Candidates:
Republican Party: Benjamin Harrison (Indiana) and Levi Morton (New York)
Democratic Party: Grover Cleveland (New York) and Allen Thurman (Ohio)
Prohibition Party: Clinton Fisk (New Jersey) and John Brooks (Missouri)
Election Results:
Harrison/Morton: 233 electoral votes, 5.44 million popular votes
Cleveland/Thurman: 168 electoral votes, 5.53 million popular votes
Fisk/Brooks: 0 electoral votes, 249,000 popular votes
Summary:
The rise of Benjamin Harrison to prominence in 1888 was due in part to his family legacy and part to his own Republican activism. Harrison’s grandfather, former president William Henry Harrison, had a legacy built largely on his untimely death one month into his first term of office. Benjamin Harrison struggled early in life, scraping his way through early schooling to become a fairly prominent attorney and Civil War veteran. Harrison was active in Republican politics following his service in the war, including representing the government in ex parte Milligan, a case dealing with Civil War pensions, and supporting James Blaine for president in 1884. After losing his Senate seat in 1887, Harrison saw his opportunity to become a national figure and by January 1888 declared his candidacy for president in the fall election. In the nominating convention during the summer of 1888, Harrison reaped the benefits of supporting Blaine by receiving his vote of confidence over Ohio Senator John Sherman. In order to fund the campaign, the Republicans gave the vice presidential bid to Levi Morton, a banker from New York (as was customary in the next few decades).
Sitting president Grover Cleveland was a formidable opponent for the popular Harrison. Cleveland was a New York politician who developed a reputation for being a crusading reformer, including a penchant for using the veto to eliminate needless patronage projects. This became an important campaign issue, as Harrison and the national Republican leaders were big proponents of the use of patronage. As well, Democrats in places like New York and Chicago (where machine politics were prevalent) were not pleased with Cleveland’s rebellious streak. To run with Cleveland, the Democrats chose Senator Allen Thurman and the campaigning was kept to a minimum, with Cleveland making only one public appearance.
Benjamin Harrison, in the tradition of many past presidents, used a front porch campaign from his home in Indiana to appeal to the public. On both sides, but especially within the Republican Party, activists and the rank-and-file were working hard on behalf of their candidates. The two major issues of the campaign were the tariff issue and Cleveland’s policy toward the Southern state. Harrison’s campaign encouraged a higher tariff to protect American business, an increase in Civil War pension, organized currency, and efficient administration of government business. The Democrats were hurt by Cleveland’s policy of returning captured Confederate flags to the South, in order to show national unity. In the end, Harrison won the election by his victories in New York and Indiana. New York City was given to the Republicans due to Cleveland’s patronage policies and Indiana, by many accounts, was won due to electoral tampering by Republicans. The Republicans, for the first time in a few election cycles, dominated all three branches of the American government.
