412 Chapter 15 Reconstruction and the South
in the Electoral College, 214 to 80, but the popular
vote was close: 3 million to 2.7 million. Although
he would probably have carried the Electoral
College in any case, Grant’s margin in the popular
vote was supplied by southern blacks enfranchised
under the Reconstruction acts, about 450,000 of
whom supported him. A majority of white voters
probably preferred Seymour. Since many citizens
undoubtedly voted Republican because of personal
admiration for General Grant, the election statistics
suggest that a substantial white majority opposed
the policies of the Radicals.Thomas Waterman Wood, a Northerner, painted this hopeful interpretation of Reconstruction, His First
Vote(1868).