 Practical differences between the candidates were few , and Republicans began the campaign with the familiar theme of waving the bloody shirt : reminding Northern voters that the Democratic Party was responsible for secession and four years of civil war , and that if they held power they would reverse the gains of that war , dishonor Union veterans , and pay Confederate veterans pensions out of the federal treasury . With fifteen years having passed since the end of the war , and Union generals at the head of both tickets , the bloody shirt was of diminishing value in exciting the voters . With a few months to go before the election , the Republicans switched tactics to emphasize the tariff . Seizing on the Democratic platform 's call for a " tariff for revenue only " , Republicans told Northern workers that a Hancock presidency would weaken the tariff protection that kept them in good jobs . Hancock made the situation worse when , attempting to strike a moderate stance , he said " the tariff question is a local question " . The ploy proved effective in uniting the North behind Garfield . In the end , fewer than two thousand votes , of the more than 9 @.@ 2 million popular votes cast , separated the two candidates , but in the Electoral College Garfield had an easy victory over Hancock , 214 to 155 . 
