ACT FOUR, PART XV
The Election of 1892
From “From Taylor to Letworth: The Evolution of the National Party”, by Tom Jenkins
Published 2009
“The 1892 Nationalist convention was guaranteed to be a showdown between the ascendant David B. Hill and the Old Guard, now led by Stephen G. Cleveland and Arthur P. Gorman. Thanks to Gorman’s powerful Maryland political machine, the convention was held in Baltimore, while Hill successfully schemed to get Kentucky Congressman Richard P. Bland, a leading proponent of bimetallism, selected as the convention chairman. Cleveland looked like a strong candidate, but behind the scenes, Gorman and many other Old Guard Nationalists doubted Cleveland’s viability due to Hill’s powerful machine. Cleveland had been deposed from his Senate seat by Hill’s machine and Tammany Hall, and the machines dominated New York’s delegate slate, not Cleveland. Worse still, Iowa Governor Horace Boies, a supporter of bimetallism, had refused to enter the race and endorsed Hill, uniting the west behind a single candidate. Governor Preston Powell of Vandalia was also in attendance in support of Hill.
The first ballot saw Cleveland lead Hill and Gorman, but the former New York Senator fell far short of a majority, leading Hill by just a single delegate. Cleveland was supported by the New England states, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Michigan. Hill, meanwhile, held total control of New York’s delegates, as well as the western states and Vandalia, Franklin, and North Carolina. Gorman held the rest of the South as well as Indiana but had little support elsewhere. In private meetings, Gorman cast doubt on Cleveland’s chances, pointing to Hill’s political network and arguing that only Gorman’s machine could stop Hill’s radicalism. The second ballot saw Cleveland lose much of his support, with dozens of midwestern delegates deserting. Hill surged into the lead, while Cleveland sank into third. Behind the scenes, Hill secured the endorsement of John Peter Altgeld of Illinois, as well as key leaders in Indiana, New Jersey, and even former Governor Collins of Massachusetts. The third ballot saw Hill build momentum, coming within 70 votes of the nomination. He gained significant support across the South, especially in Brazos, Austin, and Louisiana, and expanded his Midwestern backing.
On the fourth ballot, Hill won 287 votes, the exact number needed to win the nomination. He delivered a bombastic acceptance speech, celebrating “the decisive defeat of the corrupt monied interests and the victory of the Common Man once more in the party of Jefferson and Jackson”, and declaring that “this party shall henceforth be the defender of the worker and the farmer, the proponent of free silver and the crusader for labor reform”. He also called for the convention to nominate Horace Boies for Vice President, saying “we cannot compromise on the heart and soul of this great party. We must either be all in for the Common Man or all out.” Gorman and Cleveland united to support a candidate more palatable to the Old Guard: Wisconsin Congressman John L. Mitchell. Hill was initially adamant that Boies be the nominee but agreed to support Mitchell after it was explained that the Wisconsin Congressman would help win over German immigrants and Midwesterners wary of bimetallism.
A battle for the platform then began, with Hill ardently pushing for the party to support bimetallism, while the Old Guard, especially strident ‘goldbugs’ like John M. Palmer, Simon B. Buckner, and former Massachusetts Governor Patrick Collins, furiously opposed this. Gorman worked to keep the gold standard on the platform, but Hill spoke before the convention during the heated debate and accused the Old Guard of “being the party of the wealthy few and not the hard-working masses.” He continued over the boos of his opponents and the cheers of his allies, “those who choose the rich over the rest of the country cling to a disproven dogma – that if you legislate to enrichen the rich, their increased prosperity will tumble down to those below. But the Nationalist idea – the Jacksonian idea, the Taylorian idea – is that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, that prosperity will bubble up through every class that rests upon their shoulders.” Hill’s energized supporters ultimately prevailed on the silver question, a huge blow to the Old Guard. However, Gorman and Cleveland scored one final victory: they blocked a plank backed by Hill and Collins to oppose anti-Catholicism, which Collins decried privately.
While the majority of the Old Guard rallied behind Hill, a few dozen delegates assembled and formed the Gold Nationalist ticket, nominating Palmer for President and Buckner for Vice President. Hill dismissed this as a “futile effort” and headed off to the general election with his vast political machine at the ready.”
From “Russia: A History”, by Henry Dale
Published 2003
“In 1891, Tsesarevich Nicholas of Russia and his cousin Prince George of Greece arrived in Japan, the next leg of their world tour. But for the young Tsesarevich, it would be the last, for while the two returned to their lodgings in Kyoto from Lake Biwa, one of their Japanese escorts attacked Nicholas with a saber. The first blow struck Nicholas on the face and, before Prince George could intervene, the assailant struck again and slashed the Tsesarevich across his chest before attempting to flee. Two rickshaw drivers apprehended the fleeing assassin, while Nicholas bled out and died before he could be brought to the hospital.
The death of the heir to the Russian throne sparked a wave of outrage in Russia, while the killer was quickly arrested and sentenced to death by the Japanese authorities. Emperor Meiji expressed his sincere condolences and despite the public outcry in Russia, war was avoided. Russo-Japanese relations, however, were badly poisoned by the assassination.”
From “The Southern Economy”, by Beverly Moynes
Published 2011
“Even as the Southern sharecropper economy was wracked by the Black Exodus and the forced relocation of white smallholders into tenant farming, another, more existential threat struck. The boll weevil entered the United States via Mexico, and quickly spread to Louisiana, Georgia and Alabama by train and ship. The cotton-destroying pest then infested most of the cotton-producing south, severely hurting the cotton crop. In South Carolina and Mississippi, farmers mostly switched crops, planting soybeans and cowpeas as an alternative cash crop, though about a quarter of farmers in the two states ended up selling their farms. While South Carolina and Mississippi weathered the storm, the arrival of the weevil was devastating to the rest of the south, where sharecroppers found their harvests all but wiped out. Now in dire financial straits, landlords began demanding immediate repayment of debts, and many landlords sold their holdings or declared bankruptcy, further consolidating Southern landownership. Meanwhile, the few remaining smallholders in the South were forced to sell their farms, with many moving north or west.
[…]
In recent years, historians have theorized that the rapid spread of the boll weevil was due to the substantial railroad network in the South that was built during the Taylor administration. The weevil spread via trains transporting harvested cotton and other agricultural products, infesting most of the south within fourteen months of the weevil’s first arrival in August of 1891. Within five years, nearly every cotton farm in the country had a weevil problem, despite numerous attempts to prevent the weevil’s spread.
[…]
In order to aid the farmers and landowners of the South in recovering from the weevil with the planting of alternative cash crops, Congress passed a bill funding the distribution of soybean, cowpea, and peanut seeds to afflicted farmers, attracting significant bipartisan support. However, President Alger vetoed the ‘Soybean Bill’, claiming that he “can find no warrant in the Constitution” for the expenditure, and that “though the people support the government, the government should not support the people. The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune.” The veto made Alger incredibly unpopular in the west, while the New York Sun criticized his actions as cowardly and inept.
David Hill attacked Alger for the veto, asking a crowd in Wisconsin, “why should we let a wealthy robber-baron instruct us to help ourselves, when he controls the purse-strings to a vast treasury that could give aid and comfort to stricken farmers across the country. What if the state of Wisconsin were afflicted with an agricultural blight? Would you look with favor upon a President telling you that, despite his millions and despite the government’s millions, no help will be forthcoming?”
Meanwhile, the weevil continued to ruin cotton harvests, and sharecroppers could not get rid of them all, no matter how many times a day they went out into the fields to remove them from the cotton plants. By October of 1892, the price of cotton had shot up 500% from the price in April of 1891, and textile businesses around the industrialized world increasingly came to rely on cotton from the French Sahel, the Khedivate of Egypt, and south Soudan. In the United States, the Southern economy that had depended on cotton almost since its inception was rocked to its very core, and farmers across the region faced hard, uncertain times for the foreseeable future. Some followed the lead of Mississippi and South Carolina and reluctantly began planting soybeans and cowpeas, but the damage had been done – the Weevil Depression had begun.”
From “True Grit: The Making of the West”, by Arnold Banks
Published 1967
“Arising over a dispute over land and water rights in southern Yellowstone, the Pease County War was a conflict between large cattle ranchers and smallholding settlers. The lynching of two settlers accused of banditry by the ranchers, the latest in a string of murders of suspected rustlers, caused tensions to explode into violent conflict. After a series of skirmishes, a posse hired by the ranchers attempted to invade Thomas County and drive out the settlers. A stalemate ensued, as fighting raged on and the death toll began to climb.
[…]
While President Alger ultimately dispatched troops to quell the violence, the army came down on the side of the ranchers and their hired militia. The Department of Justice declined to press charges against the ranchers accused of murder. The Attorney General did, however, prosecute three smallholders for property damage, accusing them of killing ranching horses and cattle, and destroying fences and a barn. The Pease County War was thus used as campaign fodder by David Hill, as he accused Alger of ignoring the law in favor of protecting the interests of the wealthy. Worse, Hill alleged, “the President in his wisdom has decided to punish the homesteaders of Pease County for not having the money, the land, and the power that the ranchers cling to.” The backlash against Alger intensified western opposition to his reelection, and the violence of the conflict made even midwestern and eastern audiences uneasy.”
From “The House of Freedom: A Story of America’s Oldest Party”, by Leander Morris
Published 1987
“Foraker did not participate actively in the 1892 election, having barely clung to the Governorship the year prior. Instead, aided by his primary backer Mark Hanna, he focused on building up a base of support for an 1896 bid, repairing relations with William McKinley and working on uniting the Ohio Freedom Party. He signed a bill allowing saloons to remain open on Sundays, appeasing the anti-prohibition faction of the party, secured former President Sherman’s private endorsement for 1896, and stumped for dozens of state and local races, including McKinley’s 1892 bid for Congress.
While McKinley’s Congressional race was unsuccessful, he only lost narrowly in a district that state Nationalists had gerrymandered heavily, and this close race was attributed to Foraker’s involvement. In a bad year for Freedomites nationally, and even as President Alger lost Ohio narrowly, Freedomites gained seats in the Ohio state legislature, though not enough to regain a majority. Foraker’s hand in this not only solidified his support from state allies like Hanna, but also raised his national profile as an adept campaigner.”
From “American Elections”, by Diane Greene
Published 2014
“Governor Hill ran an active campaign, travelling by train across the Midwest and upper South and speaking to crowds that sometimes numbered in the tens of thousands. He frequently attacked President Alger for the boll weevil, support of the gold standard, opposition to anti-trust laws, and incompetence in the Black Hills War. He also relied on an army of surrogates, including Governor Preston Powell, Congressman John Peter Altgeld, former Governor Patrick Collins, and Congressman Benjamin Aycock Jr. Collins campaigned heavily in Massachusetts and New York to drive up Catholic turnout, while Altgeld worked to swing German American voters, especially in Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Powell barnstormed the coal belt, making speeches in Vandalia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Aycock crisscrossed the upper south with a populist, borderline white supremacist message. He campaigned heavily for Hill in Missouri and Virginia, targeting poor rural white voters.
Alger adopted a ‘front-porch’ strategy, in which he remained in Washington and spoke to supporters there and made several appearances in his Michigan residence. In order to encourage people to travel and hear him speak, he paid for the train tickets of anyone headed to his hometown or to his speaking engagements in the capital. His opponents denounced this as corrupt, with Hill accusing Alger of “purchasing votes with train tickets” and Preston Powell alleging that Alger profited from it due to his investments in railroads.
[…]
The election was a realigning one. Hill won longtime Freedomite strongholds like Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and even Kansas and Iowa. Each of these states had last voted for a Nationalist in 1876, except Kansas. Meanwhile, Alger flipped Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New Hampshire, all northeastern states wary of Hill’s bimetallism, and states which had previously been either solidly Nationalist or a swing state. Hill overwhelmingly won rural counties, Catholic areas, and won two thirds of working-class counties by at least ten points, while Alger did well with wealthy Protestant areas and large manufacturing cities like Cleveland and Chicago. Though Alger won Massachusetts, he did so by less then six percentage points, far closer than anticipated.
Nationwide, Hill defeated Alger with 51 percent of the vote and 276 electoral votes, making him the first Nationalist to be elected President since Richard Taylor, and Alger was the first President to be defeated for reelection since Sam Houston (as Lincoln only became President upon Fremont’s assassination). Businessmen on the east coast lamented Hill’s election as “the legitimization of radicalism” and populists celebrated the election of a dependable ally, while the President-elect got to work assembling his cabinet. Little did the businessmen and the populists know, but Hill would prove to be quite different than either of those groups had expected.”
From “From Taylor to Letworth: The Evolution of the National Party”, by Tom Jenkins
Published 2009
“The 1892 Nationalist convention was guaranteed to be a showdown between the ascendant David B. Hill and the Old Guard, now led by Stephen G. Cleveland and Arthur P. Gorman. Thanks to Gorman’s powerful Maryland political machine, the convention was held in Baltimore, while Hill successfully schemed to get Kentucky Congressman Richard P. Bland, a leading proponent of bimetallism, selected as the convention chairman. Cleveland looked like a strong candidate, but behind the scenes, Gorman and many other Old Guard Nationalists doubted Cleveland’s viability due to Hill’s powerful machine. Cleveland had been deposed from his Senate seat by Hill’s machine and Tammany Hall, and the machines dominated New York’s delegate slate, not Cleveland. Worse still, Iowa Governor Horace Boies, a supporter of bimetallism, had refused to enter the race and endorsed Hill, uniting the west behind a single candidate. Governor Preston Powell of Vandalia was also in attendance in support of Hill.
The first ballot saw Cleveland lead Hill and Gorman, but the former New York Senator fell far short of a majority, leading Hill by just a single delegate. Cleveland was supported by the New England states, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Michigan. Hill, meanwhile, held total control of New York’s delegates, as well as the western states and Vandalia, Franklin, and North Carolina. Gorman held the rest of the South as well as Indiana but had little support elsewhere. In private meetings, Gorman cast doubt on Cleveland’s chances, pointing to Hill’s political network and arguing that only Gorman’s machine could stop Hill’s radicalism. The second ballot saw Cleveland lose much of his support, with dozens of midwestern delegates deserting. Hill surged into the lead, while Cleveland sank into third. Behind the scenes, Hill secured the endorsement of John Peter Altgeld of Illinois, as well as key leaders in Indiana, New Jersey, and even former Governor Collins of Massachusetts. The third ballot saw Hill build momentum, coming within 70 votes of the nomination. He gained significant support across the South, especially in Brazos, Austin, and Louisiana, and expanded his Midwestern backing.
On the fourth ballot, Hill won 287 votes, the exact number needed to win the nomination. He delivered a bombastic acceptance speech, celebrating “the decisive defeat of the corrupt monied interests and the victory of the Common Man once more in the party of Jefferson and Jackson”, and declaring that “this party shall henceforth be the defender of the worker and the farmer, the proponent of free silver and the crusader for labor reform”. He also called for the convention to nominate Horace Boies for Vice President, saying “we cannot compromise on the heart and soul of this great party. We must either be all in for the Common Man or all out.” Gorman and Cleveland united to support a candidate more palatable to the Old Guard: Wisconsin Congressman John L. Mitchell. Hill was initially adamant that Boies be the nominee but agreed to support Mitchell after it was explained that the Wisconsin Congressman would help win over German immigrants and Midwesterners wary of bimetallism.
A battle for the platform then began, with Hill ardently pushing for the party to support bimetallism, while the Old Guard, especially strident ‘goldbugs’ like John M. Palmer, Simon B. Buckner, and former Massachusetts Governor Patrick Collins, furiously opposed this. Gorman worked to keep the gold standard on the platform, but Hill spoke before the convention during the heated debate and accused the Old Guard of “being the party of the wealthy few and not the hard-working masses.” He continued over the boos of his opponents and the cheers of his allies, “those who choose the rich over the rest of the country cling to a disproven dogma – that if you legislate to enrichen the rich, their increased prosperity will tumble down to those below. But the Nationalist idea – the Jacksonian idea, the Taylorian idea – is that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, that prosperity will bubble up through every class that rests upon their shoulders.” Hill’s energized supporters ultimately prevailed on the silver question, a huge blow to the Old Guard. However, Gorman and Cleveland scored one final victory: they blocked a plank backed by Hill and Collins to oppose anti-Catholicism, which Collins decried privately.
While the majority of the Old Guard rallied behind Hill, a few dozen delegates assembled and formed the Gold Nationalist ticket, nominating Palmer for President and Buckner for Vice President. Hill dismissed this as a “futile effort” and headed off to the general election with his vast political machine at the ready.”
From “Russia: A History”, by Henry Dale
Published 2003
“In 1891, Tsesarevich Nicholas of Russia and his cousin Prince George of Greece arrived in Japan, the next leg of their world tour. But for the young Tsesarevich, it would be the last, for while the two returned to their lodgings in Kyoto from Lake Biwa, one of their Japanese escorts attacked Nicholas with a saber. The first blow struck Nicholas on the face and, before Prince George could intervene, the assailant struck again and slashed the Tsesarevich across his chest before attempting to flee. Two rickshaw drivers apprehended the fleeing assassin, while Nicholas bled out and died before he could be brought to the hospital.
The death of the heir to the Russian throne sparked a wave of outrage in Russia, while the killer was quickly arrested and sentenced to death by the Japanese authorities. Emperor Meiji expressed his sincere condolences and despite the public outcry in Russia, war was avoided. Russo-Japanese relations, however, were badly poisoned by the assassination.”
From “The Southern Economy”, by Beverly Moynes
Published 2011
“Even as the Southern sharecropper economy was wracked by the Black Exodus and the forced relocation of white smallholders into tenant farming, another, more existential threat struck. The boll weevil entered the United States via Mexico, and quickly spread to Louisiana, Georgia and Alabama by train and ship. The cotton-destroying pest then infested most of the cotton-producing south, severely hurting the cotton crop. In South Carolina and Mississippi, farmers mostly switched crops, planting soybeans and cowpeas as an alternative cash crop, though about a quarter of farmers in the two states ended up selling their farms. While South Carolina and Mississippi weathered the storm, the arrival of the weevil was devastating to the rest of the south, where sharecroppers found their harvests all but wiped out. Now in dire financial straits, landlords began demanding immediate repayment of debts, and many landlords sold their holdings or declared bankruptcy, further consolidating Southern landownership. Meanwhile, the few remaining smallholders in the South were forced to sell their farms, with many moving north or west.
[…]
In recent years, historians have theorized that the rapid spread of the boll weevil was due to the substantial railroad network in the South that was built during the Taylor administration. The weevil spread via trains transporting harvested cotton and other agricultural products, infesting most of the south within fourteen months of the weevil’s first arrival in August of 1891. Within five years, nearly every cotton farm in the country had a weevil problem, despite numerous attempts to prevent the weevil’s spread.
[…]
In order to aid the farmers and landowners of the South in recovering from the weevil with the planting of alternative cash crops, Congress passed a bill funding the distribution of soybean, cowpea, and peanut seeds to afflicted farmers, attracting significant bipartisan support. However, President Alger vetoed the ‘Soybean Bill’, claiming that he “can find no warrant in the Constitution” for the expenditure, and that “though the people support the government, the government should not support the people. The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune.” The veto made Alger incredibly unpopular in the west, while the New York Sun criticized his actions as cowardly and inept.
David Hill attacked Alger for the veto, asking a crowd in Wisconsin, “why should we let a wealthy robber-baron instruct us to help ourselves, when he controls the purse-strings to a vast treasury that could give aid and comfort to stricken farmers across the country. What if the state of Wisconsin were afflicted with an agricultural blight? Would you look with favor upon a President telling you that, despite his millions and despite the government’s millions, no help will be forthcoming?”
Meanwhile, the weevil continued to ruin cotton harvests, and sharecroppers could not get rid of them all, no matter how many times a day they went out into the fields to remove them from the cotton plants. By October of 1892, the price of cotton had shot up 500% from the price in April of 1891, and textile businesses around the industrialized world increasingly came to rely on cotton from the French Sahel, the Khedivate of Egypt, and south Soudan. In the United States, the Southern economy that had depended on cotton almost since its inception was rocked to its very core, and farmers across the region faced hard, uncertain times for the foreseeable future. Some followed the lead of Mississippi and South Carolina and reluctantly began planting soybeans and cowpeas, but the damage had been done – the Weevil Depression had begun.”
From “True Grit: The Making of the West”, by Arnold Banks
Published 1967
“Arising over a dispute over land and water rights in southern Yellowstone, the Pease County War was a conflict between large cattle ranchers and smallholding settlers. The lynching of two settlers accused of banditry by the ranchers, the latest in a string of murders of suspected rustlers, caused tensions to explode into violent conflict. After a series of skirmishes, a posse hired by the ranchers attempted to invade Thomas County and drive out the settlers. A stalemate ensued, as fighting raged on and the death toll began to climb.
[…]
While President Alger ultimately dispatched troops to quell the violence, the army came down on the side of the ranchers and their hired militia. The Department of Justice declined to press charges against the ranchers accused of murder. The Attorney General did, however, prosecute three smallholders for property damage, accusing them of killing ranching horses and cattle, and destroying fences and a barn. The Pease County War was thus used as campaign fodder by David Hill, as he accused Alger of ignoring the law in favor of protecting the interests of the wealthy. Worse, Hill alleged, “the President in his wisdom has decided to punish the homesteaders of Pease County for not having the money, the land, and the power that the ranchers cling to.” The backlash against Alger intensified western opposition to his reelection, and the violence of the conflict made even midwestern and eastern audiences uneasy.”
From “The House of Freedom: A Story of America’s Oldest Party”, by Leander Morris
Published 1987
“Foraker did not participate actively in the 1892 election, having barely clung to the Governorship the year prior. Instead, aided by his primary backer Mark Hanna, he focused on building up a base of support for an 1896 bid, repairing relations with William McKinley and working on uniting the Ohio Freedom Party. He signed a bill allowing saloons to remain open on Sundays, appeasing the anti-prohibition faction of the party, secured former President Sherman’s private endorsement for 1896, and stumped for dozens of state and local races, including McKinley’s 1892 bid for Congress.
While McKinley’s Congressional race was unsuccessful, he only lost narrowly in a district that state Nationalists had gerrymandered heavily, and this close race was attributed to Foraker’s involvement. In a bad year for Freedomites nationally, and even as President Alger lost Ohio narrowly, Freedomites gained seats in the Ohio state legislature, though not enough to regain a majority. Foraker’s hand in this not only solidified his support from state allies like Hanna, but also raised his national profile as an adept campaigner.”
From “American Elections”, by Diane Greene
Published 2014
“Governor Hill ran an active campaign, travelling by train across the Midwest and upper South and speaking to crowds that sometimes numbered in the tens of thousands. He frequently attacked President Alger for the boll weevil, support of the gold standard, opposition to anti-trust laws, and incompetence in the Black Hills War. He also relied on an army of surrogates, including Governor Preston Powell, Congressman John Peter Altgeld, former Governor Patrick Collins, and Congressman Benjamin Aycock Jr. Collins campaigned heavily in Massachusetts and New York to drive up Catholic turnout, while Altgeld worked to swing German American voters, especially in Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Powell barnstormed the coal belt, making speeches in Vandalia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Aycock crisscrossed the upper south with a populist, borderline white supremacist message. He campaigned heavily for Hill in Missouri and Virginia, targeting poor rural white voters.
Alger adopted a ‘front-porch’ strategy, in which he remained in Washington and spoke to supporters there and made several appearances in his Michigan residence. In order to encourage people to travel and hear him speak, he paid for the train tickets of anyone headed to his hometown or to his speaking engagements in the capital. His opponents denounced this as corrupt, with Hill accusing Alger of “purchasing votes with train tickets” and Preston Powell alleging that Alger profited from it due to his investments in railroads.
[…]
The election was a realigning one. Hill won longtime Freedomite strongholds like Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and even Kansas and Iowa. Each of these states had last voted for a Nationalist in 1876, except Kansas. Meanwhile, Alger flipped Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New Hampshire, all northeastern states wary of Hill’s bimetallism, and states which had previously been either solidly Nationalist or a swing state. Hill overwhelmingly won rural counties, Catholic areas, and won two thirds of working-class counties by at least ten points, while Alger did well with wealthy Protestant areas and large manufacturing cities like Cleveland and Chicago. Though Alger won Massachusetts, he did so by less then six percentage points, far closer than anticipated.
Nationwide, Hill defeated Alger with 51 percent of the vote and 276 electoral votes, making him the first Nationalist to be elected President since Richard Taylor, and Alger was the first President to be defeated for reelection since Sam Houston (as Lincoln only became President upon Fremont’s assassination). Businessmen on the east coast lamented Hill’s election as “the legitimization of radicalism” and populists celebrated the election of a dependable ally, while the President-elect got to work assembling his cabinet. Little did the businessmen and the populists know, but Hill would prove to be quite different than either of those groups had expected.”
END OF ACT FOUR
