1876 United States elections

Last updated

1876 United States elections
1874          1875         1876         1877          1878
Presidential election year
Election dayNovember 7
Incumbent president Ulysses S. Grant (Republican)
Next Congress 45th
Presidential election
Partisan controlRepublican hold
Popular vote marginDemocratic +3.2%
Electoral vote
Rutherford B. Hayes (R)185
Samuel J. Tilden (D)184
ElectoralCollege1876.svg
1876 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by Hayes, blue denotes states won by Tilden. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate.
Senate elections
Overall controlRepublican hold
Seats contested25 of 76 seats [1]
Net seat changeDemocratic +5 [2]
House elections
Overall controlDemocratic hold
Seats contestedAll 293 voting members
Net seat changeRepublican +33 [2]
House045ElectionMap.png
1876 House of Representatives election results

  Democratic seat
  Republican seat

Contents

  Independent seat

The 1876 United States elections were held on November 7. In one of the most disputed presidential elections in American history, Republican Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio ended up winning despite Democratic Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York earning a majority of the popular vote. The Republicans maintained their Senate majority and cut into the Democratic majority in the House.

This marks one of four occasions where a newly elected president entered office with a divided legislature, occurring again in 1860, 1884, and 1980. 1980 is the only other occasion where the president's party held the Senate, but not the House. A divided Congress also occurred after the 1984 and 2012 elections.

President

The 1876 presidential election was heavily contested, and saw the highest turnout of voting age population in American history. [3] Democratic Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York won the Democratic nomination on the second ballot of the 1876 Democratic National Convention, defeating Indiana Governor Thomas A. Hendricks and a handful of other candidates. Republicans chose Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes on the seventh ballot over Maine Senator James G. Blaine, Senator Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow, and several other candidates. [4]

While Tilden outpolled Hayes in the popular vote by a margin of three percent, he had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 electoral votes in dispute. In Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, each party reported its candidate had won the state amid various allegations of electoral fraud and intimidation of voters. At the same time, in Oregon, one elector was declared illegal (as an "elected or appointed official") and replaced.

To resolve this dispute, Congress formed the Electoral Commission to investigate these electoral votes: this commission awarded all 20 electoral votes to Hayes after a bitter legal and political battle, giving him the victory with 185 electoral votes to 184. While many Democrats felt that Tilden had been cheated out of victory, the informal "Compromise of 1877" saw Democrats recognize Hayes as President in return for the end of Reconstruction.

Excluding the four-candidate 1824 election, Hayes' margin of victory of one electoral vote has never been matched as of 2020. This was the second of five elections where the winning candidate lost the popular vote, and the only one where the popular vote loser lost by more than one point until the 2016 election.

United States House of Representatives

While the Republicans picked up a 33 seats in the House, it was not enough to regain a majority from the Democrats, who had 155 seats to the Republicans 136 (two seats being held by independents). [5]

United States Senate

The Democrats gained three net seats in the Senate, but the Republicans held onto their majority. Since this election was held prior to ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, these seats were chosen by the state legislatures. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1876 United States presidential election</span> 23rd quadrennial U.S. 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. Its resolution involved negotiations between the Republicans and Democrats, resulting in the Compromise of 1877, and on March 2, 1877, the counting of electoral votes by the House and Senate occurred, confirming Hayes as President. It was the second of five U.S. presidential elections in which the winner did not win a plurality of the national popular vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1880 United States presidential election</span> 24th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1880 United States presidential election was the 24th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1880, in which Republican nominee James A. Garfield defeated Winfield Scott Hancock of the Democratic Party. The voter turnout rate was one of the highest in the nation's history. Garfield was assassinated during his first year in office, and he was succeeded by his vice president, Chester A. Arthur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel J. Tilden</span> Governor of New York from 1875 to 1876

Samuel Jones Tilden was an American politician who served as the 25th Governor of New York and was the Democratic candidate for president in the disputed 1876 United States presidential election. Tilden was the second presidential candidate to lose the election despite winning the popular vote and is the only candidate to win a majority of the popular vote in a United States presidential election (50.9%), but lose the election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compromise of 1877</span> Settlement of the 1876 U.S. presidential election

The Compromise of 1877, also known as the Wormley Agreement or the Bargain of 1877, was an unwritten deal, informally arranged among members of the United States Congress, to settle the intensely disputed 1876 presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. The Democrats agreed to the election of Hayes and in turn he withdrew the Army from the South, leaving the Democrats in control there. The Compromise itself secured Hayes's authority as a political fact, and the subsequent withdrawal of the last federal troops from the Southern United States effectively ended the Reconstruction Era and forfeited the Republican claims to the state governments in South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry B. Payne</span> American politician (1810–1896)

Henry B. Payne was an American politician from Ohio. Moving to Ohio from his native New York in 1833, he quickly established himself in law and business while becoming a local leader in Democratic politics. After serving in the Ohio Senate, Payne was elected to a single term in the United States House of Representatives in 1874. In the House, he worked unsuccessfully for a compromise in the debate over whether all of the nation's currency should be backed by gold. He was defeated for reelection, but served on the Electoral Commission that convened in early 1877 to resolve the dispute over the results of the 1876 presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solid South</span> 1877–1964 U.S. Democratic voting bloc

The Solid South or the Southern bloc was the electoral voting bloc of the states of the Southern United States for issues that were regarded as particularly important to the interests of Democrats in those states. The Southern bloc existed from the end of Reconstruction in 1877, to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. During this period, the Democratic Party overwhelmingly controlled southern state legislatures, and most local, state and federal officeholders in the South were Democrats. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Southern Democrats disenfranchised blacks in all Southern states, along with a few non-Southern states doing the same as well. This resulted essentially in a one-party system, in which a candidate's victory in Democratic primary elections was tantamount to election to the office itself. White primaries were another means that the Democrats used to consolidate their political power, excluding blacks from voting in primaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel J. Randall</span> American politician (1828–1890)

Samuel Jackson Randall was an American politician from Pennsylvania who represented the Queen Village, Society Hill, and Northern Liberties neighborhoods of Philadelphia from 1863 to 1890 and served as the 29th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1876 to 1881. He was a contender for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States in 1880 and 1884.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral Commission (United States)</span> 1877 US commission

The Electoral Commission, sometimes referred to as the Hayes-Tilden or Tilden-Hayes Electoral Commission, was a temporary body created by the United States Congress on January 29, 1877, to resolve the disputed United States presidential election of 1876. Democrat Samuel J. Tilden and Republican Rutherford B. Hayes were the main contenders in the election. Tilden won 184 undisputed electoral votes, one vote shy of the 185 needed to win, to Hayes' 165, with 20 electoral votes from four states unresolved. Both Tilden and Hayes electors submitted votes from these states, and each claimed victory.

The 1880 Democratic National Convention was held June 22 to 24, 1880, at the Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, and nominated Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania for president and William H. English of Indiana for vice president in the United States presidential election of 1880.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes</span> U.S. presidential administration from 1877 to 1881

The presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes began on March 4, 1877, when Rutherford B. Hayes was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1881. Hayes became the 19th president, after being awarded the closely contested 1876 presidential election by Republicans in Congress who agreed to the Compromise of 1877. That Compromise promised to pull federal troops out of the South, thus ending Reconstruction. He refused to seek re-election and was succeeded by James A. Garfield, a fellow Republican and ally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1876 Republican National Convention</span> Political convention

The 1876 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held at the Exposition Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 14–16, 1876. President Ulysses S. Grant had considered seeking a third term, but with various scandals, a poor economy and heavy Democratic gains in the House of Representatives that led many Republicans to repudiate him, he declined to run. The convention resulted in the nomination of Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio for president and Representative William A. Wheeler of New York for vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1876 United States presidential election in California</span>

The 1876 United States presidential election in California was held on November 7, 1876, as part of the 1876 United States presidential election. State voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutherford B. Hayes</span> President of the United States from 1877 to 1881

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor of Ohio. Before the American Civil War, Hayes was a lawyer and staunch abolitionist who defended refugee slaves in court proceedings. He served in the Union Army and the House of Representatives before assuming the presidency. His presidency represents a turning point in U.S. history, as historians consider it the formal end of Reconstruction. Hayes, a prominent member of the Republican "Half-Breed" faction, placated both Southern Democrats and Whiggish Republican businessmen by ending the federal government's involvement in attempting to bring racial equality in the South.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Davis (Supreme Court justice)</span> US Supreme Court justice from 1862 to 1877

David Davis was an American politician and jurist who was a U.S. 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, engineering Lincoln's successful nomination for president by that party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1876 United States presidential election in New York</span>

The 1876 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 7, 1876. All contemporary 38 states were part of the 1876 United States presidential election. Voters chose 35 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1848 United States elections</span>

The 1848 United States elections elected the members of the 31st United States Congress and the 12th president of the United States. The election took place during the Second Party System, nine months after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican–American War. With the issue of slavery dividing the nation, the Free Soil Party established itself as the third most powerful party in Congress. California joined the union before the next election, and elected its first Congressional delegation to the 31st Congress. Whigs won the presidency, but Democrats won a plurality in the House and retained control of the Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winfield Scott Hancock 1880 presidential campaign</span>

After serving one term as U.S. President, Rutherford B. Hayes announced that he would not seek re-election in 1880. Thus, the 1880 election ended up being fought between Republican James A. Garfield, the winner, and Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Tilden 1876 presidential campaign</span> Presidential campaign

The 1876 U.S. presidential election occurred at the twilight of Reconstruction and was between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. After an extremely heated election dispute, a compromise was eventually reached where Hayes would become U.S. President in exchange for the end of Reconstruction and a withdrawal of U.S. federal troops from the South.

Contested elections in American history at the presidential level involve serious allegations by top officials that the election was "stolen." Such allegations appeared in 1824, 1876, 1912, 1960, 2000, and 2020. Typically, the precise allegations have changed over time.

References

  1. Not counting special elections.
  2. 1 2 Congressional seat gain figures only reflect the results of the regularly-scheduled elections, and do not take special elections into account.
  3. Between 1932 and 2008: "Table 397. Participation in Elections for President and U.S. Representatives: 1932 to 2010" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-24. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
  4. "1876 Presidential Election". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  5. "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives". United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  6. "Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present". United States Senate. Retrieved 25 June 2014.