(1880) Medal DeWitt USG 1880-2 Brass U.S. Grant Campaign

Coin Details

Description

This brass campaign medal for U.S. Grant from the 1880 presidential election season is cataloged as DeWitt USG 1880-2. Grant's third-term campaign generated significant medallic material, as his Stalwart supporters produced campaign pieces promoting his return to the presidency. The brass composition was standard for campaign medals of the Gilded Age. Grant's support base in 1880 included political bosses like Conkling, veterans who remembered his Civil War leadership, and African Americans who credited him with enforcing the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments during his presidency. However, reformers within the Republican Party opposed Grant's candidacy on principle, arguing that a third term would establish a dangerous precedent — George Washington had established a two-term tradition that no president had yet broken. The reformers' opposition, combined with Blaine's supporters' refusal to transfer their votes to Grant, deadlocked the convention and produced Garfield's compromise nomination. Grant accepted the result gracefully and campaigned for Garfield, but the 1880 episode marked the end of his political career.

Rarity Notes

Brass campaign medal from 1880. DeWitt USG 1880-2. Grant third-term campaign. The extensive Grant 1880 material documents a failed but significant bid.

Cross References

PCGS #681742; DeWitt USG 1880-2; 1880 Presidential Election; U.S. Grant