The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-11
Presidential Campaigns
XU-- The Grant-Seymour Race Of 1868
By Fredric J. Haskin.
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VI VI RM U M i = hl U ll XaIM MN 8Al0 0Mlmk4 Johnson was acquitted. The vote was thirtyfour guilty and nineteen not guilty. but that lacked one vote of be- ing the requisite two thirds. Seven Republicans had joined the twelve Democrats in the Senate in voting for acquittal. In the convention these Senators were called the seven traf- tors" Whatever may be the final verdict of history in the case of An drew Johnson as a statesman. 1t Is al ready unanimously agreed that his acquittal in the impeachment proceed ings was right.
 There was old Ben Wade. president pro tempore of the Senate. If Johnson had been convicted he would have suc- ceeded to the presidency under the old was a certainty. Grant was to be nominated for President. but Wade was running for vice president on the strength of promising patronage for the few months he was to be president. The Wade boom fell through when Johnson was acquitted and Schuyler Colfax of Indiana got second place on the ticket.
 One of the most remarkable feat ures of the Chicago convention of 1868. in view of later events, was the pres ence of Governor Joseph E. Brown Of Georgia. Brown had been. as he de- scribed himself, "secesh of the secesh He was governor of Georgia under the Confederate government. but came near to seeding from the Confederacy on account of quarrel with President Jefferson Davis over the conscription regulations He presented himself at Chicago. pledged himself to the Repub- licans and told them that if they would let reconstruction stay at its present status the South would become Repub- lican. Perhaps 1t would have done so, but there was more reconstruction to come. Governor Brown afterward Democrat and his son, Little Joe" was only recently nominated for Governor of Georgia by the Democrats.
 The Democratic Convention that year met in Tammany Hall on Four teenth Street. New York. on July 4. It was a great loyalistic and patriotic gathering and not even the Republi- cans could do more yelling for the nag. Quite by accident, a most pecu- liar coincidence, a National Soldiers and Sailors convention met in New York on the same day. That conven- ton, entirely distinct from the one that had met in Chicago in May, rec commended to the Democratic conven- tton the nomination of General Win field Scott Hancock But the Demo crats didn't approve the recommenda- ton.
 Despite the fact. not then apparent, that the Democrats did not have a ghost of show to defeat Grant with anybody they might name, there was great contest over the nomination. In the first place, Andrew Johnson. President of the United States, wanted to run on the Democratic ticket. He wrote letter saying he would accept the nomination. Then George IL Pen dleton of Ohio was there as the em- bodiment of the "greenback" senti- ment, which was gaining ground all over the country. On the first ballot Pendleton led. Johnson was second and Hancock. the Democratic soldiers candidate. third. with a dozen other candidates in the field.
 In that convention were the two shrewdest politicians who ever entered the national arena under the Demo- cratic banner-Eoratio Seymour and samuel J. Tilden. Seymour was President of the convention. Tilden was leading the New York delegation. seymour was the chief conspirator in scheme to stampede the convention to Salmon r. Chase. If there was ever man who wanted to be Presi- dent 1t was Salmon P. Chase. And if ever an aspirant had a supporter who was always faithful and always en- tnusiaslc, 1t was Chase's daughter, Kate Chase Sprague. Chase had been candidate in various parties before the war. he had opposed Lincoln for the nomination in 1884, and Lincoln mad returned good for evil by making nim Chief Justice of the Supreme court, despite the memory of his ouar- rel with Chase, as Secretary of the treasury. early in his administration. uyn
 again candidate. this time for the Democratic leadership. He had pre- sided over the trial of Andrew John son as Chief Justice. and the fair ness and impartiality" of his rulings were specifically commended in the Democratic platform. Seymour had hxed 1t up to give Chase the nomina- tlon After the twenty-first ballot was taken, on the fifth day of the con- vention. Seymour left the chair to go out in the hall and organize the Chase stampede. which was to come off on the twenty-third ballot.
 Now Samuel J. Tilden was there, and he was absolutely opposed to the nomination of Chase. He was inform ed as to Seymour's plans. and Seymour had left the chair but a moment when Tilden was in action. He started the seymour stampede on the twenty sec ond ballot. Seymour rushed back to the platform and as State after State followed Tildens lead, he shouted
 Gentlemen. your candidate I cannot be. your candidate l cannot be-. But he was. And eight yours afterward when Samuel J. Tilden was contestina his right to the Presidency before an extra a-constitutional tribunal. Kate Chase remembered that Tilden. who blocked her fathers last hope of the Presidency. and was revenged.
 The election was a walk-away for Grant. He received 2I4 electoral votes to Seymour's S0 Seymour car ried only eight States-Delaware Georgia. Kentucky. Louisiana. Mary land, New Jersey New York and Ore | gon. The first news from New York placed Seymours majority at about 1000. the exact figures varying When | the "ofhcial returns" were tabulated 1t was found that Seymour had re- ceived 429,SS3 votes and that Grant had received 419,SS3, leaving Seymour a plurality in the State of exactly 10 ,O0O votes Such an eXect majority in such | round numbers would seem remarkable these days, but it must be remembered that Tammany Hall was then all-pow. erful and William M Tweed was al the head of It's affairs, ruling both New York and Albany
 This was the first time that Soutf carolina held a popular election fol Presldental electors. Until the Civi
 War. South Carolina always appointed It's electors by the Legislature. Tn, reconstruction constitution provided Tor popular election. Grant carried
 the State by over To- 900 majority, ant
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