The Election of 1876
I have to do a mea culpa to the members of this community. The recent mid-term elections have caused me momentarily forget that 
potus_geeks is about history, not politics. Today is the 14th anniversary of the election of 2000 (Bush v. Gore) but since that can still generate political animosity even 14 years later, let's talk about an even more controversial election, one that I suspect none of you were around for.
Before there was Bush v. Gore, there was an even closer election, the election of 1876, which was the second time that the person elected president did not receive the most popular votes (1824 was the first: when John Quincy Adams won the big prize even though Andre Jackson got more votes). This time the second place finisher got over two hundred and eighty thousand more votes than the winner. In 1876, after a bitter and hard fought campaign, Rutherford B. Hayes ended up receiving 185 electoral votes, beating his rival by one electoral vote. Democratic candidate Samuel Tilden received 184 electoral votes. Tilden won the popular vote however, receiving 4,288,546 votes, compared with 4,034,311 for Hayes.
In 1876, like 2000, Florida was one of the states at the center of the controversy. The Republican-dominated state electoral commissions subsequently disallowed a sufficient number of Democratic votes to award their electoral votes to Hayes. In total, 20 electoral votes were in dispute in four states: in the case of 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 Democrats cried fraud as excitement spread across the country. Threats were made that Hayes would never be inaugurated and in Columbus, somebody even fired a gunshot at Hayes's house as he sat down to dinner. Outgoing President Ulysses 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." Some 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 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, 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 Congress, and they were joined by five members of the Supreme Court.
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' 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.
As inauguration day drew near, 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. Leading counsel appeared for each side.
The commission first decided not to question any returns that were appeared 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
.
Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders had earlier met at Wormley's Hotel in Washington to negotiate a compromise. Republicans promised concessions in exchange for Democratic agreement with the Committee's decision. The primary concession Hayes promised would be the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and an acceptance of the election of Democratic governments in the remaining "unredeemed" states of the South. The Democrats agreed, and on March 2, the filibuster was ended. Hayes was elected, but Reconstruction was finished.
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. Despite winning a majority of the popular vote, Tilden would not become president.
potus_geeks is about history, not politics. Today is the 14th anniversary of the election of 2000 (Bush v. Gore) but since that can still generate political animosity even 14 years later, let's talk about an even more controversial election, one that I suspect none of you were around for.Before there was Bush v. Gore, there was an even closer election, the election of 1876, which was the second time that the person elected president did not receive the most popular votes (1824 was the first: when John Quincy Adams won the big prize even though Andre Jackson got more votes). This time the second place finisher got over two hundred and eighty thousand more votes than the winner. In 1876, after a bitter and hard fought campaign, Rutherford B. Hayes ended up receiving 185 electoral votes, beating his rival by one electoral vote. Democratic candidate Samuel Tilden received 184 electoral votes. Tilden won the popular vote however, receiving 4,288,546 votes, compared with 4,034,311 for Hayes.
In 1876, like 2000, Florida was one of the states at the center of the controversy. The Republican-dominated state electoral commissions subsequently disallowed a sufficient number of Democratic votes to award their electoral votes to Hayes. In total, 20 electoral votes were in dispute in four states: in the case of 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 Democrats cried fraud as excitement spread across the country. Threats were made that Hayes would never be inaugurated and in Columbus, somebody even fired a gunshot at Hayes's house as he sat down to dinner. Outgoing President Ulysses 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." Some 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 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, 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 Congress, and they were joined by five members of the Supreme Court.
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' 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.
As inauguration day drew near, 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. Leading counsel appeared for each side.
The commission first decided not to question any returns that were appeared 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
.
Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders had earlier met at Wormley's Hotel in Washington to negotiate a compromise. Republicans promised concessions in exchange for Democratic agreement with the Committee's decision. The primary concession Hayes promised would be the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and an acceptance of the election of Democratic governments in the remaining "unredeemed" states of the South. The Democrats agreed, and on March 2, the filibuster was ended. Hayes was elected, but Reconstruction was finished.
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. Despite winning a majority of the popular vote, Tilden would not become president.