Daily Quiz for February 1, 2009

Mugwumps. Reform-minded Independent Republicans, who were alienated by the Republican Party’s choice of James G. Blaine and backed the Democrat Grover Cleveland for president in 1884 were referred to as Mugwumps. Mugwump, which means “big chief&rdquo in the Algonquian Indian language, has come to refer to an independent who follows principles rather than party. The Mugwumps, among them George William Curtis and E.L. Godkin, regarded the Republican Party nominee Blaine inimical to the cause of good government. The campaign soon degenerated into one of American political history’s most scurrilous. Cleveland narrowly won the election, getting just over 60,000 more popular votes than Blaine, and 219 electoral votes to Blaine’s 182.