[142][143]

Presidential election of 1880[edit]
Republican nomination[edit]
Main article: 1880 Republican National Convention
Following Grant's defeat for the nomination Puck magazine satirized Robert E. Lee's surrender to him at Appomattox by depicting Grant giving up his sword to Garfield.
Having just been elected to the Senate with Sherman's support, Garfield was committed to Sherman for the 1880 Republican presidential nomination.[144] Before the convention began, however, a few Republicans, including Wharton Barker of Philadelphia, thought Garfield the best choice for the nomination.[144] Garfield denied any interest in the position, but the attention was enough to make Sherman suspicious of his lieutenant's ambitions.[145] Besides Sherman, the early favorites for the nomination were Blaine, former President Grant; several other candidates attracted delegates as well.[146]
The Republican Party at the time was split into two factions: the "Stalwarts", who supported the existing federal government patronage system, and the "Half-Breeds", who wanted civil service reform.[147] As the convention began, New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, floor leader for the Stalwarts, who supported former President Ulysses S. Grant, proposed that the delegates pledge to back the eventual nominee in the general election.