Video: 'The American Presidential Election of 1880'

(Tuesday, November 2, 1880, during the 1880 United States presidential election) — U.S. Representative James A. Garfield of Ohio, a Republican, was elected as the 20th President of the United States today, defeating Major General Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania, a Democrat.

Garfield and his running mate, Chester A. Arthur, chairman of the New York State Republican Executive Committee, won 48.27 percent of the popular vote, resulting in 214 electoral votes.

Hancock and his running mate, former U.S. Representative William Hayden English of Indiana, received 48.21 percent of the popular vote, resulting in 155 electoral votes.

The incumbent president, Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, had honored his pledge to serve only one term.

The incumbent vice president, William A. Wheeler, did not run for the 1880 Republican presidential nomination and retired at the end of his term.

Garfield and Arthur would be sworn in for a four-year term of office on March 4, 1881.