| 1888 Presidential Election | |
|---|---|
Nominees Harrison and Morton |
|
| Convention | |
| Date(s) | June 19-June 25, 1888 |
| City | Chicago, Illinois |
| Venue | Civic Auditorium |
| Chair | Morris M. Estee |
| Candidates | |
| Presidential Nominee | Benjamin Harrison of Indiana |
| Vice Presidential Nominee | Levi P. Morton of New York |
| Other Candidates | John Sherman Russell A. Alger Walter Q. Gresham |
| Voting | |
| Total Delegates | 832 |
| Votes Needed for Nomination | 417 |
| Results (President) | Harrison (IN): 544 (65.38%) Sherman (OH): 118 (14.18%) Gresham (IN): 59 (7.09%) Alger (MI): 100 (12.02%) Blaine (ME): 5 (0.60%) McKinley (OH): 4 (0.48%) Others: 2 (0.24%) |
| Results (Vice President) | Morton (NY): 592 (71.15%) Phelps (NJ): 119 (14.3%) Bradley (KY): 103 (12.38%) Bruce (MS): 11 (1.32%) Abstaining: 6 (0.72%) Walter S. Thomas: 1 (0.12%) |
| Ballots | 8 |
| ‹ 1884 · 1892 › | |
Contents |
The 1888 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held at the Auditorium Building in Chicago, Illinois, on June 19-25, 1888. It resulted in the nomination of Benjamin Harrison, a former senator of Indiana, and Levi P. Morton, a former U.S. representative of New York, for President and Vice President of the United States. During the convention, Frederick Douglass was invited to speak and became the first African-American to be nominated for President of the United States in a major party's roll call vote, receiving one vote from Kentucky in the fourth vote.
The ticket won in the election of 1888, defeating Grover Cleveland.
Issues addressed in the convention included support for protective tariffs, repeal of taxes on tobacco, support for the use of gold and silver as currency and support for pensions for veterans. The party also expressed its opposition to polygamy.[1]
Nearly a decade later, Ohio candidate John Sherman accused Michigan candidate, millionaire Russell A. Alger, of buying the votes of Southern delegates who had already confirmed their vote for Sherman. In Sherman's 1895 two-volume book "Recollections" he asserted, "I believe, and had, as I thought, conclusive proof, that the friends of Gen. Alger substantially purchased the votes of many of the delegates from the Southern States who had been instructed by their conventions to vote for me." Once accused, Alger submitted correspondence to the New York Times, who published one letter from 1888, written after the convention to Alger, where Sherman states, "if you bought some [votes], according to universal usage, surely I don't blame you." Later in the same New York Times article, Alger insisted neither he or friends bought a single vote. The article also quotes another delegate, James Lewis, who claimed that "the colored delegates of the South will unite on a Union soldier in preference" instead of a civilian.[2]
When Sherman introduced his anti-trust legislation two years later, his main example of unlawful combination drew from a Michigan Supreme Court case involving Diamond Match Company and Alger's participation as president and stock holder. [3]
| Preceded by 1884 Chicago |
Republican National Conventions | Succeeded by 1892 Minneapolis |