When the Republican Party met at the 1868 Republican National Convention in Chicago , the delegates unanimously nominated Grant for president and Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax for vice president . Although Grant had preferred to remain in the army , he accepted the Republican nomination , believing that he was the only one who could unify the nation . The Republicans advocated " equal civil and political rights to all " and African American enfranchisement . The Democrats , having abandoned Johnson , nominated former governor Horatio Seymour ( New York ) for president and Francis P. Blair ( Missouri ) for vice president . The Democrats advocated the immediate restoration of former Confederate states to the Union and amnesty from " all past political offenses "
1868 Republican National Convention
1868 Republican National Convention
Ulysses S. Grant