1872 United States presidential election

The **1872 United States presidential election** was the 22nd election in the history of the United States. It occurred on November 5, 1872. This election was between incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant of Illinois and former Congressman Horace Greeley of New York.

Grant won the election in a landslide, winning 286 electoral votes out of the available 352 for grab. Greeley had initially won 66 electoral votes, but would die prior to the certification of the electoral votes on February 12, 1873, as Greeley would pass away on November 29, 1872, just three weeks after the election had occurred, making Greeley the first and only major party presidential candidate to pass away prior to the certification of the election.

Greeley's death meant that his electors would meet in December 1872 and would split his electors among candidates of their choosing. Out of the 66 electoral votes that Greeley had recieved, 3 delegates from the state of Georgia had chosen to back Greeley after his death and as such were disqualified as he was now ineligible for the office Greeley's remaining 63 delegates went to different candidates, out of which they went to:

- Former U.S. Senator Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana <small>(1863-1869) _(received 42 electoral votes)_</small>

- Governor Benjamin Gratz Brown of Missouri <small>(1871-1873) _(received 18 electoral votes) (Ran as Greeley's running mate)_</small>

- Governor Charles J. Jenkins of Georgia <small>(1871-1873) _(received 2 electoral votes)_</small>

- Associate Justice David Davis of Illinois <small>(1862-1877) _(received 1 electoral vote)_</small>

This would be the last election in U.S. History in which a major party candidate (Greeley) would not recieve a single electoral vote, while Grant would be the last Republican until Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 to win a state in the South

## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: 1872 United States presidential election
- **country**: United States
- **flag year**: 1867
- **type**: presidential
- **ongoing**: no
- **previous election**: 1868 United States presidential election
- **previous year**: 1868
- **election date**: November 5, 1872
- **next election**: 1876 United States presidential election
- **next year**: 1876
- **votes for election**: 352 members of the Electoral College (United States), Electoral College
- **needed votes**: 177 electoral
- **turnout**: 72.1%  8.8 percentage point, pp
- **image size**: x200px
- **image1**:
- **nominee1**: **Ulysses S. Grant**
- **party1**: Republican Party (United States)
- **home state1**: Illinois
- **running mate1**: **Henry Wilson**
- **electoral vote1**: **286** (+14 invalidated)
- **states carried1**: ** 29** (+2 invalidated)
- **popular vote1**: **3,598,235**
- **percentage1**: **55.6%**
- **image2**:
- **nominee2**: Horace Greeley †
<small>_(Died November 29, 1872)_</small>
- **alliance2**: Democratic Party (United States)
- **party2**: Liberal Republican Party (United States)
- **home state2**: New York (state), New York
- **running mate2**: Benjamin Gratz Brown
- **electoral vote2**: 0 (+3 rejected)
- **states carried2**: 0
- **popular vote2**: 2,834,976
- **percentage2**: 43.8%
- **map size**: 350px
- **title**: President
- **before election**: Ulysses S. Grant
- **before party**: Republican Party (United States)
- **after election**: Ulysses S. Grant
- **after party**: Republican Party (United States)
- **map image**: File:ElectoralCollege1872.svg
- **map caption**: Presidential election results map. <span style="color:red;">Red</span> denotes states won by Grant (Republican). Other colors (except gray) denote states won by Greeley/Brown (Liberal Republican and Democratic). The different colors reflect the posthumous scattering of Greeley's electoral votes: <span style="color:purple;">purple</span> denotes Electoral College votes won by Greeley, <span style="color:blue;">blue</span> denotes those won by Thomas A. Hendricks, <span style="color:pink;">pink</span> denotes those won by Benjamin Gratz Brown, <span style="color:green;">green</span> denotes those won by Charles J. Jenkins, and <span style="color:#c71e3a;">dark red</span> denotes those won by David Davis (Supreme Court justice), David Davis. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.