Volume 18 , Issue 40

1876 Presidential Election Controversy

The election of 1876 was perhaps the most contested of the three elections. It pitted Republican Rutherford B. Hayes against Democrat Henry Tilden.

Found on Newspapers.com
[The Cincinnati Enquirer, dated 6 March 1877, Tuesday, page 1. Anti-Hayes inauguration headlines.]

Tilden won the popular vote but was one electoral vote short of a majority, with 20 electoral votes yet to be tallied due to various controversies. Congress appointed a commission to award the remaining votes, and all 20 were given to Hayes, which gave him the majority. When Democrats threatened to contest the results, the matter was settled with a behind-the-scenes agreement that made Hayes president but essentially ended Reconstruction in the South.
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