QuoProQuid has issued a correction as of 16:21 on Jul 24, 2016

• Party Affiliation: Republican Party
  
• Home State: Indiana
  
• Notable Positions: United States Senator from Indiana, Brevet Brigadier General in the Union Army
  
• Biography: Benjamin Harrison was born in 1833, the grandson of the much-forgotten William Henry Harrison. While the Harrisons enjoyed prominence in their home state of Indiana, Benjamin Harrison had early aspirations for greatness. He did not just want to be a senator or governor, he wanted to be President of the United States. He became a diligent student and astute public speaker. After graduating from Miami University, Harrison opened his own law practice and became involved in the local Republican Party. In 1862, Harrison joined the Union Army where he eventually attained the rank of brevet brigadier general. Using his war experience as a springboard, Harrison became a powerful power broker within the Republican Party and was largely responsible for the nomination of James Garfield. In 1880, the Indiana legislature named him to the Senate, where he enjoyed considerable prominence. After Grover Cleveland vetoed one of his pension bills, Harrison set out to dethrone him. While Harrison is well-known and extremely successful, he is not considered to be charismatic. Privately, many consider him cold and mechanical. He has earned the nick-name, “the human iceberg.”
  
• Platform: Benjamin Harrison is a moderate Republican who supports slow, gradual change over sudden, massive reforms. At the center of his campaign is the tariff issue. Unlike Cleveland, who has advocated for a policy of free trade, Harrison thinks that tariffs should be enlarged and expanded to protect industry, improve the wages of workers, and fuel federal revenue. He has made the McKinley Tariff, the largest tariff in the country’s history, a centerpiece of this campaign. Harrison has stated that he wants to use tariff revenue to replace sales taxes on things like alcohol and tobacco, which unfairly burden certain segments of the population. He also wants to use the new revenue to address major social issues, like guaranteeing pensions for veterans and their dependents, protecting African Americans from Southern harassment, and guaranteeing all African Americans access to federal education. While Harrison is in favor of both gold and silver as money, the Republican Party has swung against silver. Harrison has been forced to embrace hard money policies. Harrison wants to counteract the growing influence of the railroads and possibly reserve large tracts of land for federal use, but has not stated how he would like to accomplish this goal. In international affairs, Harrison sees the United States as a rising power, one that must counteract British imperialism. In his unusual hostility towards the British, Harrison wants to expand and modernize the navy and expand American influence into the Pacific and Latin America. He is particularly interested in Hawaii, which is increasingly controlled by American businessmen. Harrison opposes restrictions on immigrants, but is unwilling to expend significant political capital opposing it. With his presidency falling apart, he believes that he needs to pick his battles carefully.

• Party Affiliation: Republican Party
  
• Home State: New York
  
• Notable Positions: United States Ambassador to France, Diplomat to the United Kingdom, Editor of the New York Tribune, Editor of the Washington Tribune
  
• Biography: Reid was born in 1837 on a farm near Xenia, Ohio. The scion of a prominent local family, Reid studied at Miami University and graduated with honors. Though he intended to go into a career in law, Reid’s trajectory was altered by the outbreak of the American Civil War. Instead of becoming a lawyer, Reid became a wartime correspondent for the Washington Tribune. Through his close friendship with Horace Greeley, Reid quickly rose through the industry ranks, becoming the Washington Tribune’s managing editor before succeeding Greenley as the editor of the New York Tribune. In 1869, Whitelaw was able to further accelerate his career by marrying the daughter of a California millionaire who rewarded Reid with a diplomatic post in the United Kingdom. His successes and connections with the Republican Party helped him become Ambassador to France in 1889. He has kept the position ever since. He is a multimillionaire.
  
• Platform: Whitelaw Reid is a business Republican, excited by the technological opportunities of the upcoming century but afraid of the growing rabble. As editor of the New York and Washington Tribune, Reid invested significant capital in new inventions to increase safety and productivity. He also fought hard against his workers’ attempts to unionize. He also believes that “the rights of the black man… [are] forever settled.” Though some have called him heartless, Reid argues that, “the age of the sentimental in politics [has passed]... Questions of God-given rights had made way for others having to do with the tariff on pig iron and with the rates of mileage,” not worker’s or civil rights. Like his running mate, Whitelaw supports tariffs to raise revenue and protect industry. He opposes the inflationary policies once advocated by the Greenbacks. In foreign policy, Reid is a nationalist and a jingoist. After Spain executed several American sailors during the Virginius Affair, the Tribune beat the war drum and claimed that the deaths necessitated “the death knell of Spanish power in America.” He believes that the United States should focus its influence on the Americas and on Hawaii, whose acquisition can preserve American power. He is a first-amendment absolutist and opposes all restrictions on the press.

• Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
  
• Home State: New York
  
• Notable Positions: Governor of New York, Mayor of Buffalo, New York, Sheriff of Erie County, New York
  
• Biography: Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey to a poor Reverend. Spending most of his childhood in central New York, where his father ministered, Cleveland had no opportunity to attend college and instead worked constantly to support his family. Though he would never attend college, he would pass the New York bar at twenty-two through sheer force of will. Cleveland was able to evade the draft during the Civil War by hiring a substitute, a decision that would advance his career in the short-run but haunt him long-term. He would be elected Sheriff of Erie County in 1870 where he cultivated a reputation as a non-partisan reformer, who nonetheless took pleasure in food, alcohol, and the like. After elected to be Mayor of Buffalo, New York, Cleveland exposed rampant corruption in his own party and oversaw a complete restructuring of Buffalo’s city government. Seeing the advantages of running an upright urban reformer against an increasingly corrupt Republican Party, the New York Republican Party nominated him for the governorship in New York. There, he vetoed what he saw as extravagant legislation intended to benefit special interest groups. He worked with local reformers in New York City to destroy Tammany Hall and gained a reputation as the hardest working politician in New York government, frequently working late hours. As a candidate for President, the Democrats have emphasized Cleveland’s status as a political outsider, a reformer, and a man of integrity. Despite recent allegations about his behavior as sheriff, Cleveland is widely perceived as a man of integrity.
  
• Platform: Cleveland is a staunch political and social conservative who views the President’s role as one of a distant overseer. The President should ensure that the government is honest and effective. For this election, however, Cleveland has pushed those views aside. In his State of the Union address for 1887, Cleveland argued that American tariffs were too high and stifled the growth of the American economy. He has, thus, made free trade the centerpiece of his campaign and urged the American public to remove its restrictions on international markets so that foreign countries might reduce their tariffs in kind. He has reminded Americans that the United States is already a low-cost producer and that its current tariffs make little economic sense. The McKinley Tariff, Cleveland argues, is dangerous as it artificially inflates the cost of domestic goods and hurts American consumers. He has promised to do everything in his power to repeal this legislation. Once the United States has benefited from lowering tariffs, Cleveland promises to establish a distant, “hands-off” government. He would like to remove “all unnecessary taxation” and has spent his presidency eliminating wasteful federal spending. Cleveland thinks that the National Treasury has gained an alarmingly large surplus that needs to be reduced. He strongly opposes immigration from “servile races” like the Chinese and wants to increase restrictions on Asian immigration lest they steal American jobs. In an executive order, Cleveland ordered the Union Army to return all captured Confederate battle flags to their home states. The order endeared the South but enraged the powerful Grand Army of the Republic, forcing Cleveland to rescind the order.

• Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
  
• Home State: Illinois
  
• Notable Positions: United States Representative from Illinois, Assistant Postmaster General
  
• Biography: Adlai Stevenson grew up on a small slave-owning tobacco plantation. After a harsh winter killed his family’s crop, Stevenson’s disgusted father sold his slaves and moved to Illinois to open a sawmill. Despite this early dislocation, Adlai Stevenson had a happy life. He attended Illinois Wesleyan University and Centre College before taking over his father’s sawmill. At the age of 23, he passed the bar exam and became a lawyer. As Stevenson transitioned into his new career, he had an unfortunate encounter with a young Abraham Lincoln, who used the meeting to mercilessly mock Stevenson. Despite this encounter, Stevenson would later support the Union during the Civil War and used the chaos to gain political office. In 1874, Stevenson used his influence in the Democratic Party, Republican Party, Independent Reform Party, and the Illinois Freemasons to secure a nomination to the United States House of Representatives. For the next few years, Stevenson would serve discontinuous terms, alternately losing and winning elections until gerrymandering made his district Republican. Trapped, Stevenson accepted a position in the Cleveland administration as assistant postmaster general. The position placed Stevenson in control of the country’s largest and most sophisticated patronage network, which he then purged of all his political opponents and replaced with friendly Democrats. As revenge for the maneuver, Republicans in the Senate refused to confirm Stevenson for a position on the District of Columbia Supreme Court.
  
• Platform: Stevenson was selected on the first ballot to balance out Cleveland’s perceived weaknesses. Whereas Cleveland is a Northerner, Stevenson is an ardent supporter of the South. He has earned its support for opposing the Lodge Bill, a bill that would have allowed the federal government to protect Southern blacks and ensure the fairness of elections. Stevenson also softens Cleveland’s hard money, no-nonsense monetary policies. In contrast to his running mate, Stevenson spent much of his career supporting greenbacks and populist reform efforts. He believes that restricting the money supply is harmful to the poor and the economy at-large. He also supports certain welfare programs to help those left behind by recent economic progress. Nonetheless, Stevenson is seen as extremely corrupt and a symbol of the spoils system. He has frequently sponsored the political ambitions of his supporters without personally knowing their abilities or qualifications. As assistant postmaster general, he increased Democratic authority at the cost of departmental efficiency. Stevenson has no particular foreign policy positions but he is believed to be extremely cautious and hesitant to involve U.S. forces abroad. He is known for being very courteous and charismatic in person but has failed to gain the respect of his running mate. Cleveland has signalled that he would effectively ignore Stevenson if elected.

• Party Affiliation: People’s Party
  
• Home State: Iowa
  
• Notable Positions: United States Representative from Iowa, Brevet Brigadier-General in the Union Army
  
• Biography: James B. Weaver is an agrarian activist and radical. Born in Ohio, Weaver’s family took advantage of the Homestead Act to move out to the Iowa Territory. While initially happy with their new land, Weaver’s family became increasingly unhappy by wealthy landowners who seized land around them. Over the next few years, Weaver took several different professions to protect himself. He read law. He drove cattle from Iowa to Sacramento, California. He prospected gold, sailed to Panama, and ran a small store. By 1856, Weaver’s experiences led him to reject slavery and he joined the newly formed Republican Party. Known for his adventurism, Weaver became a staple of Iowa’s Republican Party and frequently gave speeches across the state in support of anti-slavery Republicans. Naturally, after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, Weaver enlisted in the Union Army and participated in major battles at Shiloh and Corinth as well as Major General Sherman’s March Through Georgia. After the war’s end, Weaver gained several minor positions in the federal government before receiving the Republican nomination for Congress. After his loss and the Panic of 1873, Weaver grew disenchanted with the Republicans and joined the Greenbacks. He briefly served as one of the country’s few third-party congressman and was a presidential candidate in 1880.
  
• Platform: James Weaver has been planning another run for President for a long time, convinced that the country is ready for a populist revolution against the “few haughty millionaires who are gathering up the riches of the world.” When the People Party’s founder, Leonidas L. Polk, conveniently died, Weaver got his second-chance. Styling himself as a man of the common people, Weaver has embraced a series of expansive reforms that attack elite power. Weaver has called for a graduated income tax modelled on Abraham Lincoln’s Revenue Act of 1864, which Congress let expire in 1873. Weaver also supports the unlimited coinage of silver, a proposal that would allow any citizen to sell silver to the federal government in exchange for gold. Believing transportation and communication to be matters of “public necessity,” Weaver has also called for the nationalization of all telephone, telegraph, and railroad companies. He also demands that the government break up all land monopolies and distribute land grants held “in excess of their actual need.” All property held by foreigners and aliens should also be repossessed by the government. He opposes all subsidies, believing that the money should instead be redistributed to the people, and the Pinkerton system, which he believes to be a mercenary force of elites. On social issues, Weaver has called for a universal private ballot to prevent voter intimidation. He has also called for a constitutional amendment to allow national referendums on any issue, a constitutional amendment limiting the President and Vice-President to one-term in office, and a constitutional amendment requiring the direct election of Senators. Weaver does not support Chinese immigration and believes that their importation is degrading and brutalizing American labor. He has expressed some sympathy for prohibition, but has removed all references to it from his campaign.

• Party Affiliation: People’s Party
  
• Home State: Virginia
  
• Notable Positions: Attorney-General of Virginia
  
• Biography: James Gavin Field was born in 1826 to Lewis and Maria Field in Culpeper County, Virginia. There, he lived an uneventful life. He received a classical education, worked at a local store, and taught school. When the Mexican-American War broke out, Field left home for California, where he served as a pay clerk in the United States Army and helped assemble California’s constitutional convention. After returning home with considerable wealth and experience, he was admitted to the bar and married. In 1860, Field, a small plantation and slave owner, enthusiastically supported the Confederacy. He volunteered for service and was regularly promoted, partially due to familial connections and politics and partially due to his good record. At the Battle of Cedar Mountain, Field suffered severe injuries and lost his left leg below the knee. He was present at Appomattox Court House and witnessed the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. After the war, Field returned to his plantation and tried to reassemble his life. He enjoyed moderate success representing Culpeper County against the railroads and earned a distinguished reputation. Following the death of the Virginia Attorney General and a general backlash against the Democratic and Republican parties, Field found himself the Conservative Party’s unlikely nominee for Attorney General. He was successfully appointed shortly before the Conservative Party itself collapsed into squabbling. He is currently a member of various agricultural reform groups and perennially under consideration for a seat in the United States Senate.
  
• Platform: Field is a former member of Virginia’s Conservative Party, a state-centric party that appeared in opposition to Virginia’s radical Republican reformers. Seeking to represent the interests of poor white voters, the Conservatives opposed the enfranchisement of both African American men and former Confederate leaders. In 1879, Field argued before the United States Supreme Court in Ex Parte Virginia that Congress could not force states to include African Americans on trial juries. He is a segregationist. Field is concerned about Virginia’s poor and helped establish the state’s free public school system. He also pushed the state to sell its stock in the railroads to reduce corruption, pay Virginia’s large public debts, and promote public works. The plan would have also guaranteed a pension to every veteran’s family, both Union and Confederate. The plan’s failure hastened the Conservative Party’s demise. During the 1870s, Field joined several agricultural reform groups that advocated for regulation or nationalization of the railroad system and increased coinage of silver. Field was on good terms with former “Readjusters,” a Virginian political faction that viewed public debt as a threat to state programs and seeks any means to reduce it. Field is deeply suspicious of immigrants and supports a radical, populist interpretation of the Bible. He has notably told people to “read your Bibles Sunday and the Omaha platform every day in the week.” Field has no known views on foreign policy.

• Party Affiliation: Prohibition Party
  
• Home State: California
  
• Notable Positions: United States Representative from California, Member of the California Senate, Brigadier-General in the United States Army
  
• Biography: John Bidwell is a folk hero in certain parts of the country. Bidwell was born in 1829 to a small, moderately wealthy family. In 1841, Bidwell became one of the first Americans to travel along the California Trail in hopes that it might one day become a state. There, Bidwell achieved significant success. He became the business manager to John Sutter, the man who sparked the gold rush, and discovered a large amount of gold himself before other settlers could arrive. When the United States declared war on Mexico, Bidwell joined in, briefly abandoning his large ranch and his wealth. He attained the rank of major and, when he returned, he served in the California Senate and supervised the territory’s first census. In 1865, Bidwell led efforts to protect settlers from the Native American tribes. He oversaw the United States Army’s construction of seven forts near the Owhyhee Mines, which were later used during the Snake War with the tribes there. In 1868, Bidwell settled down and married the famed socialite Annie Kennedy. The two are an impressive power couple. They spend most of their time hosting parties for prominent politicians, including Presidents Grant and Hayes, Governor Leland Stanford, and William T. Sherman, where they try to convince them to support women’s suffrage, civil rights, and prohibition.
  
• Platform: Bidwell, as one might expect, supports the immediate suppression and destruction of all alcoholic products. Alcohol is the root cause of poverty, crime, domestic abuse, and corruption and must be immediately destroyed to prevent the country from collapsing. Bidwell will exert every effort in banning alcohol at the local, state, and federal level. Bidwell supports other social reforms as well. He goes beyond mainstream suffragism and believes that women should receive equal pay and equal political power in society. He supports a federally-mandated “day of rest” at least once each week. He also supports abolishing the trial court system, as they are nothing more than “mob rule.” In its place, Bidwell would settle all disputes by arbitration, as established by a formal tribunal of experts. Lastly, Bidwell would suppress non-English languages and expand all immigration laws. He believes that the country is being overrun with immigrants and that naturalized citizens should wait one year before being allowed to vote. Bidwell supports universal education and wants stop all appropriates towards sectarian (Catholic) schools. On economic issues, Bidwell embraces much of the same populist rhetoric as the People’s Party. He would nationalize all railroad, telegraph, and utility companies if elected President and levy tariffs to protect American business.Bidwell would also order the Treasury to establish money consisting of “gold, silver, and paper” whose value would be set by a per capita sum. He supports limits on the amount of land that can be owned by private companies. As one might expect, Bidwell loathes the two-party system and has promised to tear them down if elected.

• Party Affiliation: Prohibition Party
  
• Home State: Texas
  
• Notable Positions: Minister
  
• Biography: James Cranfield is a Texan lawyer and minister.
  
• Platform: Cranfield’s political positions are not well-known. He likely supports his running mate’s policy positions.

• Party Affiliation: Socialist Labor
  
• Home State: Massachusetts
  
• Notable Positions: Inventor of the “Simon Wing” multiplying camera
  
• Biography: Simon Wing is a photographer and inventor best-known for inventing the “Simon Wing” multiplying camera. He was born in rural St. Albans, Maine in 1826. The environment sparked a lifelong interest in photography. He became known for his photographs of the mountains and, in 1846, he and a close friend opened a small photography shop. After obtaining local success, he moved to Boston and opened a small shop on Washington Street. His innovative ideas and designs allowed him to open and operate a small chain of 20 camera shops scattered across New England. After reading several works by Marx, Wing became invested in socialism. He has used his moderate financial success to fund the Socialist Labor ticket in five states.
  
• Platform: Simon Wing is an obscure leader who owes his political status to the utopian author Edward Bellamy. Wing and Bellamy recognize that they have no chance of winning, but hope to inspire some middle-class intellectuals to pursue reforms. For Bellamy, that means abandoning the notion of competition and establishing government-run collectives. For Wing, that means popularizing Karl Marx. Wing’s positions are steeped in the language of Karl Marx and hyper-populism. Wing advocates for the abolition of the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, and wants to replace the Congress with a kind of “worker’s council.” Wing proposes abolishing federalism, abolishing the Senate, abolishing the public ballot, and abolishing all voting restrictions based on gender and race. He would introduce constitutional reforms to allow "the people the right to propose laws and vote upon all measures of importance, according to referendum.” He would also allow any recall elections for any person in the national government. On economic issues, Wing would nationalize all forms of transportation and communication. He would also repeal all land grants and take control of all national corporations. Wing would allow cities to seize all, “local railroads, ferries, water works, gas works, electric plants and all industries.” Wing would guarantee employment of all people through government and pass safety laws to promote public health. He supports laws that would abolish child labor and would require children to attend school until age 14. Wing also supports abolishing trademarks and copyrights.

• Party Affiliation:Socialist Labor
  
• Home State: New York
  
• Notable Positions: Organizer in the American Branch No. 1 of Section New York of the Socialist Labor Party of America
  
• Biography: Charles Matchett is a familiar figure within socialist circles. Born in 1843 in Massachusetts, Matchett can trace his lineage back to the colonial settlers of the 1600s. Unfortunately, Matchett was not able to benefit from these ties like many politicians and spent much of his life doing grueling work. At 16, he became a sailor, travelling with both private firms and the United States Navy. He has worked as a store clerk, a carpenter, and a beer bottler. In 1890, Matchett was introduced to Karl Marx and was immediately enamored. He is an organizer and activist within the Socialist Labor Party of America.
  
• Platform: Matchett is less a middle-class intellectual than a working-class revolutionary. While he supports Bellamy and Wing, he is more attracted to mobilizing the working class to “throw off the shackles of capitalist slavery.” He believes that the government should take control of all means of production and distribution and should guarantee each man a job. He supports abolishing all hierarchies, including the offices of President and Vice-President. On all other matters, he endorses the party’s platform and his running mate’s positions.

QuoProQuid has issued a correction as of 16:20 on Jul 24, 2016

foobardog has issued a correction as of 22:26 on Jul 25, 2016