1872 Democratic National Convention

1872 Democratic National Convention

1872 presidential election
Nominees Greeley and Brown
Convention
Date(s)	July 9–10, 1872
City	Baltimore, Maryland
Venue	Ford's Grand Opera House, East Fayette Street (between North Howard & Eutaw Streets)
Candidates
Presidential nominee	Horace Greeley of New York
Vice Presidential nominee	Benjamin Gratz Brown of Missouri

Interior of Ford's Grand Opera House of John T. Ford (1829-1894) on East Fayette Street between North Howard and Eutaw Streets in Baltimore during the 1872 Democratic National Convention. Built 1871, razed 1964.

The 1872 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held at Ford's Grand Opera House on East Fayette Street, between North Howard and North Eutaw Streets, in Baltimore, Maryland on July 9 and 10, 1872. It resulted in the nomination of newspaper publisher Horace Greeley (1811-1872) of New York and Governor Benjamin Gratz Brown (1826-1885) of Missouri for President and Vice President, a ticket previously nominated by the rump Liberal Republican faction convention meeting also in Baltimore's newly built premier Opera House of nationally well-known theatre owner/operator John T. Ford(1829-1894) (infamous as the owner of the Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. where 16th President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated in April 1865) of the major Republican Party which had already re-nominated incumbent 18th President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) of the regular Republicans for another term.

The convention was called to order by Democratic National Committee chairman August Belmont. Thomas Jefferson Randolph served as the convention's temporary chairman and James R. Doolittle served as permanent president. At six hours in length, stretched over two days, the convention was the shortest meeting of a major political party convention in history.^[1]

The convention

Accepting the "Liberal Republican" platform meant the Democrats had accepted the "New Departure", rejecting the anti-Reconstruction platform of 1868. They realized to win they had to look forward, and not try to refight the Civil War.^[2] Also, they realized they would only split the anti-Grant vote if they nominated a candidate other than Greeley. However, Greeley's long reputation in the years before as the most aggressive attacker of the earlier Democratic Party, its principles, its leadership, and its activists cooled enthusiasm among many of the delegates for the potential nominee.

Presidential nomination

Vice presidential nomination

Straight-Out Democrats Convention

A splinter, conservative group of Democrats, calling themselves the Straight-Out Democrats, unhappy with the nomination of Greeley, held a Straight-Out Democratic National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. They nominated for President Charles O'Conor, who told them by telegram that he would not accept their nomination, and for Vice President John Quincy Adams II. The candidates received 23,054 votes (0.35%) in the election, and no Electoral College electors.

See also

• History of the United States Democratic Party
• History of Baltimore
• U.S. presidential nomination convention
• United States presidential election, 1872
• List of Democratic National Conventions
• 1872 Liberal Republican convention
• 1872 Republican National Convention
• Ulysses S. Grant

References

External links

• Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held at Baltimore, July 9, 1872
• Democratic Party Platform of 1872 at The American Presidency Project