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)

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Changes of government, elections and reigns

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

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United States (Location)

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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 26 November 2024.]

Presidency of James Garfield

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