Reform and the Election of 1872

Horace Greeley was soundly defeated as the candidate of the Liberal Republican Party during the election of 1872.

Grant remained popular throughout the nation, despite the scandals evident during his first term in office. Grant had supported a patronage system that allowed Republicans to infiltrate and control state governments. In response to President Grant's federal patronage, in 1870, Senator Carl Schurz from Missouri, a German immigrant and Civil War hero, started a second party known as the Liberal Republicans; they advocated civil service reform, a low tariff, and amnesty to former Confederate soldiers. The Liberal Republicans successfully ran B.G. Brown for the governorship of Missouri and won with Democrat support. Then in 1872, the party completely split from the Republican party and nominated New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley as candidate for the Presidency. The Democrats, who at this time had no strong candidate choice of their own, reluctantly adopted Greeley as their candidate with Governor B.G. Brown as his running mate. Frederick Douglass supported Grant and reminded black voters that Grant had destroyed the violent Ku Klux Klan.

The Republicans, who were content with their Reconstruction program for the South, renominated Grant and Representative Henry Wilson in 1872. Grant had remained a popular Civil War hero, and the Republicans continued to wave the "bloody shirt" as a patriotic symbol representing the North. The Republicans favored high tariffs and a continuation of Radical Reconstruction policies that supported five military districts in the Southern states. Grant also favored amnesty to former Confederate soldiers like the Liberal Republicans. Because of political infighting between Liberal Republicans and Democrats, the physically ailing Greeley was no match for the "Hero of Appomattox" and lost dismally in the popular vote. Grant swept 286 Electoral College votes while other minor candidates received only 63 votes. Grant won 55.8% of the popular vote between Greeley and the other minor candidates. Heartbroken after a hard fought political campaign, Greeley died a few weeks after the election and was able to receive only three electoral votes. Out of respect for Greeley, Grant attended his funeral.