1880 “Front Porch” Campaign Speeches

A view inside the Interstate Exposition Building (known as the "Glass Palace") during the convention; James Abram Garfield (center, right) is on the podium, waiting to speak.

Congressman James Garfield attended the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago not seeking the party’s presidential nomination, but to nominate someone else to receive it. When Garfield himself became the compromise nominee, he returned to his Mentor, Ohio home and found reporters already waiting to talk to him. Over the next several months, nearly 20,000 members of the general public also descended on Garfield’s farm to get a glimpse of the candidate.

Interestingly, many of those who traveled to Mentor disembarked from their trains at the northern end of Garfield’s property. Tracks owned by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad ran through the northern end of Congressman Garfield’s farm, so many of those who came here during the 1880 presidential campaign got off the train on the candidate’s property and walked up the lane to the Garfield home. On the southern end of the property, near the home, a dirt carriage road (now U.S. Route 20) also provided access to Garfield’s farm. These transportation features attracted Congressman and Mrs. Garfield to this property when they bought it in 1876, and four years later they helped thousands easily visit the Garfield home.

In this era of American history, presidential candidates did not actively campaign for the office. In fact, President Rutherford B. Hayes advised Garfield to stay home, “sit cross-legged and look wise.” The Republican Party would do the heavy lifting of Garfield’s campaign. But as more people began to arrive at the candidate’s home, he felt obligated to address them and thank them for visiting and supporting the Republican ticket. Eventually, Garfield began giving short speeches from the front porch of his home, and the nation’s first-ever “front porch” presidential campaign was born.

These addresses were not campaign speeches as we think of them today. They were usually brief and often tailored to the specific group to which Garfield was speaking. He did not offer details on policies he hoped to pursue if elected. He occasionally reminded his guests that the Republicans were the party of Lincoln, abolition of slavery, and loyalty to the nation during the Civil War. This was a particularly powerful message on October 25, 1880, when he spoke to a large group of African American Civil War veterans. “You were not made free,” he told them, “merely to be allowed to vote, but in order to enjoy an equality of opportunity in the race of life, and to stand equal before the law.”

Garfield also addressed groups of businessmen, travelers from Indiana, women’s clubs from Cleveland, and others. On October 16, he addressed a group of German immigrants from Cincinnati. He addressed them in part in their native language, which may be the first instance in American history of a presidential candidate campaigning in a foreign language.

When Election Day came on November 2, 1880, Congressman Garfield prevailed over his Democratic opponent, General Winfield Scott Hancock, by less than 10,000 popular votes (though his Electoral College victory was more substantial). The first-ever “front porch” presidential campaign was a success, and many future presidential candidates would use the tactic at various times over the next forty years.