The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-11-13

Greeley's arguments and the decla-
ration of Andrew G.. Curtin, then
candidate for governor of Pennsyl-
vania, that he could not carry his
State in the October election if Sew
ard was nominated, drove enough
delegates from the eminent New
Yorker to prevent his nomination {;
and Lincoln was named in his stead.
BEN. BUTLER MIGHT HAVE BEEN PREsI-
T. DENT.
No name but Lincoln's was presen-
ted to the Republican convention in
1864, and from the first his ~re-elec-
ton was never in serious doubt.
But the abiding issue of that cam
paign, as the sequal proved, was the
nomination and election of Andrew
Johnson to the Vice.Presidency.
Lincoln for good reasons preferred
a War Democrat on the ticket with
him, and his first selection was Gen.
eral Benjamin F. Butler. But But
Ter, when approached by an agent of
the President, declined peremptorily
to permit his name to be considered,
and Johnson was finally selectef.
as the most available mali
for the place. Butler refused be-
cause of his personal dislike of Lin
coin. It was a costly refusal, for
Johnson became President within a
year.
Grants nomination in 1858 and in
1872 were beyond the power of
chance to prevent but in 1876 the
enmity of an angry man helped to
defeat Blaine, the favorite of a ma
iOrity of the members of his party,
and brought about the unexpected
nomination of Hayes. When Blaine
was Speaker of the House of Rep
resentatives, James N. Tyner, a
member of the House from Indiana,
coveted the craftsmanship of the
committee on post offices and post
roads. He asserted that Blaine prom
ised him the place, and then, with
out warning, gave it to another.
Facing the Speaker in his private
room, he declared to Blaine that he
should remember what he called his
betrayal when Blaine should become.
candidate, a year or two later, for
the presidential nomination. Blaine
laughed at him, it was then said
but Tyner, who had some influence
in the politics of his State, was as
good as his word. When in the Re-
publican convention of 1875 it be-
came apparent that Oliver P. Nor
ton could not be nominated, the In
diana delegation decided to support
Hayes, who up to that time had not
been thought a probable candidate.
'Blaine's friends had counted upon
Indiana when Morton was with
drawn but Tyner turned them from
Blaine to Hayes.
LATER ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENTS
By the Electoral Commission,
whereby Hayes secured the presiden-
tial Office, although Tilden received
$50, 000 majority of the popular vote,
was completed the chain of unusual
events whereby Hayes became Presi-
dent.
In 1880 Tilden was certainly the
choice of his party. But in the con-
fusion of the Democratic conven-
tion-confusion caused by a letter
from Tilden expressing the wish that
the convention should not renOmi-
nate him (Which the convention
took seriously, however it was meant
to be taken)-an eloquent speech by
Daniel Dougherty, Of Pennsylvania,
caused the ill-starred nomination of
Hancock. In the Republican con
ventiOn Blaine, Sherman, and Grant
were presented as candidates, but
Garfield was chosen. Had he kept
the purpose that he Once formed
not to attend the cOnventiOn,-there
is little likelihood that he would
have been nominated. The surprises
since 1880 may perhaps be said to in
cIude the first nominations of both
Cleveland and Harrison.
Among the accidental or mex
pected Presidents in this incomplete
review are Tyler, Polk, Pierce, John
son, Hayes, Arthur and among the
men who clearly missed the Presi-
6nncv bV chance or an uneXDoCted
turn of events are Clay, Calhoun,
Scott, Webster, Seward, and Tilden,
not to mention Benjamin F. Butler.
TURNER'S ALMANAC FREE.