Conspiracy of the 1876 Hayes-Tilden Election
In the year of 1876 President Ulysses S. Grant was finishing his second term in office. Grant had stated "I do not want (the third term) any more than I did the first..." The house voted and agreed. The Republican Party bosses began looking for a potential candidate to fill Grant's spot. Their first choice, Congressmen James O. Blaine of Illinois, was eliminated due to his past record; therefore, they nominated Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio as the Republican Candidate due to his "inoffensive" behavior. The following two weeks the Democrats gathered and nominated Samuel J. Tilden of New York, known as a reformer for breaking up Boss Tweed's Empire. As the election process proceeded, everyone assumed Tilden was in
Hayes, winning by one vote in the Electoral College, 185-184, made him the 19th President of the United States. The final decision was made on March 2, 1877, two days before Inauguration Day. There were no guidelines set up in the Constitution for this kind of situation, having not ever being faced with it before. Congress counted electoral votes from Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina, who, had turned in two sets of electoral votes, one from the Official Election Supervisory Agency and another from Carpetbag Republican Government. Twenty votes were left in dispute, leaving Tilden with 184 and Hayes with 165, Hayes needing all twenty votes to win. Promising to end reconstruction by removing federal troops in the south, the democrats agreed to vote in favor of the Electoral Commission, giving majority to House of Representatives and declaring Hayes President. Although Hayes was referred to as "old Rutherford," "old 8-7," and "his fraudulency," he ended reconstruction in the south. After the Commission had voted in favor of Hayes, Congress voted to approve decision. He was known for "stealing" the election but was also known for being a good and honest President. Due to many democrats threatening force, Grant had Hayes sworn in secretly in the Red Room the night before the Inauguration, just in case of problems on Inauguration Day. Since the Senate was controlled by republicans and the House by Democrats, they never thought they would come to a resolution.
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