not oppose efforts on his behalf. Feeling betrayed by Arthur's sudden conversion to governmental reform as President, his former supporters among the conservative Stalwarts, including former President Grant, opposed his nomination. Arthur was trusted neither by his natural base of support among the conservative Stalwarts nor by the reformers in the party. Hence, at the 1884 Republican nominating convention in Chicago, Arthur lost his bid for his party's nomination to James G. Blaine on the fourth ballot. Arthur tried to resume the practice of law after leaving the presidency, but his ill health prevented him from doing much work. The disease had seriously weakened his heart and he became too frail even to go fishing, which was the great love of his life. His death came at home with his children and sisters near at hand. He was buried with full ceremonies in Albany, New York. His successor, President Grover Cleveland, was in attendance. Chester A. Arthur died on November 18, 1886 of Bright's disease, a then-fatal kidney ailment. He was first diagnosed with the disease in 1882, and kept it secret. Knowing that his condition was fatal, Arthur made little effort to seek nomination for a second term, but he did not oppose efforts by others on his behalf. On the fourth ballot at the convention, he lost the Republican nomination to his former secretary of state James G. Blaine.Chester A. Arthur served as President at a time when the nation's population reached 50 million. Men voted and were expected to exhibit stern loyalty to a political party. Boss politics dominated the day. Women, who could not vote, were expected to stand outside the party system, attentive to the so-called domestic sphere of life. African Americans, enfranchised by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, still voted in most southern states and everywhere else in the nation. Even many recent immigrants also voted regardless of their residency or citizenship status, espe...
