1880 Greenback National Convention

US political convention June 2023 June 2023 June 2023 1880 Greenback James Weaver - Brady-Handy (cropped).jpg BJChambers (cropped).jpg 150px 150px Nominees Weaver and Chambers June 9–11, 1880 Interstate Exposition Building Chicago, Illinois, US James B. Weaver Iowa Barzillai J. Chambers Texas 1876 1884 The 1880 Greenback Party National Convention convened in Chicago from June 9 to June 11 to select presidential and vice presidential nominees and write a party platform for the Greenback Party in the United States presidential election 1880. Delegates chose James B. Weaver of Iowa for president and Barzillai J. Chambers of Texas for vice president. The Greenback Party was a newcomer to the political scene in 1880, having arisen, mainly in the nation's West and South, as a response to the economic depression that followed the Panic of 1873. During the Civil War, Congress had authorized "greenbacks", a form of money redeemable in government bonds rather than in then-traditional gold. After the war, many Democrats and Republicans in the East sought to return to the gold standard, and the government began withdrawing greenbacks from circulation. The resulting reduction of the money supply, combined with the economic depression, made life harder for debtors, farmers, and industrial laborers; the Greenback Party hoped to draw support from these groups. Six men were candidates for the presidential nomination. Weaver, an Iowa congressman and Civil War general was the clear favorite, but two other congressmen, Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts and Hendrick B. Wright of Pennsylvania, also commanded considerable followings. Weaver triumphed quickly, winning a majority of the 850 delegates' votes on the first ballot. Chambers, a Texas businessman and Confederate veteran, was likewise nominated on the initial vote. The fight over the platform was more tumultuous, as delegates from disparate factions of the left-wing movement clashed over women's suffrage, Chinese immigration, and the extent to which the government should regulate working conditions. Votes for women was the most contentious of these, with the party ultimately endorsing the suffragists' cause, despite a vocal minority's opposition. Weaver and Chambers left the convention with high hopes for the third party's cause, but in the end, they were disappointed. The election was a close contest between the Republican, James A. Garfield, and the Democrat, Winfield Scott Hancock, with Garfield being the victor. The Greenback ticket placed a distant third, netting just over three percent of the popular vote. Background Origins thumb|An 1862 greenback five-dollar bill The Greenback Party was a newcomer to politics in 1880, having first nominated candidates for national office four years earlier.Lause 2001 29 The party had arisen, mostly in the West and South, as a response to the economic depression that followed the Panic of 1873.Lause 2001 22–23 During the Civil War, Congress had authorized "greenbacks", a new form of fiat money that was redeemable not in gold but in government bonds.Unger 1964 14–15 The greenbacks had helped to finance the war when the government's gold supply did not keep pace with the expanding costs of maintaining the armies. When the crisis had passed, many in both the Democratic and Republican parties, especially in the East, wanted to return the nation's currency to a gold standard as soon as possible (candidates who favored the gold-backed currency were called "hard money" supporters, while the policy of encouraging inflation was known as "soft money").Unger 1964 16–17 The Specie Payment Resumption Act, passed in 1875, ordered that greenbacks be gradually withdrawn and replaced with a gold-backed currency, beginning in 1879.Wiebe 1967 6 At the same time, economic depression had made it more expensive for debtors to pay debts they had contracted when the currency was less valuable.Unger 1964 228–233 Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans offered a home to those who favored retaining greenbacks, so many looked to create a third party that would address their concerns.Lause 2001 26–27 Greenbackers drew support from the growing labor movement in the nation's Eastern cities, as well as from Western and Southern farmers who had been harmed by deflation.Lause 2001 28 Beyond their support for a larger money supply, they also favored an eight-hour work day, safety regulations in factories, and an end to child labor.Clancy 1958 163–164 As one author put it, they "anticipated by almost fifty years the progressive legislation of the first quarter of the twentieth century".Clancy 1958 163–164 In 1876, various independent delegates gathered in Indianapolis to nominate a presidential ticket to campaign on those issues.Lause 2001 29 For president, they chose Peter Cooper, an 85-year-old industrialist and philanthropist from New York, with Samuel Fenton Cary, a former congressman from Ohio, as his running mate.Lause 2001 32–33 The Greenback ticket fared poorly in the election that November, attracting just 81,740 votes—less than 1% of the total.Lause 2001 32–33 As bad economic times continued, however, the party gained momentum. Labor unrest the following year, culminating in the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, added to many laborers' alienation from the two major parties.Lause 2001 34–35 Local movements, like California's Workingmen's Party, began to agitate for laws to improve the condition of laborers (and for an end to Chinese immigration).Lause 2001 36–37 By 1878, the third-party movement had become strong enough to elect 22 independents to the federal House of Representatives, most tied in some way to the Greenback movement.Lause 2001 36–37 As the 1880 presidential election approached, members of the Greenback Party (or Greenback-Labor Party, as it was sometimes known) had reason to believe that they could improve on the results of 1876.Lause 2001 38 Party split Attempts to fuse the disparate state and local parties into a national force led to friction between party leaders.Doolen 1972 442–444 By 1879, there was a clear split, as a group led by Marcus M. "Brick" Pomeroy formed their own "Union Greenback Labor Party".Barr 1967 280 Pomeroy's group of mostly Southern and Western Greenbackers was opposed to electoral fusion with either of the two major parties and took more radical positions on monetary policy—including payment of all federal bonds in greenbacks, rather than the gold dollars originally promised to investors.Doolen 1972 442–444 They also differed from the Eastern-centered rump party (often called the "National Greenback Party") in calling for the popular election of postmasters and the death penalty as punishment for corruption in public office.Doolen 1972 445 After a January 1880 conference in Washington, D.C. failed to unite the factions, each party called for its own national convention to nominate candidates for president.Doolen 1972 445 The Union Greenbackers held their convention first, meeting in St. Louis in March 1880.Barr 1967 280 Although much of the young party's leadership remained with the Eastern faction, the March gathering included Solon Chase and Kersey Graves, among other third-party notables.Lause 2001 49 They nominated Stephen D. Dillaye, a New Jersey lawyer and journalist, for president and Barzillai J. Chambers, a Texas merchant and surveyor, for vice president.Lause 2001 50 Because Dillaye had previously declared he was not interested in the nomination, many delegates protested, seeing Dillaye as a placeholder for eventual reunification with the National Greenbackers.Lause 2001 50 Dillaye himself supported reunification, and Pomeroy also urged the delegates to send representatives to the Easterners' convention, which was set for June 1880 in Chicago.Doolen 1972 447 The majority agreed with the sentiment, and Union Greenbackers gathered in Chicago along with National Greenbackers as their convention began a few months later.Doolen 1972 447 Candidates Weaver thumb|Representative James B. Weaver of Iowa James Baird Weaver grew up on the Iowa frontier, and was involved with the Republican Party from its early days in the late 1850s.Mitchell 2008 7–31 At the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the Union Army.Mitchell 2008 35 Weaver saw action at the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Resaca, and rose to the rank of brevet brigadier general.Mitchell 2008 39–50 After the war, he continued to be active in Iowa Republican politics. Weaver sought nomination to the House of Representatives and the Governorship, but each time was defeated by candidates from the party's more conservative faction, led by William B. Allison.Mitchell 2008 55–59 He campaigned for the Republican presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, but also attended the 1876 Greenback National Convention as an observer.Mitchell 2008 68–70 By 1877, differences with the Republican party leadership on the money question led him to consider other options.Mitchell 2008 68–70 After initially supporting the Republican candidate for governor that year, Weaver joined the Greenback Party in August.Colbert 1978 26 In 1878, Weaver accepted the Greenback nomination for Iowa's 6th congressional district.Mitchell 2008 74 Although Weaver's political career up to then had been as a staunch Republican, Democrats in the 6th district considered that endorsing him was likely the only way to defeat Ezekiel S. Sampson, the incumbent Republican.Colbert 1978 27 Despite objections from some hard-money Democrats, the Greenback-Democrat ticket prevailed, and Weaver was elected with 16,366 votes to Sampson's 14,307.Colbert 1978 39 Weaver entered the 46th Congress in March 1879.Mitchell 2008 83 Although the House was closely divided, neither major party included the Greenbackers in its caucus, leaving them few committee assignments and little input on legislation.Mitchell 2008 84 Weaver gave his first speech in April 1879, criticizing the use of the army to police Southern polling stations, while also decrying the violence against black Southerners that made such protection necessary; he then described the Greenback platform, which he said would put an end to the sectional and economic strife.Mitchell 2008 86–87 The next month, he spoke in favor of a bill calling for an increase in the money supply by allowing the unlimited coinage of silver, but the bill was easily defeated.Mitchell 2008 86–87 Weaver's oratorical skill drew praise, and while he was unable to advance Greenback policy ideas, he was soon considered the front-runner for the presidential nomination in 1880.Mitchell 2008 88–89 Butler thumb|left|Former Representative Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts Benjamin Franklin Butler was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, and later moved to Massachusetts to pursue a legal career.Fish 1929 357 He built a successful practice in the 1840s and 1850s, and became involved in local politics as a Democrat.Fish 1929 357 A compelling public speaker, Butler was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1853.Fish 1929 357 He successfully ran for a Massachusetts Senate seat in 1859.Fish 1929 357 Despite his Protestant upbringing he gained a faithful following among Massachusetts Catholics and also built support among laborers.Fish 1929 357 In the 1860 presidential campaign, Butler sought compromise with the slave power, and believed Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi ought to be the Democratic Party's nominee for president.Thompson 1982 165 Butler had been elected a brigadier general of the Massachusetts militia, and when the Civil War began in 1861, he quickly organized his men and marched south.Fish 1929 357 Butler's men occupied Baltimore to ensure that Maryland did not follow its fellow Southern states into secession.Fish 1929 358 He was promoted to major general in May of that year, and sent to command at Fort Monroe in Virginia, where he pioneered the tactic of seizing and freeing slaves as "contraband of war".Fish 1929 358 When Union forces captured New Orleans, Butler was sent to command there.Fish 1929 358 Butler's rule was harsh, and he became especially reviled among Southern whites, to whom he was known as "Beast" Butler.Thompson 1982 165 He was transferred to the Virginia theater in 1863, where he worked under General Ulysses S. Grant's direction in the campaigns that led to the Confederacy's defeat.Fish 1929 358 After the war, Butler was elected to Congress as a Republican and soon came to identify with that party's more radical element.Fish 1929 358 In 1868, he was among the leaders in President Andrew Johnson's impeachment.Fish 1929 358 Butler's wartime exploits earned him support among blacks and abolitionists, which, combined with his existing base among laborers, ensured his reelection for several terms.Lause 2001 53 His radicalism made him enemies among conservative Republicans, however, and when he lost his seat in the Democratic wave of 1874, he began to shift his allegiance to the nascent Greenback Party.Fish 1929 359 In 1876, he returned to the House as a Republican, but in 1878 he ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Massachusetts as an independent Greenbacker with Democratic support.Lause 2001 53 Butler had supporters across the political spectrum—he was often said to be "a member of all parties and false to each"—and was considered a presidential possibility when the Greenbackers convened in Chicago in 1880.Lause 2001 53 Wright thumb|Representative Hendrick B. Wright of Pennsylvania Hendrick Bradley Wright was born and raised in northeastern Pennsylvania.Boyd 1936 553 After studying law at Dickinson College, Wright returned to Wilkes-Barre and quickly became known as a gifted attorney and orator.Clausen 1965 201–202 His powers of speech earned him notice in Pennsylvania Democratic Party circles, as well as the nickname "Old-Man-Not-Afraid-To-Be-Called-A-Demagogue".Clausen 1965 201–202 He became a district attorney for Luzerne County in 1834 and was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1841.Boyd 1936 553 Wright was reelected in 1842 and 1843, serving as Speaker in his final term.Boyd 1936 553 He served as president of the 1844 Democratic National Convention, working with the anti-Van Buren faction to prevent that former President's nomination.Clausen 1965 203–205 After the convention, he sought a seat in the United States Senate, but was unsuccessful.Boyd 1936 553 Wright was defeated for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1850 but was successful in 1852.Boyd 1936 553 Defeated for reelection in 1854, he ran in 1860 as a Democrat with Republican support and was elected to represent Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district.Clausen 1965 203–205 He spoke against the Peace Democrats early in the Civil War, but by 1864, believing the Union war aims had changed for the worse, he supported Democrat George B. McClellan for the presidency.Boyd 1936 553 Wright did not run for reelection, returning to private life in 1863. He continued his legal career and published writings on the relationship between labor and capital.Boyd 1936 553 His book A Practical Treatise on Labor was published in 1871.Boyd 1936 553 In 1876, Wright was elected to his old seat in Congress as a Democrat, but with support from the small Greenback movement.Boyd 1936 554 In 1878, the situation was reversed: Wright ran as a Greenbacker but was reelected with support by Democrats.Boyd 1936 554 He attracted attention in Congress with his proposal to amend the Homestead Act of 1862 to establish government loans to would-be settlers of the West, making it easier for landless Easterners to claim homesteads there.Lause 2001 54 Congress was, on the whole, not receptive to Wright's proposal.Deverell 1988 274 Wright proposed it again in 1879 and emphasized the conservatism of his proposal, that it was a loan secured by the homestead, not a gift from the state; even so, the bill went down to overwhelming defeat.Deverell 1988 275 Despite his failure, Wright, like Weaver, had raised his profile as a potential presidential nominee by attempting to advance Greenback ideas in Congress.Lause 2001 54 Other contenders Several favorite son candidates had delegates interested in their nomination, although they were seen as having less of a chance of gaining the nomination.Lause 2001 54 Alexander Campbell had represented Illinois in the House of Representatives several years earlier. He was seen as a pragmatist who represented the Greenback Party's more conservative members. Henly James was the head of the Grange in Indiana and had served in the state legislature there, but attracted little support outside his own delegation.Lause 2001 54 In the Wisconsin delegation, many favored Edward P. Allis, an industrialist who owned the Reliance Iron Works.Lause 2001 54 Allis was a longtime supporter of soft money but had no experience in elected office.Lause 2001 54 Finally, Solon Chase of Maine had some support from the New England delegations.Lause 2001 54 Chase was a publisher of a Greenback newspaper, Chase's Inquirer, and had narrowly lost a House election in 1878.Lause 2001 55 Chase was among the most radical of the Greenbackers, attracting support from the party's left-wing members.Lause 2001 55 Convention thumb|left|The Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago Preliminaries The National Greenback Party delegates assembled in the Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago on Wednesday, June 9, 1880.Kennedy et al. 1880 74 The Republican convention took place in the same building and had only just ended after a record 36 rounds of balloting.Clancy 1958 115–116 When the Greenbackers arrived, the Republicans' banners still hung from the walls, so the delegates were greeted by images of Abraham Lincoln and Thaddeus Stevens as they entered.Mitchell 2008 99 The building, popularly known as the "Glass Palace", had been built in 1873 for an Interstate Industrial Exposition.After the Exposition, it hosted festivals and concerts for several years until it was demolished in 1892. The Art Institute of Chicago now stands on the site.Currey 1918 152–153Currey 1918 151 Franklin P. Dewees of the party's executive committee called the convention to order at 12:30 p.m. on June 9.Kennedy et al. 1880 74 Reverend Pearl P. Ingalls of Iowa said a brief prayer and the convention was opened.Kennedy et al. 1880 74 Gilbert De La Matyr, a Methodist minister and Greenback congressman from Indiana, was unanimously chosen as temporary chairman.Lause 2001 63 After De La Matyr gave a brief, fiery speech, they proceeded to call the roll, which included delegates from every state except Oregon.Kennedy et al. 1880 75 As the roll call finished, Matilda Joslyn Gage, a suffragist, mounted the stage, provoking cheers from some delegates and howls of outrage from others.Lause 2001 64 She called for the new party to recognize women's right to vote, but the issue was avoided temporarily when the delegates voted to send her petition to a committee for further study.Lause 2001 65 Reunification thumb|upright|Richard Trevellick was the convention's permanent chairman. The Union Greenback convention had reconvened at nearby Farwell Hall and sent an emissary to the National Greenbackers.Lause 2001 65 The delegates voted to join the other faction in a special conference committee to work for reunification, then adjourned until 7:30 p.m. that evening.Lause 2001 65 While they waited for the committees to finish their work, the delegates listened to speeches by several prominent Greenbackers, including Denis Kearney, a California labor leader, and William Wallace, a Canadian parliamentarian and advocate for currency reform.Kennedy et al. 1880 75 Meanwhile, the Credentials Committee voted narrowly to admit the Union Greenbackers, as well as a delegation from the Socialist Labor Party.Lause 2001 67 The Committee on Permanent Organization voted to recommend Richard F. Trevellick, a Michigan trade union organizer, as the permanent chairman of the convention.Lause 2001 67 None of the reports were finished by the appointed time, so the convention adjourned again until 10:45 a.m. Thursday morning.Lause 2001 69 When they reconvened, the Credentials Committee announced that there were 608 regularly selected delegates, and recommended the admission of 185 Union Greenbackers and 44 Socialist Laborites, along with a handful of others.The others included six from Chicago's Eight Hour League, three from the Chicago Workingwomen's Union, three from the Workingmen's Party of Kansas, and one from Chicago's Social Political Workingmen's Society.Lause 2001 70Lause 2001 70 After a spirited and chaotic discussion, the convention voted to admit the other delegates in a voice vote: the party was reunified.Lause 2001 71–74 Messages were sent to the Union Greenbackers and Socialist Laborites informing them of the results. In the meantime, the women's suffrage supporters again tried to convince the delegates to endorse their cause.Lause 2001 74–75 Sara Andrews Spencer took the stage to give an impassioned argument for women's right to vote, while Kearney climbed a nearby platform to shout his disapproval.Lause 2001 74–75 Their informal debate was interrupted by a brass band, announcing the arrival of the Union Greenbackers and Socialist Laborites.Lause 2001 74–75 The convention erupted in prolonged cheering and a banner with the word "Reunion" was hoisted.Lause 2001 74–75 The convention broke for a brief recess as the delegates renewed their acquaintance with the erstwhile schismatics.Lause 2001 76 Platform thumb|An 1880 cartoon in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper ridicules the Greenback party as a collection of disparate radicals. The delegates voted to address the platform before deciding on nominees, and the debate began when they reconvened at 8:45 p.m.Lause 2001 76 Many fights and compromises had been hashed out in the Resolutions Committee already, but the delegates insisted on debating several provisions.Lause 2001 76 On many planks, there was widespread agreement among the delegates. On the monetary issue, the platform declared that all money, whether metal or paper, should be issued by the government, not by banks (as was common for paper money at the time).Mitchell 2008 100–101 They also called for the unlimited coinage of silver and the repayment of the national debt in bonds, rather than gold dollars.Kennedy et al. 1880 81 Other planks of the platform called for a graduated income tax, laws to mandate safe working conditions in factories, the regulation of interstate commerce, and an end to child and convict labor; all of these were familiar parts of Greenback platforms from earlier elections, and provoked no serious dissent.Mitchell 2008 100–101 Social issues provoked greater disagreement. Kearney's Western faction gained a victory when the platform was made to include a call for an end to Chinese immigration.Mitchell 2008 100–101 They also turned, at last, to the issue of suffrage. They eventually agreed on a vague statement in the platform, that the party would "denounce as dangerous, the efforts everywhere manifest to restrict the right of suffrage".Kennedy et al. 1880 82 Many of the delegates found this unsatisfying and called for a separate resolution on the subject.Lause 2001 77–79 After more debate, a resolution calling for the enfranchisement of "every citizen" passed by a vote of 528 to 124.Lause 2001 77–79 The Socialist Labor faction proposed another resolution declaring "that land, air, and water are the grand gifts of nature to all mankind", and that no person had a right to monopolize them; the convention applauded, but the proposal was shunted off to a committee.Lause 2001 77–79 Nominations and balloting It was nearly midnight on Thursday night when the platform fights were finished, but the delegates voted to proceed immediately to nominations for president.Lause 2001 79–81 At 1:00 a.m. Friday morning, the roll call began.Lause 2001 79–81 S.F. Norton proposed his fellow Illinoisan, Alexander Campbell, proclaiming his great financial knowledge and association with Lincoln.Lause 2001 79–81Kennedy et al. 1880 84–85 James Buchanan, the editor of the Indianapolis Sun, proposed Benjamin Butler. Iowa Congressman Edward H. Gillette nominated Weaver, and Frank M. Fogg of Maine proposed "the farmer's friend", Solon Chase.Lause 2001 79–81Kennedy et al. 1880 84–85 Perry Talbot of Missouri nominated the Union Greenbackers' nominee, Stephen D. Dillaye, who immediately asked that his name be withdrawn.Lause 2001 79–81 Pennsylvania's delegation nominated Hendrick Wright and Wisconsin's closed with the nomination of Edward P. Allis.Lause 2001 79–81 With the time now 3:25 a.m., the delegates took an informal ballot.Kennedy et al. 1880 84–85 Weaver led the pack with about 30% of the votes, with Wright, Dillaye, and Butler trailing at about 15% each and the remaining votes scattered among the remaining candidates.Contemporary accounts differ on the exact tally of the informal ballot, with various sources crediting Weaver with anywhere between 220 and 235 votes.Lause 2001 81Indiana Democrat 1880La Plata Home Press 1880Indiana Democrat 1880 Supporters of Wright and Butler talked of combining their forces, but the momentum favored Weaver.Lause 2001 81 In the first formal ballot, at 4:10 a.m., Weaver gained votes, and delegates began shifting their ballots to him.Lause 2001 81 Without any official motion, the nomination was made unanimous, and the brass band again began to play.Lause 2001 81 Weaver, who was staying at the nearby Palmer House hotel, was summoned to the convention.Kennedy et al. 1880 86 As they waited, the delegates turned to the vice presidential nomination. Some of Butler's supporters proposed nominating Absolom M. West of Mississippi, a more conservative Greenbacker, to balance the ticket against Weaver, whom they regarded as radical.Lause 2001 81 West, who was present at the convention, had already disappointed the radicals by opposing women's suffrage and the eight-hour day.Lause 2001 81 They instead proposed Barzillai J. Chambers of Texas, who had been the Union Greenbackers' nominee for vice president.Lause 2001 81 The majority agreed, as Chambers took 403 votes to West's 311.Kennedy et al. 1880 87 Weaver had still not arrived, and the Socialist Labor delegates took the opportunity to call for a re-vote on their land plank and the women's suffrage issue.Lause 2001 81 The delegates overruled the chairman's decision that the question was out of order and overwhelmingly voted that the "land, air, and water" plank and a plank explicitly supporting women's suffrage should be considered "part of the platform".Lause 2001 82 Finally, at 6:00 a.m., Weaver arrived.Mitchell 2008 100–101 To thunderous applause, the nominee thanked the convention for its decision and accepted the nomination.Mitchell 2008 100–101 At 6:45 a.m., the exhausted delegates adjourned.Lause 2001 82 Aftermath thumb|upright|Greenback campaign ribbon from 1880 Three weeks later, Weaver published his formal letter of acceptance, calling for all party members to "go forth in the great struggle for human rights".Kennedy et al. 1880 94 In a departure from the political traditions of the day, Weaver himself campaigned, making speeches across the South in July and August.Mitchell 2008 102–103 As the Greenbackers had the only ticket that included a Southerner, Weaver and Chambers hoped to make inroads in the South.Lause 2001 85–104 Chambers's own participation was limited, as before reaching home from the convention, he fell and broke two ribs as he exited his train.Barr 1967 282 He was confined to bed for several weeks and considered withdrawing from the race, but decided against it; his efforts were limited by his injuries, and his only contribution to the campaign was to publish his newspaper.Barr 1967 282 As the campaign progressed, Weaver's message of racial inclusion drew violent protests in the South, as the Greenbackers faced the same obstacles the Republicans did in the face of increasing black disenfranchisement.Lause 2001 105–124 In the autumn, Weaver campaigned in the North, but the Greenbackers' lack of support was compounded by Weaver's refusal to run a fusion ticket in states where Democratic and Greenbacker strength might have combined to outvote the Republicans.Lause 2001 124–146 The Greenback ticket received 305,997 votes and no electoral votes, compared to 4,446,158 for the winner, Republican James A. Garfield, and 4,444,260 for Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock.Ackerman 2003 221 The party was strongest in the West and South, but in no state did Weaver receive more than 12% of the vote, and his nationwide total was just 3%.Mitchell 2008 111 That figure represented an improvement over the Greenback vote of 1876, but to Weaver, who expected twice as many votes as he received, it was a disappointment.Lause 2001 206–208 James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur Republican Ohio New York 4,446,158NARA 2012 48.3% 214NARA 2012 Winfield S. Hancock William H. English Democratic Pennsylvania Indiana 4,444,260NARA 2012 48.3% 155NARA 2012 James B. Weaver Barzillai J. Chambers Greenback Labor Iowa Texas 305,997Ackerman 2003 221 3.3% 0Ackerman 2003 221 Neal Dow Henry A. Thompson Prohibition Maine Ohio 10,305Clancy 1958 243 0.1% 0Clancy 1958 243 John W. Phelps Samuel C. Pomeroy American Vermont Kansas 707Clancy 1958 243 0.0% 0Clancy 1958 243 3,631 0.0% 9,211,051 369 185 Notes References 18em Sources Books Ackerman Kenneth D. 2003 Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield Carroll & Graf New York, New York 0-7867-1151-5 registration https://archive.org/details/darkhorsesurpris00acke Boyd Julian P. Julian P. Boyd Hendrick Bradley Wright Dictionary of American Biography XX 553–554 C. Scribner's Sons New York, New York https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofamer20amer#page/552/mode/2up 1936 4171403 Clancy Herbert J. 1958 The Presidential Election of 1880 https://archive.org/details/presidentialelec0000clan registration Loyola University Press Chicago, Illinois 978-1-258-19190-0 Currey J. Seymour 1918 Chicago: Its History and Its Builders S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Chicago, Illinois 1851611 https://archive.org/details/chicagohistorybui02curr Fish Carl Russell Carl Russell Fish Benjamin Franklin Butler Dictionary of American Biography III 357–359 C. Scribner's Sons New York, New York https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofamer03ilamer#page/356/mode/2up 1929 4171403 Kennedy E.B. Dillaye S.D. Hill Henry 1880 Our Presidential Candidates and Political Compendium F.C. Bliss & Co. Newark, New Jersey https://archive.org/details/ourpresidential00pubgoog 9056547 Kennedy et al. 1880 Lause Mark A. 2001 The Civil War's Last Campaign: James B. Weaver, the Greenback-Labor Party & the Politics of Race and Section University Press of America Lanham, Maryland 0-7618-1917-7 Mitchell Robert B. 2008 Skirmisher: The Life, Times, and Political Career of James B. Weaver Edinborough Press Roseville, Minnesota 978-1-889020-26-6 Unger Irwin Irwin Unger 1964 The Greenback Era: A Social and Political History of American Finance, 1865–1879 Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey 0-691-04517-8 Wiebe Robert H. Robert H. Wiebe 1967 The Search for Order: 1877–1920 https://archive.org/details/searchfororder1800wieb registration Hill and Wang New York, New York 0-8090-0104-7 Articles Barr Alwyn Alwyn Barr October 1967 B. J. Chambers and the Greenback Party Split Mid-America 49 276–284 1757398 Clausen E. Neal Hendrick B. Wright and the 'Nocturnal Committee' The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography April 1965 89 2 199–206 20089793 Colbert Thomas Burnell Political Fusion in Iowa: The Election of James B. Weaver to Congress in 1878 Arizona and the West Spring 1978 20 1 25–40 40168674 Deverell Wiliam F. August 1988 To Loosen the Safety Valve: Eastern Workers and Western Lands The Western Historical Quarterly 19 3 269–285 10.2307/968232 968232 Doolen Richard M. Winter 1972 'Brick' Pomeroy and the Greenback Clubs Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 65 4 434–450 40191206 Thompson Margaret S. June 1982 Ben Butler versus the Brahmins: Patronage and Politics in Early Gilded Age Massachusetts The New England Quarterly 55 2 163–186 10.2307/365357 365357 Newspapers The Greenback Convention Indiana Democrat Indiana, Pennsylvania June 17, 1880 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2339177/coverage_of_1880_greenbacker_convention/ Indiana Democrat 1880 The Greenback Convention La Plata Home Press La Plata, Missouri June 19, 1880 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2339173/coverage_of_1880_greenbacker_convention/ La Plata Home Press 1880 Website https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/scores.html#1880 Historical Election Results: Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996 2012 National Archives and Records Administration January 16, 2014 NARA 2012 Greenback National Convention Category:Greenback Party Greenback National Convention Category:United States presidential nominating conventions in Chicago Greenback National Convention Greenback National Convention Category:1880s in Chicago Category:19th-century political conferences