The Loyal G.O.P.

                                         (True America)

              I.

    Republicans are we,

    The Loyal G.O.P.

       Staunch and Secure.

Long live the party then,

Long live Whitelaw and Ben,

Elect them once again,

       For none are truer.

              II.

Four years we’ve held the chair,

Four years more we’ll be there

       On that depend.

Firm stands the G.O.P.,

Protection is the plea,

Protection it will be,

       Unto the end.

              III.

Adlai’s name so queer,

No more shall greet our ear,

       After we vote.

Send tidings everywhere,

Of them, that peerless pair;

Let praises rend the air

       From every throat.

Oct. 17, ‘92

Camb. Press

(Crossed out in book)

Election  of  1892

After his defeat in 1888, Grover Cleveland returned to private life, worked as a lawyer, and was content with his family life. However, Cleveland would return to the political scene and this would be the election year where two Presidents were pitted on the ballot against each other.

                                          Benjamin's Blunders

But during Benjamin Harrison's first term, Cleveland observed what he considered to be many major blunders committed by the Republican. Even more so, Cleveland was upset that Harrison had spent the federal budget surplus that he had so carefully saved while in the White House. Even some leading Republicans were unhappy with Harrison's performance, which meant he was destined to face opposition within his own party at the convention.

Cleveland's Surprise

The Democratic convention met in mid-June in Chicago. It was anticipated that U.S. Senator David B. Hill, of New York, would win the party's nomination, but instead, it was Grover Cleveland who snatched a surprising victory on the first ballot.

It's Harrison Once Again

At the Republican convention, a number of party leaders hoped to nominate James G. Blaine because they did not believe that Harrison could defeat Cleveland in a rematch of 1888. But Blaine never committed to the movement on the convention floor or the back-room dealings, and Harrison was once again nominated.

Problems for the Republicans

Harrison was facing problems before the election.

During the campaign the Republicans, who strongly relied upon the black vote in the South, began to realize the impact newly created Democratic legislation to curb black voting was going to have on the outcome of the election.

To make matters even worse for the Republicans, labor unrest in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and the silver mines in Idaho led to the deaths of a number of workers.

This would cost Harrison dearly at the polls in November.

                                             Reluctance to Campaign

Grover Cleveland, still reluctant to actively campaign, eventually made a half-dozen appearances, but left a large majority of the campaigning to be carried out by his running mate, Adali Stevenson of Illinois.

Benjamin Harrison also barely campaigned due to his wife's serious illness. She died in October, just weeks before the election. That left most of the Republican campaigning to be carried out by Harrison's running mate, Whitelaw Reid, as well as party stalwarts Robert Todd Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln's eldest son), William McKinley, Chauncey Depew, and others.

                                             Election Results

           On election day, the weather was good across the nation, and poll watchers noticed there were fewer claims of voter coercion, bribes, and fist fights. Wyoming women became the first in the United States to vote in a presidential election, and in the South, the newly legislated poll tax and literacy requirements kept 90 percent of black voters and 30 percent of white voters from casting a ballot. Grover Cleveland claimed victory with 277 electoral votes, while Harrison had 145, and James B. Weaver of the People's Party won 22.

http://americanpoliticalbuttons.com/election-of-1892.html