1880: Surprise Candidates
A bitter election contest in 1876 set the stage for the 1880 campaign. Disputed electoral votes in South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida were so difficult to resolve that the process defied Constitutional provisions. An Electoral Commission was appointed, and the election was ultimately decided in favor of Rutherford Hayes over Samuel Tilden in an eight to seven vote. Four years later, President Hayes, a Republican, refused a second term, and Republicans discouraged former President Grant (also Republican) from running for a third term. Tilden, the Democratic candidate in 1876, was not nominated a second time because his Party members did not want a return of the rancor that followed the previous election. Both parties were striving to clear their slates.
The two candidates who emerged from the nominating process, Republican James A. Garfield and Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock, were not exactly household names. Garfield was familiar to voters in his home state, Ohio, which he represented in the Congress, but he had no national visibility. Winfield Scott Hancock had been a distinguished Civil War general, but seemed never to have expressed firm political views.
The campaign itself was remarkably free of substantive discussions. Indeed, the candidates seemed to think so similarly that there was only one issue on which they differed, and that was tariffs. Hancock supported a tariff on revenue only, while Garfield embraced high tariffs across the board. After the ballots had been cast, only a tenth of a percentage point separated the Democratic and Republican candidates, but the electoral votes gave Garfield an overwhelming victory.
Just four months into his Presidency, Garfield was shot by a disgruntled office seeker. He suffered for two more months, finally succumbing on September 19, 1881.
The Bird to Bet On!
This unusual portrait of Winfield Hancock is actually a rebus, or pictorial word play. A "hand" holds a rooster, or "cock," with Hancock’s face. The rooster was also the symbol of the Democratic Party in 1880, making this image a double pun.
The cartoon, a lithograph, was created and distributed by the celebrated print publishers, Nathaniel Currier and James Ives. Their famed partnership lasted from 1852 to 1880, when Currier retired. The firm continued until 1907, producing an enormous body of political imagery alongside their more familiar scenes of everyday life.
Hancock Rebus Pins
These small pendants have movable parts that form another rebus. The small man’s hand cocks up to thumb its nose at his opponent
This dye-cut trade card for the Richmond County Gazette (of Staten Island, New York) similarly uses the hand + cock imagery to campaign for Winfield Scott Hancock. A pointing hand holds a cock, or rooster (the symbol of the Democratic Party).
Democratic Ticket
Democratic Ticket: Hancock & English, 1880.
This ballot lists the names of the Democratic candidates for President and Vice-President, along with New Hampshire's Democratic Party electors.
1880 Republican Letter
Letter regarding the 1880 Presidential Campaign, October 18, 1880.
Written on Trenton (New Jersey) Banking Company stationery, this letter discusses prospects for the 1880 Presidential election in Indiana and New Jersey, and local campaign activity. Although the unknown author states his unconditional support for Garfield, he reveals a lack of confidence in the outcome of the election. Possibly the uncertainties that had been so much a part of the previous election’s outcome had motivated him to participate in the campaigning process.
I suppose you are safe for the next four years, well it is a comfort to know that the state has redeemed herself & if New Jersey will only get back into the union* again I will be happy. We have some 15,000 majority to contend with but the tariff will sweep that out & give Garfield a good solid vote. I am out 2 & 3 nights every week with the Independent Republican Club & have never taken such a decided step in politics as this season.
We had a grand parade late Saturday night over 5,000 men in line & a very large man’s meeting in the afternoon. Must have been some 15,000 people present, will send you a copy of our paper giving an account of it all.
*The author refers to the Republican Party as “the union.”
Towpath Pennant
Garfield was a self-made man. Unlike William Henry Harrison, Garfield really did come from humble roots. As a child, he was forced to leave school at age ten to find work as a "mule boy" on the Ohio canal towpath. This pennant celebrates Garfield’s determination and strength of character, charting his course from the towpath to the White House.
Although its popular name was the White House, the President’s house was called the Executive Mansion until President Theodore Roosevelt officially named it the White House in 1901.
Snuff Box
1880 Snuff Box
This tin box was issued during the 1880 campaign season, though its sentiments are non-partisan. It allowed its owner to select one of three portraits by rotating a dial under the surface of the cover. The portraits depict Garfield, Hancock and James Weaver, the Greenback party candidate.