7. Reform of abuses in the administration; the expulsion of corrupt men from office; the abrogation of useless offices and the restoration of rightful authority to. and the inde& pendence of, the executive and judicial departments of the government; the subordination of the military to the civil power, to the end that the usurpations of Congress and the despot of the sword may cease.
8. Equal rights and protection for naturalized and native-born citizens, at home and abroad; the assertion of American nationality which shall command the respect of foreign powers, and furnish an example and encouragement to people struggling for national integrity, constitutional liberty, and individual rights; and the maintenance of the rights of naturalized citizens against the absolute doctrine of immutable allegiance and the claims of foreign powers tononith them for aliened crimes mmrnitted beyond their jarisdiction.
Besides this statement of the position of the parties the platform arraigned the Republican party for its reconstruction _policy, charging that instead of restoring the Union it had °so far as was in its power dissolVed it and sub jected 10 States in time of profound peace to military despotism and neFro supremacy,° and that it had "nullified the right of trial by jury, abolished the right of habeas corpus and over thrown the freedom of speech and press? The Republicans nominated General Grant and Schuyler Colfax and secured a popular plu rality of about 300,000 (less than the plurality of 1864) and an electoral majority of 134.
In May 1872 a convention known as the Liberal Republican Convention was held at Cin cinnati, Ohio, and nominated Horace Greeley of New York for President and Benjamin Gratz Brown of Missouri for Vice-President. The platform demanded the recognition of the doctrines of equality of all men before the law, and pledged the party's support to Articles 13, 14 and 15 of our amended national Constitu tion. It favored the sacred maintenance of the public credit, opposed repudiation and insisted upon the return to specie payments.
The Democrats met on 9 July at Baltimore and nominated the same ticket and adopted a platform substantially like the one adopted by the Liberal Republicans.
Those members of the Democratic party de scribing themselves as "straight-out° Democrats met 3 September following and nominated Charles O'Connor of New York for President and John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts for Vice-President; although both declined, nearly 30,000 votes were cast for the head of the ticket. The platform declared that the Balti
more convention had betrayed the party into a false creed and false leadership, and proclaimed that the members of the "straight-out° Demo cratic party preferred principle to power, and would not surrender those principles in ex change for offices which Presidents confer. The election resulted in an overwhelming vic tory for the Republican ticket, Grant and Wil son receiving 286 electoral votes out of 349 and a popular plurality of more than 750,000.
The nomination of Horace Greeley brought to his party a large number of influential Re publicans and alienated many Democrats, yet the party's vote was only about 125,000 more than the Democratic vote of 1868, while the Republican vote of 1872 was nearly 600,000 greater than the vote of four years before.
The Democrats entered the campaign of 1876 with courage and confidence. The discovery of corruption in several of the departments and the conviction of officials high in authority, to gether with the panic of 1873, had broken the prestige of the Republican party and caused a wide-spread demand for reform. The Demo took advantage of the situation and nominated as its candidates Samuel J. Tilden of New York, who had become conspicuous in re form in his State, and Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, who represented all that was highest, purest and best in Democratic principle and purpose. The platform described the abuses of power and demanded reform in every depart ment. Among other things it demanded re form in the tariff and condemned the resump tion clause of 1875.
The campaign resulted in a popular plurality of 250,000 for Tilden and Hendricks. The re sult, however, was disputed and charges of fraud were made in the election of several States. The situation grew so serious that Congress created an electoral commission, to which the whole matter was referred. This commission was composed of five senators selected by that body, five members of Con gress selected by that body, and the five senior members of the Supreme Court. See ELEC TORAL COMMISSION.