CHAPTER XVIII

The Constitutional Convention of 1872-Its Political ComplexionThe Proposed Constitution Rejected by the People—The Greenback Labor Party-Its Progressive Platform-Grant Elected President-The Credit Mobilier Scandal-The Cincinnati Convention of the Liberal Republicans The Nomination of Horace Greeley-Split in the Democratic Party Over Greeley-Dissatisfaction With the Grant Administration.

Delegates to a constitutional convention were elected in Ohio on the first Monday of April, 1872. The political complexion of the delegates was made up as follows: Republicans 50, Democrats 45, Liberal Republicans 5, Independents 4, Labor Reform 1. Morrison R. Waite of Lucas County was elected President and Lewis T. Campbell of Butler, Vice-President. Dudley W. Rhodes of Delaware was secretary of the convention. The Constitutional Convention of 1872 convened in Columbus and held its first meeting in the hall of the House of Representatives on May 13th when its organization was formed. Shortly afterwards the convention adjourned to Cincinnati where the sessions were held. The Constitution formed by this convention was rejected by the people at the polls.

The Greenback Labor Party. The demand for agricultural products for government use during the war tended to make farmers prosperous. This prosperity was increased when it became possible for them to pay off in greenbacks debts previously contracted. This led the farmers to conclude that an unlimited issue of paper would be the proper cure for all economic evils. In 1874 a convention of greenbackers was held and it was resolved that it was desirable to have all bank currency withdrawn and only national currency issued. They wanted nothing but greenbacks, hence the name of the party. They went further than this, however, and advocated that the portion of the national debt not expressly made payable in gold should be paid in

currency. As early as 1868 this plan had been known as the "Ohio Idea." It was advocated by quite a number of leading men of Ohio, including Governor Allen. The Democratic Party of Ohio was divided on the question for some years and in 1875 the Democratic Party of the country showed some leaning toward these views, but shortly thereafter it abandoned them. In 1876 the Greenbackers held a national convention and adopted the name of Independent Party, nominating Peter Cooper of New York for the Presidency. The party polled about 80,000 votes, of which it received 3,507 in Ohio. Its main strength lay in the agricultural sections of Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Michigan. In 1877 the total Greenback vote in all the states of the Union was 185,000. About that time the Labor Reform Party began to assume some prominence and in several states the Labor and Greenback parties united. In 1878 they held a national convention and changed the name to that of National Party. In that year its vote rose to a million and a number of national representatives were elected, usually by fusions with whatever party happened to be in the minority in any district. In 1880 James B. Weaver of Iowa was nominated for President as an advocate of greenbacks and polled about 300,000 votes. In 1884 Benjamin F. Butler of Massachusetts was nominated by this party. He was also the Anti-Monopoly candidate, the joint ticket being known as the People's Party. He only polled about 130,000 votes. One plank in the platform of the Greenback Party in 1884 makes interesting reading today, it is so remarkably like the battlecry of leading politicians in both the Republican and Democratic parties. It read:

"We denounce those methods and policies of the Democratic and Republican parties which have sanctioned or permitted the establishment of gigantic corporate monopolies, and we demand such governmental action as may be necessary to take from such monopolies the powers they have so corruptly and unjustly usurped and restore them to the people to whom they belong."

The Liberal Republican Party. One of the most short-lived, but at the same time one of the most promising and apparently one of the most formidable of the political movements that have come since