[2]: 56 In a speech in Chautauqua, New York, he denounced allowing African-Americans to vote: "This is a white man's government, and it will remain so forever, for God Almighty has stamped his seal and sign of sovereignty upon the Anglo-Saxon tribe.

"[4] In a commencement address to the University of Chicago, Graves advocated colonizing black people to the Philippines, where they would form their own government.

The speech prompted an opposing letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Eagle by black journalist Jack Thorne, who said Graves's claims that white women were not safe to walk the streets of Atlanta were nonsense.

The first ballot saw a tally of 396 votes for Thomas L. Hisgen, 213 for Graves, 200 for Milford W. Howard, 71 for Reuben R. Lyon, and 49 for William Randolph Hearst.

[6] Following the general election defeat, the Independence Party quickly faded away into obscurity although it fielded candidates in New York until 1914.

[1] Graves was the first to suggest that a mammoth statue of Robert E. Lee be sculpted as a Confederate memorial on the side of Stone Mountain, Georgia.