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Republican Ticket
Presidential candidate: ULYSSES S. GRANT, President
VP candidate: HENRY WILSON, Massachusetts Senator
Popular votes: 3,598,468 (55.6%)
Electoral votes: 286
Democratic Ticket
Presidential candidate: Horace Greeley, Newspaper Editor
VP candidate: Henry Gratz Brown, Missouri Governor
Popular votes: 2,835,315 (43.8%)
Electoral votes: 63
1872 US Electoral Map: How each state voted. Wisconsin's Choice: Grant.

Election Facts

  • This election reflected a split in the Republican Party. Grant's Radical Republicans championed Reconstruction in the South.
  • The Democratic ticket consisted of Liberal Republicans discontent with Grant's performance as president. They called for an end to Reconstruction and to corruption in government.
  • Democrats could not, however, gather enough support from interest groups to topple the incumbent.
  • Greeley died before the electoral votes were cast.
Ulysses S. Grant.
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Horace Greeley with the Union Army. Photo by Matthew Brady.
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Pro-Grant window display, Whitewater, WI, 1872.
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