Presidential Election of 1888

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION of 1888 was one of the closest and most controversial presidential elections in the history of the United States. Questionable campaign tactics, coupled with the Constitution rules [Page 601]pertaining to the Electoral College, led to the defeat of President Grover Cleveland. The election of 1888 came on the heels of another one of the most controversial presidential elections ever held, the election of 1884. Known for mudslinging and questionable campaign tactics, the atmosphere of the election of 1884 seemed to reemerge in 1888. This presidential election featured four candidates representing different views and political stances.

Grover Cleveland clearly won the presidency in the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College.

The Republicans held their national convention in Chicago, Illinois, and initially fielded 14 men for president before deciding on four candidates for the nomination: Russell A. Alger, a former Civil War brigadier general and the governor of Michigan; Walter Q. Gresham from Indiana, a major-general from the Civil War who also served on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit; John Sherman, a career politician from Ohio who served as secretary of the treasury 1877–81 and was known as the brother of General William Tecumseh Sherman, Union Civil War hero; and Benjamin Harrison from Indiana, who had served as a U.S. Senator 1881–87. After a heated debate and discussion and on the eighth ballot, Harrison was awarded the nomination, receiving 544 delegate votes to Sherman's 249 votes. Alger's 142 votes, and Gresham's 123 votes, followed in third and fourth place, respectively. The delegates also selected Levi Morton from New York (592 votes) as the vice presidential candidate over William Phelps (119 votes) and William Bradley (103 votes).

The Democrat Party unanimously selected President Grover Cleveland, hoping to once again capitalize on the unusual support received from Republicans in the 1884 presidential election. Disgruntled Republicans seeking election reform and integrity had overwhelming supported Cleveland in 1884, and appeared to be prepared to do the same in 1888. Allen Thurman (Ohio), a 75-year-old career politician, was chosen as the vice presidential candidate and selected to lead the campaign, a move that would spell trouble for Cleveland. Thurman received 684 votes at the convention.

The Prohibition Party, which advocated the prohibition of the use of beverages containing alcohol and played a major role in the temperance movement, also fielded a strong candidate in the 1888 presidential election. Clinton Fisk, a senior officer in the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was the party's nominee and vowed to end the sale of alcohol. The Union Labor Party, concerned about labor laws and regulations, placed Alson Streeter on the ballot as their nominee, but received little support.

The campaign of 1888 proved to be laced with controversy and conflict. President Cleveland had alienated many voters leading up to the election and the Republicans, sensing this discord, capitalized on Cleveland's mistakes. Cleveland infuriated his voter base in key pivot states when he decided to return captured Confederate battle flags to southern states. This action incensed Union veterans, who became further outraged when Cleveland vetoed Union veterans' compensation for service in the Civil War. Democratic politicians fanned the flames by opposing civil service reform, and farmers were outraged by Cleveland's adherence to the gold standard, which cut into the farmers' minimal profit margins. But perhaps the most controversial issue during the 1888 presidential election was Cleveland's call for tariff reductions.

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