Vavrek has issued a correction as of 22:47 on Apr 3, 2016

Acebuckeye13 has issued a correction as of 01:24 on Apr 4, 2016

Acebuckeye13 has issued a correction as of 15:41 on Apr 4, 2016

Nckdictator has issued a correction as of 00:05 on Apr 5, 2016

• Party Affiliation: Republican Party
  
• Home State: Illinois
  
• Notable Positions: Commanding General of the United States Army
  
• Biography: Ulysses S. Grant is an American war hero and the symbol of Union victory in the aftermath of the Civil War. Born to an Ohio tanner, Ulysses was a small and sensitive child whose shyness was often mistaken for stupidity by friends and neighbors. Rejecting these allegations and determined to give Ulysses an outlet, Grant’s parents arranged for Grant to join the United States Military Academy at West Point, Grant’s only option for education given his family’s dire poverty. After several years of intense study, Grant emerged from West Point as an expert horseman and fearless leader who was prone to fits of emotion off the battlefield. In 1846, Grant joined the fight in Mexico and served under General Zachary Taylor. In 1860, Grant briefly returned to his family home before joining the Union Army against the Confederacy. During the fight for control over the Mississippi Valley, Grant distinguished himself and was promoted personally by Lincoln. Following skillful victories at Shiloh and Vicksburg, Grant was promoted to General-in-Chief. He is credited for the Union’s military success during the war and, in 1866, was named General of the Armies, a rank that had been achieved by no one except General Washington. He stands for election in 1868 as the most revered soldier in the Union and is second only to Lincoln in the public’s consciousness.
  
• Platform: After four years of fighting and half-a-million dead, the country is exhausted and ready for a leader who can heal the country’s divisions without repudiating the Civil War’s legacy. With his campaign slogan, “Let us have peace,” Grant promises to be just that. Calling upon memories of his victories against the South, promises that Lincoln’s memory will not forgotten. A strong opponent of Andrew Johnson, Grant has pushed for measures to ensure that Reconstruction continues unimpeded. Under the guidance of Grant and Radical Republicans, the Republican Platform includes support for black suffrage (but only in the South), full citizenship for former slaves (in the South), an open immigration (which will allow the North to grow relative to the South), and full rights for naturalized citizens (which will depress the South’s political power). He also thinks that the former slaves should probably be treated better, if only to punish the South. In other affairs, Grant is known for his scrupulous honesty (though many would call it political naivety). He has shunned the practice of patronage and promises to run the White House like he would run the military. Grant opposes the use of “Greenbacks,” excess paper money backed on faith in the federal government rather than gold, for the same reason. He will not pay back foreign debts incurred by the Confederacy. Though he wishes to rebuild the country, he has aspirations of establishing American hegemony over the Carribean.

• Party Affiliation: Republican Party
  
• Home State: Indiana
  
• Notable Positions: Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, United States Representative from Indiana
  
• Biography: Colfax is a journalist, author, editor, traveler, business executive, and politician. An amiable man, known by his colleagues as “the Smiler,” Colfax got his start in New York City. As a child, Colfax worked as a clerk in a retail store to support his family but was a voracious reader and avid learner. In 1841, his mother remarried and Colfax moved to Indiana, where his stepfather had been elected as the Whig candidate for county auditor. Enjoying politics, Colfax became active and quickly mastered the inner-workings of debate and parliamentary procedure. At the age of sixteen, Colfax became a confidant to the editor of the influential New-York Tribune, Horace Greeley, who agreed to publish Colfax’s thoughts on Indiana politics in his papers. By the age of 21, Colfax had earned enough money to purchase his own paper, which was later deemed by Harriet Beecher Stowe to be the only “morally pure paper” in America. As the Whig Party collapsed, Colfax was forced to experiment with several different political organizations before eventually settling with the Republicans for their stance on slavery. Colfax’s strong oratory skills allowed him to climb the ladder of both the Republican Party and the United States Congress, where he quickly attained the Speakership. He is suspected of having several unsavory ties to business.
  
• Platform: Though initially a moderate, Johnson’s administration has moved Colfax increasingly towards radical positions and transformed him into a Radical Republican. Fearful that any progress made over the last few years might be undone, Colfax is firmly against allowing those who participated in the rebellion to be allowed to reassume office. Further, he has advocated for the impeachment of leaders, like Johnson, who have been unfaithful in executing Reconstruction over the South. As Speaker of the House, Colfax oversaw and ensured the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery throughout the United States. While he supports enfranchising blacks, his support of this proposal seems oddly centered on the South. Still, Colfax professes support of black suffrage, full citizenship for former slaves, and the strict preservation of Reconstruction. He opposes using greenbacks to repay war debts.

• Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
  
• Home State: New York
  
• Notable Positions: Governor of New York, Mayor of Utica, New York, New York Assemblyman
  
• Biography: Seymour is the first Democrat to pose a significant threat to the Republican Party. Born in New York to a small merchant and politician, Horatio was involved in politics at an early age and spent his early life preparing for a career in elected office. His first opportunity in politics came in 1833, when he became the military secretary to New York’s Governor, William L. Marcy, a position that gave Seymour a valuable education in state politics and allowed him to form various political connections. From 1842 to 1846, Seymour called upon his old allies to secure his election to the New York State Assembly and eventually the Governorship. Seymour secured New York’s highest office at a time when the country seemed to be barrelling towards Civil War. Using his position and his ties within the party, Seymour urged various presidents to make concessions to the South to avoid war. After the South seceded, he begrudgingly supported Lincoln’s leadership while opposing him on the issues of emancipation, conscription, and military arrests. He took steps to stop New York City’s draft riots, but used conciliatory measures against those rioting out of distaste of Lincoln and sympathy for those affected by the draft.
  
• Platform: Seymour is running as a New Departure Democrat, a style of politics that seeks to move the country past the South’s secession and focus on economic issues. Though he recognizes the Civil War as misguided and the South’s secession as wrong, Seymour hopes to restore the United States “as it was” before the war and has applauded the efforts of Andrew Johnson is moving the country forward. He believes that “the assertion that this war was the unavoidable result of slavery is not only erroneous, but has led to a disastrous policy in its persecution. [Abolitionism] creates antagonism between the free and slave states.” Hoping to emulate Johnson, Seymour promises to end the country’s war debt through the use of greenbacks. He promises to end Reconstruction and restore the rights of the South. He even promises to return the country to the old debates of state rights versus federal power. In doing so, Seymour has made open appeals to racism and has made subtle hints towards the potential for violence before the election. In public speeches, Seymour has branded Grant as the “friend of the family” candidate and himself as the “White Man’s” candidate. Seymour’s campaign motto is “This is White Man’s Country; Let the White Men Rule.” At the behest of his backers, Seymour has spoken at length on the virtues of white supremacy speaks on the virtues of white supremacy and the ridiculousness of black suffrage. He hopes to roll back the overreaching measures enacted by the Republican Party if elected. Afterall, many of these policies, such as Reconstruction, are only a Republican attempt to maintain power. Seymour does not see African Americans as actually capable of making decisions. On all other issues, Seymour has promised slow, common-sense reform that follows the provisions laid out by Edmund Burke. He supports a small, conservative, limited government that will be able to protect the rights of the individual states. Seymour hopes to institute equal taxation on property.

• Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
  
• Home State: Missouri
  
• Notable Positions: Major General in the United States Army, United States Representative from Missouri, Member of the Missouri House of Representatives
  
• Biography: Francis P. Blair, Jr. is a Missouri politician who gained prominence for his opposition to the Confederacy and slavery as well as Reconstruction policies. The son of a political journalist, Blair was exposed to politics at an early age and sought to practice law as a way of furthering his political career. During the Mexican-American War, Blair served as attorney general of the New Mexico territory, a position for which he was well-paid. Upon returning, Blair used his funds to follow his father and establish a newspaper, the Barnburner, which would eventually become the official newspaper of Missouri’s Free Soil Party. Within this capacity, Blair helped transform the Free Soil Party into a mainstream movement, with his calls for gradual emancipation gaining the approval of many across the state. In 1860, Blair stumped for Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party and helped organize a paramilitary organization to counteract would-be secessionists when the South left the Union. Since then, he has gradually distanced himself from the Republican Party, claiming it to be too radical and too far separated from Lincoln’s original policies. In 1865, Blair officially registered as a Democrat as a protest against the Radical Republicans.
  
• Platform: Francis Blair is a staunch Unionist, a man so devoted to the Union that his very presence on the ticket seems to preempt any Republican allegations about secession. A political moderate, Blair was an unwavering supporter of Abraham Lincoln during his presidency for attempting to ensure the solvency of the Union against Southern intransigence. He helped establish a paramilitary organization and was a leader of the short-lived Unconditional Union Party, which sought to prevent Missouri’s secession by force if necessary. However, Blair’s support of Union does not mean he supports all the policies of the Republican Party. Though he once supported gradual emancipation, he has never viewed blacks as equals deserving of equal rights or treatment under the law. Instead, he has warned the country not to support Grant who would pervert Lincoln’s legacy by subjecting the South to black supremacy. In his speeches, Blair has painted vivid pictures of a future where the country is ruled by “a semi-barbarous race of blacks who are worshipers of fetishes and polygamists” who want to “subject white women to their unbridled lust.” He hopes to deport the freed slaves and use their labor to build American colonies in Africa, as there is no place for them in American society. Some of these speeches have been too much for even Seymour, who has asked Blair to tone it down. Blair opposes Reconstruction, seeing it as a thinly disguised attempt to transform the country into a one-party state. He supports the use of greenbacks to pay off Civil War debts and has called on the federal government to accept those debts incurred by the South during its rebellion.