Presidential Election of 1872: A Resource Guide

The Republican chart. The nation's choice in war and peace Ulysses S. Grant. New York: Published by H.H. Lloyd & Co., 21 John Street, [1872]. Prints & Photographs Division. Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-pga-02045

The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material associated with the presidential election of 1872, including manuscripts, broadsides, prints, political cartoons, sheet music, newspaper articles, and government documents. This guide compiles links to digital materials related to the presidential election of 1872 that are available throughout the Library of Congress Web site. In addition, it provides links to external Web sites focusing on the 1872 election and a selected bibliography.

1872 Presidential Election Results [1]

* Horace Greeley died on November 29, 1872, a few weeks after the election, but before the Electoral College officially met. His electoral votes were distributed among four individuals: Thomas A. Hendricks (42 votes), Benjamin G. Brown (18 votes), Charles J. Jenkins (2 votes), and David Davis (1 vote).

Library of Congress Web Site | External Web Sites | Selected Bibliography

Digital Collections

African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907

The Daniel A. P. Murray Pamphlet Collection presents a panoramic and eclectic review of African-American history and culture, spanning almost one hundred years from the early nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries.

• U. S. Grant and the colored people. His wise, just, practical, and effective friendship thoroughly vindicated by incontestable facts in his record from 1862 to 1872. Words of truth and soberness! He who runs may read and understand!! Be not deceived, only truth can endure!!!

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875

This collection consists of published congressional records of the United States of America from 1774 to 1875.

• On February 12, 1873, the Electoral College votes for the presidential election of 1872 were counted by a joint session of Congress and reported in the Congressional Globe, as well as in the Senate Journal and the House Journal.

The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress

This collection presents the papers of the nineteenth-century African-American abolitionist who escaped from slavery and then risked his own freedom by becoming an outspoken antislavery lecturer, writer, and publisher.

• New York Electoral College, 1872

From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1824-1909

This collection presents 396 pamphlets from the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, published from 1822 through 1909, by African-American authors and others who wrote about slavery, African colonization, Emancipation, Reconstruction, and related topics.

• Extract from a speech of Hon. Gerrit Smith, to his neighbors, in Peterboro, New York, June 22, 1872.
• Grant or Greeley--which? Facts and arguments for the consideration of the colored citizens of the United States: being extracts from letters, speeches, and editorials by colored men and their best friends. Sumner's mistake, Greeley's surrender, and Grant's faithfulness...

The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America

The Songs of America presentation allows you to explore American history as documented in the work of some of our country's greatest composers, poets, scholars, and performers. The collection includes the following campaign songs from the 1872 presidential election.

• The Farmer Goes "Chopping" on His Way! or Our Farmer President
• Grant boys of 72
• "Grant" us another term
• Grant's our banner man
• Horace Greeley's grand march
• One good term deserves another
• We'll march once more, my boys

Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera

The Printed Ephemera collection comprises 28,000 primary-source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompasses key events and eras in American history. While the broadside format represents the bulk of the collection, there are a significant number of leaflets and some pamphlets.

• Greeley vs. Grant. The duty of true democrats. An open letter by Hon. Philip Clayton of Georgia. What a life long democrat thinks - Letter of Gen. John A. Dix of New York. [New York, 1872].
• Greeley on the Ku-Klux. Comments of the New York evening Post on the speech of Mr. Greeley at Corry, Pennsylvania, September 25, 1872. [New York, 1872].
• Greeley's amnesty record. ... [New York, 1872].
• Horace Greeley unmasked. [New York 1871.].
• Mr. Greeley and the reformers. Mr. Greeley's friends [From the Evening Post] [And] Some sample reformers. The men who support Greeley [From the Detroit Tribune.]
• A record of the absence of President Grant and cabinet from the seat of government to the neglect of the people's business. [n. p., 1872]. "Mr. Greeley's letters of acceptance": p. 6-8.
• The Republican party. Address of the Republican Congressional committee to the party. Review of the history of the party - what it has accomplished - Work yet to be done - Success of President Grant's administration. [Washington, D. C. 1872?].
• Union Republican ticket. Grant and Wilson. Electoral ticket for presidential electors. Henry P. Haven, Henry Farnam, Julius Converse, Charles Benedict, Lucius Briggs, Oliver Hoyt. [1872].

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers

Chronicling America

This site allows you to search and view millions of historic American newspaper pages from 1789-1924. Search this collection to find newspaper articles about the presidential election of 1872.

A selection of articles on the 1872 presidential election includes:

• "Grant. His Nomination," Evening Star, June 6, 1872.
• "Baltimore. Second and Closing Day of the Democratic Convention---Nominations Almost Unanimous," Memphis Daily Appeal, July 11, 1872.
• "Election News. Victory Everywhere," Knoxville Weekly Chronicle, November 6, 1872.
• "Greeley Defeated. Four Years More of Fraud and Corruption," The Sun, November 6, 1872.
• "Horace Greeley Dead!" Nashville Union and American, November 30, 1872.
• "The Electoral Count," National Republican, February 13, 1873.

Exhibitions

Voices, Votes, Victory: Presidential Campaign Songs

This exhibition presents a sampling of the rich collection of campaign songs housed in the Music Division of the Library of Congress.

• Campaign Songs for Grant’s Opponents

Prints & Photographs Division

Pictorial Americana: Selected Images from the Collections of the Library of Congress

Pictorial Americana, a Library of Congress publication, contains a chapter listing selected images related to the 1872 presidential election.

Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Search PPOC using the following subject headings to find additional prints, political cartoons, and other digital images related to the presidential election of 1872. In addition, try searching by keywords and by names of candidates.

• Grant, Ulysses S., as presidential candidate
• Grant, Ulysses S.--(Ulysses Simpson),--1822-1885
• Greeley, Horace, his own presidential candidacy
• Presidential elections--United States--1870-1880

External Web Sites

The American Presidency Project: Election of 1872

The American Presidency Project Web site presents election results from the 1872 presidential election. This site also contains the Democratic Party Platform and the Republican Party Platform of 1872.

HarpWeek: The Presidential Elections 1860-1912

This HarpWeek Web site features political cartoons from Harper's Weekly, Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, Vanity Fair, Puck, Judge, and American Political Prints, 1766-1876: A Catalog of the Collections in the Library of Congress. It provides explanations of the historical context and images of each cartoon, campaign overviews, biographical sketches, a review of the era's major issues, and other valuable information related to the 1872 presidential election.

Selected Bibliography

Primary Sources: Campaign Literature

Official Proceedings of the National Democratic Convention, Held at Baltimore, July 9, 1872. Boston: Rockwell & Churchill, printers, 1872. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Presidential Election, 1872. Proceedings of the National Union Republican Convention Held at Philadelphia, June 5 and 6, 1872 ... Reported by Francis H. Smith, Official Reporter. Washington, D.C.: Gibson Brothers, Printers, 1872. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Notes

1. Presidential Elections, 1789-2008. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2010), 137, 227.