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The 1872 United States presidential election was the 22nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1872. 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.

Labor Party nomination
President John Bidwell faced no opposition when trying to win the nomination for the Presidency from the Labor Party, but his Vice President, Hendrick B. Wright, did face opposition. A faction in the Labor Party supported Leonidas L. Polk. Despite opposition from within his own party, Wright won the nomination on the first ballot.