1876 United States presidential election facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
1876 United States presidential election

← 1872 November 7, 1876 (1876-11-07) 1880 →
369 members of the Electoral College 185 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	81.8% 10.5 pp
Nominee Rutherford B. Hayes Samuel J. Tilden Party Republican Democrat 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

The 1876 United States presidential election was the 23rd presidential election in American history. It happened on Tuesday, November 7, 1876. In this election, the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, ran against the Democratic candidate, Samuel J. Tilden.

This election was one of the most debated and difficult in American history. It was decided through special talks and agreements between the two main parties. It was also the second time in U.S. history that the person who won the election did not win the most individual votes from people across the country.

After President Ulysses S. Grant decided not to run for a third term, James G. Blaine was a top choice for the Republicans. However, he didn't get enough votes at the Republican meeting. So, they chose Governor Hayes from Ohio as a compromise. The Democrats chose Governor Tilden from New York.

The election results were very close and caused a lot of arguments. Tilden clearly won more individual votes than Hayes. But there were many claims of cheating and violence during the election. Some voters, especially Black Republicans, were stopped from voting.

After the first count, Tilden had 184 electoral votes and Hayes had 165. But 20 votes from four states were still undecided. In Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, both parties said their candidate had won. In Oregon, one elector was replaced because he held another government job. Deciding who should get these 20 votes caused a big problem.

To solve this, an informal agreement was made. This agreement is known as the Compromise of 1877. The Democrats agreed to give all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes. In return, the Republicans promised to remove federal troops from the Southern states. This action officially ended the period known as Reconstruction.

This election still holds records. It had the smallest difference in electoral votes (185 for Hayes to 184 for Tilden). It also had the highest number of eligible voters participate in American history, with 81.8% turning out.

Even though he didn't become president, Tilden was the first Democratic candidate since 1856 to win the popular vote. He was also the first since 1852 to win it with a clear majority. This election is also the only one where both major party candidates were sitting governors.

Choosing Candidates: How Parties Picked Their Leaders

Republican Party: Choosing Rutherford B. Hayes

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)

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  Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio

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  Senator James G. Blaine from Maine

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  Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin Bristow

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  Senator Oliver P. Morton from Indiana

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  Senator Roscoe Conkling from New York

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  Governor John F. Hartranft of Pennsylvania

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  Postmaster General Marshall Jewell

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  Ambassador Elihu B. Washburne from Illinois

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  Representative
  William A. Wheeler from New York

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  Secretary of State
  Hamilton Fish from New York
  (declined to run)

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  President Ulysses S. Grant
  (declined in 1875)

Hayes/Wheeler campaign poster

In 1875, many people thought President Ulysses S. Grant would try for a third term. But there were economic problems and political scandals during his time in office. Also, there was a long-standing tradition, started by George Washington, that presidents only serve two terms.

On December 15, 1875, the House of Representatives voted that the two-term tradition was important to prevent a dictatorship. After this, Grant decided not to run in 1876. He even tried to convince his Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish, to run, but Fish felt he was too old.

The Republican National Convention met in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 14, 1876. At first, James G. Blaine seemed like the most likely choice for president. But many Republicans worried that Blaine might not win the main election. So, his support started to drop.

The delegates who didn't want Blaine couldn't agree on another candidate for a while. Then, they chose Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes had been slowly gaining support. On the seventh vote, Hayes was chosen as the presidential candidate. He received 384 votes.

For vice president, William A. Wheeler, a Representative from New York, was nominated easily. He won with 366 votes. His main opponent, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, later helped decide the election results.

Democratic Party: Choosing Samuel J. Tilden

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 who wanted to be president included:

• Samuel J. Tilden, governor of New York
• Thomas A. Hendricks, governor of Indiana
• Winfield Scott Hancock, a major general from Pennsylvania
• William Allen, former governor of Ohio
• Thomas F. Bayard, U.S. senator from Delaware
• Joel Parker, former governor of New Jersey

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  Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York

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  Governor Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana

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  Major General Winfield Scott Hancock from Pennsylvania

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  William Allen from Ohio

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  Senator Thomas F. Bayard from Delaware

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  Joel Parker from New Jersey

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 National Convention met in St. Louis, Missouri, in June 1876. This was the first major political convention held west of the Mississippi River. About 5,000 people filled the hall, hoping for the Democratic Party's first presidential win in 20 years.

The party's main ideas called for big changes. They wanted to fix the problems and scandals that happened during the Grant administration. Tilden won more than 400 votes on the first ballot. He then won the presidential nomination by a large amount on the second ballot.

Tilden won against several other candidates. These included Thomas A. Hendricks, Winfield Scott Hancock, and William Allen. He also overcame strong opposition from "Honest John" Kelly, a powerful New York political leader. Thomas A. Hendricks was chosen as the vice presidential candidate. He was the only person put forward for that position.

The Democratic Party promised to replace corruption with honest government. They also wanted to end the "carpetbag tyrannies" in the South. They also supported protecting U.S. citizens visiting their home countries. Other goals included limiting Asian immigration and changing tariffs. Many Democrats were very excited about Tilden's nomination.

Other Parties: Greenback and Prohibition Candidates

The Greenback Party was formed by farmers in 1874. They wanted the government to print more paper money, called "greenbacks." This would help the economy. Their first national meeting was in Indianapolis in 1876.

They nominated Peter Cooper for president. He received 352 votes. They also chose Newton Booth for vice president. But Booth decided not to run. So, the party picked Samuel Fenton Cary instead.

The Prohibition Party held its second national meeting in Cleveland. They nominated Green Clay Smith for president. Gideon T. Stewart was chosen as his vice presidential candidate. This party wanted to stop the sale of alcoholic drinks.

The American National Party was a smaller group. They had different names in different states. They met in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1875. They supported changes to the Constitution from the Reconstruction era. They also wanted international agreements and reading the Bible in public schools.

This party also wanted to end the Electoral College. They were against secret societies and monopolies. They chose James B. Walker for president. Donald Kirkpatrick was nominated for vice president.

Candidates gallery

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  Philanthropist Peter Cooper from New York

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  Andrew Curtin from Pennsylvania

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  William Allen from Ohio

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  Alexander Campbell from Illinois

• Green Clay Smith.jpg

  Green Clay Smith from Washington, D.C.

• Gideon T. Stewart.jpg

  Gideon T. Stewart from Ohio

• James B. Walker.jpg

  James B. Walker from Illinois

• Donald Kirkpatrick.jpg

  Donald Kirkpatrick from New York

The Main 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 had a reputation for fighting corruption in New York. He had even helped put a famous political boss, William M. Tweed, in jail. So, he ran as a candidate who would bring reform. This was important because of the scandals during the Grant administration.

Both parties wanted to improve government and end Reconstruction. The campaigns were full of negative attacks. Democrats criticized Republicans for corruption. Republicans brought up the Civil War, which Democrats called "waving the bloody shirt." Republicans would say, "Not every Democrat was a rebel, but every rebel was a Democrat."

Hayes was not very well known outside of Ohio. He had been a representative and governor there. One person called him "a third-rate nonentity." But Hayes had fought bravely in the Civil War. He was wounded several times and was a major-general. His military service made him popular with veterans. He also helped the Republican Party win Ohio, which was a very important state.

A newspaper writer described Tilden as a "fidgety old bachelor." He said Tilden didn't have much emotion.

In the South, Democrats used groups like the Red Shirts and the White League. These groups tried to stop Black and White Republican voters. They would break up meetings and use violence. They saw themselves as the military part of the Democratic Party.

Back then, it was not considered proper for candidates to actively campaign. So, Tilden and Hayes did not travel around giving speeches. Other people campaigned for them.

Colorado's Unique Electoral Votes

Colorado became the 38th state on August 1, 1876. There wasn't enough time or money to hold a presidential election there. So, Colorado's state legislature chose the state's three Electoral College electors.

The legislature voted, and Hayes's electors received 50 votes. Tilden's electors only got 24 votes. Many of the legislative races in October 1876 were decided by only a few hundred votes. Colorado's electors gave all three of their votes to Hayes. This was the last time any state chose its electors this way. Usually, electors are chosen by popular vote.

The Disputed Election and the Compromise of 1877

The election results were very close in Florida (4 electoral votes), Louisiana (8), and South Carolina (7). These states reported that Tilden had won. But there were many reports of cheating and threats against Republican voters. In South Carolina, it was even reported that 101% of eligible voters had cast ballots. About 150 Black Republicans were reportedly killed.

One problem was how ballots looked. At that time, parties printed their own ballots. To help voters who couldn't read, parties put symbols on the ballots. In this election, many Democratic ballots had the Republican symbol of Abraham Lincoln on them. The election boards in these states, which were mostly Republican, rejected enough Democratic votes to give their electoral votes to Hayes.

In two Southern states, the Republican certificates were signed by the governor recognized by the U.S. government. The Democratic certificates from Florida were signed by the state attorney-general and the new Democratic governor. Those from Louisiana were signed by the Democratic candidate for governor. The South Carolina Democratic certificates were not signed by any state official.

In Oregon, there was a dispute over one elector's vote. Hayes clearly won the state. But Oregon's Democratic governor, La Fayette Grover, said one Republican elector, John Watts, couldn't serve. This was because Watts had been a postmaster, which was a federal job. The Constitution says electors cannot hold a federal office.

Governor Grover replaced Watts with a Democratic elector. But the two other Republican electors ignored Grover's action. They reported three votes for Hayes. The Democratic elector, C. A. Cronin, reported one vote for Tilden and two for Hayes.

In the end, all three of Oregon's votes went to Hayes. This gave Hayes a majority of just one vote in the Electoral College. Democrats claimed there was fraud. People across the country were very tense. Some even threatened that Hayes would not become president. A shot was fired at Hayes's home in Ohio. President Grant quietly increased military presence around Washington D.C.

The Constitution says the President of the Senate should open and count the electoral certificates. Republicans believed the President of the Senate had the power to count the votes. This would mean the Republican President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Thomas W. Ferry, could count the disputed votes for Hayes.

Democrats disagreed. They said that Congress should continue the practice of needing both the House and Senate to agree on any vote that was questioned. Since the House had a Democratic majority, rejecting even one state's vote would make Tilden president.

To solve this big problem, Congress passed a law on January 29, 1877. This law created a 15-member Electoral Commission. This commission would decide the election. Five members were chosen from each house of Congress. Five members were also chosen from the U.S. Supreme Court.

The majority party in each house chose three members. The minority party chose two. This meant there were five Democratic and five Republican members on the commission. Of the Supreme Court justices, two Republicans and two Democrats were chosen. These four justices then chose a fifth justice.

The justices first chose Justice David Davis. No one was sure which candidate Davis preferred. But just as the law was being passed, the Illinois Legislature chose Davis to be a Senator. Democrats in the legislature thought this would make Davis support them. However, they were wrong. Davis stepped down from the commission and resigned as a Justice to take his Senate seat. All the remaining available justices were Republicans. So, they chose Joseph P. Bradley, who was thought to be the most fair remaining judge. This choice was very important.

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.

The commission met on January 31, as Inauguration Day was getting close. Each disputed state's election (Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina) was presented to the commission. Lawyers for each side argued their cases. Each state had two sets of election results.

The commission decided not to question any results that seemed legal at first glance. Then, Justice Bradley joined the seven other Republican members. They voted 8–7 to give all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes. This gave Hayes a 185–184 electoral vote victory. The commission finished its work on March 2.

Hayes secretly took the oath of office the next day. He was publicly sworn into office on March 5, 1877, without any problems.

During private meetings, Democratic leaders agreed to accept Hayes as president. In return, federal troops were removed from the last two Southern states they occupied: South Carolina and Louisiana. Republican leaders also agreed to some benefits. These included federal money for a transcontinental railroad line through the South. Some of these promises were not kept, like the railroad. But it was enough to prevent a dangerous situation.

The results accepted by the commission showed Hayes won South Carolina by only 889 votes. This was the second-closest popular vote difference in a deciding state in U.S. history. The closest was the election of 2000, decided by 537 votes in Florida. In 2000, George W. Bush won the Electoral College by five votes. Hayes won by just one.

After his defeat, Tilden said he could leave public life knowing that people would remember him as being elected to the highest office. He said he would have the credit without the worries of the job.

Later, in 1887, Congress passed the Electoral Count Act. This law created more detailed rules for counting electoral votes. It especially helped in cases where a state sent in more than one set of electors.

Election Results: Who Won Where?

The commission's decisions showed that Tilden won in 1,301 counties (57.85%). Hayes won in 947 counties (42.11%). One county in Nevada had an equal number of votes for Tilden and Hayes.

The Greenback Party did not win the election. They received less than one percent of the total votes. But their candidate, Cooper, had the best performance for a third-party candidate since John Bell in 1860. The Greenbacks did best in Kansas, where Cooper got over six percent of the vote. In Indiana, he received 17,207 votes. This was much more than Tilden's winning margin of about 5,500 votes over Hayes in that state.

The 1876 election was the last one before the end of the Reconstruction era. This period aimed to protect the rights of African Americans in the South. These voters usually supported Republican candidates.

After 1876, no former slave state would vote Republican again until 1896. That year, William McKinley won Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Kentucky. No Republican presidential candidate would win any states that had left the Union and joined the Confederacy until Warren G. Harding in 1920. He won Tennessee, which had been "reconstructed" earlier.

None of the Southern states that had federal troops for a long time voted Republican again until Herbert Hoover in 1928. He won Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia. This was also the last time a Republican won Louisiana until 1956. And it was the last time a Republican won South Carolina until 1964.

The next time those two states voted against Democrats was when they supported the "Dixiecrat" candidate Strom Thurmond in 1948.

The 1876 election was the last time the South had a close two-party election. After this, Democrats controlled the South until 1948. It was also the last time Democrats won certain counties in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Hayes was the only Republican president elected who did not win Indiana.

Map of Election Results

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  Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote

More Maps of the Election

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  Map of presidential election results by county

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  Map of Democratic presidential election results by county

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  Map of Republican presidential election results by county

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  Map of "other" presidential election results by county

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  Cartogram of presidential election results by county

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  Cartogram of Democratic presidential election results by county

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  Cartogram of Republican presidential election results by county

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  Cartogram of "other" presidential election results by county

State-by-State Election Results

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

States with Very Close Results

These states had a winning margin of less than 1% (7 electoral votes):

• South Carolina, 0.49% (889 votes) (This state was key to the final result)

These states had a winning margin between 1% and 5% (164 electoral votes):

• Ohio, 1.14% (7,516 votes)
• Indiana, 1.26% (5,515 votes)
• California, 1.80% (2,798 votes)
• Florida, 1.97% (922 votes)
• Pennsylvania, 2.37% (17,980 votes)
• Connecticut, 2.37% (2,894 votes)
• Wisconsin, 2.39% (6,141 votes)
• New York, 3.22% (32,742 votes)
• Louisiana, 3.30% (4,807 votes)
• Oregon, 3.54% (1,057 votes)
• Illinois, 3.54% (19,621 votes)
• New Hampshire, 3.78% (3,030 votes)

These states had a winning margin between 5% and 10% (33 electoral votes):

• Nevada, 5.46% (1,075 votes)
• New Jersey, 5.65% (12,445 votes)
• North Carolina, 7.24% (16,943 votes)
• Michigan, 7.92% (25,216 votes)

See also

In Spanish: Elecciones presidenciales de Estados Unidos de 1876 para niños