1880 Prohibition National Convention

1880 Prohibition National Convention

1880 presidential election
Nominees Dow and Thompson
Convention
Date(s)	June 17, 1880
City	Cleveland, Ohio
Venue	Halle's Hall
Candidates
Presidential nominee	Neal Dow of Maine
Vice-presidential nominee	Henry Adams Thompson of Ohio
Voting
Total delegates	142
Results (president)	142
Results (vice president)	142

The 1880 Prohibition Party National Convention convened in Halle's Hall in Cleveland, Ohio on June 17, 1880 to select presidential and vice presidential nominees for the 1880 United States presidential election. Delegates unanimously chose Neal Dow of Maine for President and Henry Adams Thompson of Ohio for Vice President. They were both nominated by a founder of the party, James Black. Dow and Thompson left the convention as the party's nominees, but in the end, they lost. The election was a close contest between the Republican, James A. Garfield, and the Democrat, Winfield Scott Hancock, with Garfield being the victor. The Prohibition Party placed a distant fourth, netting just over 0.1% of the popular vote.

Presidential nomination

On June 17, 1880, the national convention was called to open and was attended by 142 delegates. Reverend Alonzo Ames Miner was selected to serve as the president of the convention. Neal Dow, the former mayor of Portland, Maine and a former Civil War general, and Henry Adams Thompson were nominated for the presidential and vice presidential nominations by James Black, hoping that other national figures would seek the party's nomination, and were approved by acclamation.^[1][2]

Presidential Ballot	Unanimous	Vice Presidential Ballot	Unanimous
Neal Dow	142	Henry Adams Thompson	142

Platform

Although the platforms of the party in 1872 and 1876 included support and opposition to multiple issues, the platform drafted and accepted at the 1880 national convention only included support for issues relating to the prohibition of alcohol and women's suffrage due to the fact that the narrow gauger faction, which supported a single issue prohibitionist platform, was the group writing it.^[3][4]

Candidates

Neal Dow

Main article: Neal Dow

In 1880, Maine Republicans refused to pass more anti-alcohol legislation, and Dow quit the party to join the Prohibitionists,^[5] he quickly became the party's most prominent member. His friend and ally James Black requested that Dow's name be placed in nomination for the presidency at the 1880 convention, to which Dow agreed.^[5] He unanimously nominated and the Prohibition ticket polled just 10,305 votes, 0.1% of the total.^[6]

Henry Adams Thompson

Main article: Henry Adams Thompson

Thompson had identified with the Republican Party since its founding in the 1850s, but in 1874 he left it to join the Prohibition Party.^[7]

Aftermath

The Prohibition Party received 10,305 votes and no electoral votes, compared to 4,446,158 for the winner, Republican James A. Garfield, and 4,444,260 for Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock.^[8]

Electoral results

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote[9]		Electoral vote[10]	Running mate
			Count	Percentage		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Electoral vote[10]
James A. Garfield	Republican	Ohio	4,454,443	48.32%	214	Chester A. Arthur	New York	214
Winfield Scott Hancock	Democratic	Pennsylvania	4,444,976	48.21%	155	William Hayden English	Indiana	155
James B. Weaver	Greenback	Iowa	308,649	3.35%	0	Barzillai J. Chambers	Texas	0
Neal Dow	Prohibition	Maine	10,364	0.11%	0	Henry Adams Thompson	Ohio	0
John W. Phelps	Anti-Masonic	Vermont	1,045	0.01%	0	Samuel C. Pomeroy	Kansas	0
Total			9,219,477	100%	369			369
Needed to win					185			185

See also

• 1880 Republican National Convention
• 1880 Democratic National Convention
• 1880 Greenback National Convention

References

1. "The National Prohibition Convention". The Greeley Tribune. June 25, 1880. p. 1. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Andersen, Lisa M. F. (September 9, 2013). The Politics of Prohibition. Cambridge University Press. p. 59. ISBN 9781107029378 – via Google Books.
3. "Page 9 Partisan prophets; a history of the Prohibition Party, 1854-1972".
4. "Prohibition". The Western Call. July 2, 1880. p. 2. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Byrne, Frank L (1961). Prophet of Prohibition: Neal Dow and His Crusade. Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. OCLC 2126034.
6. Clancy, Herbert J. (1958). The Presidential Election of 1880. Loyola University Press. ISBN 978-1-258-19190-0.
7. Kleppner, Paul (1979). The Third Electoral System 1853-1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-1328-7.
8. Ackerman, Kenneth D (April 15, 2004). Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0786713967.
9. Petersen, Svend (1963). A Statistical History of the American Presidential Elections. New York, New York: Frederick Ungar. OCLC 500975. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
10. "1880 Electoral College Results". National Archives. November 5, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2025.