The election took place during the Reconstruction Era, and many Southerners were barred from voting.

Despite a split in the party, the Republicans retained control of the presidency and both houses of Congress.

[4] Greeley's Liberal Republicans campaigned on civil service reform and an end to Reconstruction.

Eager to defeat Grant, the Democratic Party also nominated Greeley.

Greeley died after the election but prior to the meeting of the electoral college, so most of Greeley's electoral votes went to his running mate, Missouri Governor Benjamin Gratz Brown, as well as former senator Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana.