Liberal Republican Party

BY 1871, THE Republican Party was beginning to suffer from something of to an identity crisis. The party, which had been born and united around the opposition to slavery, was showing signs of internal discord after the slavery issues had been resolved. In short, the intensity of anti-slavery ideology was waning, and party members were returning to a consideration of issues.

Unfortunately, the Republicans were quickly discovering that there was a great deal of internal disagreement on both what the most important issues were, and what position the party should take on them. This growing division was most vividly illustrated in the dramatic departure of several prominent Republicans to the newly-formed Liberal Republican Party.

Liberal Republicanism did not follow the typical path of party development, in that it was never a grassroots movement. Instead, Liberal Republicanism represented a defection of political elites who had become disillusioned with President Ulysses Grant and the Republican Party. Moreover, many of these men disagreed with each other as much as they did with the Republicans. As such, the prospects of Liberal Republicans winning elections in American politics were dubious. Despite this, the party attempted to put together a platform built around the issues of civil service reform, tariff reduction, reining in the growth of the federal government, and ending Reconstruction in the south.

On paper, the Liberal Republicans looked as though they might be able to challenge Grant in the 1872 election because their issues resonated with a public that was growing weary of the politics of Reconstruction and the constant spate of scandals coming out of the Grant Administration. In addition, Democratic gains in the 1870 congressional elections seemed like a harbinger that Americans were willing to consider alternatives to Republican rule. The trick would be finding a candidate who could sell the party's platform and mobilize voters.

Most of the leading members of the Liberal Republican Party were former Republicans who had been marginalized by the Republican Party for various political offenses. Many were bitter at having been wronged by their party, and their palpable anger made them unattractive candidates. Others, like Charles Sumner, were at the end of their careers in politics and no longer seemed relevant. For a time, the party flirted with nominating Lyman Trumbull, Charles Francis Adams, and David Davis as its nominee for the presidency. But for varying reasons, none of these men were able to secure the support of the convention. In the end, the Liberal Republicans nominated Horace Greeley, the editor of the influential New York Tribune. It was a decision that would destroy the party.

“Our Next President”—A campaign poster for Liberal Republican Horace Greeley.

Greeley was a strange choice for the Liberal Republicans. While the party stood for lower tariffs and government reform, Greeley was a committed protectionist and had never shown much concern about corruption in the civil service system. Beyond this, Greeley had also supported prohibition, vegetarianism, spiritualism, and other causes that put him well outside the beliefs of the Liberal Republicans as well as the American mainstream. He had [Page 371]even advocated the abolition of women's corsets and proposed that the name of the United States be changed to Columbia.

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