Liberal Republican party
Liberal Republican party,
in U.S. history, organization formed in 1872 by Republicans discontented at the political corruption and the policies of President GrantGrant, Ulysses Simpson,1822–85, commander in chief of the Union army in the Civil War and 18th President (1869–77) of the United States, b. Point Pleasant, Ohio. He was originally named Hiram Ulysses Grant.
..... Click the link for more information. 's first administration. Other disaffected elements were drawn into the party. Among its leaders were Carl SchurzSchurz, Carl
, 1829–1906, American political leader, b. Germany. He studied at the Univ. of Bonn and participated in the revolutionary uprisings of 1848–49 in Germany.
..... Click the link for more information. and B. Gratz BrownBrown, Benjamin Gratz,
1826–85, U.S. Senator (1863–67) and governor of Missouri (1871–73), b. Lexington, Ky. An able lawyer in St. Louis, Brown was a leader in the Free-Soil movement in Missouri and later helped form the Republican party there.
..... Click the link for more information. , both of Missouri, who had defeated the regular Republicans in the state election of 1870, Horace GreeleyGreeley, Horace,
1811–72, American newspaper editor, founder of the New York Tribune, b. Amherst, N.H. Early Life
His irregular schooling, ending at 15, was followed by a four-year apprenticeship (1826–30) on a country weekly at East Poultney, Vt.
..... Click the link for more information. , Charles SumnerSumner, Charles,
1811–74, U.S. senator from Massachusetts (1851–74), b. Boston. He attended (1831–33) and was later a lecturer at Harvard law school, was admitted (1834) to the bar, and practiced in Boston. He spent the years 1837 to 1840 in Europe.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Lyman TrumbullTrumbull, Lyman,
1813–96, U.S. Senator from Illinois (1855–73), b. Colchester, Conn. He taught school in Georgia, was admitted to the bar, and in 1837 moved to Illinois.
..... Click the link for more information. . The party convention, held at Cincinnati in May, passed over Charles Francis AdamsAdams, Charles Francis,
1807–86, American public official, minister to Great Britain (1861–68), b. Boston; son of John Quincy Adams. After a boyhood spent in various European capitals, he was graduated (1825) from Harvard and studied law under Daniel Webster.
..... Click the link for more information. (1807–86), David DavisDavis, David,
1815–86, American jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1862–77), b. Cecil co., Md., grad. Kenyon College, 1832; cousin of Henry Winter Davis. In 1836 he settled as a lawyer in Bloomington, Ill., his home thereafter.
..... Click the link for more information. , and others to nominate Greeley for President; Brown was named for Vice President. In their convention at Baltimore, the Democrats also accepted these candidates. The party program called for civil service reform and an end to the strong ReconstructionReconstruction,
1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by the invading Union forces was enormous, and the old social and economic
..... Click the link for more information. program of the radical Republicans; so as not to offend the party's divergent segments, it avoided adopting a position on the tariff question. Greeley's nomination was not popular with many of the party leaders, who supported him without enthusiasm, and Grant was easily reelected.
Bibliography
See E. D. Ross, The Liberal Republican Movement (1919, repr. 1971).