United States presidential election, 1876
Encyclopedia
The United States presidential election of 1876 was one of the most disputed and controversial presidential elections
in American history. Samuel J. Tilden
of New York outpolled Ohio's Rutherford B. Hayes
in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes's 165, with 20 votes 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 (as an "elected or appointed official") and replaced. The 20 disputed electoral votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter legal and political battle, giving him the victory.
It is generally believed that an informal deal was struck to resolve the dispute: the Compromise of 1877
. In return for the Democrats' acquiescence in Hayes's election, the Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction. The Compromise effectively ceded power in the Southern states to the Democratic Redeemers
.
This was the first presidential election in 24 years
in which the Democratic candidate won a majority of the popular vote. This was also the first, and to date, the only election in the history of the United States where a candidate won an absolute majority of the popular vote (50 percent plus one) and was not elected President by the Electoral College
.
When the 6th Republican National Convention assembled on June 14, 1876, it appeared that James G. Blaine would be the nominee. On the first ballot, Blaine was just 100 votes short of a majority. His vote began to slide after the second ballot, as many Republicans feared that Blaine could not win the general election. Anti-Blaine delegates could not agree on a candidate until Blaine's total rose to 41% on the sixth ballot. Leaders of the reform Republicans met privately and considered alternatives. The choice was Ohio's reform Governor, Rutherford B. Hayes. On the seventh ballot, Hayes was nominated with 384 votes to 351 for Blaine and 21 for Benjamin Bristow. William A. Wheeler
was nominated for Vice President by a much larger margin (366–89) over his chief rival, Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, who later served as a member of the electoral commission.
The 12th Democratic National Convention assembled in St. Louis in June 1876. This was the first political convention held west of the Mississippi River. Five thousand people jammed the auditorium in St. Louis, for the sweet smell of victory was in the air, the first in 20 years for the Democrats. The platform, with its sharp cry for immediate and sweeping reforms, sent the delegates into an ecstasy of political fervor. The historical conjunction of Tilden, the country's greatest reformer, with the crying need for reform brought Tilden more than 400 votes on the first ballot and the nomination by a landslide on the second.
Tilden defeated Thomas A. Hendricks
, Winfield Scott Hancock
, and William Allen
for the presidential nomination. Although Tilden was strongly opposed by John Kelly
, the leader of New York's Tammany Hall
, he was still able to obtain the nomination. Thomas Hendricks was nominated for vice-president.
The Democratic platform pledged to replace the corruption of the Grant administration with honest, efficient government and to end "the rapacity of carpetbag tyrannies" in the South; called for treaty protection for naturalized U.S. citizens visiting their homeland, restrictions on Oriental immigration, and tariff reform; and opposed land grants to railroads.
It is claimed that Tilden's nomination was received by the voting Democrats with more enthusiasm than any leader since Andrew Jackson
.
in 1874 to urge the federal government to inflate the economy through the mass issuance of paper money called greenbacks. Their first national nominating convention was held in Indianapolis in the spring of 1876. Peter Cooper
was nominated for President with 352 votes to 119 for three other contenders. The convention nominated anti-monopolist
Senator Newton Booth
of California
for vice president; after Booth declined to run, the national committee chose Samuel Fenton Cary
as his replacement on the ticket.
, in its second national convention, nominated Green Clay Smith
as their presidential candidate and Gideon T. Stewart
as their vice presidential candidate. The American National Party nominated the ticket of James B. Walker and Donald Kirkpatrick.
Tilden, who had prosecuted machine politicians in New York and sent legendary boss William M. 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 ridiculed by Democrats who called it "waving the bloody shirt
". Republicans chanted, "Not every Democrat was a rebel, but every rebel was a Democrat".
The Democratic strategy for victory in the south was highly reliant on paramilitary groups such as the Red Shirts and the White League
. Utilizing the strategy of the Mississippi Plan
, these groups actively suppressed black and white Republican voter turnout by disrupting meetings and rallies and even using violence and intimidation. They saw themselves as the military wing of the Democratic Party.
Because it was considered improper for a candidate to pursue the presidency actively, neither Tilden nor Hayes actively stumped as part of the campaign, leaving that job to surrogates.
became the 38th 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.
, on them. The Republican-dominated state electoral commissions subsequently disallowed a sufficient number of Democratic votes to award their electoral votes to Hayes.
In two southern states, the governor recognized by the United States had signed the Republican certificates. The Democratic certificates from Florida were signed by the state attorney-general and the new Democratic governor. Those from Louisiana were signed by the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, and those from South Carolina by no state official. In the latter state, the Tilden electors simply claimed that they were chosen by the popular vote and so they were rejected by the state election board.
Meanwhile, in Oregon, the vote of a single elector was disputed. The statewide result clearly had favored Hayes, but the state's Democratic governor, La Fayette Grover
, claimed that that elector, former postmaster John Watts, was ineligible under Article II, Section 1, of the United States Constitution
, since he was a "person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States". 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. The two Republican electors presented a certificate signed by the secretary of state of Oregon. Cronin and the two electors he appointed (Cronin voted for Tilden while his associates voted for Hayes) used a certificate signed by the governor and attested by the secretary of state. Ultimately, all three of Oregon's votes were awarded to Hayes.
Hayes thus had a majority of one in the electoral college. The Democrats raised the cry of fraud. Suppressed excitement pervaded the country. Threats were even muttered that Hayes would never be inaugurated. In Columbus
, somebody fired a shot at Hayes's house as he sat down to dinner. President Grant quietly strengthened the military force in and around Washington.
The Constitution provides that "the President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the [electoral] certificates, and the votes shall then be counted." Certain Republicans held that the power to count the votes lay with the President of the Senate, the House and Senate being mere spectators. The Democrats objected to this construction, since Mr. Ferry, the Republican President of the Senate, could then count the votes of the disputed states for Hayes. The Democrats insisted that Congress should continue the practice followed since 1865, which was that no vote objected to should be counted except by the concurrence of both houses. The House was strongly Democratic; by throwing out the vote of one state it could elect Tilden.
Facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis
, the U.S. Congress passed a law on January 29, 1877, forming a 15-member Electoral Commission to settle the result. Five members were selected from each house of Congress, and they were joined by five members of the Supreme Court
. William M. Evarts
served as counsel for the Republican Party. The Compromise of 1877
may have helped the Democrats accept this electoral commission as well.
The majority party in each house named three members and the minority party two. As the Republicans controlled the Senate and the Democrats the House of Representatives, this yielded five Democratic and five Republican members of the Commission. Of the Supreme Court justices, two Republicans and two Democrats were chosen, with the fifth to be selected by these four.
The justices first selected a political independent, Justice David Davis
. According to one historian, "[n]o one, perhaps not even Davis himself, knew which presidential candidate he preferred." Just as the Electoral Commission Bill was passing Congress, the legislature of Illinois elected Davis to the Senate. Democrats in the Illinois legislature believed that they had purchased Davis's support by voting for him. However, they had made a miscalculation; instead of staying on the Supreme Court so that he could serve on the Commission, he promptly resigned as a Justice in order to take his Senate seat. All the remaining available justices were Republicans, so the four justices already selected chose Justice Joseph P. Bradley, who was considered the most impartial remaining member of the court. This selection proved decisive.
It was drawing perilously near to Inauguration Day. The commission met on the last day of January. The cases of Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina were in succession submitted to it by Congress. Eminent counsel appeared for each side. There were double sets of returns from every one of the states named.
The commission first decided not to question any returns that were prima facie
lawful. Bradley joined the other seven Republican committee members in a series of 8-7 votes that gave all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes, giving Hayes a 185-184 electoral vote victory. The commission adjourned on March 2; two days later Hayes was inaugurated without disturbance.
The returns accepted by the Commission placed Hayes's 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. It is not possible to conclude definitively what the result would have been if a fair election had been held without the violence and intimidation throughout the South that disenfranchised many African-Americans made eligible to vote under the 15th amendment. Nevertheless, in the likeliest fair scenario, Hayes would have won the election with 189 electoral votes to Tilden's 180 by winning all of the states that he did ultimately carry, plus Mississippi, but minus Florida. A strong case can be made that South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi, states with an outright majority African-American population, would have gone for Hayes, since nearly all African-Americans during this time voted Republican (while nearly all whites in the South during this time voted Democratic). Regardless, the election of 1876 was the last until 1956 in which Louisiana's electoral votes went to a Republican, and the last until 1964 in which South Carolina's electoral votes went to a Republican. Florida, with a majority white population, would have likely gone to Tilden in a fair election. Clearly Hayes would have won appreciably more of the popular vote in a fair election, albeit arguably still not a plurality or majority.
Upon his defeat, Tilden said, "I can retire to public life with the consciousness that I shall receive from posterity the credit of having been elected to the highest position in the gift of the people, without any of the cares and responsibilities of the office."
Source (Popular Vote):
Source (Electoral Vote):
United States presidential election
Elections for President and Vice President of the United States are indirect elections in which voters cast ballots for a slate of electors of the U.S. Electoral College, who in turn directly elect the President and Vice President...
in American history. Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel Jones Tilden was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, one of the most controversial American elections of the 19th century. He was the 25th Governor of New York...
of New York outpolled Ohio's Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes's 165, with 20 votes 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 (as an "elected or appointed official") and replaced. The 20 disputed electoral votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter legal and political battle, giving him the victory.
It is generally believed that an informal deal was struck to resolve the dispute: the Compromise of 1877
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877, also known as the Corrupt Bargain, refers to a purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election and ended Congressional Reconstruction. Through it, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J...
. In return for the Democrats' acquiescence in Hayes's election, the Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction. The Compromise effectively ceded power in the Southern states to the Democratic Redeemers
Redeemers
In United States history, "Redeemers" and "Redemption" were terms used by white Southerners to describe a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era which followed the American Civil War...
.
This was the first presidential election in 24 years
United States presidential election, 1852
The United States presidential election of 1852 bore important similarities to the election of 1844. Once again, the incumbent president was a Whig who had succeeded to the presidency upon the death of his war-hero predecessor. In this case, it was Millard Fillmore who followed General Zachary Taylor...
in which the Democratic candidate won a majority of the popular vote. This was also the first, and to date, the only election in the history of the United States where a candidate won an absolute majority of the popular vote (50 percent plus one) and was not elected President by the Electoral College
Electoral college
An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...
.
Republican Party nomination
Republican candidates:- Governor Rutherford B. HayesRutherford B. HayesRutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
of OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus... - Senator James G. BlaineJames G. BlaineJames Gillespie Blaine was a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine, two-time Secretary of State...
of MaineMaineMaine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost... - Secretary Benjamin BristowBenjamin BristowBenjamin Helm Bristow was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who served as the first Solicitor General of the United States and as a U.S. Treasury Secretary. Fighting for the Union, Bristow served in the army during the American Civil War and was promoted to Colonel...
of KentuckyKentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth... - Senator Oliver P. Morton of IndianaIndianaIndiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
- Senator Roscoe ConklingRoscoe ConklingRoscoe Conkling was a politician from New York who served both as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. He was the leader of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party and the last person to refuse a U.S. Supreme Court appointment after he had...
of New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
William A. Wheeler
William Almon Wheeler was a Representative from New York and the 19th Vice President of the United States .-Early life and career:...
was nominated for Vice President by a much larger margin (366–89) over his chief rival, Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, who later served as a member of the electoral commission.
| Vice Presidential Ballot | |
| William A. Wheeler William A. Wheeler William Almon Wheeler was a Representative from New York and the 19th Vice President of the United States .-Early life and career:... | 366 |
|---|---|
| Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen | 89 |
| Marshall Jewell Marshall Jewell Marshall Jewell was a U.S. political figure. He served as the 44th and 46th Governor of Connecticut between 1869 and 1870, and again from 1871 until 1873. Born in 1825 in Winchester, New Hampshire, he was first appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as Minister to Russia from 1873 to 1874, but... | 38 |
| Stewart L. Woodford Stewart L. Woodford Stewart Lyndon Woodford was an American politician.-Life:He studied at Yale University and Columbia College . At the latter he graduated in 1854 and was a member of St. Anthony Hall... | 70 |
| Joseph R. Hawley | 25 |
Democratic Party nomination
Democratic candidates:- Samuel J. TildenSamuel J. TildenSamuel Jones Tilden was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, one of the most controversial American elections of the 19th century. He was the 25th Governor of New York...
, governor of New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... - Thomas A. HendricksThomas A. HendricksThomas Andrews Hendricks was an American politician who served as a Representative and a Senator from Indiana, the 16th Governor of Indiana , and the 21st Vice President of the United States...
, governor of IndianaIndianaIndiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is... - Winfield Scott HancockWinfield Scott HancockWinfield Scott Hancock was a career U.S. Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican-American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War...
, U.S. Major General from PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... - William AllenWilliam Allen (governor)William Allen was an Democratic Representative, Senator and 31st Governor of Ohio. He moved to the U.S. state of Ohio after his parents died, residing in Chillicothe, Ohio....
, former governor of OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus... - Thomas F. BayardThomas F. BayardThomas Francis Bayard was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served three terms as U.S. Senator from Delaware, and as U.S. Secretary of State, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.-Early life and family:Bayard was born in...
, U.S. senator from DelawareDelawareDelaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania... - Joel ParkerJoel ParkerJoel Parker was an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 20th Governor of New Jersey from 1863–1866 and from 1871-1874.-Early life, family:...
, former governor of New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware... - Allen G. ThurmanAllen G. ThurmanAllen Granberry Thurman was a Democratic Representative and Senator from Ohio, as well as the nominee of the Democratic Party for Vice President of the United States in 1888.-Biography:...
, U.S. senator from OhioOhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
Tilden defeated Thomas A. Hendricks
Thomas A. Hendricks
Thomas Andrews Hendricks was an American politician who served as a Representative and a Senator from Indiana, the 16th Governor of Indiana , and the 21st Vice President of the United States...
, Winfield Scott Hancock
Winfield Scott Hancock
Winfield Scott Hancock was a career U.S. Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican-American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War...
, and William Allen
William Allen (governor)
William Allen was an Democratic Representative, Senator and 31st Governor of Ohio. He moved to the U.S. state of Ohio after his parents died, residing in Chillicothe, Ohio....
for the presidential nomination. Although Tilden was strongly opposed by John Kelly
John Kelly (U.S. politician)
John Kelly of New York City, known as "Honest John", was a boss of Tammany Hall and a U.S. Representative from New York from 1855 to 1858-Career:...
, the leader of New York's Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
, he was still able to obtain the nomination. Thomas Hendricks was nominated for vice-president.
The Democratic platform pledged to replace the corruption of the Grant administration with honest, efficient government and to end "the rapacity of carpetbag tyrannies" in the South; called for treaty protection for naturalized U.S. citizens visiting their homeland, restrictions on Oriental immigration, and tariff reform; and opposed land grants to railroads.
It is claimed that Tilden's nomination was received by the voting Democrats with more enthusiasm than any leader since Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
.
| Presidential Ballot | ||
| Ballot | 1st | 2nd |
|---|---|---|
| Samuel J. Tilden Samuel J. Tilden Samuel Jones Tilden was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, one of the most controversial American elections of the 19th century. He was the 25th Governor of New York... | 401.5 | 535 |
| Thomas A. Hendricks Thomas A. Hendricks Thomas Andrews Hendricks was an American politician who served as a Representative and a Senator from Indiana, the 16th Governor of Indiana , and the 21st Vice President of the United States... | 140.5 | 85 |
| Winfield Scott Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock was a career U.S. Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican-American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War... | 75 | 58 |
| William Allen William Allen (governor) William Allen was an Democratic Representative, Senator and 31st Governor of Ohio. He moved to the U.S. state of Ohio after his parents died, residing in Chillicothe, Ohio.... | 54 | 54 |
| Thomas F. Bayard Thomas F. Bayard Thomas Francis Bayard was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served three terms as U.S. Senator from Delaware, and as U.S. Secretary of State, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.-Early life and family:Bayard was born in... | 33 | 4 |
| Joel Parker Joel Parker Joel Parker was an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 20th Governor of New Jersey from 1863–1866 and from 1871-1874.-Early life, family:... | 18 | 0 |
| James Broadhead James Broadhead James Overton Broadhead was an American lawyer and political figure. He was a member of the House of Representatives and of the Missouri senate, he was also the first president of the American Bar Association.... | 16 | 0 |
| Allen G. Thurman Allen G. Thurman Allen Granberry Thurman was a Democratic Representative and Senator from Ohio, as well as the nominee of the Democratic Party for Vice President of the United States in 1888.-Biography:... | 3 | 2 |
| Vice Presidential Ballot | |
| Thomas A. Hendricks Thomas A. Hendricks Thomas Andrews Hendricks was an American politician who served as a Representative and a Senator from Indiana, the 16th Governor of Indiana , and the 21st Vice President of the United States... | 730 |
|---|---|
| Abstaining | 8 |
Greenback Party nomination
The Greenback Party had been organized by agricultural interests in IndianapolisIndianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
in 1874 to urge the federal government to inflate the economy through the mass issuance of paper money called greenbacks. Their first national nominating convention was held in Indianapolis in the spring of 1876. Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper was an American industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and candidate for President of the United States...
was nominated for President with 352 votes to 119 for three other contenders. The convention nominated anti-monopolist
Anti-Monopoly Party
The Anti-Monopoly Party was a short-lived U.S. political party that was founded as a national political party in 1884 at its convention in Chicago, which took place on May 14, 1884. Prior to this convention, however, there were Anti-Monopoly Parties operating at the state level, notably in...
Senator Newton Booth
Newton Booth
Newton Booth was an American politician.Born in Salem, Indiana, he attended the common schools. In 1841, his parents Beebe and Hannah Booth moved from Salem to Terre Haute, Indiana. Newton graduated from Asbury University, later renamed DePauw University, in nearby Greencastle, Indiana. He studied...
of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
for vice president; after Booth declined to run, the national committee chose Samuel Fenton Cary
Samuel Fenton Cary
Samuel Fenton Cary was a congressman and significant temperance movement leader in the nineteenth century. Cary became well-known nationally as a prohibitionist author and lecturer.-Life:...
as his replacement on the ticket.
Other parties
The Prohibition PartyProhibition Party
The Prohibition Party is a political party in the United States best known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages. It is the oldest existing third party in the US. The party was an integral part of the temperance movement...
, in its second national convention, nominated Green Clay Smith
Green Clay Smith
Green Clay Smith was a U.S. soldier and politician. He served as a major general during the Civil War, was a congressman from Kentucky and was the Territorial Governor of Montana from 1866 to 1869. He also ran for President of the United States on the Prohibition ticket in 1876...
as their presidential candidate and Gideon T. Stewart
Gideon T. Stewart
Gideon Tabor Stewart was an American lawyer as well as a newspaper owner and editor. He was very active in promoting the temperance movement. He was elected three timess as grand worthy chief templar of the Good Templars of Ohio. Throughout the 1850s he attempted to organize a permanent...
as their vice presidential candidate. The American National Party nominated the ticket of James B. Walker and Donald Kirkpatrick.
Campaign
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
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 ridiculed by Democrats who called it "waving the bloody shirt
Waving the bloody shirt
In the history of the United States, "waving the bloody shirt" refers to the practice of politicians referencing the blood of martyrs or heroes to criticize opponents. In American history, the phrase gained popularity with a fictitious incident in which Benjamin Franklin Butler of Massachusetts,...
". Republicans chanted, "Not every Democrat was a rebel, but every rebel was a Democrat".
The Democratic strategy for victory in the south was highly reliant on paramilitary groups such as the Red Shirts and the White League
White League
The White League was a white paramilitary group started in 1874 that operated to turn Republicans out of office and intimidate freedmen from voting and political organizing. Its first chapter in Grant Parish, Louisiana was made up of many of the Confederate veterans who had participated in the...
. Utilizing the strategy of the Mississippi Plan
Mississippi Plan
The Mississippi Plan of 1875 was devised by the Democratic Party to overthrow the Republican Party in the state of Mississippi by means of organized threats of violence and suppression or purchase of the black vote, in order to regain political control of the legislature and governor's office...
, these groups actively suppressed black and white Republican voter turnout by disrupting meetings and rallies and even using violence and intimidation. They saw themselves as the military wing of the Democratic Party.
Because it was considered improper for a candidate to pursue the presidency actively, neither Tilden nor Hayes actively stumped as part of the campaign, leaving that job to surrogates.
Colorado
ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
became the 38th 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
In Florida (with 4 electoral votes), Louisiana (with 8), and South Carolina (with 7), reported returns favored Tilden, but election results in each state were marked by fraud and threats of violence against Republican voters. One of the points of contention revolved around the design of ballots. At the time, parties would print ballots or "tickets" to enable voters to support them in the open ballots. To aid illiterate voters the parties would print symbols on the tickets. In this election, however, many Democratic ballots were printed with the Republican symbol, Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, on them. The Republican-dominated state electoral commissions subsequently disallowed a sufficient number of Democratic votes to award their electoral votes to Hayes.
In two southern states, the governor recognized by the United States had signed the Republican certificates. The Democratic certificates from Florida were signed by the state attorney-general and the new Democratic governor. Those from Louisiana were signed by the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, and those from South Carolina by no state official. In the latter state, the Tilden electors simply claimed that they were chosen by the popular vote and so they were rejected by the state election board.
Meanwhile, in Oregon, the vote of a single elector was disputed. The statewide result clearly had favored Hayes, but the state's Democratic governor, La Fayette Grover
La Fayette Grover
La Fayette Grover was a Democratic politician and lawyer from the US state of Oregon. He was the fourth Governor of Oregon, serving from 1870 to 1877...
, claimed that that elector, former postmaster John Watts, was ineligible under Article II, Section 1, of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
, since he was a "person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States". 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. The two Republican electors presented a certificate signed by the secretary of state of Oregon. Cronin and the two electors he appointed (Cronin voted for Tilden while his associates voted for Hayes) used a certificate signed by the governor and attested by the secretary of state. Ultimately, all three of Oregon's votes were awarded to Hayes.
Hayes thus had a majority of one in the electoral college. The Democrats raised the cry of fraud. Suppressed excitement pervaded the country. Threats were even muttered that Hayes would never be inaugurated. In Columbus
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, somebody fired a shot at Hayes's house as he sat down to dinner. President Grant quietly strengthened the military force in and around Washington.
The Constitution provides that "the President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the [electoral] certificates, and the votes shall then be counted." Certain Republicans held that the power to count the votes lay with the President of the Senate, the House and Senate being mere spectators. The Democrats objected to this construction, since Mr. Ferry, the Republican President of the Senate, could then count the votes of the disputed states for Hayes. The Democrats insisted that Congress should continue the practice followed since 1865, which was that no vote objected to should be counted except by the concurrence of both houses. The House was strongly Democratic; by throwing out the vote of one state it could elect Tilden.
Facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis
Constitutional crisis
A constitutional crisis is a situation that the legal system's constitution or other basic principles of operation appear unable to resolve; it often results in a breakdown in the orderly operation of government...
, the U.S. Congress passed a law on January 29, 1877, forming a 15-member Electoral Commission to settle the result. Five members were selected from each house of Congress, and they were joined by five members of the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
. William M. Evarts
William M. Evarts
William Maxwell Evarts was an American lawyer and statesman who served as U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator from New York...
served as counsel for the Republican Party. The Compromise of 1877
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877, also known as the Corrupt Bargain, refers to a purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election and ended Congressional Reconstruction. Through it, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J...
may have helped the Democrats accept this electoral commission as well.
The majority party in each house named three members and the minority party two. As the Republicans controlled the Senate and the Democrats the House of Representatives, this yielded five Democratic and five Republican members of the Commission. Of the Supreme Court justices, two Republicans and two Democrats were chosen, with the fifth to be selected by these four.
The justices first selected a political independent, Justice David Davis
David Davis (Supreme Court justice)
David Davis was a United States Senator from Illinois and associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He also served as Abraham Lincoln's campaign manager at the 1860 Republican National Convention....
. According to one historian, "[n]o one, perhaps not even Davis himself, knew which presidential candidate he preferred." Just as the Electoral Commission Bill was passing Congress, the legislature of Illinois elected Davis to the Senate. Democrats in the Illinois legislature believed that they had purchased Davis's support by voting for him. However, they had made a miscalculation; instead of staying on the Supreme Court so that he could serve on the Commission, he promptly resigned as a Justice in order to take his Senate seat. All the remaining available justices were Republicans, so the four justices already selected chose Justice Joseph P. Bradley, who was considered the most impartial remaining member of the court. This selection proved decisive.
It was drawing perilously near to Inauguration Day. The commission met on the last day of January. The cases of Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina were in succession submitted to it by Congress. Eminent counsel appeared for each side. There were double sets of returns from every one of the states named.
The commission first decided not to question any returns that were prima facie
Prima facie
Prima facie is a Latin expression meaning on its first encounter, first blush, or at first sight. The literal translation would be "at first face", from the feminine form of primus and facies , both in the ablative case. It is used in modern legal English to signify that on first examination, a...
lawful. Bradley joined the other seven Republican committee members in a series of 8-7 votes that gave all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes, giving Hayes a 185-184 electoral vote victory. The commission adjourned on March 2; two days later Hayes was inaugurated without disturbance.
The returns accepted by the Commission placed Hayes's victory margin in South Carolina at 889 votes, making this the second-closest election in U.S. history, after the 2000 election
United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, decided by 537 votes in Florida. It is not possible to conclude definitively what the result would have been if a fair election had been held without the violence and intimidation throughout the South that disenfranchised many African-Americans made eligible to vote under the 15th amendment. Nevertheless, in the likeliest fair scenario, Hayes would have won the election with 189 electoral votes to Tilden's 180 by winning all of the states that he did ultimately carry, plus Mississippi, but minus Florida. A strong case can be made that South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi, states with an outright majority African-American population, would have gone for Hayes, since nearly all African-Americans during this time voted Republican (while nearly all whites in the South during this time voted Democratic). Regardless, the election of 1876 was the last until 1956 in which Louisiana's electoral votes went to a Republican, and the last until 1964 in which South Carolina's electoral votes went to a Republican. Florida, with a majority white population, would have likely gone to Tilden in a fair election. Clearly Hayes would have won appreciably more of the popular vote in a fair election, albeit arguably still not a plurality or majority.
Upon his defeat, Tilden said, "I can retire to public life with the consciousness that I shall receive from posterity the credit of having been elected to the highest position in the gift of the people, without any of the cares and responsibilities of the office."
Results
Reflecting the Commission's rulings.Source (Popular Vote):
Source (Electoral Vote):
See also
- American election campaigns in the 19th centuryAmerican election campaigns in the 19th CenturyIn the 19th century, a number of new methods for conducting American Election Campaigns developed in the United States. For the most part the techniques were original, not copied from Europe or anywhere else...
- History of the United States (1865–1918)History of the United States (1865–1918)The History of the United States covers Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the Progressive Era, and includes the rise of industrialization and the resulting surge of immigration in the United States. This period of rapid economic growth and soaring prosperity in North and West saw the U.S...
- President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
- Third Party SystemThird Party SystemThe Third Party System is a term of periodization used by historians and political scientists to describe a period in American political history from about 1854 to the mid-1890s that featured profound developments in issues of nationalism, modernization, and race...
Reference and further reading
- Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia ...for 1876 (1885), comprehensive world coverage
- John Bigelow, Author, Edited by, Nikki Oldaker, The Life of Samuel J. Tilden. (2009 Revised edition-retype-set-new photos). 444 pages, Full Color. ISBN 978-09786698-1-2
- Holt, Michael F. By One Vote: The Disputed Presidential Election of 1876. (2008). 304 pages, ISBN 978-0-7006-1608-4
- Authors Nikki Oldaker with John Bigelow, 2006, "Samuel Tilden the Real 19th President" 288 pages ISBN 978-0978669805, popular account
- Summers, Mark Wahlgren.The Press Gang: Newspapers and Politics, 1865-1878 (1994)
- Summers, Mark Wahlgren. The Era of Good Stealings (1993), covers corruption 1868-1877
- Richard WhiteRichard White (historian)Richard White is an American historian, a past President of the Organization of American Historians, and the author of influential books on the American West, Native American history, and environmental history...
, "Corporations, Corruption, and the Modern Lobby: A Gilded Age Story of the West and the South in Washington, D.C." Southern Spaces, 16 April 2009
External links
- Presidential Election of 1876: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
- 1876 popular vote by counties
- Hayes Presidential Library with essays by historians
- Hayes vs. Tilden: The Electoral College Controversy of 1876-1877
- Samuel Tilden
- How close was the 1876 election? — Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology