• Party Affiliation: Republican Party
  
• Home State: Ohio
  
• Notable Positions: Governor of Ohio, United States Representative from Ohio, Brevet Major General in the Union Army
  
• Biography: Known as “Rud” to his friends and family, Hayes is the son of settlers who can trace their American roots back to the early 1600s. Although his father died weeks before his birth, Rud enjoyed a happy childhood under the watchful eye of his mother, who maintained a farmer, a whiskey distiller, and rooms for weary travellers. For his intelligence, Hayes was admitted to Harvard Law School and admitted into the Ohio bar and eventually the Odd Fellows Club. Though much of his subsequent work involved commercial issues, Hayes gained prominence as a legal defense attorney. He became one of the few lawyers to successfully save his client using the insanity defense and defended dozens of slaves who had fled to Ohio from their former masters. Despite his support for abolition, Hayes wanted the Union to “let the South go” after Lincoln’s election. Only after the firing on Fort Sumpter did Hayes resolve his doubts and join the Ohio Volunteer Infantry, where he eventually became a major general. Following the war, Hayes joined Congress as a moderate Republican but frequently caucused with the radicals on issues related to freedman rights. Most recently, Hayes was elected to be the Ohio Governor. Though he lacked veto power, Hayes succeeded in bringing the Democrats and Republicans in his state together and helped ensure Ohio’s ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed black suffrage.
  
• Platform: Understanding that his chances of election are bleak, Hayes has done everything in his power to separate himself from the excesses of the Grant administration. To avoid allegations of corruption, Hayes’s main focus throughout the campaign has been calling for civil service reform and an end to the spoils system. He wants to prohibit all federal civil servants from engaging in political activities and has personally promised to award cabinet positions based on merit rather than political affiliation. These stances have caused Hayes to be criticized by many within his party, who are in favor of the spoils system and see Hayes as unnecessarily throwing away a source of power. To prevent himself from being swayed by these forces, Hayes has pledged to serve a single term. To prevent the Democrats from profiting from Republican corruption,. Hayes has reminded the country, once again, that the Democrats were responsible for the Civil War. This latest “waving of the bloody flag” seems less effective than in previous elections, however.
  
  Unlike the Democratic ticket, there is no question about the Republican stance on any economic issues. Hayes is a strong advocate of hard-money, believing that a restricted money supply based on the gold standard will bring about eventual economic prosperity. Greenbacks, Hayes believes, would cause huge inflation and scare away investors, further destabilizing the market. Hayes is also an advocate of strong tariffs to help pay off the huge national debt incurred over the Civil War. Though he recognizes that tariffs will inflate prices, he believes that they are necessary to rebuild American industry and protect labor. On social issues, Hayes supported the Radical Republicans in enfranchising blacks and has supported the use of federal troops to protect them. Though he still believes that African Americans need to be protected, he recognizes American exhaustion with civil rights and is looking to slowly remove federal troops from the South. Afterall, they may be needed elsewhere to put down riots in the cities, where worker discontent is particularly high. Hayes has also endorsed an amendment to the United States Constitution that would prohibit the government from giving money to religious schools. While the issue has been framed as a “separation of church and state” matter, many believe that Hayes is trying to destroy the Catholic Church’s growing network of private schools. These rumors are supported by Hayes’s stance on immigration, which seeks to impose harsh restrictions on “Chinese Mongolians” and non-Western Europeans.

• Party Affiliation: Republican Party
  
• Home State: New York
  
• Notable Positions: United States Representative from New York, Member of the New York State Assembly
  
• Biography: William A. Wheeler is an inoffensive Republican from upstate New York who has intentionally made himself obscure to avoid confrontation. Wheeler is one of the stranger politicians in America, a man so timid and quiet that most of his colleagues fail to recognize him in the street. Born to a promising attorney who died prematurely, Wheeler grew up constantly fearful that others would dislike him and that he would leave his family in abject poverty after he died. He achieved a Master of Arts degree from Dartmouth College before serving as a competent, albeit inscrutable, administrator of his home town. His successes were noticed by Republican Party officials, who nominated Wheeler to serve office in 1861. As a Representative, Wheeler kept silent in almost all official business and has kept himself to the shadows, preferring to master procedure and rules over personal relationships. Though he is considered fair and is well-liked by all the factions within the party, his supposed popularity is more due to a complete lack of recognition than his personality.
  
• Platform: Wheeler has been placed on the ticket because he is one of the few Republicans not under investigation for major corruption charges and has a reputation for honesty. As a Congressman, Wheeler’s few speeches usually concerned the impropriety of his colleagues. In 1873, he was one of the few Congressman to vote against the Salary Grab Act, which tried to secretly increase Congressional salaries by 50%, and physically returned his paycheck to the Treasury to protest the measure. Though he has avoided exposing himself on most political issues, Wheeler loathes and detests corruption. The only other issue which Wheeler feels particularly strong about is civil rights. Rallying behind the image of Lincoln, Wheeler has declared that, “every man… of whatever race or color, or however poor… is entitled to full employment of ever right appertaining to the most exalted citizenship.” The United States should make every effort to protect the newly enfranchised freedmen. Wheeler is also an advocate of hard-currency and supports the use of the gold standard.

• Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
  
• Home State: New York
  
• Notable Positions: Governor of New York, Member of the New York State Assembly
  
• Biography: Samuel Tilden was born in New Lebanon, New York as the son of the wealthy Tilden family. Known for their medicinal cannabis, the Tildens have been a prominent part of American life since the early 1800s and have substantial influence across New York. Using these ties, Samuel Tilden secured entry to the prestigious Yale University, before moving onto New York University to study law. Hoping to keep the family business running, he became a skilled corporate lawyer known for his shrewd money management. While managing accounts for prominent officials across the state, including Martin Van Buren, Tilden learned the tax tricks that the rich used to evade the tax collectors and exploit the government. As a part of this work and his close friendship with Martin Van Buren, Tilden ran for the New York State Assembly in 1846 and helped push the state party towards Van Buren’s Free-Soil Faction. Though he had no great love for slavery, Tilden, like many Democrats, considered the Civil War to be a fruitless endeavor and lobbied for Lincoln to pursue peace with the slaveholding states. His personal opposition to slavery and his reputation for integrity helped ensure his political survival after the war. As one of the last Democrats of any prominence left, Tilden has led the movement to redefine the Democratic Party. No longer satisfied with being the party of slaveholders, Tilden has tried to transform the party to one of good government and anti-corruption. To prove this point, he personally destroyed the Tweed Ring in New York City and, as Governor of New York, prosecuted members of both parties who were caught overcharging the state for maintenance and construction.
  
• Platform: Samuel J. Tilden promises a break from decades of Republican corruption in favor of extensive reform. How Tilden plans to accomplish that reform, however, is a matter of dispute. Though Tilden has railed against the excessive corruption in Grant’s administration, the excesses of Reconstruction, and the questionable sales of public land, the Democratic stance on most prominent issue of the election, monetary policy, is a matter for debate. Throughout his career, Tilden has been a “hard-money” advocate, a believer that gold will eventually stabilize the economy. Meanwhile, Tilden has accepted a platform that explicitly calls for “soft-money” reforms, reforms which would expand the amount of money in circulation. Though Tilden has been quiet on the issue himself, as it is not appropriate for a Presidential candidate to campaign, his running mate has equivocated on the issue and painted Tilden as being on both sides of the argument. Further complicating matters is Tilden’s approach to tariffs, which he considers to be gross “masterpieces of injustice, inequality, and false pretense, which yields a dwindling… revenue [and] has impoverished many industries.”
  
  Though the voters care about the economy, Tilden’s personal concern is for the rampant corruption in the federal government. As one of the country’s leading advocates against patronage, Tilden has been horrified by the outright theft of government money. He has proposed a complete overhaul of the civil service system, similar to reforms he instituted in New York, wherein a committee would review each office and abolish those that were deemed unnecessary or exploitative. He would then institute a “common standard” for all offices to ensure that each appointee is qualified. Most surprisingly, Tilden has promised to fire every single high-ranking official appointed by the Republican Party over the last eight years to stop the endless cycle of corruption. Tilden also hopes to bring these reforms to the West, where he believes that public lands have been sold to railroad companies at the expense of settlers. Tilden blames the current economic collapse on Grant and his decision to empower speculators. If elected, Tilden will institute restrictions on land sales to ensure that only individuals can purchase lands. He will also open immigration to all Europeans while ensuring that “the Mongolian race of the Chinese Empire” is unable to take American jobs. He has begrudgingly accepted the South’s demands that he include among his campaign planks a promise to end the “the rapacity of carpetbag tyrannies." Tilden himself is relatively unconcerned about black suffrage. Though he is not a Doughface, he considers the issue of civil rights to be minor compared to the wider problem of rampant corruption.

• Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
  
• Home State: Indiana
  
• Notable Positions: Governor of Indiana, United States Senator from Indiana, United States Representative from Indiana, Member of the Indiana Assembly
  
• Biography: Thomas A. Hendricks was born in the Ohio Valley on 7 September 1819 to a Mississippi expat. The nephew of William Hendricks, U.S. Representative and later Governor of Indiana, Hendricks was raised to be a Jacksonian Democrat and Presbyterian. He attended the Presbyterian-run Hanover College in Indiana and helped his uncle fulfill minor duties before he went west to study law at another of his uncle’s law schools. He was admitted to the Indiana bar shortly thereafter and established an extremely successful law firm in Shelbyville, Indiana. Seeking to replicate his family’s success, Hendricks jumped into politics by running for the Indiana House of Representatives in 1848. After being elected to Congress in 1850, Hendricks was a key supporter of support of Stephen Douglas’s Missouri Compromise. After the compromise proved to be fundamentally unstable, Hendricks suffered substantially. He was kicked out of office and forced to reinvent himself. He emerged again in 1860 as a Pro-Union Democrat committed to the rights of immigrants and religious minorities. As a result of this reinvention, Hendricks largely managed to avoid the stain of the Civil War and has become increasingly prominent as other Democratic Party officials have disappeared. As the Governor of the all-important swing state of Indiana, the Democrats hope that Hendricks can deliver the state in the upcoming election.
  
• Platform: Hendricks has focused his attention on economics and believes that the party’s path to the White House depends on soft money. Though he once supported the gold standard, Hendricks was horrified by the economic collapse that occurred following the Panic of 1873 and has become one of the country’s leading soft-money advocates. Citing the success of the greenbacks during the Civil War, Hendricks believes that inflation and an increased monetary supply is the only way to alleviate the suffering on most farmers. This policy position has horrified monied interests in New York, who fear that their profits will be reduced via inflation. Unfortunately, because of Hendrick’s running mate, Tilden, Hendricks has been forced to moderate his position on money. Though he still believes that soft-money is essential to future prosperity, he is willing to defend Tilden’s pro-gold standard position when asked. Though the two do not agree on money policy, both are in agreement on corruption and have championed the need for major reform. As Governor of Indiana, Hendricks spearheaded major efforts to reduce corruption and promote budgetary stability. Hendricks is also a supporter of temperance measures and supports the use of licensing to reduce the alcohol industry’s stranglehold on American workers. He is an ardent defender of minority groups and has pushed for an open border policy with Europe (though not in China). He dislikes Reconstruction and voted against the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments because he feared that these amendments would introduce political instability into the recently reunified country. Previously, Hendricks supported Andrew Johnson’s approach to reintegrating the South and it is likely that he would support similar measures in the future.

• Party Affiliation: Greenback Party
  
• Home State: New York
  
• Notable Positions: Owner of Canton Iron Works, Co-Founder of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company, Inventor of the Tom Thumb steam locomotive
  
• Biography: Peter Cooper is an American industrialist, inventor, and philanthropist. He is the creator of the first American steam locomotive and the founder of the Cooper Union in Manhattan, New York City. Born in New York’s Dutch community, Cooper’s childhood allowed him to tinker with a seemingly endless array of tools. At different points, he worked as a coachmaker’s apprentice, a cabinet maker, a hatmaker, a brewer, a grocer, a weaver, and a glue maker. In 1817, he approached De Witt Clinton himself to propose an invention for use in the Erie Canal: an endless chain that could be used to pull boats. Though Clinton was delighted by the proposal, Cooper was unable to sell the device or secure any investors. Despite this setback, Cooper’s other initiatives proved successful and by 1823 he became the nation’s premier manufacturer of glues and cements. In 1830, he used his profits to develop the Tom Thumb steam locomotive, which earned him national praise and admiration and helped make him one of the richest men in New York City. Though he continued to run his businesses, Cooper became increasingly active in the anti-slavery and Indian reform movements into the 1840s. After Grant restricted the monetary supply, Cooper warned that economic catastrophe was on the horizon.
  
• Platform: Cooper has gained support as a reaction against the corrupt two-party system and their self-enriching monetary policies. Breaking from established economic thought, Cooper has called for the United States to move off the gold standard and debt-based bank currency system and instead embrace a credit-based, government-issued paper currency system. Cooper points to the success of the “Greenbacks” issued by the Treasury during the Civil War, as an example of a successful, mostly fiat money system. Cooper believes that once his non-gold-backed notes are issued, the expanded money supply will help restore the economy. Though Cooper considers himself an agrarian man and has avoided campaigning on any issue not related to the fiat money system, he is surprisingly popular with the urban poor, who believe that his monetary policy will raise their salaries and make debts easier to pay. Cooper is known to be sympathetic with the Native Americans and is responsible for the creation of the Board of Indian Commissioners. He is believed to be in favor of major reforms to current labor laws.

• Party Affiliation: Greenback Party
  
• Home State: Ohio
  
• Notable Positions: United States Representative from Ohio
  
• Biography: Cary is one of the country’s leading prohibitionists and a prominent reformer. Cary was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he established a successful law firm and was elected a judge in the Ohio Supreme Court. After 1845, however, Cary abruptly disbanded his legal practice and moved to the countryside so that he could pursue the more noble profession of farming. From his small farm, Cary became a prominent voice within the temperance and abolitionist movements. He was a pro-Lincoln delegate at the Republican National Convention in 1864 and, in 1867, was elected to Congress as an Independent Republican. He was one of the few Republicans in Congress to vote against the impeachment of Andrew Jackson, a decision he paid dearly for. Cary subsequently lost re-election, lost support of Ohio’s Republican Party, and would subsequently lose his race for Lieutenant Governor under Rutherford B. Hayes. Since his electoral defeats, Cary has resigned himself to an early retirement. He spends most of his days writing and supporting fellow prohibitionists.
  
• Platform: As a farmer himself, Cary has fully endorsed Cooper’s proposal for a fiat currency, believing that it is the only way to save poor farmers who have been trapped by massive debt. Unlike Cooper, Cary is also an avid prohibitionist who views alcohol as a tool of the wealthy elite to ensnare the poor. Cary supports the gradual outlawing of alcohol distribution and production and wants to ensure that each state outlaws alcohol in their constitution. Socially, Cary supports efforts to protect former slaves but dislikes the extreme measures used by some Republicans to achieve those ends. Cary opposed the impeachment of Andrew Johnson and supported his attempts to reintegrate former Confederate leaders into the United States. Cary supports an eight-hour work day and wants to institute labor laws to protect the working poor.

• Party Affiliation: Prohibition Party
  
• Home State: Kentucky
  
• Notable Positions: Territorial Governor of Montana, United States Representative from Kentucky, Major General in the Union Army
  
• Biography: Green Clay Smith belongs to a prominent planter family from Kentucky. As a child, Smith was frequently exposed to politics. His grandfather, Green Clay, was one of the wealthiest planters in the state. His father and brothers served office in Kentucky state politics. Hoping to replicate his family’s successes, Smith enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Mexican-American War. When he returned, Smith was quickly able to pass the bar and make in-roads with the state Democratic Party. Though his family had been prominent slaveowners, Smith viciously opposed the growing talks of secession and joined Union forces shortly after Lincoln’s election. He advanced to the the rank of major general before resigning from his post, believing that others could better fight against the South. In 1862, Smith was nominated by the Unionist Party for Congress. There, he served as the chairman of the Committee on the Militia. His administrative successes and Southern ties subsequently led President Johnson to appoint Smith as the Territorial Governor of Montana. Smith’s work largely consisted of mediating negotiations between American settlers and the natives who occupied the territory. While serving in this position, Smith had a revelation, resigned his post, and became ordained a Baptist Minister. He has since devoted his life to promoting religion and temperance across the American continent.
  
• Platform: As one might expect, Smith’s main focus is to ensure to national prohibition of alcohol and to make its manufacture a high crime. To accomplish this task, Smith proposes an unrepealable constitutional amendment that will prohibit the import and export of all alcoholic beverages. In keeping with this reformist platform, Smith has demanded other major social reforms that will ensure American success and the preservation of its Christian values. After passing restrictions on alcohol, Smith hopes to institute a national prohibition on all lotteries and gambling. He believes these institutions to be inherently regressive and an unfair drain on the poorest of citizens. Further, Smith believes that the criminal justice system has become needlessly cruel and unhelpful. As president, Smith will use his executive authority to outlaw “all barbarous modes and instruments of punishment” and institute punishments intended to reform criminals. He considers free education to be a natural right and will fight to enshrine this right in every state and national constitution. Believing social class to be an affront to God, Smith wants to eradicate all special privileges on the basis of race, creed, property, or sex and institute equal suffrage for all. He will also institute laws requiring all citizens to recognize the Christian Sabbath and distribute free bibles as a guide for public morality. Smith believes that the current economic crisis is the result of corruption and greed. He has proposed transforming the telegraphs and railroads, which have fueled the current crisis, into public utilities, while restricting all future land grants to settlers, effectively prohibiting companies from buying large parts of the American West. He also wants to institute strict restrictions on the salaries of federal officials and tie it to the salaries of the working man, so federal officials can feel just as much financial pressure of their constituents.

• Party Affiliation: Prohibition Party
  
• Home State: Ohio
  
• Notable Positions: Grand Worthy Chief Templar of the Good Templars of Ohio
  
• Biography: Gideon Tabor Stewart is an American lawyer and newspaper owner. Stewart was born at Johnstown, New York and studied at Oberlin College. As he pursued legal training, he worked under future Supreme Court Justice Noah Haynes Swayne and was later admitted to the bar in Ohio. Though he did not serve during the American Civil War, he published Union newspapers in Iowa and Ohio to support the Unionist cause. He has since transformed these publications into Prohibition Party periodicals. He writes extensively on prohibition and its relationship to the former abolition movement.
  
• Platform: Stewart believes that the national prohibition of alcohol, whether it be through an amendment or otherwise, is a national imperative. Over the last few years, alcohol has contributed to the general decline of man and the continuation of the current economic crisis. According to Stewart, intoxicating beverages have made the working man “slaves” through their alcoholism. And it is only through systematic reform can these “slaves” be “emancipated” from their bondage. Alcohol contributes nothing to society and merely serves as a way for monied interests to benefit off the misery of the least fortunate. It makes men willing to beat their families and it enables criminal organizations to gain followers. Though Stewart holds many of the same reformist views as his running mate, he believes that the prohibition of alcohol must be the focus of his candidacy. It would not make sense for the Prohibition Party to focus on anything but the prohibition of alcohol until they are able to achieve their goal.

QuoProQuid has issued a correction as of 21:24 on May 1, 2016

oystertoadfish has issued a correction as of 21:46 on May 1, 2016

Nckdictator has issued a correction as of 21:57 on May 1, 2016

Ibogaine has issued a correction as of 22:39 on May 1, 2016

QuoProQuid has issued a correction as of 01:38 on May 2, 2016