View source for 1868 United States presidential election (The Death of Albert)

{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1868 United States presidential election
| country = United States
| flag_year = 1867
| type = presidential
| ongoing = no
| previous_year = [[1864 United States presidential election (The Death of Albert)|1864]]
| next_year = [[1872 United States presidential election (The Death of Albert)|1872]]
| votes_for_election = 226 members of the [[w:Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]]
| needed_votes = 114 electoral
| election_date = November 3, 1868
| image_size = x200px

| image1 = Henry Wilson.png
| color1 = bf1717
| nominee1 = '''[[Henry Wilson (The Death of Albert)|Henry Wilson]]'''
| party1 = [[Republican Party (United States) (The Death of Albert)|Republican]]
| home_state1 = [[w:Massachusetts|Massachusetts]]
| running_mate1 = '''[[George H. Williams (The Death of Albert)|George H. Williams]]'''
| electoral_vote1 = '''216'''
| states_carried1 = '''26'''
| popular_vote1 = '''2,657,989'''
| percentage1 = '''56.2%'''

| image2 = George B McClellan.png
| color2 = 174fbf
| nominee2 = [[George B. McClellan (The Death of Albert)|George B. McClellan]]
| party2 = [[Democratic Party (United States) (The Death of Albert)|Democratic]]
| home_state2 = [[w:New Jersey|New Jersey]]
| running_mate2 = [[George H. Pendleton (The Death of Albert)|George H. Pendleton]]
| electoral_vote2 = 10
| states_carried2 = 2
| popular_vote2 = 2,073,438
| percentage2 = 43.8%

| map_size = 400px
| map_image = TDOA 1868 US POTUS.svg
| map_caption = Presidential election results map. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

| title = President
| before_election = [[George B. McClellan (The Death of Albert)|George B. McClellan]]
| before_party = [[Democratic Party (United States) (The Death of Albert)|Democratic]]
| after_election = [[Henry Wilson (The Death of Albert)|Henry Wilson]]
| after_party = [[Republican Party (United States) (The Death of Albert)|Republican]]
}}
The '''1868 United States presidential election''' was the 21st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1868. In the first United States presidential election after the ratification of the [[Treaty of Paris (1865) (The Death of Albert)|1865 Treaty of Paris]], [[Republican Party (United States) (The Death of Albert)|Republican]] nominee and U.S. Senator [[Henry Wilson (The Death of Albert)|Henry Wilson]] defeated incumbent [[Democratic Party (United States) (The Death of Albert)|Democratic]] President [[George B. McClellan (The Death of Albert)|George B. McClellan]] in a landslide, both in the popular vote and Electoral College. Wilson's victory ushered in 40 years of [[System of 1868 (The Death of Albert)|uninterrupted Republican leadership]] and marked the beginning of the Democratic Party's demise, as McClellan would be the last Democratic President before the party would collapse in the 1880s.

President McClellan had acquired the widespread respect of his party for holding the various ideological factions within it together and was re-nominated at the [[1868 Democratic National Convention (The Death of Albert)|1868 Democratic National Convention]] with futile and unorganized contest. The matter of the Vice Presidency caused a ruckus however, as delegates from New England were unwilling to renominate Vice President [[George H. Pendleton (The Death of Albert)|George H. Pendleton]], who had unpopularly supported a peace with the [[Confederate States of America (The Death of Albert)|Confederacy]] that would allow for their independence and had led [[Copperhead Democrats (The Death of Albert)|the faction]] of delegates at the [[1864 Democratic National Convention (The Death of Albert)|1864 convention]] to adopt an unconditional peace bullet point on the platform. These revolting delegates instead supported Representative [[w:James E. English|James E. English]], but English failed to surpass the incumbent Vice President, who was easily renominated. The Republicans had a much more arduous task in finding a nominee, as there were few [[North American War (The Death of Albert)|war]] heroes willing to run for their nomination. After many candidates were considered in the weeks leading to the [[1868 Republican National Convention (The Death of Albert)|1868 Republican National Convention]], the party nominated U.S. Senator Henry Wilson, a pragmatic leader of the congressional [[Radical Republicans (The Death of Albert)|Radical Republicans]].

Chiefly among the political issues of the fall campaign was the [[Seymour affair (The Death of Albert)|Seymour affair]], where Secretary of State [[Thomas H. Seymour (The Death of Albert)|Thomas H. Seymour]] attempted to secretly negotiate a resolution to the [[Cavada affair (The Death of Albert)|Cavada affair]] that would be congenial to Spanish interests. Seymour had been fired shortly after the negotiations were busted by a lower Seymour advisor, but Republicans campaigned on the issue ferociously by branding McClellan as apathetic to national interests, both for the Seymour affair and for the Treaty of Paris. Wilson also campaigned on civil rights promises, including the [[w:Abolitionism in the United States|federal abolition of slavery]] and the safeguarding of Black voting rights. Democrats campaigned on the lack of war amidst the foreign policy crises during the McClellan administration and a slow and moderate approach to civil rights, an approach that proved unpopular with the electorate.

Wilson steered his way to a victory with no difficulty, carrying all but two states in the Electoral College and trouncing McClellan by over 12 percentage points. Wilson strongly benefitted from the veterans' vote in many states, as a large percentage of the veteran bloc and its leaders were opposed to McClellan on the grounds of him conceding American interests.

== Background ==

Amidst a faltering war effort in the Northwest and Virginia, the [[1864 United States presidential election (The Death of Albert)|1864 presidential election]] saw incumbent [[Republican Party (United States) (The Death of Albert)|Republican]] President [[Abraham Lincoln (The Death of Albert)|Abraham Lincoln]] ousted from power by popular former General and [[Democratic Party (United States) (The Death of Albert)|Democratic]] nominee [[George B. McClellan (The Death of Albert)|George B. McClellan]]. Despite McClellan's own promises to continue prosecuting the [[North American War (The Death of Albert)|North American War]] on his own terms, he quickly succumbed to intraparty pressures to begin peace negotiations. When the peace conferences began, the Union was in the inferior position and the Confederacy was well in the position to bargain for land gains, but [[w:John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|Earl Russell]] of the United Kingdom convinced the Confederacy to remain content with its original eleven states. When the [[Treaty of Paris (1865) (The Death of Albert)|final peace treaty]] was sent back to the negotiating governments for ratification, it provided for the Confederacy's independence, the cession of parts of [[w:Washington Territory|Washington Territory]] west of the [[w:Columbia River|Columbia River]], among other stipulations at the loss of the United States. Although the treaty was ratified with no hope for an alternative, the treaty's outcome made McClellan's administration immensely unpopular and led to Republican landslide gains in the [[1866 United States elections (The Death of Albert)|1866 midterms]]. Scandal also engulfed the administration upon the break of the [[Seymour affair (The Death of Albert)|Seymour affair]], a futile attempt by Secretary of State [[Thomas H. Seymour (The Death of Albert)|Thomas H. Seymour]] to negotiate an resolution to the [[Cavada affair (The Death of Albert)|Cavada affair]] congenial to Spanish interests. Seymour was subsequently fired, but the affair painted McClellan as a leader apathetic to American interests, which was an image that Republicans would campaign on vigorously.

== Nominations ==

=== Republican nomination ===

{{Main|1868 Republican National Convention (The Death of Albert)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>'''1868 Republican Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#E81B23; width:200px;"| [[Henry Wilson (The Death of Albert)|{{color|white|Henry Wilson}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#E81B23; width:200px;"| [[George H. Williams (The Death of Albert)|{{color|white|George H. Williams}}]]
|- style="color:#000; font-size:100%; background:#FFD0D7;"
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:Henry Wilson, VP of the United States.jpg|center|200x200px]]
| [[File:George Henry Williams, Brady-Handy bw photo portrait, ca1870-1880.jpg|center|200x200px]]
|-
| [[United States Senate (The Death of Albert)|U.S. Senator]]<br>from [[w:Massachusetts|Massachusetts]]<br /><small>(1855–1869)</small>
| [[United States Senate (The Death of Albert)|U.S. Senator]]<br>from [[w:Oregon|Oregon]]<br><small>(1865–1869)</small>
|}

{{center|''Republican candidates''}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160">
Image:Henry Wilson, VP of the United States.jpg | [[United States Senate (The Death of Albert)|Senator]] '''[[Henry Wilson (The Death of Albert)|Henry Wilson]]''' of [[w:Massachusetts|Massachusetts]]
Image:Representative Schuyler Colfax.jpg | [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (The Death of Albert)|Speaker]] '''[[Schuyler Colfax (The Death of Albert)|Schuyler Colfax]]''' of [[w:indiana|Indiana]]
</gallery>

Having been out of the executive chambers for the past four years and [[1864 United States presidential election (The Death of Albert)|replaced in 1864]] by an administration that would be engulfed in scandal and unpopularity, the Republicans evidently found themselves in an advantageous position electorally. However, in the years leading into the 1868 election, no politicians or candidates of national stature stepped up to vie for the presidency. Several [[w:Draft (politics)|draft movements]] were founded in the meanwhile to pressure war heroes and politicians into running under the Republican banner to defeat President McClellan. The strongest of these was an attempt spearheaded by Senator from [[w:New York (state)|New York]] and future Vice President [[Edwin D. Morgan (The Death of Albert)|Edwin D. Morgan]] to nominate a ticket consisting of General [[w:Oliver Otis Howard|Oliver O. Howard]] of [[w:Vermont|Vermont]] for President and Supreme Court Justice [[w:David Davis (Supreme Court justice)|David Davis]] of [[w:Illinois|Illinois]] for Vice President. Morgan believed that a ticket with a firmly Radical war hero combined with an uncontroversial judge with a Republican history would reconcile the two ends of the party with little issues and counteract any accusations of [[w:Stratocracy|stratocracy]] or support for a fall into [[w:Authoritarianism|authoritarianism]]. However, this particular effort dissipated as both Howard and Davis declined the offer for executive office. Other movements formed for nominating other candidates, but these too failed to gain traction, leaving the Republicans seemingly leaderless headed into the summer of 1868.

The contest only started once Senator from [[w:Massachusetts|Massachusetts]] [[Henry Wilson (The Death of Albert)|Henry Wilson]] declared his candidacy to fill the leadership vacancy that had formed. Being a fierce critic of slavery and the "[[w:Slave Power|Slavocracy]]", Wilson found himself in a qualified position to assume the Presidential nomination; Wilson centered his bid for the nomination on his history in the [[w:Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist movement]] and prioritized the immediate abolition of slavery and guarantees of civil liberties and protections to the Black population, particularly in border states such as [[w:Missouri|Missouri]] where Black people were more prone to violence from ex-Confederate and anti-abolitionist militias. With infrastructure in every state carefully knitted together by Representative [[w:George S. Boutwell|George S. Boutwell]], Wilson glided to the nomination at the party convention with little resistance, albeit with unorganized and futile conservative opposition under the leadership of Speaker of the House [[Schuyler Colfax (The Death of Albert)|Schuyler Colfax]]; Colfax never acknowledged his adherents and later said that he "wholly backed Mr. Wilson" during the convention process. Wilson then pressed for the nomination of Senator from [[w:Oregon|Oregon]] [[George H. Williams (The Death of Albert)|George H. Williams]] for Vice President, which was completed by acclamation before the convention adjourned ''sine die''.

=== Democratic nomination ===

{{Main|1868 Democratic National Convention (The Death of Albert)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>'''1868 Democratic Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| [[George B. McClellan (The Death of Albert)|{{color|white|George B. McClellan}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| [[George H. Pendleton (The Death of Albert)|{{color|white|George H. Pendleton}}]]
|-
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:George B McClellan - retouched.jpg|center|200x200px]]
| [[File:GeorgeHPendleton.png|center|200x200px]]
|-
| [[List of presidents of the United States (The Death of Albert)|17th]]<br>[[w:President of the United States|President of the United States]]<br><small>(1865–1869)</small>
| [[List of vice presidents of the United States (The Death of Albert)|16th]]<br>[[w:Vice President of the United States|Vice President of the United States]]<br><small>(1865–1869)</small>
|-
|}

President [[George B. McClellan (The Death of Albert)|George B. McClellan]] maintained his high and reputable stature in the Democratic establishment throughout his presidency. Talks of forming a pro-civil rights opposition candidacy led by General [[w:Thomas Ewing Jr.|Thomas Ewing Jr.]] failed to gain traction amongst the delegates and McClellan glided into re-nomination mostly uncontested. However, his Vice President [[George H. Pendleton (The Death of Albert)|George H. Pendleton]] had a far more difficult time securing the party's re-nomination. His support for the [[Copperhead Democrats (The Death of Albert)|Copperhead movement]] in previous years rested uneasily amongst the delegates. Provoked by his Copperhead allegiances, delegates from [[w:New England|New England]] spearheaded by [[w:Massachusetts|Massachusetts]] delegate [[w:Josiah Gardner Abbott|Josiah Gardner Abbott]] revolted against the party line of Pendleton's re-nomination, instead backing esteemed Representative [[w:James E. English|James E. English]] of [[w:Connecticut|Connecticut]]. While their numbers were minimal by the start of the roll call, their numbers amassed with delegates from several other states opposed Pendleton on the first ballot, with [[w:Michigan|Michigan]] delegates turning out for English and the [[w:Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]] delegates voting for General [[Winfield Scott Hancock (The Death of Albert)|Winfield Scott Hancock]]. The [[w:Two-thirds rule|two-thirds rule]] for the vice presidential nomination caused the whole convention to be upended and it took several more ballots for the various delegates to return to the fold. On the eighth ballot, English conceded his bid and called on his advocates to back Pendleton to make the nomination [[w:Unanimity|unanimous]].

== Results ==

{{bar box
|title=Popular vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Wilson'''|#bf1717|56.18}}
{{bar percent|McClellan|#174fbf|43.82}}
}}
{{bar box
|title=Electoral vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Wilson'''|#bf1717|95.58}}
{{bar percent|McClellan|#174fbf|4.42}}
}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Electoral results
! rowspan="2"|Presidential candidate
! rowspan="2"|Party
! rowspan="2"|Home state
! colspan="2"|Popular vote{{{pv_footnote|}}}
! rowspan="2"|Electoral<br />vote{{{ev_footnote|}}}
! colspan="3"|Running mate
|-
! Count
! Percentage
! Vice-presidential candidate
! Home state
! Electoral vote{{{ev_footnote|}}}

|-
| '''[[Henry Wilson (The Death of Albert)|Henry Wilson]]'''
| [[Republican Party (United States) (The Death of Albert)|Republican]]
| [[w:Massachusetts|Massachusetts]]
| 2,657,989
| 56.18%
| 216
| '''[[George H. Williams (The Death of Albert)|George H. Williams]]'''
| [[w:Oregon|Oregon]]
| 216

|-
| '''[[George B. McClellan (The Death of Albert)|George B. McClellan]]'''
| [[Democratic Party (United States) (The Death of Albert)|Democratic]]
| [[w:New Jersey|New Jersey]]
| 2,073,438
| 43.82%
| 10
| '''[[George H. Pendleton (The Death of Albert)|George H. Pendleton]]'''
| [[w:Ohio|Ohio]]
| 10

|-
| colspan=3 | '''Other'''
| 46
| <0.01%
| —
| colspan=2 | '''Other'''
| —

|-
! colspan=3 | '''Total'''
| 4,731,473
| 100.00%
| 226
| colspan=2 | 
| 226

|-
! colspan=5 | '''Needed to win'''
| 114
| colspan=2 | 
| 114

|}

[[Category:The Death of Albert]]