Why Did Salmon Chase Become a Democrat?

Why did Salmon Chase go from a Radical Republican in 1860-4 to a Democrat who contested that party's nomination in 1868? He apparently said it was because of Republican overreach on civil liberties restrictions in the south, even though he supported the 14th and 15th Amendments, but that doesn't seem sufficient impetus for someone to switch to a party that he otherwise had little in common with (even supposedly endorsing Vallandingham in the early 1870s). Was it really that simple?
 
"If S.P. Chase weren't in quite so big a hurry to be President, he would stand a much better chance."--Horace Greeley, 1858

In 1868, Chase might have sought the Republican nomination, but it was clear that the Republicans wanted Grant. OTOH, it seemed that he at least had a chance for the Democratic nomination: His conduct of Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial in the Senate had endeared Chase to many Democrats, and he was also beginning to become disillusioned with military Reconstruction. Chase summarized his own position on Reconstruction in 1868: "Congress was right in not limiting, by its reconstruction acts, the right of suffrage to whites; but wrong in the exclusion from suffrage of certain classes of citizens and all unable to take its prescribed retrospective oath, and wrong also in the establishment of despotic military governments for the States and in authorizing military commissions for the trial of civilians in time of peace. There should have been as little military government as possible; no military commissions; no classes excluded from suffrage; and no oath except one of faithful obedience and support to the Constitution and laws, and of sincere attachment to the constitutional Government of the United States." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_P._Chase In short, "universal suffrage and universal amnesty"--but the problem with that is without the military, how do you enforce universal suffrage in the South? Anyway, this position was not really acceptable to either party in 1868. The most obvious problem in getting the Democratic nomination was stated by Chase himself: "it has seemed to me well nigh impossible to get over the difficulty induced by the almost universal commitment of the party to hostility to the colored people." (Quoted in John Niven, *Salmon P. Chase: A Biography* [New York and Oxford: Oxford UP 1995], p. 428.

As for his backing Vallandingham in the early 1870's, remember that Vallandingham was one of the originators of the "New Departure" movement in the Democratic Party https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Departure_(United_States) which basically said that the Democrats should stop fighting the Civil War and the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, and get on to more profitable issues, especially economic ones. And on economic issues, it was easy for Chase to make common cause with the Democrats--remember that he was originally elected to the Senate by an alliance of Democrats and Free Soilers, and that one thing that made this alliance palatable to the Democrats was "his long-standing campaign to portray himself as an adherent to Jeffersonian states’ rights and to what had become a Democratic canon: tariff for revenue only, hard money, and opposition to centralized banking." https://books.google.com/books?id=PGnmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA120
 
"If S.P. Chase weren't in quite so big a hurry to be President, he would stand a much better chance."--Horace Greeley, 1858

In 1868, Chase might have sought the Republican nomination, but it was clear that the Republicans wanted Grant. OTOH, it seemed that he at least had a chance for the Democratic nomination: His conduct of Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial in the Senate had endeared Chase to many Democrats, and he was also beginning to become disillusioned with military Reconstruction. Chase summarized his own position on Reconstruction in 1868: "Congress was right in not limiting, by its reconstruction acts, the right of suffrage to whites; but wrong in the exclusion from suffrage of certain classes of citizens and all unable to take its prescribed retrospective oath, and wrong also in the establishment of despotic military governments for the States and in authorizing military commissions for the trial of civilians in time of peace. There should have been as little military government as possible; no military commissions; no classes excluded from suffrage; and no oath except one of faithful obedience and support to the Constitution and laws, and of sincere attachment to the constitutional Government of the United States." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_P._Chase In short, "universal suffrage and universal amnesty"--but the problem with that is without the military, how do you enforce universal suffrage in the South? Anyway, this position was not really acceptable to either party in 1868. The most obvious problem in getting the Democratic nomination was stated by Chase himself: "it has seemed to me well nigh impossible to get over the difficulty induced by the almost universal commitment of the party to hostility to the colored people." (Quoted in John Niven, *Salmon P. Chase: A Biography* [New York and Oxford: Oxford UP 1995], p. 428.

As for his backing Vallandingham in the early 1870's, remember that Vallandingham was one of the originators of the "New Departure" movement in the Democratic Party https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Departure_(United_States) which basically said that the Democrats should stop fighting the Civil War and the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, and get on to more profitable issues, especially economic ones. And on economic issues, it was easy for Chase to make common cause with the Democrats--remember that he was originally elected to the Senate by an alliance of Democrats and Free Soilers, and that one thing that made this alliance palatable to the Democrats was "his long-standing campaign to portray himself as an adherent to Jeffersonian states’ rights and to what had become a Democratic canon: tariff for revenue only, hard money, and opposition to centralized banking." https://books.google.com/books?id=PGnmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA120
Thanks for the comprehensive answer.
 

Md139115

Banned
I’d also like to add that he pretty much spectacularly annoyed each and every member of the Republican Party to death. His candidacy in 1860 failed because his own home state of Ohio dropped him on the second ballot (this, by the way was the event that opened the door for the anti-Seward Republicans to coalesce around Lincoln. Seward probably would have won otherwise). Lincoln had to turn down three resignations from him when he was Secretary of the Treasury until he finally lost almost all remaining influence by his posturing, then supposedly whooped for joy when he was able to accept the fourth. In 1864, he attempted to primary Lincoln and the whole matter became a public fiasco when one of his supporters leaked it too early.
 
I’d also like to add that he pretty much spectacularly annoyed each and every member of the Republican Party to death. His candidacy in 1860 failed because his own home state of Ohio dropped him on the second ballot (this, by the way was the event that opened the door for the anti-Seward Republicans to coalesce around Lincoln. Seward probably would have won otherwise). Lincoln had to turn down three resignations from him when he was Secretary of the Treasury until he finally lost almost all remaining influence by his posturing, then supposedly whooped for joy when he was able to accept the fourth. In 1864, he attempted to primary Lincoln and the whole matter became a public fiasco when one of his supporters leaked it too early.

He had no patience, from what I've read, and his daughter wasn't any help in that regard. Although that seems like only part of the larger issue of his political skills being lacking.
 
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