1868: The Reconstruction Election

The impeachment of Andrew Johnson and the intense debate over the handling of Reconstruction ushered in the 1868 presidential campaign season. The campaign focused on Civil War and Reconstruction issues, and was riddled with deeply personal, negative attacks by both parties and their supporters.

Democrats nominated New York State Governor Horatio Seymour, who condemned Congressional reconstruction as unconstitutional, demanded that states’ rights be restored in the Union, and insisted that African American suffrage be determined by the states rather than by the Federal Government. The Republican Party (still sometimes calling itself the National Union Party) nominated Ulysses S. Grant, and developed a platform that promoted Congressional reconstruction and the voting rights of “loyal men in the South.” Grant’s party supported voting rights for African Americans in states loyal to the Union. Although Grant refused to campaign for himself, his supporters certainly did. They produced a huge body of campaign paraphernalia to promote his candidacy. Bolstered by his fame as a Civil War general and the votes of newly freed African Americans, Grant won the election with fifty-two percent of the popular vote and 214 out of 294 electoral votes.

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