ALS signed “U. S. G.,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, personal letterhead, October 22, 1868. Letter to his friend J. Russell Jones, in full: “Enclosed I return you the two letters which you requested should be returned. I shall not leave here for two or three days after the election in Nov. My mind was made up to this the day after you left here. I cannot realize that there is danger; but if it should come before election it would upset everything. After election there would not be the same insinuation to the deed nor would the same damage accrue, I will still go to Phila. as first proposed and from there to Washington. I predict that Seymour’s apologies for Blair and correction of his statements made from the stump commencing in Buffalo today will injure his chances for election more than all Blair has said will. The fact is Blair represents truthfully the element in his party which will control it if elected. Seymour evidently intends now to throw out a bait to the loyal element.” In very good to fine condition, with archival reinforcements along intersecting and adjoining folds.
Writing just thirteen days before the hotly contested 1868 presidential election—the first of the Reconstruction era—Grant objectively reflects on the idea of his own assassination, tailoring his schedule to divert such an attempt. He reasons that if he were assassinated before the election, it would undoubtedly hand the victory to Democrats Horatio Seymour and his running mate Francis P. Blair, Jr., doing serious damage to the liberal cause. If “the deed” were done following Grant’s victory, vice president Schuyler Colfax would assume the presidency and the Republicans would retain the White House. Tensions between political factions of America were inflamed by Blair, who accused Grant of 'stripping the white race of their birthright' with his policies. Seymour tried to mop up after Blair’s vile rhetoric, but his efforts were in vain and Grant easily won the electoral college. A fascinating letter on the difficulties of campaigning in a divided nation, written mere days before securing the presidency. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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