Tilden as one of the most bitterly contested presidential elections in history. This week, the events of the presidential race have once again come under scrutiny. As Jason Slotkin reports for NPR , a group of Senate Republicans announced that they will vote to reject electors from states they consider disputed if Congress does not form a commission to investigate their claims of voter fraud.
Though these claims are unfounded , the lawmakers cite the election as precedent for their actions. The comparison drew criticism from scholars, including Penn State University political scientist Mary E. What sets the election of apart from the election of the most is that lawmakers had ample evidence of widespread voter repression against newly enfranchised African Americans in the post-Confederacy South—and therefore good reason to doubt the veracity of election results.
The election also has a fraught legacy: After months of bitter fighting, lawmakers made a fateful compromise that put Hayes in office by effectively ending Reconstruction , leading to a century of intensified racial segregation in the South.
Hayes, a lawyer, businessman and abolitionist, was a war hero who had fought in the U. Army during the Civil War. Johnson writes for the Miller Center of Public Affairs.
In the years since the Civil War ended in , Democrats, whose voter base resided in the former Confederacy, had been partly shut out of the political sphere; now, with Republican Ulysses S.
Hayes won the state, but one of the Republican electors, John W. Watts, was also postmaster, and the US Constitution forbids federal officeholders from being electors.
Watts planned to resign from his position in order to be a Republican elector, but the governor of Oregon who was a Democrat, disqualified Watts and instead certified a Tilden elector. Electors cast their ballots in state capitals on December 6, Generally, the process went smoothly but in four capitals—Salem, Oregon; Columbia, South Carolina; Tallahassee, Florida; and New Orleans, Louisiana—two sets of conflicting electors met and voted so that the US Congress received two sets of conflicting electoral votes.
At this point, Tilden had electoral votes while Hayes had with 20 votes still disputed. The Constitution stipulates that the electoral votes be directed to the President of the Senate who was Republican Thomas W. Although Republicans argued that he had the right to decide which votes to count, Democrats disagreed and argued that the Democratic majority in Congress should decide.
A compromise was reached, and on January 29, , the Electoral Commission Act established a commission of five senators three Republicans, two Democrats , five representatives three Democrats, two Republicans , and five Supreme Court justices two Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent to decide which votes to count and resolve the dispute. However, the independent Supreme Court justice refused to serve on the commission and was replaced by a Republican justice.
Although Hayes did not initially support the commission, he changed his mind because it would enhance the legitimacy of the eventual winner. The commission voted 8 to 7 to award the electoral votes from South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana and one from Oregon to Hayes. However, Democratic members of Congress threatened to prevent the count of electoral votes and delay the resolution of the election with frequent adjournments and filibusters. But Tilden had amassed only electoral votes—one shy of the number needed to defeat his Republican opponent, Governor Rutherford B.
Hayes of Ohio. Returns from three states Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina were in dispute, with both sides claiming victory. The U. Constitution provided no way of resolving the dispute, and now Congress would have to decide.
As Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, and Republicans dominated in the Senate, the two sides compromised by creating a bipartisan electoral commission with five representatives, five senators and five Supreme Court justices. Though the commission was supposed to be comprised of seven Republicans, seven Democrats and one independent, the independent—Supreme Court Justice David Davis— ended up dropping out when he was offered a Senate seat, and a Republican was named to replace him.
In the end, after a series of votes along strict party lines, the commission awarded Hayes all three of the contested states in early March , making him the winner by a single electoral vote.
The canvassing board solved the problem in that state by simply throwing out 13, Tilden votes against only 2, for Hayes. Then the electors for Hayes were certified. The prelude to the election in South Carolina was a bloody affair. The Governor was Daniel H. Chamberlain of Massachusetts, a strict dogmatist on the race question and thoroughly loathed by white South Carolinians.
In addition to the Presidential election, there was a gubernatorial race. As far back as July 8th, there had been a sharp fight in Aiken County at which African-Americans suffered a severe defeat. Chamberlain appealed to President Grant for help. Florida was the most critical problem. As the polling booths closed, each side claimed victory. Once again, the canvassing board held the decision in its hands. The third man was the Democratic Attorney General. In a complete travesty of integrity, the board voted for Hayes by virtue of its Republican majority.
The Republican Governor certified them with the official blessing of the state. The outraged Democrats held a meeting and had the Attorney General certify the Tilden electors. With this action, a new and dangerous complication entered the scene. Democrats, claiming dishonesty by the canvassing boards, were certifying their own electors by whatever legal or quasi-legal means they could.
To further complicate matters, Florida Democrats elected G. In South Carolina, where Wade Hampton had been elected Governor, there were unqualified demands to disenfranchise the Hayes electors. That meant Hayes would win. This is somewhat difficult to understand in view of his previous anti-fraud successes.
The Senate and House of Representatives convened for the second session of the 44th Congress on December 4th, It was just two days before the date set for Presidential electors chosen in each state to meet and declare their choice for President and Vice-President of the United States. It was the responsibility of each state Governor and Secretary of State to affix the official state seal to the voting certificates and send them to the President of the Senate in Washington D.
Since the Senate was controlled by Republicans, the Democratic House demanded the right to decide which votes were valid. The Senate, understandably, refused. Who would succeed him and how would it be done? Rumblings of a new civil war rolled ominously across America. There were drills and parades and wartime units began to reform. Even cool heads discussed the possibility of the National Guard, under the command of Democratic Governors in most states, marching on Washington to install Tilden by force, if necessary.
It was an unthinkable prospect. Fortunately, there were men of influence on both sides who saw that a peaceful solution was absolutely mandatory. After much debate, an Electoral Commission was approved. Congress proceeded to set up a group of 15 men; five from the Senate, five from the House and five from the Supreme Court. Presumably, the Court Justices would be non-partisan. Both Hayes and Tilden declared the Commission unconstitutional, but they reluctantly agreed to accept its verdict.
It was clear to everyone what would happen without the Commission. Republican Senator Thomas Ferry of Michigan, presiding officer of the Senate, would open the certificates before a joint session and declare Hayes the winner by to electoral votes. The House would then immediately adjourn to its own chambers where Speaker Samuel Randall would declare no electoral majority and throw the election into a vote by each state delegation in the House. It was no understatement. The Commission held its first session just four weeks before the inauguration.
Democratic members of the Commission pressed for a searching examination of the honesty of the canvassing boards.
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