A History of the Republican Party Part 10

8. The revenue necessary for current expenditures and the obligations of the public debt must be largely derived from duties upon importations, which, so far as possible, should be adjusted to promote interests of American labor and advance the prosperity of the whole country.

9. We reaffirm our opposition to further grants of the public lands to corporations and monopolies, and demand that the national domain be devoted to free homes for the people.

10. It is the imperative duty of the government so to modify existing treaties with European governments that the same protection shall be afforded to the adopted American citizen that is given to the native born; and that all necessary laws should be pa.s.sed to protect immigrants, in the absence of power in the states for that purpose.

11. It is the immediate duty of Congress to fully investigate the effect of the immigration and importation of Mongolians upon the moral and material interests of the country.

12. The Republican party recognizes with approval the substantial advances recently made toward the establishment of equal rights for women, by the many important amendments effected by Republican legislatures, in the laws which concern the personal and property relations of wives, mothers and widows, and by the appointment and election of women to the superintendence of education, charities, and other public trusts. The honest demands of this cla.s.s of citizens for additional rights, privileges, and immunities should be treated with respectful consideration.

13. The Const.i.tution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the territories of the United States for their government, and in the exercise of this power it is the right and duty of Congress to prohibit and extirpate, in the territories, that relic of barbarism, polygamy; and we demand such legislation as shall secure this end and the supremacy of American inst.i.tutions in all the territories.

14. The pledges which the nation has given to her soldiers and sailors must be fulfilled, and a grateful people will always hold those who imperilled their lives for the country's preservation in the kindest rememberance.

15. We sincerely deprecate all sectional feeling and tendencies. We therefore note with deep solicitude that the Democratic party counts, as its chief hope of success, upon the electoral vote of a united South, secured through the efforts of those who were recently arrayed against the nation; and we invoke the earnest attention of the country to the grave truth that a success thus achieved would reopen sectional strife and imperil national honor and human rights.

16. We charge the Democratic party with being the same in character and spirit as when it sympathized with treason with making its control of the House of Representatives the triumph and opportunity of the nation's recent foes; with rea.s.serting and applauding in the National Capitol the sentiments of unrepentant rebellion; with sending Union soldiers to the rear and promoting Confederate soldiers to the front; with deliberately proposing to repudiate the plighted faith of the government; with being equally false and imbecile upon the overshadowing financial question; with thwarting the ends of justice by its partisan mismanagements and obstruction; with proving itself, through the period of its ascendancy in the Lower House of Congress utterly incompetent to administer the government; and we warn the country against trusting a party thus alike unworthy, recreant and incapable.

17. The national administration merits commendation for its honorable work in the management of domestic and foreign affairs, and President Grant deserves the continued hearty grat.i.tude of the American people for his patriotism and his eminent services, in war and in peace.

18. We present as our candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States two distinguished statesmen, of eminent ability and character, and conspicuously fitted for those high offices, and we confidently appeal to the American people to intrust the administration of their public affairs to Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler.

On the second day the nominations were made of the above-named candidates, with stirring speeches, the most remarkable of which were the three delivered for Mr. Blaine. Robert G. Ingersoll, in presenting Mr. Blaine's name, uttered the eloquent words which caused his celebrated effort to become known as the "Plumed Knight Speech"; near its conclusion he said, "Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen foreheads of the defamers of his country and the maligners of his honor. For the Republicans to desert this gallant leader now is as though an army should desert their General upon the field of battle." This nomination was seconded by Henry M. Turner, colored, and William P. Frye, of Maine.

Gov. Hayes was nominated by Edwin F. Noyes, seconded by Benjamin F.

Wade. The various nominating speeches concluded the second day's business and the balloting began on the opening of the third day of the Convention. The number of votes necessary for a choice was 378, and seven ballots were taken, with the following result for the leading candidates:

1st. 2d. 3d. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th.

Blaine ......... 285 290 293 292 286 308 351 Morton ......... 125 120 113 108 95 85 Bristow ........ 113 114 121 126 114 111 21 Conkling ....... 99 93 90 84 82 81 Hayes .......... 61 64 67 68 104 113 384 Hartranft ...... 58 63 68 71 69 50

Scattering votes were also cast for Messrs. Wheeler, Jewell and Washburne. At the close of the seventh ballot, Mr. Hayes' nomination was made unanimous on motion of William P. Frye. During the sixth ballot the unit rule was decided against and each delegate allowed to vote as he pleased, and this became the rule of all subsequent conventions of the party, although in the convention of 1880 the supporters of Gen. Grant made a strong effort to fasten the unit rule on that convention. The candidates for the vice-presidential nomination were Wm. A. Wheeler, Marshall Jewell, Stewart L. Woodford, Jos. R. Hawley and F. T.

Frelinghuysen, but after the first ballot had proceeded as far as South Carolina the nomination of Mr. Wheeler was made unanimous.

The nomination of Mr. Hayes was a great surprise to the country and consequently, at first, created little enthusiasm in the party, but it was shortly seen that he was in fact a strong candidate, and the party united solidly behind him and took up the canva.s.s with considerable enthusiasm. Rutherford B. Hayes was born at Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822, and graduated at Kenyon College in 1842. He studied law, and practiced for a short time at Fremont, Ohio, afterwards moving to Cincinnati, where he became the City Solicitor. He volunteered in the Civil War, distinguished himself in many important engagements, and rose from the rank of Major to brevet Major-General. The War over, he entered Congress (1865), and at the close of his term was twice elected Governor, serving from 1868 to 1872; was defeated for Congress in 1872, but his election in 1875 to the Governorship, over the Democratic Governor, William Allen, in a remarkable honest-money campaign, brought him into greater national prominence, and now resulted in his nomination for the Presidency. His nomination was a bitter disappointment to the many friends of Mr. Blaine, but they promptly ratified it.

The Republican Platform of 1876, already given, was strong in expression and lofty in its sentiments, which were in keeping with those engendered by the Centennial Year.

The Democratic Convention a.s.sembled at St. Louis, Mo., June 27th. The nomination of Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, was almost a foregone conclusion before the Convention met, and he was nominated on the second ballot. Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, who was the strongest opponent of Tilden for the presidential nomination, was named for Vice-President by a unanimous vote. The Democratic platform of 1876 was a lengthy and remarkable one, containing "the sustended arguments of a stump speech."

Its planks, with few exceptions, began with "we denounce" or "reform is necessary," and it was a general arraignment of the entire course of the Republican Party while in power, and stated near its conclusion, "reform can only be had by peaceful, civic revolution. We demand a change of system, a change of administration, and a change of parties, that we may have a change of measures and men."

The other political conventions of this year were the Prohibition Convention held at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 17th, at which Green Clay Smith, of Kentucky, was nominated for President, and G. T. Stewart, of Ohio, for Vice-President. The Independent National or Greenback Party met at Indianapolis May 18th, and nominated Peter Cooper, of New York, for President, and U. S. Senator Newton Booth, of California, for Vice-President, who declined and was replaced by Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio. Its platform demanded the immediate repeal of the Specie Resumption Act of January 14, 1875, and the issuance of United States notes, convertible on demand into United States obligations, bearing a rate of interest not exceeding one cent a day on each $100.00, and exchangeable for United States notes at par, as being the best circulating medium that could be devised. It insisted that bank paper must be suppressed, and it protested against the further issuance of gold bonds for sale in foreign markets, and against the sale of government bonds for the purpose of purchasing silver to be used as a subst.i.tute for fractional currency. At the election in November the Greenback Party polled a total of 81,737 votes, not influencing the electoral vote of any State, with the possible exception of Indiana, which Tilden carried with 213,526 votes to 208,011 for Hayes, Cooper receiving 17,233 in this State. The total Prohibition vote this year was 9,522. The Democrats, throughout the campaign, had high hopes of success; the hard times which had followed the panic of 1873, the factional disturbances in the Republican Party, charges of official dishonesty, and dissatisfaction of some Republicans with the financial policy of the party, and the success of the Democrats in several of the Northern States all indicated an exceedingly close election. The Republican campaign was largely in the hands of Zachariah Chandler, of Michigan, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, as Mr. Hayes took little part in the details or organization of the canva.s.s.

Colorado, admitted in August of this year, raised the number of States to thirty-eight, with a total electoral vote of 369, making 185 votes necessary for an election. The October States did not indicate anything decisive for either side; Ohio going Republican and Indiana Democratic by small majorities. The election was held on Nevember 7th, and a few hours after the polls were closed it was found that Tilden and Hendricks had carried Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Indiana, and if they had received the vote of the solid South it would give them 203 of the electoral votes and consequently the election. But Mr. Chandler, on information received, sent out a telegram from headquarters in Washington saying that the Republicans had been successful in South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida, and that Hayes and Wheeler were elected by a majority of one. A general outline of the remarkable contest that now followed, and its decision, must suffice for these pages. Each party sent a number of its prominent members to the capitals of the disputed States to witness the count. The legal canva.s.sing boards in all of these States decided in favor of Hayes and Wheeler. Then followed, as it was afterwards discovered, many attempts to bribe an elector in the disputed States to vote for Mr. Tilden, but when the electors met in the various States on December 6th, the vote was 185 for Hayes and Wheeler and 184 for Tilden and Hendricks. As hostile sets of electors were present in four States--Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana and Oregon--it was therefore of the highest importance to know who would count the votes when Congress jointly a.s.sembled for that purpose. The Senate and its presiding officer were Republicans, the House was Democratic, and it was apparent that with so much at stake neither would make any concession to the other. This was a state of affairs unprovided for in the Const.i.tution or in any laws that had been pa.s.sed, and the result was that for four months after the election n.o.body knew who would be inaugurated as President in March, 1877. The difficulty was temporarily solved by the Electoral Commission Law, which became effective January 29, 1877. It provided that any electoral votes from any State from which but one return had been received should not be rejected except by the affirmative vote of the two Houses, but if more than one return was received from any State it should be referred to a Commission, to be composed of five members of the Senate, five members of the House and five Supreme Court Justices, and the decision of a majority of this Commission was to decide unless otherwise ordered by a concurrent vote of both Houses. Senators Oliver P. Morton, George F. Edmunds, F. T.

Frelinghuysen, Republicans, and Allan G. Thurman and Thomas F. Bayard, Democrats, were chosen to represent the Senate; Josiah G. Abbott, Eppa Hunton and H. B. Payne, Democrats, and James A. Garfield and George F.

h.o.a.r, Republicans, represented the House; four Justices of the Supreme Court had been designated by the law to act, and these were Nathan Clifford and Stephen J. Field, Democrats, and William Strong and Samuel F. Miller, Republicans; they were to choose the fifth Justice, and Joseph P. Bradley, Republican, was selected. By a strict party vote the Commission decided, 8 to 7, all questions in favor of the Republicans.

These decisons, as already noted, could not be set aside without the concurrent vote of both Houses, which manifestly could not be obtained, and at 4:10 a. m. March 2, 1877, it was declared by Mr. Ferry, President pro tem. of the Senate, that Hayes and Wheeler had been elected by 185 votes to 184 for Tilden and Hendricks. The popular vote at the November election was Tilden 4,285,992 and Hayes 4,033,768.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rutherford B. Hayes.]

Before pa.s.sing to the events of President Hayes' administration, it is interesting to note that when the second session of the Forty-fourth Congress met on December 4, 1876, an election was held to fill the position of Speaker, left vacant by the death of Mr. Kerr. Samuel J.

Randall, Democrat, was elected by 162 votes to 82 votes for James A.

Garfield, and it is therefore seen that President Hayes would enter upon his term with one branch of Congress Democratic.

Mr. Hayes was publicly inaugurated March 5, 1877, the 4th falling upon Sunday. The striking declaration of his inaugural address was the paragraph setting forth the policy that he would pursue in the Southern question, and this policy was exactly the reverse of that of his predecessor. He withdrew the military protection to the colored voter and entered upon a policy of pacification by putting the whites of the South on their honor. This was practically turning over the entire South to the Democrats, and they were not slow to seize the advantage, and they immediately began to work for a "solid South," which became an a.s.sured fact when the results of the election of 1880 were known. This policy was extremely unsatisfactory to most of the members of the Republican Party, and considerable antagonism to the President was shown. Lapse of time, however, has vindicated President Hayes, and it is now felt that while his administration was not brilliant, still it was safe, progressive and satisfactory. The President also had his ideas on the subject of Civil Service Reform, and on June 22, 1877, he issued an order that no officer of the Government should be required or permitted to take part in the management of political organizations or election campaigns.

The first session (extra) of the Forty-fifth Congress opened October 15, 1877. The most important business of this session, and indeed of President Hayes' administration, was the legislation on the silver question, which came up before the House suddenly on November 5, 1877, on motion of Mr. Richard P. Bland, of Missouri, that the rules be suspended so as to permit the introduction of a bill for the free coinage of the standard silver dollar. The motion was carried, and had the effect of cutting off all debate and amendment. The bill, as pa.s.sed in the House, provided for the coinage of the standard silver dollar (412 grains), to be legal tender at face value for all debts public and private, and any owner of silver bullion might deposit it in any United States mint and have it coined into dollars for his own benefit. The Bland bill was thus a remonetization of silver on absolutely a free coinage basis, and if pa.s.sed by the Senate and approved by the President in its original form it would unquestionably have had a serious effect upon the credit of the Government. Its introduction and pa.s.sage in the House caused a flurry in the money market, and distinctly affected the refunding of the public debt, but fortunately it was amended in the Senate so as to deprive it largely of its destructive effect on the national credit. Mr. Allison (Republican), of the Committee on Finance in the Senate, reported an amendment, striking out the free coinage provision, and providing that the Secretary of the Treasury should purchase at the market price not less than $2,000,000 nor more than $4,000,000 per month of silver bullion to be coined into dollars, any gain to be for the benefit of the Treasury. The House accepted the Allison amendment, but President Hayes vetoed the bill and it was pa.s.sed over his veto February 28, 1878.

A strong but unsuccessful attempt had been made to repeal the specie resumption act, but now, after seventeen years of suspension of specie payment, which had seriously affected the public credit during all these years, the time approached for resumption. John Sherman was Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes, and the great act of resumption took place quietly under his direction on January 1, 1879. Mr. Sherman had fought for resumption in both Houses of Congress, and was now permitted, by his official position, to bring about the execution of the law. Its effect on the public credit had been marked for several months before the statutory time of resumption by a better feeling throughout the country in financial circles. The manner in which the entire subject had been treated reflected the greatest credit on the ability of Mr.

Sherman, and ranked him with Alexander Hamilton as a great financier.

The Chinese Immigration question had been growing in prominence for several years, and it resulted in a bill to restrict this immigration.

The bill pa.s.sed the House and the Senate, but was vetoed by President Hayes, and its supporters were unable to obtain the necessary vote to pa.s.s it over the veto. As the Forty-fifth Congress had adjourned without making the necessary appropriations for the legislative, executive and judicial departments, President Hayes was forced to call an extra session of the Forty-sixth Congress, which met March 18, 1879. In the House Mr. Randall was re-elected Speaker by 143 votes to 125 for James A. Garfield, and for the first time since 1857 the Democratic Party was in complete control of both branches of Congress.

As the time approached for another national campaign the merits of several possible candidates were thoroughly discussed. President Hayes was not a candidate, and the contest for the nomination was seemingly between General Grant and James G. Blaine, with John Sherman as a possible compromise candidate. Several interesting elements entered into the situation and made it extremely doubtful who would be successful, and the result was the most remarkable contest the party had had in any of its previous conventions, and was solved by the selection, on the thirty-sixth ballot, of one whose name had not even been placed in nomination.

CHAPTER XV.

GARFIELD AND ARTHUR.

"The doctrines announced by the Chicago Convention are not the temporary devices of a party to attract votes and carry an election; they are deliberate convictions, resulting from a careful study of the spirit of our inst.i.tutions, the events of our history, and the best impulses of our people ... If elected, it will be my purpose to enforce strict obedience to the Const.i.tution and the laws, and to promote, as best I may, the interest and honor of the whole country, relying for support upon the wisdom of Congress, the intelligence and patriotism of the people, and the favor of G.o.d."

_James A. Garfield_, _Letter of Acceptance_.

_Mentor_, _Ohio_, _July_ 10, 1880.

General Grant arrived at San Francisco in December, 1879, from his triumphal tour of the world, and his journey eastward was made the occasion of a great popular welcome and ovation. This wide-spread enthusiasm lent encouragement to those who were intent upon his nomination for a third term, and they proceeded to strengthen his prospects. Senators Conkling, of New York, Cameron, of Pennsylvania, and Logan, of Illinois, formed a powerful combination in favor of General Grant, and they were successful in their preliminary work of forcing the adoption of the unit rule on the delegations of their States, but it soon became apparent that many of the delegates would vote as they saw fit, and would appeal, if necessary, to the convention to sustain them.

James G. Blaine was the next strongest candidate, and to his standard rallied a strong host of supporters, many of whom were opposed to a third term for any person. As near as the preliminary figuring could be done it showed the strength of Grant and Blaine to be nearly the same, and this gave hope to the friends of John Sherman that he might be decided on as a compromise candidate, if it became impossible to nominate either Grant or Blaine.

The Seventh Republican National Convention met in the Exposition Hall at Chicago, Ill., on Wednesday, June 2, 1880, and was called to order by Senator J. Donald Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Chairman of the National Committee. George F. h.o.a.r, of Ma.s.sachusetts, was chosen temporary Chairman, the various committees were then appointed, but owing to contests among the delegates from several States, nothing further could be done, and the convention adjourned early in the afternoon. On the following morning Mr. h.o.a.r was reported as permanent president, and the usual number of vice-presidents and secretaries were also reported.

Owing to the delay in the report of the Committee on Credentials nothing further of any moment was done on this day, and the convention adjourned about 7:30 p. m., after an unsuccessful attempt, on motion of Mr.

Henderson, of Iowa, to force the Committee on Rules to report. In the vote on a subst.i.tute to this motion a most important ruling was made-- the vote of Alabama was reported in full for the subst.i.tute, but one of the delegates protested and asked the right to cast his vote against it.

This was permitted by the president, and the ruling was allowed to stand by the convention, and was thus a condemnation of the unit system of voting. Upon the opening of the third day of the convention (Friday), Mr. Conkling offered a resolution that as the sense of the convention every member of it was bound in honor to support its nominee, no matter who was nominated, and that no man should hold a seat who was not ready to so agree. Out of a total of 719 votes, three (all from West Virginia) were cast against the resolution, whereupon Mr. Conkling offered a second resolution that these delegates did not deserve and had forfeited their votes. The delegates explained that they did not wish it understood that they would not support the nominee, but they simply desired to register their disapproval of the expediency of the resolution. This incident is of the greatest importance in the history of this convention, because it brought Mr. Garfield to his feet in a brief but weighty speech, in which he defended those who had voted in the negative, and finally induced Mr. Conkling to withdraw his second resolution. This speech attracted the attention of the entire convention, and Mr. Garfield from that moment became one of the great leaders in the convention. Mr. Garfield then reported the rules which were adopted, with one amendment, after considerable debate. The great contest of the convention next to the presidental nomination was the report of the Committee on Credentials, in which it was attempted by the friends of Gen. Grant to force the unit rule on the convention. The majority report of this committee favored district representation, and at last this was decided on after a long and remarkable debate extending through Friday until 2 o'clock in the morning and all of the Sat.u.r.day session until 5 p. m.

Edwards Pierrepont, of New York, reported the platform, which was adopted after one amendment inserting a civil service reform plank.

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1880.

The Republican Party, in national convention a.s.sembled, at the end of twenty years since the federal government was first committed to its charge, submits to the people of the United States this brief report of its administration:

It suppressed a rebellion which had armed nearly a million of men to subvert the national authority; it reconstructed the union of the states with freedom instead of slavery as its corner stone; it transformed 4,000,000 human beings from the likeness of things to the rank of citizens; it relieved Congress of the infamous work of hunting fugitive slaves, and charged it to see that slavery does not exist.

It has raised the value of our paper currency from thirty-eight per cent to the par of gold; it has restored, upon a solid basis, payment in coin of all national obligations, and has given us a currency absolutely good and equal in every part of our extended country; it has lifted the credit of the nation from the point of where six percent bonds sold at eighty-six to that where a percent bonds are eagerly sought at a premium.

Under its administration railways have increased from 31,000 miles in 1860 to more than 82,000 miles in 1879.

Our foreign trade increased from $700,000,000 to $1,150,000,000 in the same time, and our exports, which were $20,000,000 less than our imports in 1860, were $265,000,000 more than our imports in 1879.

Without resorting to loans, it has, since the war closed, defrayed the ordinary expenses of government, besides the accruing interest on the public debt, and has disbursed annually more than $30,000,000 for soldiers' and sailors' pensions. It has paid $880,000,000 of the public debt, and, by refunding the balance at lower rates, has reduced the annual interest charge from nearly $150,000,000 to less than $89,000,000.