George Washington Julian, May 5, 1817 (Centerville, Ind.) – July 7, 1899 (Irvington, Ind.)
VP candidate for Free Soil Party 1852
Running mate with nominee: John P. Hale (1806-1873)
Popular vote: 155,210 (4.91%)
Electoral vote: 0/296
The campaign: This was something of a replay of the previous two presidential elections except in this case the abolitionist third party did not impact the outcome since Franklin Pierce won in an electoral landslide. This election took place in sort of a weird lull between the Compromise of 1850 and the rise of "Bleeding Kansas." The giants of the Senate Clay, Calhoun and Webster were dying off and the political winds were starting to shift.
There were some other third parties that were on the ballot-- Union Party, Native American Party, and Southern Rights Party-- and they collectively failed to gain even .05% so for now I'll pass them by and perhaps return in the course of this survey.
The Free Soil Party was on the ballot in 19 states, all in the North plus California. They placed third in every contest with their best showing in Maine (9.77%), Ohio (8.98%), Michigan (8.73%), and Illinois (6.36%). After this election the Free Soil Party merged with other political groups, such as the Whigs, to form the Republican Party. George Washington Julian was part of this transition.
Election history:
1845 Indiana House of Representatives (Whig)
1849-1851 US House of Representatives (Indiana) (Free Soil)
1851 US House of Representatives (Indiana) (Free Soil) - defeated
1854 US House of Representatives (Indiana) (Free Soil) - defeated
1860-1871 US House of Representatives (Indiana) (Republican)
1870 Primary, US House of Representatives (Indiana) (Republican) - defeated
1872 Nominee for Vice-President (Liberal Republican Party) - defeated
Other occupations: teacher, attorney, author, Surveyor General of New Mexico 1885-1889
Buried: Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana
Notes:
Raised in a Quaker household but converted to Unitarianism.
Son-in-law of Ohio Congressman Joshua Reed Giddings of whom he wrote a biography in 1892
Allied himself with the Democratic Party after 1872.
Was considered an extremist and radical regarding abolition and women's suffrage.
Is buried in the same cemetery as fellow unsuccessful Vice-Presidential candidates William Hayden English and John W. Kern, Democrats who ran in 1880 and 1908. Among the many other notables buried there is John Dillinger.
After the Civil War he supported the idea of executing of Jefferson Davis and also the impeachment of President Johnson.
Quotes about George Washington Julian:
"It is not a pleasant countenance to look upon, but rather grim and belligerent, touched perhaps with a little sense of weary sadness, which grows as you observe. Mr. Julian's head, face, and figure, is of the Round-head, Cromwellian type."--June 14, 1866, Observer
"Nature was in one of her most generous moods when she formed him, for he towers above the people like a mountain surrounded by hills. He dwells in a higher atmosphere and snuffs a purer air than most Congressmen, and this may account for his always being found in the right place, never doubtful. People know just what George Washington Julian will do in any national crisis."--Philadelphia Press, Mar. 3, 1868
"He uses vinegar when he might scatter sugar."--Gazette (Cincinnati) Feb. 14, 1870
