1888 United States presidential election in Tennessee

The 1888 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 1888, as part of the 1888 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.[2]

1888 United States presidential election in Tennessee

November 6, 1888
Turnout19.69% of the total population 2.83 pp[1]
 
Nominee Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York Indiana
Running mate Allen Thurman Levi P. Morton
Electoral vote 12 0
Popular vote 158,699 138,978
Percentage 52.26% 45.76%

County Results

President before election

Grover Cleveland
Democratic

Elected President

Benjamin Harrison
Republican

Background and vote

For over a century after the Civil War, Tennessee’s white citizenry was divided according to partisan loyalties established in that war. Unionist regions covering almost all of East Tennessee, Kentucky Pennyroyal-allied Macon County, and the five West Tennessee Highland Rim counties of Carroll, Henderson, McNairy, Hardin and Wayne[3] voted Republican – generally by landslide margins – as they saw the Democratic Party as the “war party” who had forced them into a war they did not wish to fight.[4] Contrariwise, the rest of Middle and West Tennessee who had supported and driven the state’s secession was equally fiercely Democratic as it associated the Republicans with Reconstruction.[5] After the state’s white landowning class re-established its rule in the early 1870s, black and Unionist white combined to forge adequate support for the GOP to produce a competitive political system for two decades,[6] although during this era the Republicans could only capture statewide offices when the Democratic Party was divided on this issue of payment of state debt.[6]

White Democrats in West Tennessee were always aiming to eliminate black political influence, and during the 1880s they attempted to do this by election fraud and stuffing of ballot boxes.[7] During the 1888 elections, this fraud increased substantially and the GOP’s fortures showed a decline at the state level to just 35 out of 132 state legislators.[8] This would lead to much more drastic changes in the future, but in the presidential race Democratic nominee and incumbent President Grover Cleveland, running with the former Senator and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio Allen G. Thurman won only 52.26 percent of the popular vote, against former Indiana Senator Benjamin Harrison (R-Indiana), running with Levi P. Morton, the 31st governor of New York who gained 45.76 percent. Cleveland’s margin was, given the political changes taking place, only a small improvement over his 1884 win in Tennessee; however, he did re-establish the majority-black far southwestern part of the state as rock-ribbed Democratic until the party turned towards Civil Rights under Harry S. Truman.

The Union Labor Party chose Alson Streeter, a former Illinois state representative, and Charles E. Cunningham as their presidential and vice-presidential candidates and received 0.02% of the vote. The Prohibition Party ran brigadier general Clinton B. Fisk and John A. Brooks and received 1.97% of the vote.

Results

1888 United States presidential election in Tennessee[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Grover Cleveland 158,699 52.26%
Republican Benjamin Harrison 138,978 45.76%
Prohibition Clinton Fisk 5,969 1.97%
Labor Alson Streeter 48[lower-alpha 1] 0.02%
Total votes 303,694 100.00%

Results by county

County Stephen Grover Cleveland[9]
Democratic
Benjamin Harrison[9]
Republican
Clinton Bowen Fisk[10]
Prohibition
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Anderson 733 29.59% 1,740 70.25% 4 0.16% -1,007 -40.65% 2,477
Bedford 2,475 53.21% 1,988 42.74% 188 4.04% 487 10.47% 4,651
Benton 1,075 62.65% 640 37.30% 1 0.06% 435 25.35% 1,716
Bledsoe 482 42.47% 653 57.53% 0 0.00% -171 -15.07% 1,135
Blount 1,009 30.55% 2,237 67.73% 57 1.73% -1,228 -37.18% 3,303
Bradley 991 38.99% 1,518 59.72% 33 1.30% -527 -20.73% 2,542
Campbell 559 23.20% 1,845 76.59% 5 0.21% -1,286 -53.38% 2,409
Cannon 1,104 61.68% 658 36.76% 28 1.56% 446 24.92% 1,790
Carroll 1,875 43.74% 2,356 54.96% 56 1.31% -481 -11.22% 4,287
Carter 453 19.22% 1,797 76.24% 107 4.54% -1,344 -57.02% 2,357
Cheatham 1,063 75.50% 305 21.66% 40 2.84% 758 53.84% 1,408
Claiborne 959 40.29% 1,392 58.49% 29 1.22% -433 -18.19% 2,380
Clay 749 60.80% 479 38.88% 4 0.32% 270 21.92% 1,232
Cocke 842 30.19% 1,947 69.81% 0 0.00% -1,105 -39.62% 2,789
Coffee 1,818 75.09% 539 22.26% 64 2.64% 1,279 52.83% 2,421
Crockett 1,253 51.84% 1,080 44.68% 84 3.48% 173 7.16% 2,417
Cumberland 422 39.70% 632 59.45% 9 0.85% -210 -19.76% 1,063
Davidson 9,715 49.15% 9,321 47.16% 730 3.69% 394 1.99% 19,766
DeKalb 1,462 51.88% 1,310 46.49% 46 1.63% 152 5.39% 2,818
Decatur 862 53.14% 757 46.67% 3 0.18% 105 6.47% 1,622
Dickson 1,511 64.38% 765 32.59% 71 3.03% 746 31.79% 2,347
Dyer 2,013 67.14% 925 30.85% 60 2.00% 1,088 36.29% 2,998
Fayette 3,813 79.54% 980 20.44% 1 0.02% 2,833 59.09% 4,794
Fentress 249 29.09% 602 70.33% 5 0.58% -353 -41.24% 856
Franklin 2,362 74.42% 674 21.24% 138 4.35% 1,688 53.18% 3,174
Gibson 3,763 63.06% 1,893 31.72% 311 5.21% 1,870 31.34% 5,967
Giles 3,181 58.79% 2,100 38.81% 130 2.40% 1,081 19.98% 5,411
Grainger 931 39.52% 1,416 60.10% 9 0.38% -485 -20.59% 2,356
Greene 2,195 42.97% 2,722 53.29% 191 3.74% -527 -10.32% 5,108
Grundy 901 78.28% 216 18.77% 34 2.95% 685 59.51% 1,151
Hamblen 891 41.42% 1,219 56.67% 41 1.91% -328 -15.25% 2,151
Hamilton 3,906 37.81% 6,264 60.63% 161 1.56% -2,358 -22.82% 10,331
Hancock 480 28.29% 1,216 71.66% 1 0.06% -736 -43.37% 1,697
Hardeman 1,913 63.03% 1,099 36.21% 23 0.76% 814 26.82% 3,035
Hardin 1,208 39.99% 1,785 59.09% 28 0.93% -577 -19.10% 3,021
Hawkins 1,624 41.46% 2,260 57.70% 33 0.84% -636 -16.24% 3,917
Haywood 1,962 53.14% 1,724 46.70% 6 0.16% 238 6.45% 3,692
Henderson 1,512 45.93% 1,772 53.83% 8 0.24% -260 -7.90% 3,292
Henry 2,103 62.55% 1,197 35.60% 62 1.84% 906 26.95% 3,362
Hickman 1,509 56.26% 1,137 42.39% 36 1.34% 372 13.87% 2,682
Houston 745 73.98% 259 25.72% 3 0.30% 486 48.26% 1,007
Humphreys 1,443 76.35% 395 20.90% 52 2.75% 1,048 55.45% 1,890
Jackson 1,585 74.24% 545 25.53% 5 0.23% 1,040 48.71% 2,135
James 308 34.26% 587 65.29% 4 0.44% -279 -31.03% 899
Jefferson 806 25.43% 2,348 74.07% 16 0.50% -1,542 -48.64% 3,170
Johnson 180 11.70% 1,347 87.52% 12 0.78% -1,167 -75.83% 1,539
Knox 3,929 37.94% 6,123 59.12% 305 2.94% -2,194 -21.18% 10,357
Lake 450 83.33% 59 10.93% 31 5.74% 391 72.41% 540
Lauderdale 1,838 55.76% 1,433 43.48% 25 0.76% 405 12.29% 3,296
Lawrence 1,089 62.66% 633 36.42% 16 0.92% 456 26.24% 1,738
Lewis 254 65.30% 132 33.93% 3 0.77% 122 31.36% 389
Lincoln 3,285 72.21% 1,082 23.79% 182 4.00% 2,203 48.43% 4,549
Loudon 530 30.13% 1,226 69.70% 3 0.17% -696 -39.57% 1,759
Macon 879 43.91% 1,120 55.94% 3 0.15% -241 -12.04% 2,002
Madison 3,206 67.47% 1,479 31.12% 67 1.41% 1,727 36.34% 4,752
Marion 1,198 44.68% 1,483 55.32% 0 0.00% -285 -10.63% 2,681
Marshall 2,291 71.08% 786 24.39% 146 4.53% 1,505 46.70% 3,223
Maury 3,658 54.27% 2,836 42.08% 246 3.65% 822 12.20% 6,740
McMinn 1,364 40.92% 1,901 57.04% 68 2.04% -537 -16.11% 3,333
McNairy 1,525 49.97% 1,511 49.51% 16 0.52% 14 0.46% 3,052
Meigs 740 55.31% 589 44.02% 9 0.67% 151 11.29% 1,338
Monroe 1,457 50.70% 1,399 48.68% 18 0.63% 58 2.02% 2,874
Montgomery 2,628 53.53% 2,164 44.08% 117 2.38% 464 9.45% 4,909
Moore 980 84.63% 102 8.81% 76 6.56% 878 75.82% 1,158
Morgan 369 29.52% 860 68.80% 21 1.68% -491 -39.28% 1,250
Obion 2,987 70.10% 1,167 27.39% 107 2.51% 1,820 42.71% 4,261
Overton 1,188 64.88% 614 33.53% 29 1.58% 574 31.35% 1,831
Perry 849 61.57% 527 38.22% 3 0.22% 322 23.35% 1,379
Pickett 362 46.95% 409 53.05% 0 0.00% -47 -6.10% 771
Polk 679 51.48% 635 48.14% 5 0.38% 44 3.34% 1,319
Putnam 1,361 62.15% 817 37.31% 12 0.55% 544 24.84% 2,190
Rhea 1,177 45.27% 1,414 54.38% 9 0.35% -237 -9.12% 2,600
Roane 844 29.14% 2,042 70.51% 10 0.35% -1,198 -41.37% 2,896
Robertson 2,203 63.20% 952 27.31% 331 9.50% 1,251 35.89% 3,486
Rutherford 3,302 55.07% 2,479 41.34% 215 3.59% 823 13.73% 5,996
Scott 164 10.35% 1,418 89.46% 3 0.19% -1,254 -79.12% 1,585
Sequatchie 350 66.04% 180 33.96% 0 0.00% 170 32.08% 530
Sevier 489 14.56% 2,830 84.25% 40 1.19% -2,341 -69.69% 3,359
Shelby 11,932 58.86% 8,277 40.83% 64 0.32% 3,655 18.03% 20,273
Smith 2,108 64.96% 1,102 33.96% 35 1.08% 1,006 31.00% 3,245
Stewart 1,277 69.29% 536 29.08% 30 1.63% 741 40.21% 1,843
Sullivan 2,255 58.66% 1,513 39.36% 76 1.98% 742 19.30% 3,844
Sumner 2,778 68.76% 1,228 30.40% 34 0.84% 1,550 38.37% 4,040
Tipton 2,351 61.21% 1,486 38.69% 4 0.10% 865 22.52% 3,841
Trousdale 792 71.29% 316 28.44% 3 0.27% 476 42.84% 1,111
Unicoi 85 11.55% 645 87.64% 6 0.82% -560 -76.09% 736
Union 523 25.55% 1,501 73.33% 23 1.12% -978 -47.78% 2,047
Van Buren 423 77.05% 103 18.76% 23 4.19% 320 58.29% 549
Warren 1,975 73.80% 636 23.77% 65 2.43% 1,339 50.04% 2,676
Washington 1,534 42.12% 2,008 55.13% 100 2.75% -474 -13.01% 3,642
Wayne 772 39.03% 1,204 60.87% 2 0.10% -432 -21.84% 1,978
Weakley 2,764 60.22% 1,764 38.43% 62 1.35% 1,000 21.79% 4,590
White 1,634 76.36% 449 20.98% 57 2.66% 1,185 55.37% 2,140
Williamson 2,358 58.85% 1,491 37.21% 158 3.94% 867 21.64% 4,007
Wilson 2,518 57.55% 1,676 38.31% 181 4.14% 842 19.25% 4,375
Totals158,69952.26%138,97845.77%5,9681.97%19,7216.49%303,645

Notes

  1. These Union Labor votes were not separated by county but listed only as a state-wide total.[9]

References

  1. "1888 Presidential Election Results Tennessee Total Population Turnout".
  2. "1888 Presidential Election Results Tennessee".
  3. Wright, John K.; ‘Voting Habits in the United States: A Note on Two Maps’; Geographical Review, vol. 22, no. 4 (October 1932), pp. 666-672
  4. Key (Jr.), Valdimer Orlando; Southern Politics in State and Nation (New York, 1949), pp. 282-283
  5. Lyons, William; Scheb (II), John M. and Stair Billy; Government and Politics in Tennessee, pp. 183-184 ISBN 1572331410
  6. Kousser, J. Morgan; The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910, p. 104 ISBN 0-300-01973-4
  7. Kousser; The Shaping of Southern Politics, p. 110
  8. Kousser, J. Morgan; ‘Post-Reconstruction Suffrage Restrictions in Tennessee: A New Look at the V. O. Key Thesis’; Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 88, No. 4 (December 1973), pp. 655-683
  9. Géoelections; Presidential election of 1888 Popular Vote (.xlsx file for €15)
  10. Géoelections; Popular Vote for Clinton Fisk (.xlsx file for €15)
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