In 1880, James Garfield traveled to Republican party headquarters in New York, a trip which culminated in an address to 50,000 people gathered in Madison Square Park.
When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, it was seen as an anomly. As such, there were no new safeguards put in place to protect the president from would-be assassins.
In the only major speech of his presidential campaign, Garfield spoke to 50,000 in New York on the issue closest to his heart: the fate of ex-slaves in the South.
When James Garfield came face to face with slavery during his time fighting in the South, his belief in the cause of abolition and freedom was strengthened.Â
