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 (1863-1869) (received 42 electoral votes)

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

- Governor Charles J. Jenkins of Georgia (1871-1873) (received 2 electoral votes) 

- Associate Justice David Davis of Illinois (1862-1877) (received 1 electoral vote) 

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
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Category:1872 in the United States
Category:United States presidential elections
Category:1870s elections