The+Election+of+1884

 The Election of 1884 Candidates: The Republican candidate for The Election of 1884 was [|James G. Blaine], who was plagued by the issue of party politics. He held widespread support still however, mainly in immigrant groups which were generally Democratic. The group called "Liberal Republicans", or Mugwumps were not in favor of this nomination and stated that they would rather support an honest Democrat. The Democrats strategically chose Grover Cleaveland as their candidate because of his reputation as a fighter of corruption, as well as the fact that he was known to be an honest man, to attract the Liberal Republicans. Small, third-party candidate Benjamin F. Butler ran for the Greenback and Anti-Monopoly Party, and John P. St. John ran for the Prohibition party. Neither of these gained widespread popularity in this election.

Campaign: The Election of 1884 has a reputation as one of the dirtiest elections in history, focusing on superficial issues. The Republicans tried to break down Cleaveland's image of honesty by questioning his private life, and possible illegitimate child scandal. Though, Cleaveland made light of the situation by telling the truth, and did not lose much support over the issue. Blaine's opponents published the "Mulligan Letters" that proved he had received bribes from railroads. The real factor that pushed many voters toward Cleaveland was remarks that Blaine endorsed that the Democrats were the party of "Rum, Romanticism, and Rebellion" leading many people to believe he though that they were just useless drunks, and swaying their vote in Cleaveland's favor. The election was very focused mainly on the integrity of the candidates themselves rather than the issues in America.

Results: The Popular vote was close, with only a difference of twenty thousand votes separating Cleaveland from Blaine, but he also won the electoral votes 219 to 182. Cleaveland's win was huge for the Democratic party because he became the first Democratic president to take office since Buchanan in The Election of 1856.



James G. Blaine Grover Cleaveland

SOURCES http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h738.html Amsco American History Textbook http://www.historycentral.com/elections/1884.html