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| Type | Primary Election |
| Filing Deadline | June 01, 1904 - 12:00pm |
| Polls Open | July 06, 1904 - 06:00am |
| Polls Close | July 08, 1904 - 08:00pm |
| Term Start | March 04, 1905 - 12:00pm |
| Term End | March 04, 1909 - 12:00pm |
| Contributor | Chronicler |
| Last Modified | Chronicler January 14, 2024 09:50am |
| Data Sources | |
| Description | The National Liberty Party sponsored the first Black candidate for US President. The short-lived party's history was complicated.
At the beginning of 1904, a group of Black leaders organized the National Civil Liberty Party. They called for a national convention to place a ticket of Black candidates in the field (Indianapolis Star, 3/31/1904).
The party's national convention was held on 7/6/1904 in St. Louis, with delegates attending from 36 states. W.H. Terrel of Chicago served as chair of the convention. The convention adopted the name of the National Liberty Party. When the time came for the presidential nomination, the delegates nominated W.J. Walthers of NJ. He was in attendance and declined to run. Next the delegates nominated J. Milton Turner of St. Louis; Turner declined to run and recommended the delegates endorse President Theodore Roosevelt for a full term. The motion to nominate TR included the phrase that he was "the true friend of the Negro" (Lincoln Nebraska State Journal, 7/7/1904).
Second Session of National Convention
Delegates who preferred the original impetus of the party, to place a national ticket in the field with Black men as candidates for President and Vice President, met again on 7/8/1904 in Douglas Hall, St. Louis. Four names were proposed for consideration for the presidential nomination; delegate S.P. Mitchell of Tennessee made a motion that William T. Scott of East St. Louis, Illinois, be nominated unanimously, and the motion carried. Delegates then nominated W.C. Payne of Warrenton VA for Vice President. Payne was a Black Republican who had served in the Spanish-American War (Helena Independent Record, 7/9/1904; Parson [KS] Daily Eclipse, 7/13/1904).
Scott was the editor of a nespaper named the East St. Louis Leader. Earlier, he had served as editor of the Cairo Daily Gazette, the first Black daily newspaper in the US (Parsons [KS] Palladium, 7/20/1904). He also operated a saloon in East St. Louis. At the time the delegates were choosing him as their candidate, the sheriff in his home county was making preparations to arrest Scott for not paying a fine for some disorderly conduct at his saloon. The sheriff arrested Scott around 7/14, and a judge sentenced him to 20 days in jail (Yonkers Statesman, 7/29/1904). Some contemporary newspapers incorrectly reported that the party's VP nominee had been killed during a gambling raid in Memphis (Miami Evening Record, 7/23/1904).
The party's executive committee sent two men to visit Scott in the jail in Belleville IL to hear his side of the story. They reported back to the executive committee that they believed Scott should be replaced as the nominee. Scott's nomination was rescinded around 7/20 (contemporary newspapers differ in their accounts of the exact day). Some party members announced Taylor as the new nominee (Kenosha News, 7/21/1904). The executive committee sent some party members to notify Taylor of his nomination. Newspapers reported that the members were delayed in the object of their appointment. Taylor had not accepted the nomination as of 9/9/1904 (Cresco [IA] Plain Dealer, 9/9/1904). His letter accepting the nomination arrived at the party's headquarters on 9/15/1904 (Jasper [IN] Herald, 9/23/1904).
Although newspapers of the day reported on the third party nominees, they only reported short biographical stories about Taylor and nothing on his campaign.
Taylor's campaign was hampered from the beginning. First, the party had no money and never raised any (Des Moines Register, 11/10/1904). Second, another group of Black leaders met and formed the Lincoln Party that placed a second ticket in the field. Third, in places where Black men were able to vote, they gave 90+% of their votes to the Republicans and didn't see anything to gain by casting votes for a party that was unable to even field slates of Presidential Electors.
Post-Election Review
After the election, several newspapers ran stories about Taylor. He had considered what could have been done differently. He thought that the National Liberty Party should continue in existence and try again in 1908. He proposed the creation of local affiliates throughout the nation that would be able to organize and serve as a grassroots funding source (Washington Times, 11/19/1904).
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