Editing James A. Garfield (section)

===Republican nomination===
{{Main|1880 Republican National Convention}}
[[File:The Appomattox of the third termers - unconditional surrender.jpg|thumb|200px|upright=1.25|alt=A cartoon. Grant, on the right, is semi-kneeling while others kneel behind him. Garfield stands upright and receives a sword from Grant. Behind him are cheering throngs, and two men raise a flag in the background.|Following Grant's defeat for the nomination [[Puck (magazine)|''Puck'' magazine]] satirized [[Robert E. Lee]]'s surrender to him at Appomattox by depicting Grant giving up his sword to Garfield.]]

Having just been elected to the Senate with John Sherman's support, Garfield was committed to Sherman for the 1880 Republican presidential nomination.{{sfn|Peskin|1978|pp=454–455}} Before the convention began, however, a few Republicans, including [[Wharton Barker]] of Philadelphia, thought Garfield the best choice for the nomination.{{sfn|Peskin|1978|pp=454–455}} Garfield denied any interest in the position, but the attention was enough to make Sherman suspicious of his lieutenant's ambitions.{{sfn|Peskin|1978|pp=456–457}} Besides Sherman, the early favorites for the nomination were Blaine, former President Grant; several other candidates attracted delegates as well.{{sfn|Doenecke|1981|pp=17–19}}

The Republican Party at the time was split into two factions: the "Stalwarts", who supported the existing federal government patronage system, and the "Half-Breeds", who wanted civil service reform.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.vox.com/2016/7/20/12233454/christie-trump-purge-federal-employees |title=Donald Trump and Chris Christie are reportedly planning to purge the civil service |date=July 20, 2016 |website=[[Vox (website)|Vox]] |first=Dylan |last=Matthews |author-link=Dylan Matthews |access-date=September 8, 2019 |archive-date=March 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322175810/https://www.vox.com/2016/7/20/12233454/christie-trump-purge-federal-employees |url-status=live }}</ref> As the convention began, [[New York City|New York]] Senator [[Roscoe Conkling]], floor leader for the Stalwarts, who supported former President Ulysses S. Grant, proposed that the delegates pledge to back the eventual nominee in the general election.{{sfn|Ackerman|2003|pp=81–83}} When three West Virginia delegates declined to be so bound, Conkling sought to expel them from the convention. Garfield rose to defend the men, giving a passionate speech in defense of their right to reserve judgment.{{sfn|Ackerman|2003|pp=81–83}} The crowd turned against Conkling, and he withdrew the motion.{{sfn|Ackerman|2003|pp=81–83}} The performance delighted Garfield's boosters, who were then convinced he was the only one who could attract a majority of the delegates' votes.{{sfn|Peskin|1978|pp=464–465}}

After speeches in favor of the other front-runners, Garfield rose to place Sherman's name in nomination; his speech was well-received, but the delegates mustered little excitement for Sherman as the next president.{{sfn|Peskin|1978|pp=466–469}} The first ballot showed Grant leading with 304 votes to Blaine's 284, and Sherman's 93 votes placed him in a distant third. Subsequent ballots demonstrated a deadlock between Grant and Blaine, with neither having the 379 votes needed for nomination.{{sfn|Ackerman|2003|pp=96–101}} [[Jeremiah McLain Rusk]], a member of the Wisconsin delegation, and [[Benjamin Harrison]], an Indiana delegate, sought to break the deadlock by shifting a few of the anti-Grant votes to a [[dark horse]] candidate—Garfield.{{sfn|Peskin|1978|pp=472–475}} Garfield gained 50 votes on the 35th ballot, and a stampede began. Garfield protested to the Ohio delegation that he did not seek the nomination and would not betray Sherman, but they overruled his objections and cast their ballots for him.{{sfn|Peskin|1978|pp=475–477}} In the next round of voting, nearly all the Sherman and Blaine delegates shifted their support to Garfield, giving him 399 votes, and the Republican nomination. Most of the Grant forces backed the former president to the end, creating a disgruntled Stalwart minority in the party.{{sfn|Ackerman|2003|pp=110–114}} To obtain that faction's support for the ticket, Chester A. Arthur, a former [[Collector of the Port of New York|New York customs collector]] and member of Conkling's [[political machine]], was chosen as the vice presidential nominee.{{sfn|Peskin|1978|pp=480–481}}