The Three Campaigns- 1884, 1888, and 1892

Meet the Candidates

Grover Cleveland - Democratic Party

Grover Cleveland is the only President to have been born in New Jersey. He was born in Caldwell, New Jersey in 1837, where he lived until he was 4 years old when his family moved to upstate New York. Cleveland would retire to Princeton, New Jersey after his second presidency. He died on June 24, 1908, and is buried in Princeton.

Cleveland was nicknames "Ugly Honest" due to his appearance and values. At almost six feet tall and almost 300 pounds, his presence in a room did not go unnoticed. Cleveland was mostly admired for his honesty, independence from political machines, desire to reform and eliminate corruption, and his integrity. During the mid-late 1800s, the country experienced corruption from railroad empires, labor unrest, unhappy farmers, and the birth of worker unions.

Cleveland passed the New York bar in 1859. From 1871-1874, he served as the sheriff of Erie County New York. Then, in 1881 he was elected mayor of Buffalo, New York and in 1882 he was elected as the governor of New York. In 1884, the Democratic Party nominated Cleveland to be the presidential nominee. Cleveland became the first Democrat to win the presidency after the Civil War.

Cleveland ran for a second term in 1888, but lost to Benjamin Harrison. He would try again in the next election in 1892, again against Benjamin Harrison, and won. He was the first president to serve two non-consecutive terms.

James Gillespie Blaine - Republican Party

James G. Blaine was born in West Brownsville, Pennsylvania on January 31, 1830. He started his early career in education. In 1847 he graduated from Washington & Jefferson College and worked as a teacher for several years. In 1854, Blaine moved to Augusta, Maine and became the editor of the Kennebec Journal.

Blaine's first step into politics was in 1862 when he was elected to Congress as a Republican Representative. While in Congress, he served as the Speaker of the House from 1869-1875. After an unsuccessful bid to be the Republican Presidential nominee for president in 1876, he was elected to be a Senator. Again in 1880, Blaine was unsuccessful to win the bid to be the Republican Presidential Nominee, however, the elected President James A. Garfield appointed Blaine as the Secretary of State. In 1884 Blaine successful ran as the Republican Presidential Nominee, but lost the presidency to Grover Cleveland.

Blaine was an eloquent and powerful speaker, however, charges that he used his political office for personal gain followed him his whole political career.

Benjamin Harrison - Republican Party

Benjamin Harrison was born in North Bend, Ohio in 1833. He was the grandson of William Henry Harrison who was the 9th president of the United States. Harrison studied law and graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. By 1853, he established his own law practice in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Harrison's experience with law eventually helped him get involved in politics. He worked for President Abraham Lincoln in 1860. In 1862, however, Harrison joined the military during the Civil War and rose to the rank of brigadier general. After the war, Harrison returned to politics. He was nominated as the Republican candidate for governor in Indiana, but lost the election. In 1880, he was named a US Senator for the state of Indiana.

Harrison ran as the Republican candidate for president in 1888 and beat the incumbent President Grover Cleveland. Harrison supported pensions for Civil War veterans, high protective tariffs, a modernized navy, and conservation of western lands.

Harrison ran for second term in 1892 and lost to former President Grover Cleveland.

Meet the Artist

Thomas Nast immigrated to America from Landau, Germany when he was five years old. With limited education and little artistic training he joined the art staff of Frank Leslie's Illustrated as a teenager. In 1860 Nast traveled to Italy as a war correspondent for The Illustrated London News and New York Illustrated News.

Upon his return to the United States in February 1861, Nast began to cover the American Civil War that April for New York Illustrated News. In 1862, the artist joined Harper's Weekly as its war correspondent. Just 22 years old at the time, Nast created illustrations based on reports of what was happening on the battlefield. He worked for the weekly until 1877, and again from 1895-1896. During his tenure, Nast created hundreds of cartoons including the Democratic Donkey, Republican Elephant, Uncle Sam, Columbia, Tammany Tiger and Santa Claus.

Nast also created cartoons commenting on issues of the day using derogatory ethnic and racial stereotypes. Nast illustrated stereotypes of Black Americans, as well as Irish and Chinese immigrants. The artist also published Anti-Catholic cartoons attacking the Church hierarchy. At times, Nast drew derogatory caricatures in support of a person or group. In other instances, Nast used stereotypes to make a visual case against a person or group.

A lifelong Republican supporter, Nast broke party lines in 1884 because of Blaine's entanglement in railroad scandals and corruption, and for the candidate's resistance to Civil Services reform.