The 1868 Republican National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in Crosby's Opera House, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, on May 20 to May 21, 1868.
Commanding General of the U.S. Army Ulysses S. Grant was the unanimous choice of the Republican convention delegates for president. For vice president the delegates chose Speaker Schuyler Colfax, who was Grant's choice. In Grant's acceptance telegram, a letter to then President of the Republican National Convention Joseph R. Hawley, Grant said "Let us have peace".
Background
Republicans, led by their Radical faction, had scored decisive victories in the 1866 elections. If that trend continued in the 1867 elections, then the party's presidential nomination would likely go to a Radical like Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase or Senator Benjamin Wade. Chase had the support of important figures like Senator Charles Sumner and financier Jay Cooke. More moderate Republicans, such as Senator William P. Fessenden, Charles Francis Adams Jr., and The New York Times, had interpreted the 1866 elections not as a mandate for radicalism, but as a rejection of President Andrew Johnson's programs and personality; therefore, they were wary of a Radical nominee.
The Grant candidacy, though, took on momentum in the wake of the state elections in 1867. The electorate rejected the Radical Republican agenda by voting for Democratic control in the key Northern states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and by rejecting black manhood suffrage amendments in Kansas and Ohio. The election results bolstered the case of the moderate Republicans and seemed to close the door to a Radical nominee. Georges Clemenceau, a Paris Temps journalist who would later be the French premier, reported accurately that "The real victims of the victory of the Democrats are Mr. Wade and Mr. Chase."
Presidential nomination
Presidential candidates
<gallery perrow="3" style="text-align:center;">
File:Ulysses S Grant by Brady c1870-restored (3x4 crop).jpg|Commanding General<br /> Ulysses S. Grant <br />of Illinois
File:Samuel Portland Chase.jpg|Chief Justice<br /> Salmon P. Chase <br />of Ohio<br /><small>(Speculated)</small>
File:Benjamin F Wade - Brady-Handy (cropped).jpg|President pro tempore<br /> Benjamin Wade <br />of Ohio<br /><small>(Speculated)</small>
</gallery>
As Republicans convened in Chicago in May 1868, Grant had no serious opposition for the nomination; he was nominated unanimously on the first ballot.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" | Presidential Balloting
|-
!Candidate||1st
|-
!Grant
|style="background:#fbb;"|648
|-
!Absent
||2
|}
<br />
Presidential Balloting / 2nd Day of Convention (May 21, 1868)
<gallery perrow="1" style="text-align:center;">
File:1868RepublicanPresidentialNomination1stBallot.png|1st<br/>Presidential Ballot
</gallery>
Vice presidential nomination
Vice presidential candidates
<gallery perrow="4" style="text-align:center;">
File:Schuyler Colfax portrait.jpg|Speaker<br /> Schuyler Colfax <br />of Indiana
File:Benjamin F Wade - Brady-Handy (cropped).jpg|President Pro Tempore<br /> Benjamin Wade <br />of Ohio
File:Reuben Fenton - Brady-Handy.jpg|Governor<br /> Reuben Fenton <br />of New York
File:Henry Wilson, VP of the United States.jpg|Senator<br /> Henry Wilson <br />of Massachusetts
File:Andrew Curtin2 (3x4a).jpg|Former Governor<br /> Andrew Curtin <br />of Pennsylvania
File:Hannibal Hamlin, photo portrait seated, c1860-65-retouched-crop.jpg|Former Vice President<br /> Hannibal Hamlin <br />of Maine
File:James Speed.jpg|Former Attorney General James Speed <br />of Kentucky
File:James-Harlan.jpg|Senator<br /> James Harlan <br />of Iowa
File:John Angel James Creswell, sitting.jpg|Former Senator<br /> John Creswell <br />of Maryland
File:Samuel C. Pomeroy - Brady-Handy.jpg|Senator<br /> Samuel C. Pomeroy <br />of Kansas
File:William D. Kelley - Brady-Handy (1).jpg|Representative<br /> William D. Kelley <br />of Pennsylvania<br /><small>(Improper Nomination)</small>
</gallery>
Colfax was selected for vice president on the fifth ballot. Colfax was popular among Republicans for his friendly character, party loyalty, and Radical views on Reconstruction.