Video: 'The American Presidential Election of 1884'

(Friday, June 6, 1884, vote announced at 4:40 p.m. local time) — Former House Speaker James G. Blaine of Maine was nominated for president of the United States today by delegates to the 1884 Republican National Convention meeting at the Exposition Hall in Chicago.

The incumbent president, Chester A. Arthur, had become President after the 1881 assassination of James Garfield.

His health had been declining, and he honestly didn’t know if he would make it another term if he ran for re-election. Still, a lot of people wanted him to run, so he gave it try.

Blaine was the favorite going in, but there was a possibility that President Arthur could build a coalition with smaller candidates such as George F. Edmunds

There were also rumors that members of the party would bolt if Blaine won the nomination.

On the first ballot Blaine received 334½, Arthur 278.

Video: 'The Election of 1884 Explained'

Arthur received only a third of his votes from the North, none from Ohio, 1 of 44 from Illinois, 9 of 30 from Indiana, 11 of 60 from Pennsylvania and only 31 of 72 from his home state of New York.

On the third ballot, Blaine received 375 (gaining delegates from President pro tempore
George F. Edmunds from Vermont), Arthur 274.

On the fourth ballot, Blaine received 541, Arthur 207, and Edmunds 41. Blaine received 130 more than the majority needed, grabbing 67 from Arthur’s camp and 28 from Edmunds’s.

Arthur was the last eligible incumbent U.S. president to seek another term of office who was denied his party’s nomination.

Senator John A. Logan of Illinois was nominated vice president on the first ballot, defeating Postmaster General Walter Q. Gresham (who was not a candidate) 779-6 votes.

The Blaine-Logan ticket would oppose the Democratic ticket of Grover Cleveland-Thomas A. Hendricks (nominated in July 1884) in the 1884 general election.