Presidency of James Garfield

Historical Context Note

Lucas Paul Richert (University of Saskatchewan)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Domains

Changes of government, elections and reigns

Dates

Date of occurrence 1881-03-04-1881-09-19

Places

United States (Location)

Resources

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Republican James Garfield defeated his Democratic opponent Winfield Hancock during the 1880 presidential election. The margin of victory was a mere 10,000 popular votes. The electoral college vote, however, was much more convincing, 214 to 155 in favour of Garfield. On 2 July 1881, Garfiled was shot in the back at a railway station in Washongton, D.C. The culprit, Charles J. Guiteau, claimed to have visions. Guiteau also identified himself as a Stalwart, a political faction within the Republican Party opposed to civil service reform and who fought for a third term for Ulysses Grant. The Stalwarts, furthermore, were at odds with liberal Republican half-breeds, the name given to other wings in the party. Garfield did not die quickly, which sparked a constitutional debate about the…

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161 words

Citation: Richert, Lucas Paul. "Presidency of James Garfield". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=581, accessed 07 May 2024.]

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