Tilden needed just one more vote in the electoral college to reach the 185 electoral votes necessary for the presidency. It was a continuation of the Anti-Masonic Party that met in 1872 and nominated Charles Francis Adams, Sr., for president. After a first count of votes, Tilden had won 184 electoral votes to Hayes's 165, with 20 votes from four states unresolved. On the other side, the newspaperman John D. Defrees described Tilden as "a very nice, prim, little, withered-up, fidgety old bachelor, about one-hundred and twenty-pounds avoirdupois, who never had a genuine impulse for many nor any affection for woman."[15]. Why did the Democrats lose the presidential election of 1840? Part boulder, part myth, part treasure, one of Europes most enigmatic artifacts will return to the global stage May 6. The Campaign and Election of 1876 By 1875, the Republican Party was in trouble. Just a few days following the election, Tilden appeared poised to narrowly clinch the election. [19][20] This was the last election in which any state chose electors through its state legislature, rather than by popular vote.[21]. The presidential election of 1876 was arguably the most contentious and disputed in American history. As a result, wrote King for Smithsonian, the 1876 presidential election provided the foundation for Americas political landscape, as well as race relations, for the next 100 years.. [18] On November 7, 1876, in a 50 to 24 vote, the state legislature chose Otto Mears, William Hadley, and Herman Beckurts to serve as the state's electors for president. Advertising Notice On March 2, the congressional commission voted 8-7 along party lines to award all the disputed electoral votes to Hayes, giving him 185 votes to Tildens 184. All Rights Reserved. On the first ballot, Blaine was just 100 votes short of a majority. 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 newly-elected Democratic governor. The 1876 Democratic National Convention nominated Governor Tilden of New York on the second ballot. Election returns from three Republican-controlled Southern statesLouisiana, Florida and South Carolinawere divided, with both sides declaring victory. Learn about the 1876 Presidential Election, the Hayes vs. Tilden contest, and the Compromise of 1877. Colorado was admitted to the Union as the 38th state on August 1, 1876; this was the first presidential election in which the state sent electors. Southern Democrats promises to protect the civil and political rights of Black people were not kept, and the end of federal interference in southern affairs led to widespread disenfranchisement of Black voters. STDs are at a shocking high. [2][3] Tilden's 50.9% is the largest share of the popular vote received by a candidate that was not elected to the presidency. [29] Hayes was also the only Republican president ever to be elected who failed to carry Indiana, and the first to win without New York and Connecticut. According to the commission's rulings, of the 2,249 counties and independent cities making returns, Tilden won in 1,301 (57.85%), and Hayes carried only 947 (42.11%). which behavioral therapy intervention might be used in a special education classroom for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The Hayes-Tilden Electoral Commission - The Atlantic Meanwhile, in Oregon, the states Democratic governor replaced a Republican elector with a Democrat (alleging that the Republican had been ineligible), thus throwing Hayes victory in that state into question as well. He went on to serve in Congress and later as Ohios governor, where he championed African American suffrage, as Robert D. Johnson writes for the Miller Center of Public Affairs. No Republican presidential candidate until Warren G. Harding in 1920 would carry any states that seceded and joined the Confederacy. in. According to one historian, "No one, perhaps not even Davis himself, knew which presidential candidate he preferred. Many Republicans had grown weary of Reconstruction and had come to believe that the time for compromise with Southern whites was at hand. Ten years later, the debacle would also result in a long-overdue law: the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which codified electoral college procedure, as Shafer reports for the Post. The U.S. Congress subsequently created an Electoral Commission, which by early March 1877 had resolved all the disputed electoral votes in favour of Hayes, giving him a 185184 electoral college victory. A presidential election had been held in November, and the result was contested. Presidential Election of 1876 - 270toWin Why was the presidential election of 1808 important? Hayes would also have to agree to name a leading southerner to his cabinet and to support federal aid for the Texas and Pacific Railroad, a planned transcontinental line via a southern route. Margin of victory less than 1% (7 electoral votes): Margin of victory less between 1% and 5% (164 electoral votes): Margin of victory between 5% and 10% (33 electoral votes): Republican Presidential Nomination Vote by State Delegation By Ballot, Republican Vice Presidential Nomination Vote by State Delegation, Democratic Presidential Nomination Vote by State Delegation By Ballot, Electoral disputes and Compromise of 1877, in which the winner did not win a plurality of the national popular vote, largest share of the popular vote received by a candidate that was not elected to the presidency, Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held in St. Louis, Mo., June 27th, 28th and 29th, 1876, American election campaigns in the 19th century, 18761877 United States House of Representatives elections, "National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present", "Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections: 1828 2008", "Table 397. Why did the presidential election of 1876 anger Democrats? The election of 1876 is one of four elections in which the winner of the popular vote lost the electoral vote, the others occurring in 1824, 1888 and 2000. Inside South Africas skeleton trade. Historians often describe his narrow, controversial win over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden as one of the most bitterly contested presidential elections in history. In that election, Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden of New York won 247,448 more popular votes than Republican Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the Republicans held a stranglehold on the presidency, with Gen. Ulysses S. Grant winning easily in both 1868 and 1872. Why the 2020 election looks a lot like 1876 with one crucial HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. After Booth declined to run, the national committee chose Samuel Fenton Cary as his replacement on the ticket.[11][12]. Add an answer or comment Log in or sign up first. Grover substituted a Democratic elector in Watts's place. Fish later confirmed that he would have declined the presidential nomination even if it had been offered to him. ", Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), https://www.history.com/news/reconstruction-1876-election-rutherford-hayes, How the 1876 Election Tested the Constitution and Effectively Ended Reconstruction. A new discovery raises a mystery. Your Privacy Rights Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Why was the presidential election of 1876 a corrupt bargain? Immediately after the presidential election of 1876, it became clear that the outcome of the race hinged largely on disputed returns from Florida, Louisiana and South Carolinathe only three states in the South with Reconstruction-era Republican governments still in power. The 1876 election took place at a remarkable time in American history. Any doubts about the party's future were dispelled firstly by the collapse of the Liberal Republicans in the aftermath of that election, and secondly by significant Democratic gains in the 1874 mid-term elections, which saw them take control of the House of Representatives for the first time in sixteen years. Why was the presidential election of 1920 so important? Within two months, however, Hayes had ordered federal troops from their posts guarding Louisiana and South Carolina statehouses, allowing Democrats to seize control in both those states. Why did the presidential election of 1828 include many first-time voters? She has been a frequent contributor to History.com since 2005, and is the author of Breaking History: Vanished! Election of 1876: Hayes Became President - ThoughtCo 2023 Smithsonian Magazine What are some problems of this way of life? The results of the presidential election of 1876 anger many Democrats because The Republican Congress gave the presidency to the Republican candidate. The Democrats entered 1876 on an upswing, having won control of the House of Representatives in 1874, and from the outset the election was expected to be competitive. Why did the Populists lose the presidential election of 1896? The Reconstruction era (1865-1877) ushered in new rights and opportunities for formerly enslaved people but also saw ongoing racial division, violence against Black Americans, economic problems,. Tilden led Hayes by more than 260,000 popular votes, and preliminary returns showed Tilden with 184 electoral votes (one shy of the majority needed to win the election) to Hayess 165, with the 19 electoral votes of three states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina) and one elector from Oregon (originally awarded to Tilden) still in doubt. Source: Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held in St. Louis, Mo., June 27th, 28th and 29th, 1876 (September 3, 2012). Hayess unblemished public record and high moral tone (as well as his deep sympathy toward the South) offered a striking contrast to widely publicized accusations of corruption in the Grant administration. Why was the presidential election of 1816 a turning point? Why did the Republicans win the presidential election of 1952? . How the 1876 Election Tested the Constitution and Effectively Ended Why was the presidential election of 1860 important? The men had been convicted of violating the 1870 Enforcement Act, which banned conspiracies to deny citizens constitutional rights and had been intended to combat violence by the Ku Klux Klan against Black people in the South. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday. To resolve the dispute, Congress set up an electoral commission in January 1877, consisting of five U.S. representatives, five senators and five Supreme Court justices. A clash between black militia and armed whites in Hamburg in July ended in the death of five militiamen after their surrender, while at Camboy (near Charleston), six white men were killed when armed blacks opened fire in a political meeting. In the end, after a series of votes along strict party lines, the commission awarded Hayes all three of the contested states in early March 1877, making him the winner by a single electoral vote. Why was there controversy around the presidential election of 1876? "In 1877, Congress did not. In the absence of federal intervention over the next several decades, hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan flourished, and states enacted racist Jim Crow laws whose impacts continue to be felt today. However, Blaine was unable to win a majority at the 1876 Republican National Convention, which settled on Governor Hayes of Ohio as a compromise candidate. Why was the presidential election of 1844 important? As the Republicans controlled the Senate and the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, that yielded five Democratic and five Republican members of the commission. But Grants administration and the Republicans generally had been beset by scandals and allegations of corruption, such as the Crdit Mobilier Scandal and the Whiskey Ring. In fact, even as the electoral commission deliberated, national party leaders had been meeting in secret to hash out what would become known as the Compromise of 1877. Then came a presidential election that changed everything. In late January, the commission voted 8-7 along party lines that Hayes had won all the contested states, and therefore the presidency, by just one electoral vote. The 1876 presidential election proved to be the longest, closest, most hostile, and most controversialat least up to that timein the history of the United States. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote, Map of presidential election results by county, Map of Democratic presidential election results by county, Map of Republican presidential election results by county, Map of "other" presidential election results by county, Cartogram of presidential election results by county, Cartogram of Democratic presidential election results by county, Cartogram of Republican presidential election results by county, Cartogram of "other" presidential election results by county, Source: Data from Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 18361892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 24757.[32]. No antebellum slave state would be carried by a Republican again until the 1896 realignment, which saw William McKinley carry Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The two Republican electors dismissed Grover's action and reported three votes for Hayes. Many of the seats in that election had been decided by only a few hundred votes. When Davis refused to serve, the moderate Republican Justice Joseph Bradley was chosen to replace him. Racism remained a pervasive force in the North as well as the South, and by the early 1870s many Northerners had begun blaming Reconstructions problems on the supposed inferiority of Black voters. The cartoon is in response to the Compromise of 1877. The caption says "A trucenot a compromise, but a chance for high-toned men to retire gracefully from their very civil declarations of war. 5 Remarkably Close U.S. Presidential Elections, A History of U.S. Presidential Elections in Maps, https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1876, Social Studies for Kids - The Election of 1876, Maps of World - U.S. Presidential Election 1876, U.S. presidential election of 1876: Tilden/Hendricks campaign broadsheet. Why did the presidential election of 1876 anger democrats? Its resolution involved negotiations between the Republicans and Democrats, resulting in the Compromise of . Voter fraud, suppression and partisanship: A look back at the 1876 election In 1876, the nation was still scarred and divided by the Civil War, which had ended a decade earlier. Why did the number of white male voters increase between the elections of 1824 and 1828? Why did Zachary Taylor win the election of 1848? Although it is not disputed that Tilden outpolled Hayes in the popular vote, there were wide allegations of electoral fraud, election violence, and other disfranchisement of predominantly Republican Black voters. All rights reserved, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Corrections? The convention then nominated Donald Kirkpatrick of New York unanimously for vice president. The platform called for immediate and sweeping reforms in response to the scandals that had plagued the Grant administration. Proponents of the Electoral College. The Hayes-Tilden Standoff and the Compromise of 1877 Only one ancient account mentions the existence of Xerxes Canal, long thought to be a tall tale. Republican leaders in return agreed on a number of handouts and entitlements, including federal subsidies for a transcontinental railroad line through the South. In 1876, a decade after the U.S. Civil War, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes competed against Democrat Samuel Tilden in a bitterly contested presidential election. The 1876 United States presidential election was the 23rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1876, in which Republican nominee Rutherford B. Hayes faced Democrat Samuel J. Tilden.It was one of the most contentious presidential elections in American history. . That year, he carried Tennessee, which had never experienced a long period of occupation by federal troops and had been completely "reconstructed" well before the first presidential election of the Reconstruction period (1868). Why did the Democrats lose the presidential election of 1904? Why didn't James Weaver win the presidential election of 1892? In 1877, Congress did not ignore those allegations, nor did the media simply dismiss those raising them as radicals trying to undermine democracy. In 1876, when the nation went to the polls to elect Grants successor, Democratic candidate Samuel Tilden, governor of New York, emerged with a lead of more than 260,000 popular votes. March 2, 1877 | Hayes Declared Winner in Disputed Presidential Election Supporters of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wade Hampton, a former Confederate general, had used violence and intimidation to confront the African-American voting majority. The platform supported the Reconstruction Amendments to the Constitution, international arbitration, the reading of the scriptures in public schools, specie payments, justice for Native Americans, abolition of the Electoral College, and prohibition of the sale of alcoholic beverages. The Compromise of 1877 (article) | Khan Academy New York Representative William A. Wheeler was nominated for vice president by a much larger margin (36689) over his chief rival, Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, who later served as a member of the Electoral Commission, which awarded the election to Hayes. why did the results of the presidential election of 1876 anger many We soon fell into a refreshing sleep, Hayes later wrote in his diary about the events of November 7, 1876. Why was the presidential election of 1872 different? Students also viewed The Rise Of "Jim Crow" 13 terms Ryan_Hansen519 hist 10 terms jordyn_rae_jensen At the time, support for Reconstruction was dwindling across the nation. Just two months after his inauguration, Hayes made good on his compromise and ordered the removal of the last federal troops from Louisiana. The most extreme case was in South Carolina, where an impossible 101 percent of all eligible voters in the state had their votes counted,[22] and an estimated 150 Black Republicans were murdered. They chose the reforming Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, who had been gradually building support during the convention until he finished second on the sixth ballot. democrats thought the electoral commission voting system was unfair. ", "What in the Word?! Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Answer: The presidential election of 1876 angered Democrats because they thought the voting system was unfair. Blaine led after the first ballot but without enough votes to secure the nomination. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! As Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, and Republicans dominated in the Senate, the two sides compromised by creating a bipartisan electoral commission with five representatives, five senators and five Supreme Court justices. Compromise of 1877 - Definition, Results & Significance - History Why was the presidential election of 1896 a watershed presidential election? Why did the Whigs lose the presidential election of 1852? He instead tried to persuade Secretary of State Hamilton Fish to run for the presidency, but the 67-year-old Fish declined since he believed himself too old for that role. Why did the Democrats win the presidential election of 1892? Soon after his inauguration, Hayes made good on his promise, ordering federal troops to withdraw from Louisiana and South Carolina, where they had been protecting Republican claimants to the governorships in those states. rebecca hears the voice of an old woman who continuously criticizes everything rebecca does, but nobody else can hear the voice. [25] Bradley then joined the other seven Republican committee members in a series of 87 votes that gave all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes, which gave Hayes a 185184 electoral vote victory. It made Northern Republicans become more willing to make concessions. The Republicans held that the power to count the votes lay with the President of the Senate, with the House and Senate being mere spectators. Why did Northern Republican support for Reconstruction diminish in the 1870's? Nora McGreevy is a former daily correspondent for Smithsonian. Cookie Policy Among . It also marks the official end of the Reconstruction Era the 12-year period after the Civil War, designed to help reunify the country after the crisis of secession. She is also a freelance journalist based in Chicago whose work has appeared in Wired, Washingtonian, the Boston Globe, South Bend Tribune, the New York Times and more. Why was the 2000 presidential election controversial? Presidential Election of 1876: Significance, Issues & Summary Facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis, the Congress passed a law on January 29, 1877, to form a 15-member Electoral Commission, which would settle the result. The Greenbacks' best showings were in Kansas, where Cooper earned just over six percent of the vote, and in Indiana, where he earned 17,207 votes, which far exceeded Tilden's margin of victory of roughly 5,500 votes over Hayes in that state.
why did the presidential election of 1876 anger democrats?