Mugwump Republicans Bolt Party Over Blaine Nomination, Citing Corruption

Reform-minded Republicans—derisively called “Mugwumps” from the Algonquian word for “important person” or “kingpin”—bolt from their party following James G. Blaine’s nomination for president at the Republican National Convention in June 1884. The Mugwumps, a faction of Anglo-Saxon Protestant reformers educated at prestigious universities, reject Blaine’s candidacy because of his long history of corruption, including the “Mulligan letters” exposed in 1876 showing he sold his influence in Congress to various businesses. The revolt demonstrates that even in the Gilded Age, corruption can become too brazen for some elite Republicans to tolerate, though the Mugwumps’ defection reflects class anxieties about political integrity rather than opposition to the economic system producing such corruption.

James G. Blaine, during his time as U.S. Representative from Maine and later Speaker of the House, was an active participant in patronage politics and corporate influence-peddling. In 1876, Boston bookkeeper James Mulligan uncovered letters strongly suggesting Blaine’s involvement in fraudulent public bond issues and other forms of corruption. In one deal alone, Blaine received $110,150 (over $1.5 million in 2010 dollars) from the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad for securing a federal land grant, among other services. To the Mugwumps, “Slippery Jim Blaine was stained with collusion, graft, and perjury.” Democrats and anti-Blaine Republicans make unrestrained attacks on his integrity, viewing him as emblematic of the Republican Party’s wholesale capture by railroad and corporate interests.

The Mugwumps switch parties to support Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland, whom they admire because of his willingness to challenge corrupt political organizations and businesses. Cleveland’s entire political career has been built on battles as an outsider against corruption. Having served as nothing more than county sheriff until 1882, reformers persuaded him to run for Mayor of Buffalo. Within a year he parlayed fights against that city’s political machine into election as Governor of New York, where he vetoed numerous bills and fought Tammany Hall to the point that his reputation as a reformer became national. Prominent Mugwumps include Mark Twain, Henry Ward Beecher, Carl Schurz, and a young Louis Brandeis—representing the educated professional class’s growing discomfort with naked corruption.

The Mugwump defection proves decisive. Despite never formally organizing, the Mugwumps claim their influence provides Cleveland’s margin of victory in a close election, particularly in New York state. Cleveland wins the popular vote narrowly, and the electoral college contest comes down to New York, which Blaine loses by fewer than 1,200 votes. By winning 219 electoral votes to Blaine’s 182, Cleveland becomes the first Democrat to win the presidency since 1856 and the first in the post-Civil War era. The Mugwump revolt demonstrates that corruption scandals can swing close elections when a faction of the elite defects, but also reveals the limitations of “reform” movements that attack individual corrupt politicians while leaving intact the structural conditions—corporate campaign financing, railroad monopolies, patronage systems—that produce corruption systematically. The Mugwumps oppose political corruption but not corporate power; they want honest government that serves business interests more efficiently, not fundamental challenges to concentrated wealth. Their revolt against Blaine represents elite squeamishness about excessive visibility of corruption, not opposition to the Gilded Age economic order itself.