United States presidential election, 1876

The U.S. presidential election of 1876 was perhaps the most disputed presidential election in American history. Samuel Tilden handily defeated Ohio's Rutherford Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 votes yet uncounted. These 20 electoral votes were in dispute: in three states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina) each party reported its candidate had won the state, while in Oregon one elector was declared illegal (on account of being an “elected or appointed official”) and replaced. The votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter electoral dispute.

Many historians believe that an informal deal was struck to resolve the dispute. In return for Southern acquiescence in Hayes' election, the Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction. This deal became known as the Compromise of 1877. The Compromise effectively pushed African-Americans out of power in the government; soon after the compromise, African-Americans were banned from voting by poll taxes and grandfather clauses.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

Ohio governor Rutherford B. Hayes was nominated in a close vote, receiving 384 delegate votes to chief rival James Blaine's 351. William Wheeler was nominated for Vice President by a much larger margin (366-89) over his chief rival, who would later serve as a member of the electoral commission: Frederick T. Frelinghuysen.

Democratic Party nomination

New York governor Samuel J. Tilden was the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination, receiving 535 delegate votes and besting his nearest rival (Indiana Governor Thomas A. Hendricks) by a nearly 4-to-1 margin. Hendricks would be nominated for Vice President of the United States by acclamation following Tilden's nomination.

Greenback Labor Party nomination

Dissatisfied with the nation's fiscal policies, the Greenback Labor Party was organized for the 1876 election, with Peter Fennimore Cooper chosen as its Presidential nominee and Samuel F. Cary chosen as his running mate.

Other parties

The Prohibition Party nominated Green Clay Smith as their presidential candidate and Gideon Tabor Stewart as their vice presidential candidate. The American National Party nominated the ticket of James B. Walker and Donald Kirkpatrick.

General election

Campaign

Tilden, who had prosecuted machine politicians in New York and sent legendary boss William Tweed to jail, ran as a reform candidate against the background of the Grant administration. Both parties backed civil service reform and an end to Reconstruction. Both sides mounted mud-slinging campaigns, with Democratic attacks on Republican corruption being countered by Republicans raising the Civil War issue, a tactic called “waving the bloody shirt”; as Republicans said, “Not every Democrat was a Rebel, but every Rebel was a Democrat”.

Because it was still considered improper for a candidate to actively pursue the Presidency, neither Tilden nor Hayes actively stumped as part of the campaign, leaving that job up to surrogates.

Colorado

Colorado had become a state on August 1, 1876. With insufficient time and money to organize a presidential election in the new state, Colorado's state legislature selected the state's electors. These electors in turn gave their three votes to Hayes and the Republican Party.

Electoral disputes

See also: Electoral Commission (US)

In Florida (4 votes), Louisiana (8) and South Carolina (7), official returns favored Tilden, but election results in each state were marked by fraud and threats of violence against Republican voters. The Republican-dominated state electoral commissions subsequently disallowed a sufficient number of Democratic votes to award their electoral votes to Hayes.

In Oregon meanwhile just a single elector was disputed. The statewide result clearly had favored Hayes, but the state's Democratic Governor (LaFayette Grover) claimed that that elector, just-former postmaster John Watts, was constitutionally ineligible to vote since he was an “elected or appointed official”. Grover then substituted a Democratic elector in his place. The two Republican electors dismissed Grover's action and each reported three votes for Hayes, while the Democratic elector, C. A. Cronin, reported one vote for Tilden and two votes for Hayes. (Ultimately, all three of Oregon's votes were awarded to Hayes.)

Facing a constitutional crisis the likes of which the nation had never seen, on January 29, 1877 the U.S. Congress passed a law forming a 15-member Electoral Commission to settle the result. Five members came from each house of the U.S. Congress, and they were joined by five members of the United States Supreme Court. William M. Evarts served as counsel for the Republican Party.

The majority party in each house received three of the five members, and the five Supreme Court justices were chosen as follows: two from each of the major parties and another judge selected by these four to cast the swing vote.

The justices first selected Justice David Davis, but he was elected to the Senate by Illinois' state legislature, forcing them to choose an alternate, Justice Joseph P. Bradley, who, although a Republican, was considered the most impartial remaining member of the court. This selection proved decisive however, as Bradley joined the other seven Republican committee members in deciding the 20 disputed electoral votes, giving Hayes a 185-184 electoral vote victory.

The returns accepted by the Commission placed Hayes' victory margin in South Carolina at 889 votes, making this the second-closest election in U.S. history, after the 2000 election, decided by 537 votes in Florida.

Results

Reflecting the Commission's rulings.

Source (Popular Vote):

Source (Electoral Vote):

References

Primary sources

External links

1876 popular vote by counties
Hayes Presidential Library with essays by historians
HarpWeek | Hayes vs. Tilden: The Electoral College Controversy of 1876-1877
Samuel Tilden

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