1876 United States 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 (first since 1824).

1876 United States presidential election

November 7, 1876 (1876-11-07)

369 members of the Electoral College
185 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout82.6%[1] Increase 10.5 pp
 
Nominee Rutherford B. Hayes Samuel J. Tilden
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Ohio New York
Running mate William A. Wheeler Thomas A. Hendricks
Electoral vote 185 184
States carried 21 17
Popular vote 4,034,142 4,286,808
Percentage 47.9% 50.9%

Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Hayes/Wheeler, blue denotes those won by Tilden/Hendricks. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

President before election

Ulysses S. Grant
Republican

Elected President

Rutherford B. Hayes
Republican
via Electoral Commission

After U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant declined to seek a third term despite previously being expected to do so, U.S. Representative James G. Blaine emerged as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. However, Blaine was unable to win a majority at the 1876 Republican National Convention, which settled on Governor Hayes of Ohio as a compromise candidate. The 1876 Democratic National Convention nominated Governor Tilden of New York on the second ballot.

The results of the election remain among the most disputed ever. Although it is not disputed that Tilden outpolled Hayes in the popular vote, there were wide allegations of electoral fraud, election violence, and other disfranchisement, predominantly of Republican Black voters. After a first count of votes, Tilden won 184 electoral votes to Hayes's 165 with 20 votes from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon unresolved. To address the resulting constitutional crisis, Congress established the Electoral Commission, a majority of which were Republicans, which awarded all twenty votes (and thus the presidency) to Hayes. Some Democratic Representatives filibustered the Commission's decision, hoping to prevent Hayes's inauguration, but their filibuster was ultimately ended by party leader Samuel J. Randall. The question of who should have been awarded those electoral votes is the source of the continued controversy, and historians attribute Randall's decision to drop the filibuster to the informal Compromise of 1877.[2]

To date, it remains the election that yielded the highest voter turnout of the eligible voting-age population in American history, at 82.6%.[3][4] Tilden's 50.9% is the largest share of the popular vote received by a candidate that was not elected to the presidency, and his voter enthusiasm index (voter turnout percentage multiplied by vote percentage) is the highest of any presidential candidate in American history. Tilden was also the last person to win a majority of the popular vote until William McKinley in 1896. As of 2023, this marks the only presidential election in which both candidates were sitting governors.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

1876 Republican Party ticket
Rutherford B. Hayes William A. Wheeler
for President for Vice President
29th & 32nd
Governor of Ohio
(1868–1872 & 1876–1877)
U.S. Representative
for New York's 19th
(1861–1863 & 1869–1877)
Ulysses S. Grant, the incumbent president in 1876, whose second term expired on March 4, 1877
Hayes/Wheeler campaign poster

It was widely assumed during the year 1875 that incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant would run for a third term as president despite the poor economic conditions, the numerous political scandals that had developed since he assumed office in 1869, and a longstanding tradition set by George Washington not to stay in office for more than two terms. Grant's inner circle advised him to go for a third term and he almost did so, but on December 15, 1875, the House, by a sweeping 233–18 vote, passed a resolution declaring that the two-term tradition was to prevent a dictatorship.[7] Later that year, Grant ruled himself out of running in 1876. He instead tried to persuade Secretary of State Hamilton Fish to run for the presidency, but the 67-year-old Fish declined since he believed himself too old for that role. Grant nonetheless sent a letter to the convention imploring them to nominate Fish, but the letter was misplaced and never read to the convention. Fish later confirmed that he would have declined the presidential nomination even if it had been offered to him.

When the Sixth Republican National Convention assembled in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 14, 1876, James G. Blaine appeared to be the presidential nominee. On the first ballot, Blaine was just 100 votes short of a majority. His vote began to slide after the second ballot, however, as many Republicans feared that Blaine could not win the general election. Anti-Blaine delegates could not agree on a candidate until his total rose to 41% on the sixth ballot. Leaders of the reform Republicans met privately and considered alternatives. They chose the reforming Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, who had been gradually building support during the convention until he finished second on the sixth ballot. On the seventh ballot, Hayes was nominated for president with 384 votes, compared to 351 for Blaine and 21 for Benjamin Bristow. New York Representative William A. Wheeler was nominated for vice president by a much larger margin (366–89) over his chief rival, Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, who later served as a member of the Electoral Commission, which awarded the election to Hayes.

Presidential Ballot
Ballot1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th
Hayes 61 64 67 68 104 113 384
Blaine 285 296 293 292 286 308 351
Bristow 113 114 121 126 114 111 21
Morton 124 120 113 108 95 85 0
Conkling 99 93 90 84 82 81 0
Hartranft 58 63 68 71 69 50 0
Jewell 11 0 0 0 0 0 0
Washburne 0 1 1 3 3 4 0
Wheeler 3 3 2 2 2 2 0
Not Voting 2 2 1 2 1 2 0
Republican Presidential Nomination Vote by State Delegation By Ballot
Vice Presidential Ballot[8]
Ballot1st (Partial Roll-Call)
Wheeler 366
Frelinghuysen 89
Jewell 86
Woodford 70
Hawley 25
Not Called 120
Republican Vice Presidential Nomination Vote by State Delegation

Democratic Party nomination

1876 Democratic Party ticket
Samuel J. Tilden Thomas A. Hendricks
for President for Vice President
25th
Governor of New York
(1875–1876)
16th
Governor of Indiana
(1873–1877)
Campaign

Democratic candidates:

Interior of the Merchants Exchange Building of St. Louis, Missouri, during the announcement of Samuel J. Tilden as the Democratic presidential nominee
Tilden/Hendricks campaign poster

The Democratic Party's failure to nominate its own ticket in the previous presidential election, in which they had instead endorsed the Liberal Republican candidacy of Horace Greeley, had resulted in much debate about the party's viability. Any doubts about the party's future were dispelled firstly by the collapse of the Liberal Republicans in the aftermath of that election, and secondly by significant Democratic gains in the 1874 mid-term elections, which saw them take control of the House of Representatives for the first time in sixteen years.

The 12th Democratic National Convention assembled in St. Louis, Missouri, in June 1876, which was the first political convention ever held by one of the major American parties west of the Mississippi River. There were 5000 people jammed the auditorium in St. Louis and hopes for the Democratic Party's first presidential victory in 20 years. The platform called for immediate and sweeping reforms in response to the scandals that had plagued the Grant administration. Tilden won more than 400 votes on the first ballot and the presidential nomination by a landslide on the second.

Tilden defeated Thomas A. Hendricks, Winfield Scott Hancock, William Allen, Thomas F. Bayard, and Joel Parker for the presidential nomination. Tilden overcame strong opposition from "Honest John" Kelly, the leader of New York's Tammany Hall, to obtain the presidential nomination. Thomas Hendricks was nominated for vice president since he was the only person to put forward for that position.

The Democratic platform pledged to replace the corruption of the Grant administration with honest, efficient government and to end "the rapacity of carpetbag tyrannies" in the South. It also called for treaty protection for naturalized United States citizens visiting their homelands, restrictions on Asian immigration, tariff reform, and opposition to land grants for railroads.[9] It has been claimed that the voting Democrats received Tilden's presidential nomination with more enthusiasm than any leader since Andrew Jackson.[10]

Presidential Ballot[11]
1st (Before Shifts)1st (After Shifts)2nd (Before Shifts)2nd (After Shifts)Unanimous
Tilden 403.5 410.5 508 534 738
Hendricks 133.5 140.5 85 60 0
Hancock 77 77 60 59 0
Allen 56 56 54 54 0
Bayard 31 31 11 11 0
Broadhead 19 5 0 0 0
Parker 18 18 18 18 0
Thurman 0 0 2 2 0

Source: Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held in St. Louis, Mo., June 27th, 28th and 29th, 1876. (September 3, 2012).

Democratic Presidential Nomination Vote by State Delegation By Ballot

Source: Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held in St. Louis, Mo., June 27th, 28th and 29th, 1876. (September 3, 2012).

Vice Presidential Ballot
1st
Thomas A. Hendricks730
Blank8

Source: Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held in St. Louis, Mo., June 27th, 28th and 29th, 1876 (September 3, 2012).

Greenback Party nomination

Greenback candidates:

The Greenback Party had been organized by agricultural interests in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1874 to urge the federal government to inflate the economy through the mass issuance of paper money called greenbacks. Its first national nominating convention was held in Indianapolis in the spring of 1876. Peter Cooper was nominated for president with 352 votes to 119 for three other contenders. The convention nominated Anti-Monopolist Senator Newton Booth of California for vice president. After Booth declined to run, the national committee chose Samuel Fenton Cary as his replacement on the ticket.[12][13]

Prohibition Party nomination

The Prohibition Party, in its second national convention in Cleveland, nominated Green Clay Smith as its presidential candidate and Gideon T. Stewart as its vice presidential candidate.

American National Party nomination

This small political party used several different names, often with different names in different states. It was a continuation of the Anti-Masonic Party that met in 1872 and nominated Charles Francis Adams, Sr., for president. When Adams declined to run, the party did not contest the 1872 election.

The convention was held from June 8 to 10, 1875 in Liberty Hall, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. B.T. Roberts of New York served as chairman, and Jonathan Blanchard was the keynote speaker.

The platform supported the Reconstruction Amendments to the Constitution, international arbitration, the reading of the scriptures in public schools, specie payments, justice for Native Americans, abolition of the Electoral College, and prohibition of the sale of alcoholic beverages. It declared the first day of the week to be a day of rest for the United States. The platform opposed secret societies and monopolies.

The convention considered three potential presidential candidates: Charles F. Adams, Jonathan Blanchard, and James B. Walker. When Blanchard declined to run, Walker was unanimously nominated for president. The convention then nominated Donald Kirkpatrick of New York unanimously for vice president.[14][15]

General election

Campaign

The election was hotly contested, as can be seen by this poster, which was published in 1877.
A certificate for the electoral vote for Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler for the State of Louisiana
"A truce – not a compromise, but a chance for high-toned gentlemen to retire gracefully from their very civil declarations of war." By Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly, 1877 Feb 17, p. 132.

Tilden, who had prosecuted machine politicians in New York and sent the legendary political boss William M. Tweed to jail, ran as a reform candidate against the background of the corruption of the Grant administration. Both parties backed civil service reform. Both sides mounted mudslinging campaigns, with Democratic attacks on Republican corruption being countered by Republicans raising the Civil War issue, a tactic that was ridiculed by Democrats, who called it "waving the bloody shirt." Republicans chanted, "Not every Democrat was a rebel, but every rebel was a Democrat."

Hayes was a virtual unknown outside his home state of Ohio, where he had served two terms as a representative and then two terms as governor. Henry Adams called Hayes "a third-rate nonentity whose only recommendations are that he is obnoxious to no one." Hayes had served in the Civil War with distinction as colonel of the 23rd Ohio Regiment and was wounded several times, which made him marketable to veterans. He had later been brevetted as a major-general. His most important asset was his help to the Republican ticket in carrying Ohio, a crucial swing state. On the other side, the newspaperman John D. Defrees described Tilden as "a very nice, prim, little, withered-up, fidgety old bachelor, about one-hundred and twenty-pounds avoirdupois, who never had a genuine impulse for many nor any affection for woman."[16]

The Democratic strategy for victory in the South was highly reliant on paramilitary groups such as the Red Shirts and the White League. Using the strategy of the Mississippi Plan, the groups actively suppressed both Black and White Republican voter turnouts by disrupting meetings and rallies and even using violence and intimidation.[17][18] They saw themselves as the military wing of the Democratic Party.

Because it was considered improper for a candidate to pursue the presidency actively, neither Tilden nor Hayes actively stumped as part of the campaign and left that duty to their surrogates.

Colorado

Colorado was admitted to the Union as the 38th state on August 1, 1876; this was the first presidential election in which the state sent electors. There was insufficient time or money to organize a presidential election in the new state. Therefore, Colorado's state legislature selected the state's three Electoral College electors. The Republican Party held a slim majority in the state legislature following a closely contested election on October 3, 1876. Many of the seats in that election had been decided by only a few hundred votes.[19] On November 7, 1876, in a 50 to 24 vote, the state legislature chose Otto Mears, William Hadley, and Herman Beckurts to serve as the state's electors for president. All three of the state electors cast their votes for Hayes.[20][21] This was the last election in which any state chose electors through its state legislature, rather than by popular vote.[22]

Electoral disputes and Compromise of 1877

Florida (with 4 electoral votes), Louisiana (with 8), and South Carolina (with 7) reported returns that favored Tilden, but the elections in each state were marked by electoral fraud and threats of violence against Republican voters. The most extreme case was in South Carolina, where an impossible 101 percent of all eligible voters in the state had their votes counted,[23] and an estimated 150 Black Republicans were murdered.[24] One of the points of contention revolved around the design of ballots. At the time, parties would print ballots or "tickets" to enable voters to support them in the open ballots. To aid illiterate voters, the parties would print symbols on the tickets, and in this election, many Democratic ballots were printed with the Republican symbol of Abraham Lincoln on them.[25] The Republican-dominated state electoral commissions subsequently rejected enough Democratic votes to award their electoral votes to Hayes.

In two Southern states, the governor recognized by the United States had signed the Republican certificates; the Democratic certificates from Florida were signed by the state attorney-general and the newly-elected Democratic governor. Those from Louisiana were signed by the Democratic gubernatorial candidate and those from South Carolina by no state official. The Tilden electors in South Carolina claimed that they had been chosen by the popular vote although they were rejected by the state election board.[26]

Meanwhile, in Oregon, the vote of a single elector was disputed. The statewide result clearly favored Hayes, but the state's Democratic governor, La Fayette Grover, claimed that one of the Republican electors, Ex-Postmaster John Watts, was ineligible under Article II, Section 1, of the United States Constitution since he had been a "person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States." Grover substituted a Democratic elector in Watts's place.

The two Republican electors dismissed Grover's action and reported three votes for Hayes. However, the Democratic elector, C. A. Cronin, reported one vote for Tilden and two votes for Hayes. The two Republican electors presented a certificate signed by the secretary of state of Oregon, and Cronin and the two electors whom he appointed (Cronin voted for Tilden while his associates voted for Hayes) presented a certificate signed by the governor and attested by the secretary of state.[26]

Ultimately, all three of Oregon's votes were awarded to Hayes, who had a majority of one in the Electoral College. The Democrats claimed fraud, and suppressed excitement pervaded the country. Threats were even muttered that Hayes would never be inaugurated. In Columbus, Ohio, a shot was fired at Hayes's residence as he sat down to dinner. After supporters marched to his home to call for the President, Hayes urged the crowd that "it is impossible, at so early a time, to obtain the result."[27] Grant quietly strengthened the military force in and around Washington.[26]

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." The Republicans held that the power to count the votes lay with the President of the Senate, with the House and Senate being mere spectators. The Democrats objected to that construction, since the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Republican Thomas W. Ferry, could then count the votes of the disputed states for Hayes.

The Democrats insisted that Congress should continue the practice followed since 1865: no vote objected to should be counted except by the concurrence of both houses. Since the House had a solid Democratic majority, rejecting the vote of one state, however, would elect Tilden.[26]

Facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis, the Congress passed a law on January 29, 1877, to form a 15-member Electoral Commission, which would settle the result. Five members were selected from each house of Congress, and they were joined by five members of the United States Supreme Court, with William M. Evarts serving as counsel for the Republican Party. The majority party in each house named three members and the minority party two members. As the Republicans controlled the Senate and the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, that 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 those four.

The justices first selected the independent Justice David Davis. According to one historian, "No one, perhaps not even Davis himself, knew which presidential candidate he preferred."[27] Just as the Electoral Commission Bill was passing Congress, the Illinois Legislature elected Davis to the Senate, and Democrats in the legislature believed that they had purchased Davis's support by voting for him. However, they had miscalculated, as Davis promptly excused himself from the commission and resigned as a Justice to take his Senate seat.[28] Since all of the remaining available Justices were Republicans, they had already selected Justice Joseph P. Bradley, who was considered the most impartial remaining member of the court. That selection proved decisive.

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of blue are for Tilden (Democratic), and shades of red are for Hayes (Republican).
Note that Ripon – the commonly recognized birthplace of the Republican Party – is in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, which voted for Tilden.

Since it was drawing perilously near to Inauguration Day, the commission met on January 31. Each of the disputed state election cases (Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina) was respectively submitted to the commission by Congress. Eminent counsel appeared for each side, and there were double sets of returns from every one of the states named.[26]

The commission first decided not to question any returns that were prima facie lawful.[26] Bradley then joined the other seven Republican committee members in a series of 8–7 votes that gave all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes, which gave Hayes a 185–184 electoral vote victory. The commission adjourned on March 2. Hayes privately took the oath of office the next day and was publicly sworn into office on March 5, 1877, and Hayes was inaugurated without disturbance.[26]

The Compromise of 1877 might be a reason for the Democrats accepting the Electoral Commission. During intense closed-door meetings, Democratic leaders agreed reluctantly to accept Hayes as President in return for the withdrawal of federal troops from the last two Southern states that were still occupied: South Carolina and Louisiana. Republican leaders in return agreed on a number of handouts and entitlements, including federal subsidies for a transcontinental railroad line through the South. Although some of the promises were not kept, particularly the railroad proposal, that was enough for the time being to avert a dangerous standoff.

The returns accepted by the Commission put Hayes's margin of victory in South Carolina at 889 votes, the second-closest popular vote margin in a decisive state in U.S. history, after the election of 2000, which was decided by 537 votes in Florida. In 2000, the margin of victory in the Electoral College for George W. Bush was five votes, as opposed to Hayes' one vote.

Upon his defeat, Tilden said, "I can retire to public life with the consciousness that I shall receive from posterity the credit of having been elected to the highest position in the gift of the people, without any of the cares and responsibilities of the office."

Congress would eventually enact the Electoral Count Act in 1887 to provide more detailed rules for the counting of electoral votes, especially in cases of multiple slates of electors being received from a single state.

Results

According to the commission's rulings, of the 2,249 counties and independent cities making returns, Tilden won in 1,301 (57.9%), and Hayes carried only 947 (42.1%). One county (<0.1%) in Nevada split evenly between Tilden and Hayes.

The Greenback ticket did not have a major impact on the election's outcome by attracting slightly under one percent of the popular vote, Cooper nonetheless had the strongest performance of any third-party presidential candidate since John Bell in 1860. The Greenbacks' best showings were in Kansas, where Cooper earned just over six percent of the vote, and in Indiana, where he earned 17,207 votes, which far exceeded Tilden's margin of victory of roughly 5,500 votes over Hayes in that state.

The election of 1876 was the last one held before the end of the Reconstruction era, which sought to protect the rights of African Americans in the South, who usually voted for Republican presidential candidates. No antebellum slave state would be carried by a Republican again until the 1896 realignment, which saw William McKinley carry Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

No Republican presidential candidate until Warren G. Harding in 1920 would carry any states that seceded and joined the Confederacy. That year, he carried Tennessee, which had never experienced a long period of occupation by federal troops and had been completely "reconstructed" well before the first presidential election of the Reconstruction period (1868). None of the Southern states that experienced long periods of occupation by federal troops was carried by a Republican again until Herbert Hoover in 1928, when he won Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia, and that proved the last election in which the Republican candidate won Louisiana until 1956, when it was carried by Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the last in which the Republican candidate won South Carolina until 1964, when Barry Goldwater did.

The next time those two states voted against the Democrats was their support of the "Dixiecrat" candidate Strom Thurmond in 1948.

Although 1876 marked the last competitive two-party election in the South before the Democratic dominance of the South until 1948 and that too of the Border States until 1896, it was also the last presidential election (as of 2020) in which the Democrats won the wartime Unionist Mitchell County, North Carolina;[29] Wayne County, Tennessee; Henderson County, Tennessee; and Lewis County, Kentucky.[30] Hayes was also the only Republican president ever to be elected who failed to carry Indiana, and the first to win without New York and Connecticut.

Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote[31] Electoral
vote[32]
Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote[33]
Rutherford Birchard Hayes Republican Ohio 4,034,142 47.92% 185 William Almon Wheeler New York 185
Samuel Jones Tilden Democratic New York 4,286,808 50.92% 184 Thomas Andrews Hendricks Indiana 184
Peter Cooper Greenback New York 83,726 0.99% 0 Samuel Fenton Cary Ohio 0
Green Clay Smith Prohibition Washington, D.C. 6,945 0.08% 0 Gideon Tabor Stewart Ohio 0
James Walker American National Party Illinois 463 0.01% 0 Donald Kirkpatrick New York 0
Other 6,575 0.08% Other
Total 8,418,659 100% 369 369
Needed to win 185 185
Popular vote
Tilden
50.92%
Hayes
47.92%
Cooper
0.99%
Others
0.17%
Electoral vote
Hayes
50.14%
Tilden
49.86%

Geography of results

Results by state

Source: Data from Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 1836–1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–57.[34]

States/districts won by Tilden/Hendricks
States/districts won by Hayes/Wheeler
Samuel J. Tilden
Democratic
Rutherford B. Hayes
Republican
Peter Cooper
Greenback
Green Smith
Prohibition
Margin State Total
State electoral
votes
#  % electoral
votes
#  % electoral
votes
#  % electoral
votes
#  % electoral
votes
#  % total votes
cast
 %
Alabama 10 102,989 59.98 10 68,708 40.02 −34,281 −19.97 171,699 2.04% AL
Arkansas 6 58,086 59.92 6 38,649 39.87 211 0.22 −19,437 −20.05 96,946 1.15% AR
California 6 76,460 49.08 79,258 50.88 6 47 0.03 2,798 1.80 155,784 1.85% CA
Colorado* 3 3 - CO
Connecticut 6 61,927 50.70 6 59,033 48.33 774 0.63 374 0.31 −2,894 −2.37 122,134 1.45% CT
Delaware 3 13,381 55.45 3 10,752 44.55 −2,629 −10.89 24,133 0.29% DE
Florida 4 22,927 49.01 23,849 50.99 4 922 1.97 46,776 0.56% FL
Georgia 11 130,157 72.03 11 50,533 27.97 −79,624 −44.07 180,690 2.15% GA
Illinois 21 258,611 46.66 278,232 50.20 21 17,207 3.10 19,621 3.54 554,227 6.58% IL
Indiana 15 213,526 48.65 15 208,011 47.39 17,233 3.93 141 0.03 −5,515 −1.26 438,911 5.21% IN
Iowa 11 112,121 38.28 171,326 58.50 11 9,431 3.22 59,205 20.21 292,878 3.48% IA
Kansas 5 37,902 30.53 78,324 63.10 5 7,770 6.26 110 0.09 40,422 32.56 124,134 1.47% KS
Kentucky 12 160,060 61.41 12 97,568 37.44 −62,492 −23.98 260,626 3.10% KY
Louisiana 8 70,508 48.35 75,315 51.65 8 4,807 3.30 145,823 1.73% LA
Maine 7 49,917 42.65 66,300 56.64 7 16,383 14.00 117,045 1.39% ME
Maryland 8 91,779 56.05 8 71,980 43.95 −19,799 −12.09 163,759 1.95% MD
Massachusetts 13 108,777 41.90 150,064 57.80 13 41,287 15.90 259,620 3.08% MA
Michigan 11 141,685 44.49 166,901 52.41 11 9,023 2.83 766 0.24 25,216 7.92 318,450 3.78% MI
Minnesota 5 48,587 39.16 72,955 58.80 5 2,389 1.93 144 0.12 24,368 19.64 124,075 1.47% MN
Mississippi 8 112,173 68.08 8 52,603 31.92 −59,570 −36.15 164,776 1.96% MS
Missouri 15 202,086 57.64 15 145,027 41.36 3,497 1.00 −57,059 −16.27 350,610 4.16% MO
Nebraska 3 17,413 35.30 31,915 64.70 3 14,502 29.40 49,328 0.59% NE
Nevada 3 9,308 47.27 10,383 52.73 3 1,075 5.46 19,691 0.23% NV
New Hampshire 5 38,510 48.05 41,540 51.83 5 3,030 3.78 80,141 0.95% NH
New Jersey 9 115,962 52.66 9 103,517 47.01 714 0.32 −12,445 −5.65 220,193 2.62% NJ
New York 35 521,949 51.40 35 489,207 48.17 1,978 0.19 2,369 0.23 −32,742 −3.22 1,015,503 12.06% NY
North Carolina 10 125,427 53.62 10 108,484 46.38 −16,943 −7.24 233,911 2.78% NC
Ohio 22 323,182 49.07 330,698 50.21 22 3,057 0.46 1,636 0.25 7,516 1.14 658,649 7.82% OH
Oregon 3 14,157 47.38 15,214 50.92 3 510 1.71 1,057 3.54 29,881 0.35% OR
Pennsylvania 29 366,204 48.25 384,184 50.62 29 7,204 0.95 1,318 0.17 17,980 2.37 758,993 9.02% PA
Rhode Island 4 10,712 40.23 15,787 59.29 4 68 0.26 60 0.23 5,075 19.06 26,627 0.32% RI
South Carolina 7 90,897 49.76 91,786 50.24 7 889 0.49 182,683 2.17% SC
Tennessee 12 133,177 59.79 12 89,566 40.21 −43,611 −19.58 222,743 2.65% TN
Texas 8 104,755 70.04 8 44,800 29.96 −59,955 −40.09 149,555 1.78% TX
Vermont 5 20,254 31.38 44,091 68.30 5 23,837 36.93 64,553 0.77% VT
Virginia 11 140,770 59.58 11 95,518 40.42 −45,252 −19.15 236,288 2.81% VA
West Virginia 5 56,546 56.75 5 41,997 42.15 1,104 1.11 −14,549 −14.60 99,647 1.18% WV
Wisconsin 10 123,926 48.19 130,067 50.57 10 1,509 0.59 27 0.01 6,141 2.39 257,177 3.05% WI
TOTALS: 369 4,286,808 50.92 184 4,034,142 47.92 185 83,726 0.99 6,945 0.08 -252,666 -3.00 8,418,659 100% US

Close states

Margin of victory less than 1% (7 electoral votes):

  1. South Carolina, 0.5% (889 votes) (tipping point state)

Margin of victory less between 1% and 5% (164 electoral votes):

  1. Ohio, 1.1% (7,516 votes)
  2. Indiana, 1.3% (5,515 votes)
  3. California, 1.8% (2,798 votes)
  4. Florida, 2.0% (922 votes)
  5. Pennsylvania, 2.4% (17,980 votes)
  6. Connecticut, 2.4% (2,894 votes)
  7. Wisconsin, 2.4% (6,141 votes)
  8. New York, 3.2% (32,742 votes)
  9. Louisiana, 3.3% (4,807 votes)
  10. Oregon, 3.5% (1,057 votes)
  11. Illinois, 3.5% (19,621 votes)
  12. New Hampshire, 3.8% (3,030 votes)

Margin of victory between 5% and 10% (33 electoral votes):

  1. Nevada, 5.5% (1,075 votes)
  2. New Jersey, 5.7% (12,445 votes)
  3. North Carolina, 7.2% (16,943 votes)
  4. Michigan, 7.9% (25,216 votes)

Cultural references

  • The presidential election of 1876 is a major theme of Gore Vidal's novel 1876.

See also

References

  1. "National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789–Present". United States Election Project. CQ Press.
  2. "NCpedia | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
  3. Between 1828–1928: "Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections: 1828–2008". The American Presidency Project. University of California, Santa Barbara. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
  4. 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 October 24, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  5. Presidential election of 1876
  6. "Was Grant a candidate?". Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  7. "The Twice and Future President: Constitutional Interstices and the Twenty-Second Amendment" (PDF). University of Minnesota Law School. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  8. Republican party. National convention. 6th, Cincinnati; Clancy, A. M.; Nelson, William (April 10, 1876). "Proceedings of the Republican national convention, held at Cincinnati, Ohio ... June 14, 15, and 16, 1876…". Concord, N.H., Republic Press Association. Retrieved April 10, 2018 via Internet Archive.
  9. DeGregorio, William (1997). The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents. New York: Gramercy. ISBN 0-517-18353-6.
  10. They Also Ran
  11. Cook, Theodore Pease (1876). The Life and Public Services of Hon. Samuel J. Tilden. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 327 via Google Books.
  12. Smith, Joseph Patterson (1898). History of the Republican Party in Ohio. Vol. I. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 352. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  13. Unger, Irwin (1964). "The Election of 1876". The Greenback Era. Princeton University Press. pp. 307–308. ISBN 978-0691045177. JSTOR j.ctt183pq6r.12.
  14. Havel, James T. (1996). U.S. Presidential Elections and the Candidates: A Biographical and Historical Guide. Vol. 2: The Elections, 1789–1992. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 47–48. ISBN 0-02-864623-1.
  15. Hinshaw, Seth (2000). Ohio Elects the President: Our State's Role in Presidential Elections 1804–1996. Mansfield: Book Masters, Inc. p. 50.
  16. Holt, Michael F., By One Vote, University Press of Kansas, 2008, p. 129
  17. The violent origin of the term bulldoze as a means of intimidation came from this election. To "bulldose" or "bulldoze" meant to intimidate by violent means, sometimes by whipping or flogging. Bulldozing was used by some groups of Republicans and Democrats around the country to intimidate political opponents and to intimidate African Americans in the South, particularly in Louisiana.
  18. Kelly, John. "What in the Word?! The racist roots of 'bulldozer'". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  19. Smiley, Jerome Constant (1913). Semi-centennial History of the State of Colorado Volume 1. Brookhaven Press. p. 488. ISBN 978-1-4035-0045-8. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  20. Kleinfeld, N. R. (November 12, 2000). "Counting the Vote: The History; President Tilden? No, but Almost, in Another Vote That Dragged On". The New York Times.
  21. Dill, R.G. (1895). The Political Campaigns of Colorado. Arapahoe Publishing Company, John Dove. p. 27. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  22. Schalit, Naomi (October 1, 2020). "Could a few state legislatures choose the next president?". The Conversation. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  23. Holt, Michael F, By One Vote, University Press of Kansas, 2008, pp. 167, 255
  24. Nicholas Lemann, Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War, New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, Paperback, 2007, p. 174
  25. "Flashback to 1876: History repeats itself". BBC News. London. December 12, 2000. Retrieved November 28, 2006.
  26. Andrews, E. Benjamin (1912). History of the United States. Charles Scribner's Sons.
  27. Morris, Roy, Jr. (2003). Fraud of the Century: Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel Tilden and the Stolen Election of 1876. New York: Simon and Schuster, pp. 168, 239. ISBN 978-0-7432-5552-3
  28. "Hayes v. Tilden: The Electoral College Controversy of 1876–1877." Archived February 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine HarpWeek
  29. The Political Graveyard; Mitchell County, North Carolina
  30. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  31. Leip, David. "1876 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 27, 2005.
  32. "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005.
  33. "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005.
  34. "1876 Presidential General Election Data – National". Retrieved May 7, 2013.

Sources

  • Huntzicker, William E. "Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly, and the Election of 1876." in After The War (Routledge, 2017) pp. 53–68.

Primary sources

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