1880 United States presidential election in Tennessee explained

See main article: 1880 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1880 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1876 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Previous Year:1876
Next Election:1884 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Next Year:1884
Election Date:November 2, 1880
Turnout:15.77% of the total population 1.93 pp[1]
Image1:WinfieldScottHancock2 (cropped 3x4).jpg
Nominee1:Winfield S. Hancock
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:Pennsylvania
Running Mate1:William H. English
Electoral Vote1:12
Popular Vote1:129,569
Percentage1:53.26%
Nominee2:James A. Garfield
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:Ohio
Running Mate2:Chester A. Arthur
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:107,677
Percentage2:44.26%
Map Size:350px
President
Before Election:Rutherford B. Hayes
Before Party:Republican Party (United States)
After Election:James Garfield
After Party:Republican Party (United States)

The 1880 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 2, 1880, as part of the 1880 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.[2]

For over a century after the Civil War, Tennessee's white citizenry was divided according to partisan loyalties established in that war. Unionist regions covering almost all of East Tennessee, Kentucky Pennyroyal-allied Macon County, and the five West Tennessee Highland Rim counties of Carroll, Henderson, McNairy, Hardin and Wayne[3] voted Republican – generally by landslide margins – as they saw the Democratic Party as the “war party” who had forced them into a war they did not wish to fight.[4] Contrariwise, the rest of Middle and West Tennessee who had supported and driven the state's secession was equally fiercely Democratic as it associated the Republicans with Reconstruction.[5]

In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant easily carried the state due to disfranchisement of former confederates and the Ku Klux Klan Act.[6] However, in the year after that election, Tennessee was the first state where Reconstruction was ended, and with the aid of the resurgent Klan, white Democrats rewrote the state's constitution to regain some of their lost power.[7] Nevertheless, blacks and Unionist whites forged adequate support for the GOP to create a competitive political system during that decade,[8] although the Democratic Party won all statewide elections. However, at the beginning of the 1880s, a divide in the Democratic Party on this issue of payment of state debt allowed the GOP to claim the governor's mansion,[8] but this did not seriously alter presidential voting and Tennessee was won by General Winfield Scott Hancock (DPennsylvania), running with former Representative William Hayden English, with 53.26 percent of the popular vote, against Representative James A. Garfield (R-Ohio), running with the 10th chairman of the New York State Republican Executive Committee Chester A. Arthur, with 44.26 percent of the vote.[2]

This would be the last time a Democratic presidential candidate carried Unionist Pennyroyal Macon County until Bill Clinton in 1992.[9]

Results

Results by county

1880 United States presidential election in Tennessee by county[10] [11]
CountyWinfield Scott Hancock
Democratic
James Abram Garfield
Republican
James Baird Weaver
Greenback
MarginTotal votes cast
data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%data-sort-type="number"data-sort-type="number"%
Anderson57435.17%1,05864.83%00.00%-484-29.66%1,632
Bedford2,50456.82%1,76640.07%1373.11%73816.75%4,407
Benton77156.98%38328.31%19914.71%38828.68%1,353
Bledsoe37242.91%48455.82%111.27%-112-12.92%867
Blount88235.58%1,59764.42%00.00%-715-28.84%2,479
Bradley66538.26%93253.62%1418.11%-267-15.36%1,738
Campbell31423.22%1,03876.78%00.00%-724-53.55%1,352
Cannon1,03567.74%30019.63%19312.63%73548.10%1,528
Carroll1,82044.91%2,20854.48%250.62%-388-9.57%4,053
Carter40519.77%1,64480.23%00.00%-1,239-60.47%2,049
Cheatham79467.81%29124.85%867.34%50342.95%1,171
Claiborne96744.38%1,21255.62%00.00%-245-11.24%2,179
Clay56763.57%17719.84%14816.59%39043.72%892
Cocke90636.04%1,60863.96%00.00%-702-27.92%2,514
Coffee1,76684.94%1989.52%1155.53%1,56875.42%2,079
Cumberland28742.33%37154.72%202.95%-84-12.39%678
Davidson7,54352.24%6,44944.66%4483.10%1,0947.58%14,440
DeKalb1,32560.45%86739.55%00.00%45820.89%2,192
Decatur75359.90%41332.86%917.24%34027.05%1,257
Dickson1,16962.58%49726.61%20210.81%67235.97%1,868
Dyer1,06067.39%24815.77%26516.85%79550.54%1,573
Fayette2,24742.17%3,08257.83%00.00%-835-15.67%5,329
Fentress31438.06%51161.94%00.00%-197-23.88%825
Franklin2,18785.43%35713.95%160.63%1,83071.48%2,560
Gibson2,69161.28%1,70038.72%00.00%99122.57%4,391
Giles2,89957.80%2,04040.67%771.54%85917.13%5,016
Grainger87041.39%1,19756.95%351.67%-327-15.56%2,102
Greene2,06045.74%2,30351.13%1413.13%-243-5.40%4,504
Grundy46187.98%6312.02%00.00%39875.95%524
Hamblen84843.38%1,09556.01%120.61%-247-12.63%1,955
Hamilton1,59538.23%2,46058.96%1172.80%-865-20.73%4,172
Hancock49334.21%94865.79%00.00%-455-31.58%1,441
Hardeman1,56649.56%1,40944.59%1855.85%1574.97%3,160
Hardin97241.84%1,34557.90%60.26%-373-16.06%2,323
Hawkins1,03928.97%1,90753.18%64017.85%-868-24.21%3,586
Haywood1,76632.38%3,55765.22%1312.40%-1,791-32.84%5,454
Henderson1,27446.23%1,38550.25%973.52%-111-4.03%2,756
Henry2,30566.18%1,01329.08%1654.74%1,29237.09%3,483
Hickman1,15771.82%39224.33%623.85%76547.49%1,611
Houston52280.43%12719.57%00.00%39560.86%649
Humphreys1,32580.69%24514.92%724.38%1,08065.77%1,642
Jackson1,29988.85%1369.30%271.85%1,16379.55%1,462
James20932.86%40363.36%243.77%-194-30.50%636
Jefferson69327.33%1,80771.25%361.42%-1,114-43.93%2,536
Johnson20315.68%1,09284.32%00.00%-889-68.65%1,295
Knox3,11941.61%4,36158.18%160.21%-1,242-16.57%7,496
Lake33784.46%287.02%348.52%30375.94%399
Lauderdale1,14752.02%97144.04%873.95%1767.98%2,205
Lawrence92871.94%36228.06%00.00%56643.88%1,290
Lewis20084.03%3715.55%10.42%16368.49%238
Lincoln3,65278.84%88619.13%942.03%2,76659.72%4,632
Loudon53334.30%1,02165.70%00.00%-488-31.40%1,554
Macon71354.59%55942.80%342.60%15411.79%1,306
Madison2,83454.36%2,22342.64%1562.99%61111.72%5,213
Marion74045.51%88654.49%00.00%-146-8.98%1,626
Marshall2,00676.04%54820.77%843.18%1,45855.27%2,638
Maury3,30654.66%2,74245.34%00.00%5649.33%6,048
McMinn1,20945.25%1,46354.75%00.00%-254-9.51%2,672
McNairy1,13546.65%94939.01%34914.34%1867.64%2,433
Meigs60760.58%39539.42%00.00%21221.16%1,002
Monroe1,18156.18%91943.72%20.10%26212.46%2,102
Montgomery2,84658.26%2,03941.74%00.00%80716.52%4,885
Morgan24536.08%43463.92%00.00%-189-27.84%679
Obion1,98271.22%58320.95%2187.83%1,39950.27%2,783
Overton1,15272.59%43027.10%50.32%72245.49%1,587
Perry60473.04%22326.96%00.00%38146.07%827
Polk65364.02%36235.49%50.49%29128.53%1,020
Putnam1,04068.92%46730.95%20.13%57337.97%1,509
Rhea66861.00%42739.00%00.00%24122.01%1,095
Roane80533.02%1,62866.78%50.21%-823-33.76%2,438
Robertson2,10767.55%95130.49%611.96%1,15637.06%3,119
Rutherford3,85560.10%2,48238.70%771.20%1,37321.41%6,414
Scott12717.91%58282.09%00.00%-455-64.17%709
Sequatchie22464.93%11934.49%20.58%10530.43%345
Sevier43117.36%2,05282.64%00.00%-1,621-65.28%2,483
Shelby6,92746.24%7,78851.99%2641.76%-861-5.75%14,979
Smith1,56962.16%70527.93%2509.90%86434.23%2,524
Stewart1,32271.58%48826.42%372.00%83445.15%1,847
Sullivan2,26465.23%1,20734.77%00.00%1,05730.45%3,471
Sumner2,89372.60%1,09227.40%00.00%1,80145.19%3,985
Tipton1,89353.78%1,60445.57%230.65%2898.21%3,520
Trousdale79376.25%24723.75%00.00%54652.50%1,040
Union48029.63%1,14070.37%00.00%-660-40.74%1,620
Van Buren28182.40%6017.60%00.00%22164.81%341
Warren1,57773.52%48222.47%864.01%1,09551.05%2,145
Washington1,57642.83%2,10457.17%00.00%-528-14.35%3,680
Wayne64941.76%90558.24%00.00%-256-16.47%1,554
Weakley2,52663.21%1,47036.79%00.00%1,05626.43%3,996
White1,30884.01%17311.11%764.88%1,13572.90%1,557
Williamson2,73363.94%1,54136.06%00.00%1,19227.89%4,274
Wilson2,91868.34%1,22728.74%1252.93%1,69139.60%4,270
Totals129,56953.26%107,67744.26%6,0172.47%21,8929.00%243,263

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1880 Presidential Election Results Tennessee Total Population Turnout.
  2. Web site: 1880 Presidential Election Results Tennessee.
  3. Wright, John K.; ‘Voting Habits in the United States: A Note on Two Maps’; Geographical Review, vol. 22, no. 4 (October 1932), pp. 666-672
  4. [Valdimer Orlando Key|Key (Jr.), Valdimer Orlando]
  5. Lyons, William; Scheb (II), John M. and Stair Billy; Government and Politics in Tennessee, pp. 183-184
  6. Bergeron, Paul H.; Ash, Stephen V. and Keith, Jeanette; Tennesseans and Their History, p. 175
  7. Bergeron; Ash, and Keith; Tennesseans and Their History, pp. 176-178
  8. Kousser, J. Morgan; The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910, p. 104
  9. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 298-304
  10. Web site: Géoelections. Presidential election of 1880 Popular Vote. (.xlsx file for €15)
  11. Web site: Géoelections. Presidential election of 1880 Popular Vote for James B. Weaver. (.xlsx file for €15)