1888 Republican National Convention

Illustration of the convention

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]

The early favorite for the nomination was James G. Blaine.[2] After he disclaimed interest, several candidates vied for the prize, with the frontrunners being Russell A. Alger, Walter Q. Gresham, Chauncey Depew, and John Sherman.[2] After several ballots, none of the leading candidates was able to obtain a majority. Benjamin Harrison, who had served in the U.S. Senate from 1881 to 1887, but had lost reelection after the Democrats gained control of the Indiana legislature, was a dark horse candidate.[2][3] Republicans were dispirited after losing the presidency in 1884 and were attracted to Harrison because of the speech announcing his presidential candidacy, in which he described himself as a "living and rejuvenated Republican."[3] Harrison won the nomination on the eighth ballot and "Rejuvenated Republicanism" became the party's campaign slogan.[3]

• 
  Former U.S. Senator
  Benjamin Harrison
  of Indiana
• 
  U.S. Senator
  John Sherman
  of Ohio
• 
  Former Governor
  Russell A. Alger
  of Michigan
• 
  Former Secretary of the Treasury
  Walter Q. Gresham
  of Indiana
• 
  Former Secretary of State
  James G. Blaine
  of Maine
  (Declined to Contest)
• 
  Representative
  William McKinley
  of Ohio
  (Not Formally Nominated)
  (Endorsed John Sherman)
• 
  U.S. Senator
  William B. Allison
  of Iowa
  (Withdrew after 7th Ballot)
• 
  Abolitionist, Orator, Suffragist
  Frederick Douglass
  of Washington, D.C.
• 
  NYC RR President
  Chauncey Depew
  of New York
  (Withdrew after 3rd Ballot)
• 
  U.S. Senator
  John J. Ingalls
  of Kansas
  (Not Formally Nominated)
• 
  Governor
  Jeremiah M. Rusk
  of Wisconsin
• 
  Representative
  William Walter Phelps
  of New Jersey
  (Not Formally Nominated)
• 
  Mayor
  Edwin Henry Fitler
  of Pennsylvania
  (Withdrew after 1st Ballot)

Former Representative and Minister to France Levi P. Morton from New York was asked to accept the nomination.[2] He had been asked in 1880, but had declined.[4] This time Morton decided to accept.[2] He was easily elected on the first ballot.[2]

Illustration of the convention

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.[5]

When Sherman introduced his antitrust 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.[6]

• History of the United States Republican Party
• List of Republican National Conventions
• U.S. presidential nomination convention
• 1888 United States presidential election
• 1888 Democratic National Convention

• Republican Party platform of 1888 at The American Presidency Project
• Harrison acceptance letter at The American Presidency Project
• Guide to the Republican National Convention Collection 1884-1888 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center