United States presidential election of 1872

United States presidential election of 1872, American presidential election held November 5, 1872, in which Republican incumbent Ulysses S. Grant defeated Liberal Republican and Democratic candidate Horace Greeley with 286 electoral votes. Though 66 electoral votes had been pledged to Greeley, he died shortly after the election, and the votes were divided between five other candidates.

At a glance: the election of 1872

Republican factionalization

Early in Grant’s first term as president, it became apparent that his civil service appointments and those made by his political allies had been largely motivated by cronyism rather than merit. The pervasive appointment of unqualified friends and associates of Grant and his allies, coupled with the adherence of the party leadership to Reconstruction policies such as federal military occupation of the South and the ensuring of civil rights for former slaves, bred resentment among Republicans who had been shut out of positions of power. This faction rallied around a new platform that advocated a reduction in government intervention in the economy (particularly protective tariffs), a return to a gold and silver currency standard, and a reduction in patronage.

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Rallied by Sen. Carl Schurz of Missouri and Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, the dissidents, now calling themselves Liberal Republicans, held a convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, in May to nominate a challenger to Grant. Though the early favorite was Charles Francis Adams, son of former president John Quincy Adams, the diplomat lacked personal magnetism and proved unpopular. New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley emerged from the pack, jockeying for the nomination after his supporters engineered a deal with those advocating for B. Gratz Brown, governor of Missouri. The prominence of his newspaper accounted for much of his support, as his positions were more conservative that those held by most Liberal Republicans: he was a proponent of the protective tariff and of temperance. Brown filled the vice presidential slot on the ticket. The Democrats, fearing that this new faction would detract from their vote, refrained from nominating their own candidate and instead supported Greeley and Brown.

The election also saw the first female candidate for U.S. president (though women had not yet achieved suffrage). Victoria Woodhull, a radical social campaigner and one of the first female stockbrokers, had announced her candidacy in 1870 and was officially nominated by the Equal Rights Party in May 1872, with famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass as her ostensible running mate, though it is not certain that he ever accepted the position.

Grant, as expected, ran for reelection, though he replaced Vice Pres. Schuyler Colfax with Henry Wilson as his running mate. Grant engaged in no active campaigning, while Greeley was pilloried in the press as a Southern sympathizer—he advocated amnesty for Southern leaders, including Jefferson Davis. He famously commented that he “hardly knew whether [he] was running for the presidency or the penitentiary.” Nevertheless, Greeley ultimately captured some 44 percent of the popular vote (to Grant’s 56 percent). Before the electoral votes were tallied, however, Greeley was institutionalized (perhaps as a result of the intensity of the attacks he had sustained and his loss of control over his newspaper), and he died before the electoral votes were cast. Greeley’s electors went on to divide their votes between several splinter parties. (Woodhull did not receive any electoral votes.) Grant easily won reelection with 286 electoral votes.

For the results of the previous election, see United States presidential election of 1868. For the results of the subsequent election, see United States presidential election of 1876.

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Results of the 1872 election

The results of the 1872 U.S. presidential election are provided in the table.