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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, [1] 2000, and 2020. Typically, the precise allegations change over time. [2]
In 1800, the Republican Party won the election and intended for party leader Thomas Jefferson to be president and New York politician Aaron Burr to be vice president. Both men ended up tied in the electoral college, but Burr wanted the job. The decision went to the House where the Federalists were powerful enough to stop Jefferson. Federalist leader Alexander Hamilton was a long-time foe of Jefferson but he deeply distrusted Burr. [3] Hamilton helped arrange for Jefferson to be elected president and Burr vice president. A constitutional amendment was passed to prevent similar confusion. In 1804, Burr killed Hamilton in a duel. [4] [5]
In 1824, political parties were very weak, and the voters had the choice of four candidates: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay. Jackson had won the popular and electoral vote, but not the majority. According to the Constitution, the House of Representatives had to vote among the top three. Henry Clay was now out of the running, but as Speaker of the House, he played a major role in the decision. He helped Adams win, and Adams rewarded him by appointing him as Secretary of State. To a friend, Clay explained that Jackson's militarism threatened American democracy:
"As a friend of Liberty, and to the permanence of our institutions, I cannot consent…by contributing to the election of a military chieftain, to give the strongest guarantee that this republic will march in the fatal road which has conducted every other republic to ruin." [6]
Jackson was livid: "The Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. His end will be the same." [7] Jackson cried foul, believing the election was stolen by a "corrupt bargain" between Adams and Clay. [8] He crusaded against the devils and defeated Adams in 1828, using partisan rhetoric that Robert V. Remini says was, "almost totally devoid of truth." [9] [10] [11]
In 1876, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes awarded the White House by a partisan special Congressional commission. The result remains among the most disputed to this day. Although it is not disputed that Democrat Samuel J. Tilden outpolled Hayes in the popular vote, there were wide allegations of electoral fraud, election violence, and other disfranchisement of predominantly Republican Black voters. After a first count of votes, Tilden had won 184 electoral votes to Hayes's 165, with 20 votes from four states unresolved. In Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, both parties reported their candidate to have won the state. In Oregon, one elector was replaced after being declared illegal for having been an "elected or appointed official." The question of who should have been awarded those 20 electoral votes remains in dispute among historians, with most suggesting the Republicans were guilty. [12] [13] [14] [15]
In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt made sure the Republicans Party nominated his close friend William Howard Taft for president. Taft won, however Roosevelt was dissatisfied and challenged Taft for the 1912 nomination. Roosevelt accused Taft of "stealing " the Republican nomination. Roosevelt thereupon ran a third party ticket, allowing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win. According to Lewis L. Gould,
Roosevelt saw Taft as the agent of "the forces of reaction and of political crookedness"....Roosevelt had become the most dangerous man in American history, said Taft, "because of his hold upon the less intelligent voters and the discontented." The Republican National Committee, dominated by the Taft forces, awarded 235 delegates to the president and 19 to Roosevelt, thereby ensuring Taft's renomination....Firm in his conviction that the nomination was being stolen from him, Roosevelt....told cheering supporters that there was "a great moral issue" at stake...."Fearless of the future; unheeding of our individual fates; with unflinching hearts and undimmed eyes; we stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord!" [16]
On election night, it was unclear who had won, with the state of Florida still undecided. The final returns showed that Republican George W. Bush had won Florida by 537 votes out of six million cast. Democratic Al Gore was allowed by state law to demand recounts in selected counties. They wanted recounts in Democratic strongholds as it was predicted that votes had been miscounted in these counties. Republicans sued on the grounds the narrow recount unfairly ignored voters in other counties. A month-long series of legal battles led to the highly controversial 5–4 Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore , which accepted the Republican argument, ended the recount, and left Bush the winner by 500 votes. [17] [18] [19] Following the announcement of the Supreme Court's decision, Gore stated that "Now the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken. Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it. I accept the finality of this outcome which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity of the people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession." [20] Despite objections from some Democrats, Gore (acting in his capacity as Vice President) presided over the certification of Bush's victory on January 6, 2001. [21]
The stolen election conspiracy theory claims that the 2020 United States presidential election was "stolen" from Donald Trump, who lost to Joe Biden. It serves to justify attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, including the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. A particular variant of it is the "Soros stole the election" conspiracy theory that claims that George Soros stole the election from Trump. [22] Polls conducted since the aftermath of the 2020 election have consistently shown that majority of Republicans falsely believe that the election was "stolen" from Trump. [23] [24] [25] [26] Donald Trump's legal teams brought a variety of legal challenges to the results in several swing states, however these failed to alter the outcome of the election and were generally considered meritless by the judges who heard the suits. [27] [28] [29] These challenges included an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, which declined to hear argument regarding three petitions brought by the Trump campaign. [30]
One aspect of Trump's campaign to cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election was an effort to impeach the credibility of various companies involved in election administration. [31] Some media companies which editorialized in favor of Trump were later sued for defamation by companies implicated in their reporting, including Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic. [32] Smartmatic's lawsuit against Fox News remains active. On April 18, 2023, Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News announced a settlement in that case worth $787,500,000. [33]
The 1876 United States presidential election was the 23rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1876. Incumbent Republican president Ulysses S. Grant declined to run for a third term, so the party chose Rutherford B. Hayes, the governor of Ohio, as its nominee. The Democratic Party nominated New York governor Samuel J. Tilden as their nominee. 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. This is the first time it happened since 1824.
The 1800 United States presidential election was the fourth quadrennial presidential election. It was held from October 31 to December 3, 1800. In what is sometimes called the "Revolution of 1800", the Democratic-Republican Party candidate, Vice President Thomas Jefferson, defeated the Federalist Party candidate, incumbent president John Adams. The election was a political realignment that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican leadership. This was the first presidential election in American history to be a rematch.
Samuel Jones Tilden was an American politician who served as the 25th governor of New York and was the Democratic nominee in the disputed 1876 United States presidential election.
The Compromise of 1877, also known as the Wormley Agreement or the Bargain of 1877, was an unwritten political deal to settle the intense dispute over the results of the 1876 presidential election, ending the filibuster of the certified results and the threat of political violence in exchange for an end to federal Reconstruction.
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.
These are the references for further information regarding the history of the Republican Party in the U.S. since 1854.
The 1932 United States presidential election in California took place on November 8, 1932 as part of the 1932 United States presidential election. State voters chose 22 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
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.
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.
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.
The 1876 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 7, 1876, as part of the 1876 United States presidential election. Voters chose 29 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
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.
The 1876 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 7, 1876, as part of the 1876 United States presidential election. Voters chose 7 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
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.
William Archer Cocke was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th Florida Attorney General. Cocke was placed into the national spotlight due to his role in the controversy following the 1876 presidential election.
The 1876 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 7, 1876, as part of the 1876 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1876 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 7, 1876, as part of the 1876 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
...polling over the past few months has consistently shown that a solid majority of Republicans do not think Biden won fairly, despite the lack of evidence suggesting otherwise.