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The 1884 United States presidential election was the 25th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 1884. It saw President Lyman Trumbull win re-election to a second term, defeating Federal Republican James G. Blaine, Silver nominee J. Donald Cameron, Progressive nominee Nathanial P. Banks, and others. The election was known for its chaotic campaigning, due to both parties fracturing and the close result of the election.

Trumbull had swiftly won the Farmer-Labor nomination, but still saw some members bolt and recreate the Workingman's Party, which nominated Benjamin Butler. Since Butler was against Free Silver, the renegade silver delegates declared at a rump convention their intention to convene once more in Salt Lake City, Utah in a national convention of conservative silver men. Thus, a small but powerful assembly of those who embraced a reform of laborism from a very different perspective would vote the Silver Party into existence on August 17th, 1884. The newly created Silver party nominated J. Donald Cameron for the Presidency. The Federal Republicans were not free from division either, as after the nomination of James G. Blaine, a group of progressive Federal Republicans walked out of the convention and nominated former Laborite Nathanial P. Bank, who was a former cabinet member in the Bidwell Administration, before resigning in opposition to Bidwell's attempt to abolish the Gold Standard.

Blaine and Trumbull were the leading contenders for the Presidency, with mudslinging and overall harsh election tactics being used against each other. Trumbull attacked Blaine's past history of shady political dealings, and Blaine attacked Trumbull's veto of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1881, and his vigorous prosecuting monopolies. Nathanial P. Banks ran on a "moderate progressive" platform, while Cameron argued for complete Free Silver and the abolishment of the Gold Standard.

In the election, President Trumbull won with 39.6% of the vote, with Blaine coming in a close second with 36.9% of the vote. Cameron and Banks came in a distant third and fourth respectively, with Cameron winning 2.3% of the vote, and Banks winning 11.9% of the vote.

Farmer-Labor Party nomination
The Democrats convened in Chicago on July 8–11, 1884, with New York Governor Grover Cleveland as clear frontrunner, the candidate of northern reformers and sound-money men (as opposed to inflationists). Although Tammany Hall bitterly opposed his nomination, the machine represented a minority of the New York delegation. Its only chance to block Cleveland was to break the unit rule, which mandated that the votes of an entire delegation be cast for only one candidate, and this it failed to do. Daniel N. Lockwood from New York placed Cleveland's name in nomination. But this rather lackluster address was eclipsed by the seconding speech of Edward S. Bragg from Wisconsin, who roused the delegates with a memorable slap at Tammany. "They love him, gentlemen," Bragg said of Cleveland, "and they respect him, not only for himself, for his character, for his integrity and judgment and iron will, but they love him most of all for the enemies he has made." As the convention rocked with cheers, Tammany boss John Kelly lunged at the platform, screaming that he welcomed the compliment.

On the first ballot, Cleveland led the field with 392 votes, more than 150 votes short of the nomination. Trailing him were Thomas F. Bayard from Delaware, 170; Allen G. Thurman from Ohio, 88; Samuel J. Randall from Pennsylvania, 78; and Joseph E. McDonald from Indiana, 56; with the rest scattered. Randall then withdrew in Cleveland's favor. This move, together with the Southern bloc scrambling aboard the Cleveland bandwagon, was enough to put him over the top of the second ballot, with 683 votes to 81.5 for Bayard and 45.5 for Thomas A. Hendricks from Indiana. Hendricks was nominated unanimously for vice president on the first ballot after John C. Black, William Rosecrans, and George Washington Glick withdrew their names from consideration.