U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 1892

Presidential electoral votes by state.

The United States presidential election of 1892 was held on November 8, 1892. New York's Grover Cleveland returned to defeat incumbent President Benjamin Harrison, becoming the only person to be elected to non-consecutive presidential terms. Cleveland, who had won the popular vote against Harrison in 1888, won both the popular and electoral vote in the rematch.

Cleveland also became the first Democrat to be nominated by his party three consecutive times, a distinction that would be equaled only by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

Indiana's Benjamin Harrison was easily renominated for President in Minneapolis, but his choice was not unanimous. Harrison received 536 delegate votes to secure the nomination, but former nominee James Gillespie Blaine of Maine received 183 delegates, and future nominee and Ohioan William McKinley finished third with 182 delegates. New York Tribune editor Whitelaw Reid was unanimously chosen to replace Vice President Levi Morton on the ticket.

Democratic Party nomination

For the third consecutive time, Grover Cleveland was chosen as the Democratic Party's Presidential nominee, receiving 618 delegate votes in Chicago to defeat David B. Hill (who received 114 delegates) and Horace Boies (103). Adlai E. Stevenson (whose grandson, Adlai II, would twice be the party's Presidential nominee in the 1950's), was chosen as the party's Vice Presidential nominee by 652 delegates, defeating Isaac P. Gray (who received 343 delegate votes), John L. Mitchell (45) and Henry Watterson (26).

Other nominations

Three other parties fielded candidates for the election. The Prohibition Party nominated John Bidwell for President and James Cranfill for Vice President. Two other parties made their first attempts at the White House: the Populist Party, who placed James Weaver and James Field on their ticket, and the Socialist Labor Party, who chose Simon Wing and Charles Matchett as their standard bearers.

General election

Campaign

As in 1888, the tariff issue was a key difference between free market Democrats and protectionist Republicans. Another issue, though, was the gold standard, with the Populists putting their chief emphasis on demanding higher inflation through increased coinage of silver, which would benefit debtors such as Southern and Western farmers. Cleveland's strong adherence to "hard" money gained him more backing from Eastern bankers and business.

Another issue was labor, with a major strike at Carnegie Steel ending with fighting between picketers and armed guards that galvanized labor opposition to the Republican administration.

While the Populists did take several states in the West, the South remained Democratic and the industrial Northeast turned out for Cleveland as well, giving him a solid victory and the Democrats control of both houses of Congress.

Results

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1892 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).

Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005).

Media

See also

• American election campaigns in the 19th Century
• History of the United States (1865-1918)
• History of the United States Democratic Party
• History of the United States Republican Party
• Third Party System

External links

• 1892 popular vote by counties
• 1892 State-by-state Popular vote

References

• Faulkner, Harold U. (1959). Politics, Reform and Expansion, 1890–1900, ch. 6.
• Jensen, Richard (1971). The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896.
• Josephson, Matthew (1938). The Politicos: 1865–1896.
• Keller, Morton (1977). Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America.
• Kleppner, Paul (1979). The Third Electoral System 1853–1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures.
• Knoles, George H (1942). The Presidential Campaign and Election of 1892.
• Morgan, H. Wayne (1969). From Hayes to McKinley: National Party Politics, 1877–1896.
• Oberholtzer, Ellis P. (1917–37). A History of the United States since the Civil War, vol. 5.

Navigation