Thus a party success might well be a prelude to a party disaster
because neither party knew how to improve its political
opportunity. The record of party fluctuation in Congress during
this period is almost unparalleled in sharpness.*
* In 1875, at the opening of the Forty-fourth Congress, the House
stood 110 Republicans and 182 Democrats. In 1881, the House stood
150 Republicans to 131 Democrats, with 12 Independent members. In
1884, the Republican list had declined to 119 and the Democratic
had grown to 201, and there were five Independents. The Senate,
although only a third of its membership is renewed every two
years, displayed extraordinary changes during this period. The
Republican membership of 46 in 1876 had declined to 33 by 1880,
and the Democratic membership had increased to 42. In 1882, the
Senate was evenly balanced in party strength, each party having
37 avowed adherents, but there were two Independents.
In state politics, the polling showed that both parties were
disgusted with their leadership and that there was a public
indifference to issues which kept people away from the polls. A
comparison of the total vote cast in state elections in 1882 with
that cast in the presidential election of 1880, showed a decline
of over eight hundred thousand in the Republican vote and of
nearly four hundred thousand in the Democratic vote. The most
violent of the party changes that took place during this period
occurred in the election of 1882, in New York State, when the
Republican vote showed a decline of over two hundred thousand and
the Democratic candidate for Governor was elected by a plurality
of nearly that amount.
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