United States presidential election was the 26th quadrennial presidential election. Republican nominee Benjamin Harrison, a former Senator from Indiana, defeated incumbent Democratic President Grover Cleveland of New York. Tariff policy was the principal issue in the election, as Cleveland had proposed a dramatic reduction in tariffs. Cleveland won a plurality of the popular vote, but Harrison won the election with a majority in the Electoral College. This was the last presidential election to be held before the Civil War ended in 1865.

About 1888 United States presidential election in brief

Summary 1888 United States presidential electionThe 1888 United States presidential election was the 26th quadrennial presidential election. Republican nominee Benjamin Harrison, a former Senator from Indiana, defeated incumbent Democratic President Grover Cleveland of New York. Tariff policy was the principal issue in the election, as Cleveland had proposed a dramatic reduction in tariffs. Cleveland won a plurality of the popular vote, but Harrison won the election with a majority in the Electoral College. It was the third of five U.S. presidential elections in which the winner did not win a plurality. of the national popular vote. Cleveland was the first incumbent president to win re-nomination since Ulysses S. Grant was nominated to a second term in 1872. The Democratic platform largely confined itself to a defense of the Cleveland administration, supporting reduction in the tariff and taxes generally as well as statehood for the western territories. The Labor Party garnered nearly 150,000 popular votes, but failed to gain widespread support. The Union Labor Party had formed in 1887 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and nominated Alson Streeter for president. The United States Labor Party nominated Robert H. Cowdrey for vice-president on the first ballot of its convention on November 6, 1887, but he declined the nomination. The party did win two counties, however, and he was later selected as the vice- presidential candidate. The Republican Party nominated Benjamin Harrison on the eighth ballot of the 1888 Republican National Convention. The Republicans hoped to win Indiana’s 15 electoral votes, which had gone to Cleveland in the previous presidential election, which Harrison won.

The Democrats had to choose a replacement for Thomas A. Hendricks, who ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for Vice-president in 1876, but won the office when he ran again with Cleveland in 1884. He died in office on November 25, 1885, and was replaced by Allen G. Thurman, who served as vice-President for only eight months before he died inoffice on November 26, 1888. There were 1,029 delegates from three states but three states were nominated for president: Ohio, Michigan and Ohio. The 5th Prohibition Party National Convention assembled in Tomlinson Hall in Indianapolis, Indiana, on June 19–25, 1888, and selected John A. Brooks as its president. There was no Republican candidate for vice president, but John C. Black was chosen as the party’s candidate for the vice presidency. This was the last presidential election to be held before the Civil War ended in 1865. The election was held on November 8, 1868, and Harrison was elected president on November 9, 1869. Harrison was the grandson of former President William Henry Harrison, and served as senator from Indiana until his death in 1881. The GOP nominated Harrison because of his war record, his popularity with veterans, his ability to express the Republican Party’s views, and the fact that he lived in the swing state of Indiana. He was the only Republican candidate to win the presidential election in 1888.