March Internet Auction

(1888 Campaign) Harrison and Morton, The Tribune, New York, red and blue Harrison and Morton and Protector campaign cover showing American Flag and The Tribune Building on cover bearing 2¢ lake (219D) tied by "New York, May 17 '90" duplex on cover to Friendship N.Y., May 18th arrival backstamp, original enclosures awarding the Sixth Prize for Subscribers Agents; rubber band stain, F.-V.F. and scarce campaign cover.

Estimate  ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦  $75 - 100.

The 1888 United States presidential election was the 26th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1888. Republican nominee Benjamin Harrison, a former Senator from Indiana, defeated incumbent Democratic President Grover Cleveland of New York. It was the third of five U.S. presidential elections (and second within 12 years) in which the winner did not win a plurality of the national popular vote, which would not occur again until the 2000 US presidential election.

Cleveland, the first Democratic president since the American Civil War, was unanimously re-nominated at the 1888 Democratic National Convention. Harrison, the grandson of former President William Henry Harrison, emerged as the Republican nominee on the eighth ballot of the 1888 Republican National Convention. He defeated other prominent party leaders such as Senator John Sherman and former Governor Russell Alger.

Tariff policy was the principal issue in the election, as Cleveland had proposed a dramatic reduction in tariffs, arguing that high tariffs were unfair to consumers. Harrison took the side of industrialists and factory workers who wanted to keep tariffs high. Cleveland's opposition to Civil War pensions and inflated currency also made enemies among veterans and farmers. On the other hand, he held a strong hand in the South and border states, and appealed to former Republican Mugwumps.