Editing 1868 United States presidential election

{{Short description|none}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}{{for|related races|1868 United States elections}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1868 United States presidential election
| country = United States
| flag_year = 1867
| type = presidential
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1864 United States presidential election
| previous_year = 1864
| next_election = 1872 United States presidential election
| next_year = 1872
| votes_for_election = 294 members of the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]]
| needed_votes = 148 electoral
| turnout = 80.9% <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present|title=National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789–Present|work=United States Election Project|publisher=[[CQ Press]]}}</ref> {{increase}} 4.6 [[percentage point|pp]]
| election_date = November 3, 1868
| image1 = [[File:Ulysses S Grant by Brady c1870-restored (3x4 crop).jpg|x200px]]
| nominee1 = '''[[Ulysses S. Grant]]'''
| party1 = Republican Party (United States)
| home_state1 = [[Illinois]]
| running_mate1 = '''[[Schuyler Colfax]]'''
| electoral_vote1 = '''214'''
| states_carried1 = '''26'''
| popular_vote1 = '''3,013,421'''
| percentage1 = '''52.66%'''
| image2 = [[File:Hon. Horatio Seymour, N.Y - NARA - 528568 (cropped).jpg|x200px]]
| nominee2 = [[Horatio Seymour]]
| party2 = Democratic Party (United States)
| home_state2 = [[New York (state)|New York]]
| running_mate2 = [[Francis Preston Blair Jr.]]
| electoral_vote2 = 80
| states_carried2 = 8
| popular_vote2 = 2,706,829
| percentage2 = 47.34%
| map_size = 350px
| map = {{1868 United States presidential election imagemap}}
| map_caption = Presidential election results map. <span style="color:red;">Red</span> denotes states won by Grant/Colfax, <span style="color:blue;">blue</span> denotes those won by Seymour/Blair, and <span style="color:#55a34f;">green</span> denotes those states that had not yet been [[Reconstruction era of the United States|restored]] to the Union and which were therefore ineligible to vote. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
| title = President
| before_election = [[Andrew Johnson]]
| before_party = Democratic Party (United States)
| after_election = [[Ulysses S. Grant]]
| after_party = Republican Party (United States)
}}
[[United States presidential election|Presidential elections]] were held in the [[United States]] on November 3, 1868. In the first election of the [[Reconstruction Era]], [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee [[Ulysses S. Grant]] defeated [[Horatio Seymour]] of the [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. It was the first presidential election to take place after the conclusion of the [[American Civil War]] and the abolition of [[slavery in the United States|slavery]]. It was the first election in which [[African American]]s could vote in the reconstructed Southern states, in accordance with the [[First Reconstruction Act]].

Incumbent president [[Andrew Johnson]] had succeeded to the presidency in 1865 following the [[assassination of Abraham Lincoln]], a Republican. Johnson, a [[War Democrat]] from Tennessee, had served as Lincoln's running mate in [[1864 United States presidential election|1864]] on the [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union]] ticket, which was designed to attract Republicans and War Democrats. Upon accession to office, Johnson clashed with the Republican Congress over Reconstruction policies and was [[Impeachment of Andrew Johnson|impeached]] and nearly removed from office. Johnson received some support for another term at the [[1868 Democratic National Convention]], but, after several ballots, the convention nominated Seymour, who had formerly served as Governor of New York. The [[1868 Republican National Convention]] unanimously nominated Grant, who had been the highest-ranking Union general at the end of the Civil War. The Democrats criticized the Republican Reconstruction policies, and "campaigned explicitly on an anti-black, pro-white platform,"<ref name="Mendelberg">[[Tali Mendelberg]] (2001), [https://books.google.com/books?id=pd8yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 ''The Race Card: Campaign Strategy, Implicit Messages, and the Norm of Equality''], Princeton University Press, pg. 45–46</ref> while Republicans campaigned on Grant's popularity and the Union victory in the Civil War.

Grant decisively won the [[Electoral College (United States)|electoral vote]], but his margin was narrower in the popular vote. In addition to his appeal in the North, Grant benefited from votes among the newly enfranchised [[freedmen]] in the [[Southern United States|South]], while the temporary political disfranchisement of many Southern whites helped Republican margins. As three of the former Confederate states ([[Texas]], [[Mississippi]], and [[Virginia]]) were not yet restored to the Union, their electors could not vote in the election. Partly due to the exceptional circumstances of [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]], this was the last time until [[1912 United States presidential election|1912]] that the Democrats carried more electoral votes from the North (46) than from the South (34), as well as the last time the Republicans did better in the popular vote in the South than in the North until [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]], due to very large majorities in reconstruction states like [[1868 United States presidential election in South Carolina|South Carolina]] and [[1868 United States presidential election in Tennessee|Tennessee]]. This was also the last time that [[Missouri]] supported the Republican candidate until [[1904 United States presidential election|1904]].

==Background==
In the wake of the Civil War, the civil rights of former slaves was a hotly debated issue in the Union. Grant supported the Reconstruction plans of the [[Radical Republicans]] in Congress, which favored the 14th Amendment, with full citizenship and civil rights for freedmen, including suffrage (the right to vote) for former slaves. The Democratic platform denigrated such rights as "Negro supremacy," and demanded a restoration of states' rights, including the right of southern states to determine for themselves whether to allow suffrage for adult freedmen. The former Confederate States were determined to limit the civil rights of emancipated slaves, and supported the Democratic candidate.

== Nominations ==

===Republican Party nomination===
{{Main|1868 Republican National Convention}}

[[File:GrantColfax1868.png|thumb|upright=.90|Grant/Colfax campaign poster]]
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>'''1868 Republican Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#E81B23; width:200px;"| [[Ulysses S. Grant|{{color|white|Ulysses S. Grant}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#E81B23; width:200px;"| [[Schuyler Colfax|{{color|white|Schuyler Colfax}}]]
|- style="color:#000; font-size:100%; background:#FFD0D7;"
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:Ulysses S Grant by Brady c1870-restored (cropped).jpg|center|200x200px]]
| [[File:Representative Schuyler Colfax.jpg|center|200x200px]]
|-
| 6th<br>[[Commanding General of the United States Army|Commanding General of the U.S. Army]]<br /><small>(1864–1869)</small>
| [[List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives|25th]]<br>[[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]]<br><small>(1863–1869)</small>
|-
| colspan=2 |[[File:Grant-Colfax.png|center|375px]]
|}

By 1868, the Republicans felt strong enough to drop the Union Party label, but wanted to nominate a popular hero as their presidential candidate. General Ulysses S. Grant, widely known throughout the nation for winning the Civil War, announced he was a Republican. Grant was unanimously nominated on the first ballot as the party's standard-bearer at the Republican convention in Chicago, held on May 20–21, 1868. House Speaker [[Schuyler Colfax]], a [[Radical Republicans|Radical Republican]] from Indiana, was nominated for vice president on the sixth ballot, surpassing early favorite, Senator [[Benjamin Wade]] of Ohio.

The Republican platform supported [[African American|Black]] suffrage as part of the 14th Amendment's promise of full citizenship for former slaves. It opposed using [[Greenback (money)|greenbacks]] to redeem U.S. bonds, encouraged immigration, endorsed full rights for naturalized citizens, and favored Radical Reconstruction as distinct from the more lenient policies of President Andrew Johnson.<ref>William DeGregorio, ''The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents'', Gramercy, 1997</ref>

===Democratic Party nomination===
{{Main|1868 Democratic National Convention}}

[[File:Seymour-Blair.png|thumb|upright=.90|Seymour/Blair campaign poster]]
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>'''1868 Democratic Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| [[Horatio Seymour|{{color|white|Horatio Seymour}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| [[Francis Preston Blair Jr.|{{color|white|Francis Preston Blair Jr.}}]]
|-
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:Hon. Horatio Seymour, N.Y - NARA - 528568 (cropped).jpg|center|200x200px]]
| [[File:Francis P. Blair, Jr.png|center|200x200px]]
|-
| [[List of Governors of New York|18th]]<br>[[Governor of New York]]<br /><small>(1853–1854 & 1863–1864)</small>
| [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]]<br>for [[Missouri's 1st congressional district|Missouri's 1st]]<br><small>(1857–1859, 1860, 1861–1862, & 1863–1864)</small>
|-
| colspan=2 |[[Horatio Seymour 1868 presidential campaign|'''Campaign''']]
|-
| colspan=2 |[[File:SeymourBlair.png|400px]]
|-
|}
[[File:President Andrew Johnson.jpg|thumb|228x228px|[[Andrew Johnson]], the incumbent president in 1868, whose term expired on March 4, 1869]]
{{center|Democratic candidates:}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="130">
File:Hon. Horatio Seymour, N.Y - NARA - 528568 (cropped).jpg|Former [[List of Governors of New York|Governor]] '''[[Horatio Seymour]]''' of [[New York (state)|New York]]
File:GeorgeHPendleton.png|Former [[United States House of Representatives|Representative]] '''[[George H. Pendleton]]''' of [[Ohio]]
File:ThomasAHendricks-small.png|[[United States Senate|Senator]] '''[[Thomas A. Hendricks]]''' of [[Indiana]]
File:WinfieldSHancock.png|[[General (United States)|General]] '''[[Winfield Scott Hancock]]''' of [[Pennsylvania]]
File:President Andrew Johnson.jpg|[[President of the United States|President]] '''[[Andrew Johnson]]''' of [[Tennessee]]
File:SanfordEChurch.png|Former [[Lieutenant Governor of New York|Lieutenant Governor]] '''[[Sanford E. Church]]''' of [[New York (state)|New York]]
</gallery>
<gallery mode="packed" heights="130">
Image:AsaPacker_small.png|Former [[United States House of Representatives|Representative]] '''[[Asa Packer]]''' of [[Pennsylvania]]
Image:JamesEdwardEnglish.png|[[List of Governors of Connecticut|Governor]] '''[[James E. English]]''' of [[Connecticut]]
Image:JoelParker-small.png|Former [[List of Governors of New Jersey|Governor]] '''[[Joel Parker (politician)|Joel Parker]]''' of [[New Jersey]]
Image:JamesRDoolittle.png|[[United States Senate|Senator]] '''[[James Rood Doolittle]]''' of [[Wisconsin]]
Image:StephenField.png|[[List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States|Associate Justice]] '''[[Stephen J. Field]]''' of [[California]]
Image:Samuel Portland Chase.jpg|[[Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court|Chief Justice]] '''[[Salmon P. Chase]]''' of [[Ohio]]
</gallery>

The Democratic National Convention was held in New York City on July 4–9, 1868 and party leaders were badly divided with little else to agree on outside ending Reconstruction. Eastern Democrats called for war bonds to be redeemed in gold, although many of them had been purchased with badly depreciated greenbacks. Western Democrats on the other hand called for the "Ohio Idea"--redemption in greenbacks as indebted farmers considered that more money in circulation would make repayment of their debts easier. The Ohio Idea would become part of the Democrat platform, but would not be espoused by its candidate. The front-runner in the early balloting was [[George H. Pendleton]] (1864 Democratic vice presidential nominee), who led on the first 15 ballots, followed in varying order by President Johnson, [[Winfield Scott Hancock]], [[Sanford Church]], [[Asa Packer]], [[Joel Parker (politician)|Joel Parker]], [[James E. English]], [[James Rood Doolittle]], and [[Thomas A. Hendricks]]. The unpopular Johnson, having narrowly survived impeachment, won 65 votes on the first ballot, less than one-third of the total necessary for nomination, and thus lost his bid for election as president in his own right.

Meanwhile, convention chairman [[Horatio Seymour]], former governor of New York, received nine votes on the fourth ballot from the state of North Carolina. This unexpected move caused "loud and enthusiastic cheering," but Seymour refused, saying,

{{blockquote|I must not be nominated by this Convention, as I could not accept the nomination if tendered. My own inclination prompted me to decline at the outset; my honor compels me to do so now. It is impossible, consistently with my position, to allow my name to be mentioned in this Convention against my protest. The clerk will proceed with the call.<ref>[[Irving Stone]] (1943), ''[[They Also Ran: The Story of the Men Who Were Defeated for the Presidency]]'', Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Doran, pg. 280</ref>}}

By the seventh ballot Pendleton and Hendricks had emerged as the two front-runners, with Hancock the only other candidate with much support by this point. After numerous indecisive ballots, the names of [[John T. Hoffman]], [[Francis Preston Blair Jr.|Francis P. Blair]], and [[Stephen Johnson Field]] were placed in nomination, but none of these candidates gained substantial support.

For 21 ballots, the opposing candidates battled it out: the East battling the West for control, the conservatives battling the radicals. Pendleton's support collapsed after the 15th ballot, but went to Hancock rather than Hendricks, leaving the convention still deadlocked. The two leading candidates were determined that the other should not receive the presidential nomination; because of the two-thirds rule of the convention, a compromise candidate was needed. Seymour still hoped it would be Chief Justice [[Salmon P. Chase]], but on the 22nd ballot, the chairman of the Ohio delegation announced, "at the unanimous request and demand of the delegation I place Horatio Seymour in nomination with 21 votes—against his inclination, but no longer against his honor."

Seymour had to wait for the rousing cheers to die down before he could address the delegates and decline.

{{blockquote|I have no terms in which to tell of my regret that my name has been brought before this convention. God knows that my life and all that I value most in life I would give for the good of my country, which I believe to be identified with that of the Democratic party …}}

"Take the nomination, then!" cried someone from the floor.

{{blockquote|... but when I said that I could not be a candidate, I mean it! I could not receive the nomination without placing not only myself but the Democratic party in a false position. God bless you for your kindness to me, but your candidate I cannot be.<ref>[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/AHM4870.0001.001?view=toc Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held at New York, July 4–9, 1868] (Pg. 153)</ref>}}

Seymour left the platform to cool off and rest. No sooner had he left the hall than the Ohio chairman cried that his delegation would not accept Seymour's declination; Utah's chairman rose to say that Seymour was the man they had to have. While Seymour was waiting in the vestibule, the convention nominated him for president unanimously.

Exhausted, the delegates unanimously nominated General [[Francis Preston Blair Jr.]], for vice president on the first ballot after [[John A. McClernand]], [[Augustus C. Dodge]], and [[Thomas Ewing Jr.]], withdrew their names from consideration. Blair's nomination reflected a desire to balance the ticket east and west as well as north and south.<ref>William E. Parrish (1998), ''Frank Blair: Lincoln's Conservative,'' Missouri Biography Series, University of Missouri Press, pg. 254</ref>

Blair had worked hard for the Democratic vice presidential nomination and accepted second place on the ticket, finding himself in controversy.<ref>Frank Blair: ''Lincoln's Conservative, William E. Parrish,'' pg. 260</ref> He had gained attention for an inflammatory letter addressed to Colonel [[James O. Broadhead]], dated a few days before the convention met, in which he wrote that the "real and only issue in this contest was the overthrow of Reconstruction, as the radical Republicans had forced it in the South."<ref>Stewart Mitchell, ''Horatio Seymour of New York,'' Harvard University Press, 1938, p. 448</ref>

==General election==

=== Campaign ===
[[File:Let Us Have Peace.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Republican campaign poster, created by superimposing a portrait of Grant onto the [[political platform|platform]] of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]]]
The 1868 campaign of Horatio Seymour versus Ulysses S. Grant was conducted vigorously, being fought out largely on the question of how Reconstruction should be conducted.

Seymour's campaign was marked by pronounced appeals to racism with repeated attempts to brand General Grant as the "Nigger" candidate and Seymour as the "White Man's" candidate.<ref>[https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/62a9d0e6-4fc9-dbce-e040-e00a18064a66 NY Public Library, Schomberg Collection, badge produced in 1868, digitized 2013]</ref> Denouncing the Republicans' Reconstruction policy as allegedly subjecting the South "to military despotism and negro supremacy," Democrats campaigned on the motto, "This is a white man's country; let white men rule."<ref name="Mendelberg" />

Grant's antisemitic [[General Order No. 11 (1862)|General Order No. 11]] during the Civil War became a campaign issue. He apologized in a letter for the controversial order, stating "I have no prejudice against sect or race, but want each individual to be judged by his own merit. Order No. 11 does not sustain this statement, I admit, but then I do not sustain that order. It would never have been issued if it had not been telegraphed the moment it was penned and without reflection." In his army days he had traded at a local store operated by the Seligman brothers, two Jewish merchants who became Grant's lifelong friends. They became [[J. & W. Seligman & Co.|wealthy bankers]] who donated substantially to Grant's presidential campaign.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jonathan D. Sarna|title=When General Grant Expelled the Jews|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjLTCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA62|year=2012|page=62|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=9780805212334}}</ref>

[[File:Card1868USElectionGrantAndColfaxTanners.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Grant/Colfax humorous campaign card]]
Grant took no part in the campaign and made no promises. The Republican campaign theme, "Let us have peace," was taken from his letter of acceptance. After four years of civil war, three years of wrangling over Reconstruction, and the attempted impeachment of a president, the nation craved the peace Grant pledged to achieve.

[[File:SeymourBlair1868.png|thumb|215px|left|Seymour/Blair campaign photograph]]
Seymour answered none of the charges made against him, but made a few key speeches. Some newspapers exaggerated his faults. As governor, Seymour had sent troops to [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]], but some press tried to portray him as disloyal to the Union. The ''[[New York Tribune]]'' led the cartoon campaign with the picture of Seymour standing on the steps of the City Hall calling a mob of [[New York Draft Riots|New York draft rioters]] "my friends." The ''Hartford Post'' called him "almost as much of a corpse" as ex-President [[James Buchanan]], who had just died. Additionally, Republicans alleged that insanity ran through the Seymour family, citing as evidence the suicide of his father.

Blair went on a national speaking tour in which he framed the contest with Ulysses S. Grant and the pro-Reconstruction Republicans in stark racial terms, warning of the rule of "a semi-barbarous race of blacks who are worshipers of fetishes and [[polygyny|poligamists]]" and wanted to "subject the white women to their unbridled lust." Republicans advised Americans not to vote for Seymour, as Blair might succeed him.<ref>Stewart Mitchell, ''Horatio Seymour of New York,'' Harvard University Press, 1938, pg. 23</ref>

{| style="float:right;"
|-
!Northern and Southern Democratic Sheet Music
|-
|<gallery perrow="2">
File:NorthernSeymourBlairSong.png
File:SouthernSeymourBlairSong.png
</gallery>
|}
Blair had a reputation for outspokenness and his campaign speeches in 1868 attacked Radical Republicans.<ref>Mitchell (1938), ''Horatio Seymour'', pp. 448–449</ref> [[Samuel J. Tilden]], a member of the national committee, asked Blair to confine his campaigning to Missouri and Illinois for fear he "would hurt the ticket" because of his stance on Reconstruction.<ref>William E. Parrish, ''Frank Blair: Lincoln's Conservative,'' p. 255–256</ref>

Seymour, who had not taken an active role in the campaign to this point, went into the canvass, seeking to steer the campaign away from the harshness of Blair's attacks on Radical Reconstruction. Seymour emphasized his idea that change in the South should be accomplished at the state level, without national interference. The Democrats campaigned for immediate restoration of all states, the "regulation of the elective franchise in the states by their citizens", and amnesty for past political offenses,<ref name="story 330332">Henry, Robert Selph; ''The Story of Reconstuction''; p. 330-332 {{ISBN|9781568522548}}</ref> while State civil authority should take precedence over military action. The president and the Supreme Court should be respected rather than attacked, as he claimed the Republicans had done. The Democrats would be careful to reorder national priorities.<ref>William E. Parrish, ''Frank Blair: Lincoln's Conservative,'' pg. 258–259</ref>

As an Eastern "gold" Democrat, Seymour also rejected the Ohio Idea and thus lost the support of the party's Western contingent, which contributed to his ultimate defeat at the ballot box.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/madison-wisconsin-state-journal-oct-31-1868-p-1/ | title=Madison Wisconsin State Journal Archives, Oct 31, 1868, p. 1 | date=1868 }}</ref>

===Results===
31.7% of the voting age population and 80.9% of eligible voters participated in the election.{{sfn|Abramson|Aldrich|Rohde|1995|p=99}} Horatio Seymour polled 2,708,744 votes and Grant 3,013,650.

The closeness of the popular vote surprised the political elite at the time.<ref name="TheyAlso">Irving Stone (1943), ''They Also Ran,'' pg. 282</ref> Republican Representative [[James G. Blaine]] called the slender popular majority for Grant "a very startling fact."<ref name="HoratioSeymour">Stewart Mitchell, ''Horatio Seymour of New York,'' pg. 483</ref> Normally an acute judge of popular sentiment, Blaine was at a loss to explain the size of the Democratic vote.<ref>Mitchell, ''Horatio Seymour of New York,'' pg. 443</ref> Ethnic Irish Catholic and other immigrants had been settling in New York City for nearly a quarter century. The narrow margins by which Seymour lost several of the northern states like Indiana, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, and the effects of new black votes in the South provoked the suspicion that a majority of white men voted for Seymour.<ref>Mitchell, ''Horatio Seymour of New York,'' pg. 474</ref>

Grant won every southern state except Georgia and Louisiana, where fraud and violence by the [[Ku Klux Klan]] and [[Knights of the White Camelia]] was so severe that it delivered Democratic majorities. Klan violence also lead to a steep drop in Republican votes in areas of Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina.<ref>Leonard, Elizabeth D.; ''Lincoln's Avengers: Justice, Revenge and Reunion after the Civil War'', p. 286 {{ISBN|0393048683}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Foner |first1=Eric |title=Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1876 |date=1988 |publisher=Harper and Row |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-06-015851-4 |pages=342–343 |edition=Perennial Library}}</ref>

Along the border, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware went overwhelmingly Democratic. In Kentucky, the result was influenced by hostility toward the [[Radical Reconstruction]]ists, which had led to the state's first postwar government being almost entirely composed of former Confederates.<ref>Henry; ''The Story of Reconstruction'', pp. 250–253</ref> No Democratic presidential candidate before or since has attained a higher percentage of the vote in Kentucky<ref>Counting the Votes; [http://www.countingthevotes.com/kentucky Kentucky] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171120015058/http://www.countingthevotes.com/kentucky/ |date=November 20, 2017 }}</ref> or Maryland,<ref>Counting the Votes; [http://www.countingthevotes.com/maryland Maryland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107030833/http://www.countingthevotes.com/maryland |date=November 7, 2017 }}</ref> where hostility toward black suffrage was very widespread.<ref>Bergeron, Paul H.; ''Andrew Johnson's Civil War and Reconstruction''; pp. 105–111 {{ISBN|1572337486}}</ref> As for Delaware,<ref>Counting the Votes; [http://www.countingthevotes.com/delaware Delaware] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111041536/http://www.countingthevotes.com/delaware |date=November 11, 2017 }}</ref> only the Democratic tickets of [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson]]/[[Hubert Humphrey|Humphrey]] in [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]] (which received the largest percentage of the popular vote since [[1824 United States presidential election|1824]]) and [[Barack Obama|Obama]]/[[Joe Biden|Biden]] in [[United States presidential election in Delaware, 2008|2008]] (with the first Delawarean on a national ticket) carried the state with a larger percentage of the vote.

Two [[border states (American Civil War)|border states]], Missouri and West Virginia, both under Republican control, gave their electoral votes to Grant.<ref>Henry; ''The Story of Reconstruction''; p.</ref> Seymour narrowly carried his home state of New York, but Blair, largely because of the Radicals' registry system, failed to carry Missouri. The ''Missouri Democrat'' exulted: "General Blair is beaten in his ward, his city, his county and his State."<ref>''Frank Blair: Lincoln's Conservative,'' William E. Parrish, pg. 259–260</ref> In West Virginia, former Confederates were temporarily forbidden from voting or holding public office. About 15,000 to 25,000 white residents were disfranchised as a result.<ref>"A Brief History of African Americans in West Virginia," West Virginia Culture {{cite web |url=http://www.wvculture.org/history/blachist.html |title=African-Americans in West Virginia |access-date=December 7, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231191446/http://www.wvculture.org/history/blachist.html |archive-date=December 31, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Of the 1,708 counties making returns, Grant won 991 (58.02%) and Seymour 713 (41.74%). Four counties (0.23%) split evenly between Grant and Seymour. Hence the Democrats, even with all the burdens of the war, still carried only 278 fewer counties than the Republicans. That cemented a solid party comeback at the grassroots level that had begun in local elections in 1867.<ref>Bergeron; ''Andrew Johnson's Civil War and Reconstruction''; pp. 175–177</ref> 7% of counties in northern states voted for a different party from the 1864 election.{{sfn|Abbott|1986|p=202}}

The 1868 election is the only election since the Civil War in which the two major party candidates won over 99.9% of the vote.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kondik |first1=Kyle |last2=Coleman |first2=J. Miles |title=Notes on the State of the 2020 Election |url=https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/notes-on-the-state-of-the-2020-election/ |publisher=University of Virginia |date=November 12, 2020}}</ref> Out of a total of over 5.7 million votes, just 46 ballots were cast for anyone other than Grant and Seymour.<ref>{{cite web |title=1868 Presidential General Election Results |url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1868&f=0&off=0&elect=0 |website=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections}}</ref>

That was the last election in which the Republicans won Tennessee until 1920, the last in which the Democrats won Oregon until 1912, and the last in which the Republicans won Missouri until 1904.

That Grant lost New York to Seymour by 10,000 votes was a source of shame and anger to Republicans. Seymour's victory in New York was made the subject of a federal investigation. On November 4, [[Horace Greeley]] spoke at the [[Union League Club]]. The ULC promptly petitioned Congress to look into the state vote. The petition was presented to the House of Representatives on December 14 and accepted by a vote of 134–35 (52 abstained). Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax, the Republican candidate for vice president, appointed a committee of seven: five Republicans and two Democrats. The committee was most likely created because the Republicans could not lose New York without a protest. It reported to the House of Representatives on February 23, 1869.<ref>Horatio Seymour of New York, Stewart Mitchell, pg. 474–475</ref> The committee decided to take no action, and Seymour retained New York's 33 electoral votes. He was willing to return to the subject as long as he lived.<ref name="HoratioSeymour" />

According to Seymour's biographer, Stewart Mitchell, the Republican Party claimed credit for saving the Union and was bound, bent, and determined to continue to rule it.<ref>''Horatio Seymour of New York,'' Stewart Mitchell, pg. 484</ref> The margin of Grant's popular majority resulted largely from winning a high percentage of the half-million newly enfranchised men of color.<ref>Henry, ''The Story of Reconstruction''; pp. 345–346</ref> This strategy contrasted strongly with later years, when Republicans could not stop black disfranchisement in the former Confederate states, since they had many new and secure votes in new states in the [[Western United States]].<ref>Valelly, Richard M.; The Two Reconstructions: The Struggle for Black Enfranchisement University of Chicago Press, 2009, pp. 134–139 {{ISBN|9780226845302}}</ref>

{{bar box
|title=Popular vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Grant'''|{{party color|Republican Party (US)}}|52.66}}
{{bar percent|Seymour|{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}|47.34}}
{{bar percent|Others|#777777|0.00}}
}}
{{bar box
|title=Electoral vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Grant'''|{{party color|Republican Party (US)}}|72.79}}
{{bar percent|Seymour|{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}|27.21}}
}}

[[File: United States Electoral College 1868.svg]]

{{start U.S. presidential ticket box|pv_footnote=<sup>(a)</sup>|ev_footnote=<sup>(a)</sup>}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Ulysses S. Grant]]|vp_name=[[Schuyler Colfax]]|party=[[United States Republican Party|Republican]]|state=[[Illinois]]|vp_state=[[Indiana]]|pv=3,013,650|pv_pct=52.66%|ev=214}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Horatio Seymour]]|vp_name=[[Francis Preston Blair Jr.]]|party=[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]|state=[[New York (state)|New York]]|vp_state=[[Missouri]]|pv=2,708,744|pv_pct=47.34%|ev=80}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box other|pv=46| pv_pct=<0.01%}}
{{end U.S. presidential ticket box|pv=5,722,440|ev=294|to_win=148}}

'''Source (Popular Vote):''' {{Leip PV source| year=1868| as of=July 27, 2005}}
'''Source (Electoral Vote):''' {{National Archives EV source| year=1868| as of=July 31, 2005}}
<sup>(a)</sup> ''[[Mississippi]], [[Texas]], and [[Virginia]] did not participate in the election of 1868 due to Reconstruction. In [[Florida]], the state legislature cast its electoral vote for Grant by a vote of 40 to 9.''

===Geography of results===
<gallery perrow="3" widths="500px" heights="317px">
1868USPresidentialelectionbyCounty.svg|Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote
</gallery>

====Cartographic gallery====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
PresidentialCounty1868Colorbrewer.gif|Map of presidential election results by county
RepublicanPresidentialCounty1868Colorbrewer.gif|Map of Republican presidential election results by county
DemocraticPresidentialCounty1868Colorbrewer.gif|Map of Democratic presidential election results by county
OtherPresidentialCounty1868Colorbrewer.gif|Map of "other" presidential election results by county
CartogramPresidentialCounty1868Colorbrewer.gif|[[Cartogram]] of presidential election results by county
CartogramRepublicanPresidentialCounty1868Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of Republican presidential election results by county
CartogramDemocraticPresidentialCounty1868Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of Democratic presidential election results by county
CartogramOtherPresidentialCounty1868Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of "other" presidential election results by county
</gallery>

=== Results by state ===
Source: Data from [[Walter Dean Burnham]], ''Presidential ballots, 1836–1892'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–57.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/data.php?year=1868&datatype=national&def=1&f=0&off=0&elect=0|title=1868 Presidential General Election Data – National|access-date=May 7, 2013}}</ref>
{|class="wikitable"
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
|States/districts won by [[Horatio Seymour|Seymour]]/[[Francis Preston Blair Jr.|Blair]]
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
|States/districts won by [[Ulysses S. Grant|Grant]]/[[Schuyler Colfax|Colfax]]
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|-
! colspan=2 |
! align=center colspan=3 | Ulysses S. Grant<br />Republican
! align=center colspan=3 | Horatio Seymour<br />Democratic
! align=center colspan=2 | Margin
! align=center colspan=2 | State Total
|-
! align=center | State
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" data-sort-type="number" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center data-sort-type="number" | #
! align=center data-sort-type="number" | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" data-sort-type="number" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center data-sort-type="number" | #
! align=center data-sort-type="number" | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" data-sort-type="number" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center data-sort-type="number" | #
! align=center data-sort-type="number" | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" data-sort-type="number" | #
!
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Alabama|Alabama]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 8
| 76,667
| 51.25
| 8
| 72,921
| 48.75
| –
| 3,746
| 2.50
| 149,594
| style="text-align:center;" | AL
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Arkansas|Arkansas]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
| 22,112
| 53.68
| 5
| 19,078
| 46.32
| –
| 3,034
| 7.36
| 41,190
| style="text-align:center;" | AR
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in California|California]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
| 54,592
| 50.24
| 5
| 54,078
| 49.76
| –
| 514
| 0.47
| 108,670
| style="text-align:center;" | CA
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Connecticut|Connecticut]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 6
| 50,788
| 51.49
| 6
| 47,844
| 48.51
| –
| 2,944
| 2.98
| 98,632
| style="text-align:center;" | CT
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Delaware|Delaware]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 3
| 7,614
| 41.00
| –
| 10,957
| 59.00
| 3
| −3,343
| −18.00
| 18,571
| style="text-align:center;" | DE
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Florida|Florida]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 3
| –
| –
| 3<ref group="note">Due to the status of Reconstruction, no election was held; the three electoral votes were allocated by the [[Florida State Legislature]] to Grant.</ref>
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| –
| style="text-align:center;" | FL
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Georgia|Georgia]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 9
| 57,109
| 35.73
| –
| 102,707
| 64.27
| 9
| −45,598
| −28.54
| 159,816
| style="text-align:center;" | GA
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Illinois|Illinois]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 16
| 250,304
| 55.69
| 16
| 199,116
| 44.31
| –
| 51,188
| 11.38
| 449,420
| style="text-align:center;" | IL
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Indiana|Indiana]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 13
| 176,552
| 51.39
| 13
| 166,980
| 48.61
| –
| 9,572
| 2.78
| 343,532
| style="text-align:center;" | IN
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Iowa|Iowa]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 8
| 120,399
| 61.92
| 8
| 74,040
| 38.08
| –
| 46,359
| 23.84
| 194,439
| style="text-align:center;" | IA
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Kansas|Kansas]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 3
| 30,027
| 68.82
| 3
| 13,600
| 31.17
| –
| 16,427
| 37.65
| 43,630
| style="text-align:center;" | KS
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Kentucky|Kentucky]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 11
| 39,566
| 25.45
| –
| 115,889
| 74.55
| 11
| −76,323
| −49.10
| 155,455
| style="text-align:center;" | KY
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Louisiana|Louisiana]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 7
| 33,263
| 29.31
| –
| 80,225
| 70.69
| 7
| −46,962
| −41.38
| 113,488
| style="text-align:center;" | LA
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Maine|Maine]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 7
| 70,502
| 62.41
| 7
| 42,460
| 37.59
| –
| 28,042
| 24.82
| 112,962
| style="text-align:center;" | ME
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Maryland|Maryland]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 7
| 30,438
| 32.80
| –
| 62,357
| 67.20
| 7
| −31,919
| −34.40
| 92,795
| style="text-align:center;" | MD
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Massachusetts|Massachusetts]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 12
| 136,379
| 69.76
| 12
| 59,103
| 30.23
| –
| 77,276
| 39.53
| 195,508
| style="text-align:center;" | MA
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Michigan|Michigan]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 8
| 128,560
| 56.98
| 8
| 97,060
| 43.02
| –
| 31,500
| 13.96
| 225,620
| style="text-align:center;" | MI
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Minnesota|Minnesota]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 4
| 43,722
| 60.88
| 4
| 28,096
| 39.12
| –
| 15,626
| 21.76
| 71,818
| style="text-align:center;" | MN
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Missouri|Missouri]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 11
| 86,860
| 56.96
| 11
| 65,628
| 43.04
| –
| 21,232
| 13.92
| 152,488
| style="text-align:center;" | MO
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Nebraska|Nebraska]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 3
| 9,772
| 63.91
| 3
| 5,519
| 36.09
| –
| 4,253
| 27.82
| 15,291
| style="text-align:center;" | NE
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Nevada|Nevada]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 3
| 6,480
| 55.39
| 3
| 5,218
| 44.61
| –
| 1,262
| 10.78
| 11,698
| style="text-align:center;" | NV
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in New Hampshire|New Hampshire]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
| 37,718
| 55.22
| 5
| 30,575
| 44.76
| –
| 7,143
| 10.46
| 68,304
| style="text-align:center;" | NH
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in New Jersey|New Jersey]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 7
| 80,131
| 49.12
| –
| 83,001
| 50.88
| 7
| −2,870
| −1.76
| 163,132
| style="text-align:center;" | NJ
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in New York|New York]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 33
| 419,888
| 49.41
| –
| 429,883
| 50.59
| 33
| −9,995
| −1.18
| 849,771
| style="text-align:center;" | NY
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in North Carolina|North Carolina]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 9
| 96,939
| 53.41
| 9
| 84,559
| 46.59
| –
| 12,380
| 6.82
| 181,498
| style="text-align:center;" | NC
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Ohio|Ohio]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 21
| 280,167
| 54.00
| 21
| 238,621
| 46.00
| –
| 41,546
| 8.00
| 518,788
| style="text-align:center;" | OH
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Oregon|Oregon]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 3
| 10,961
| 49.63
| –
| 11,125
| 50.37
| 3
| −164
| −0.74
| 22,086
| style="text-align:center;" | OR
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 26
| 342,280
| 52.20
| 26
| 313,382
| 47.80
| –
| 28,898
| 4.40
| 655,662
| style="text-align:center;" | PA
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Rhode Island|Rhode Island]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 4
| 12,993
| 66.49
| 4
| 6,548
| 33.51
| –
| 6,445	
| 32.98
| 19,541
| style="text-align:center;" | RI
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in South Carolina|South Carolina]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 6
| 62,301
| 57.93
| 6
| 45,237
| 42.07
| –
| 17,064
| 15.86
| 107,538
| style="text-align:center;" | SC
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Tennessee|Tennessee]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 10
| 56,628
| 68.43
| 10
| 26,129
| 31.57
| –
| 30,499
| 36.86
| 82,757
| style="text-align:center;" | TN
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Vermont|Vermont]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
| 44,167
| 78.57
| 5
| 12,045
| 21.43
| –
| 32,122
| 57.14
| 56,212
| style="text-align:center;" | VT
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in West Virginia|West Virginia]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
| 29,015
| 58.83
| 5
| 20,306
| 41.17
| –
| 8,709
| 17.66
| 49,321
| style="text-align:center;" | WV
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| style="text-align:center;" | [[1868 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|Wisconsin]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 8
| 108,900
| 56.25
| 8
| 84,703
| 43.75
| –
| 24,197
| 12.50
| 193,603
| style="text-align:center;" | WI
|-
! TOTALS:
! 294
! 3,013,790
! 52.66
! 214
! 2,708,980
! 47.34
! 80
! 304,810
! 5.32
! 5,722,440
| style="text-align:center;" | US
|}

===States that flipped from Republican to Democratic===
*[[Louisiana]]
*[[Maryland]]
*[[New York (state)|New York]]
*[[Oregon]]

=== Close states ===
Red font color denotes states won by Republican Ulysses S. Grant; blue denotes those won by Democrat Horatio Seymour.

States where the margin of victory was under 1% (8 electoral votes)
#'''<span style="color:red;">California 0.48% (520 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Oregon 0.74% (164 votes)</span>'''

States where the margin of victory was under 5% (93 electoral votes)
#'''<span style="color:blue;">New York 1.18% (9,995 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">New Jersey 1.76% (2,870 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:red;">Alabama 2.50% (3,746 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:red;">Indiana 2.79% (9,572 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:red;">Connecticut 2.98% (2,944 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:red;">Pennsylvania 4.41% (28,898 votes)</span>'''

States where the margin of victory was under 10% (35 electoral votes)
#'''<span style="color:red;">North Carolina 6.82% (12,380 votes)</span>''' (tipping point state for a Grant victory)
#'''<span style="color:red;">Arkansas 7.37% (3,034 votes)</span>''' (tipping point state for a Seymour victory)
#'''<span style="color:red;">Ohio 8.01% (41,546 votes)</span>'''

====Statistics====
Counties with highest percent of vote (Republican)
#'''<span style="color:red;">[[Hancock County, Tennessee]] 100.00%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:red;">[[Monona County, Iowa]] 100.00%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:red;">[[Ottawa County, Kansas]] 100.00%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:red;">[[Jefferson County, Nebraska]] 100.00%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:red;">[[McDowell County, West Virginia]] 100.00%</span>'''

Counties with highest percent of vote (Democratic)
#'''<span style="color:blue;">[[St. Landry Parish, Louisiana]] 100.00%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">[[Lafayette Parish, Louisiana]] 100.00%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">[[Jackson Parish, Louisiana]] 100.00%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">[[De Soto Parish, Louisiana]] 100.00%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">[[Franklin Parish, Louisiana]] 100.00%</span>'''

Counties with highest percent of vote (Other)
#'''<span style="color:green;">[[DeKalb County, Alabama]] 0.70%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:green;">[[Sullivan County, New Hampshire]] 0.11%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:green;">[[Strafford County, New Hampshire]] 0.09%</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:green;">[[Carroll County, New Hampshire]] 0.02%</span>'''

==See also==
*[[American election campaigns in the 19th century]]
*[[First inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant]]
*[[History of the United States (1865–1918)]]
*[[History of the United States Democratic Party]]
*[[History of the United States Republican Party]]
*[[Reconstruction era]]
*[[Third Party System]]
*[[1868–69 United States House of Representatives elections|1868–1869 United States House of Representatives elections]]
*[[1868–69 United States Senate elections|1868–1869 United States Senate elections]]
*[[Ohio idea]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last=Abbott |first=Richard |title=The Republican Party and the South, 1855–1877: The First Southern Strategy |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |date=1986 |url=https://archive.org/details/republicanparty00abbo |isbn=0807816809}}
* {{cite book|last1=Abramson |first1=Paul |last2=Aldrich |first2=John |last3=Rohde |first3=David |title=Change and Continuity in the 1992 Elections |publisher=[[CQ Press]] |date=1995 |isbn=0871878399}}
* ''American Annual Cyclopedia ... 1868'' (1869), [https://books.google.com/books?id=maIoAAAAYAAJ&q=ulysses+intitle:cyclopedia online], highly detailed compendium of facts and primary sources
* Coleman, Charles Hubert. ''The election of 1868 : the Democratic effort to regain control'' (1933) [https://archive.org/details/electionof1868de0000cole online]
*Gambill, Edward. ''Conservative Ordeal: Northern Democrats and Reconstruction, 1865–1868.'' (Iowa State University Press: 1981).
* Henry, Robert Selph. ''The Story of Reconstruction'' (1938)
* Prymak, Andrew. "The 1868 and 1872 Elections," in Edward O. Frantz, ed. ''A Companion to the Reconstruction Presidents 1865–1881'' (Wiley Blackwell Companions to American History) (2014) pp 235–56 [https://www.amazon.com/dp/1444339281/ online]
* Rhodes, James G. ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 6.'' (1920). 1865–72; detailed narrative history
* [[Brooks D. Simpson|Simpson, Brooks D.]] ''Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861–1868'' (1991).
* Summers, Mark Wahlgren.''The Press Gang: Newspapers and Politics, 1865–1878'' (1994)
* Summers, Mark Wahlgren. ''The Era of Good Stealings'' (1993), covers corruption 1868–1877

===Primary sources===
* Chester, Edward W ''A guide to political platforms'' (1977) pp 86–89 [https://archive.org/details/guidetopolitical0000ches online]
* ''[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/AHM4870.0001.001?view=toc Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held at New York, July 4–9, 1868]''
*[[iarchive:politicalhistor03mcphgoog|<!-- quote=mcpherson period of reconstruction. --> Edward McPherson.'' The Political History of the United States of America During the Period of Reconstruction'' (1875)]] large collection of speeches and primary documents, 1865–1870, complete text online.[The copyright has expired.]
* Porter, Kirk H. and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds. ''National party platforms, 1840–1964'' (1965) [https://archive.org/details/nationalpartypla00port online 1840–1956]

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/elections/election1868.html Presidential Election of 1868: A Resource Guide] from the Library of Congress
*[http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/1868.htm 1868 popular vote by counties]
*[http://www.multied.com/elections/1868Pop.html 1868 State-by-state Popular vote] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517121743/http://www.multied.com/elections/1868Pop.html |date=May 17, 2008 }}
* [http://www.countingthevotes.com/1868/ Election of 1868 in Counting the Votes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006113327/http://www.countingthevotes.com/1868/ |date=October 6, 2017 }}

{{1868 United States presidential election}}
{{State Results of the 1868 U.S. presidential election}}
{{USPresidentialElections}}
{{Ulysses S. Grant}}
{{Reconstruction era}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1868 United States presidential election| ]]
[[Category:Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant]]
[[Category:Ulysses S. Grant]]
[[Category:Schuyler Colfax]]
[[Category:November 1868]]