Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-05

of October 26, 1S47, the free soil banner
| was openly displaced and delegates were
| sent to the democratic national conven-
| ton. Van Buren, was nominated in 1S48
| by barn-burner convention, held in
Utica, to oppose the nomination of Cen
| eral CasS, who in his Nicholson letter"
| had disavowed the "Wilmot proyiso."
| Van Buren's nomination was reaffirmed
| by the free soil national convention at
| Buffalo in 1S48. The result of the TRAN
| gular duel between Cass, Taylor and Van
Buren, resulted in the defeat of the first
named. Van Buren,, while he did not get
| single electoral vote, was able to pre-
vent Cass from carrying New York,
| which circumstance insured the election
| of Taylor.
| Tears Floored Clayton.
| John M. Clayton, the famous jurist and
negotiator in 1850 of the Clayton Bulwer
| treaty, might have been president of the
| United States but for flood of tears that
swept from the eyes of John Tyler in the
convention which nominated William
I Henry Harrison, who was elected presi-
dent of the United States in 1910.
| Clay was concededly the favorite
| candidate for the nomination, and was
| thought to have a walk-over AS already
stated, he would have been nominated
but for the adoption by the convention
of the unit rule. When Harrison was an
been Clays Hanna throughout the pre-
| liminary fight, burst into tears.
THE convention" says John M. Rodg-
ers in recent article in the North
American Review, was desirous of
| placating Clays friends, and, Selling on
these tears as evidence of warmest per-
sonal and political friendship, Tyler was
| nominated for vice president 1t seems
likely from all reports that the choice
would have fallen on John M. Clayton of
| Delaware but for these tears
| Harrison died soon after his Inaugural
| tion and Tyler became president, an ele-
walton he owed to his sensitiveness.
Tilden Lacked One Vote.
The causes which contributed to the
| loss of the presidency by Samuel J. Til
| den are too fresh in the public mind to
| call for extensive recapitulation. Mr..
| Tilden was nominated by the democratic
national convention, which met in ST.
Louis in June, 1876. Rutherford b. Hayes
was the nominee of the republican party.
| The election was very close. The cleo
| toral vote, as finally declared, was 1876 for
Mr.. Hayes and 1874 for Mr.. Tilden. Mr..
| Tilden had majority of the popular vote,
| his vote being computed as 42S4,265 as
against 4,033,29 for Hayes.
| The result of the election was for a
| long time in doubt, each side claiming the
victory. Both parties claimed the states
| of Florida, Louisiana and South Caro-
| lima. Fraud was literally charged. The
republicans asserted that colored voters
| in many southern had been deprived of
| their votes by force and intimidation.
| The democrats, on the other hand, were
| just as stoutly convinced that their re-
| turns in the states mentioned above had
| been tempered with by the republican
canvassing boards The canvassing
| boards of these states declared in favor Of
| the republican electors, which gave Mr..
Hayes majority of one vote in the cleo
tora1 college.
The democrats insisted, however, that
| they had been cheated, and other sets of
certificates were forwarded to Washing
ton, which testified to the election of the
democratic electors from those states.
An act was finally passed by congress
referring all contested election cases to
a commission, composed of five senators,
five representatives and five judges of
the supreme court, the decision of which
commission was to be final unless set
aside by concurrent vote of the houses
of congress-
This commission refused to go behind
the certificates of the governors, and on
March "a declared Mr.. Hayes duly elected
president of the United States. He was
inaugurated March s, 1877.
Blaine's Disappointments.
No leader in the republican party has
so often been candidate for presidential
honors as was James G. Blaine. For
nearly twenty years his name was in
everybody's mouth whenever national
convention assembled.
recent writer on the subject has WISE
ly said that Blaine would have been NOM
mated in 1876 had not the gas been turned
off In the convention hall.
There is still an unsatisfied doubt in
many minds as to whether the "plumed
knight" was not actually counted out
In 1884, and there can be no two opinions
as to the certainty of his nomination in
1888. but for his own declination in favor
of Harrison.
The election in 1884 turned upon the
vote of the state of New York. and. as
will be readily recalled, the state was
lost to the republican party by the mar
row margin of 1047 votes. This was the
nearest Mr.. Blaine ever came to the
coveted prize.
The causes which contributed to his
defeat have never been arranged in the
order of their Importance, but probably
the most efficient of them was the
famous Fifth Avenue hotel speech of
the Rev. Samuel d. Burchard, In which
he made use of the blasting ALTERATION,
rum. Romanism and Rebellion" which
characterization of the democrats was
permitted to go unrebuked by Mr..
Blaine.
On the other hand, In the memoirs of
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, 1t II positively
asserted that thousands of votes cast for
him in the state of New York were
so, and these ballots had been properly
counted, Blaine would have unQtestion-
ably been elected.
AS above stated, he only missed the
presidency by huke in the convention
Of 1876 On the first ballot at that con-
vention he received eS5 votes out of a
total Of 754. On the seventh ballot his
vote rose to s51, lacking only twenty
eight of majority, but at this supreme
moment the gas IN the convention hall
was turned of.
In the convention Of 1850 Blaine was
again prominent and powerful e. = cam