November 7, 1876: Samuel Tilden Is Elected President, But Not Really

November 7, 1876: Samuel Jones Tilden, former Governor of New York, wins the popular vote and the Electoral Vote in the Presidential election, defeating the Governor of Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes. Tilden got 51 percent of the popular vote, to Hayes' 48; and 204 Electoral Votes, to Hayes' 165.

What's that? You've never heard of Tilden? That's not surprising, unless you're a history buff, or are from Brooklyn where there's a high school named for him, or Nebraska where there's a town named for him (the hometown of Baseball Hall-of-Famer Richie Ashburn). He didn't get to become President, because the Republicans stole the Electoral Votes of Louisiana (8), South Carolina (7) and Florida (4), plus 1 in Oregon.

So the final count, not made official until the Electoral Commission made its ruling on a pure party-line vote of 8-7 on March 2, 1877 -- 2 days before the Inauguration -- was Hayes 185, Tilden 184.

Hayes, nicknamed "Rutherfraud," "His Fraudulency" and "Old 8 to 7," announced he would serve only 1 term, and kept his promise. Tilden was convinced he was robbed, but did not run again in 1880 or 1884, due to ill health, and died in 1886.

But was he robbed? The Democrats, then the nation's conservative party, may have engaged in serious intimidation of newly-enfranchised black voters in Southern States. It's possible they tried every bit as hard to steal those States on Election Day as the Republicans did afterward. We may never know who truly deserved to win. Regardless, there is absolutely no known evidence that either Hayes or Tilden participated in any election fraud on his own behalf.

Hayes' home in Delaware, Ohio, Spiegel Grove, was converted into one of the earliest Presidential Libraries, opening in 1916. Tilden didn't get one, although there is a high school in Brooklyn named after him. Hayes was played by John Dilson in the 1944 film Buffalo Bill. The USS President Hayes, an attack transport, was in service from 1941 to 1949.

Hayes Statue, Delaware, Ohio

The only high school named for Hayes is in his hometown of Delaware. Tilden, being a former Governor of New York, got a high school named for him in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Fort Tilden, an Army base, was in service in the Rockaways section of Queens from 1914 to 1978.

Nathan Goff Jr. was the last surviving member of Hayes' Cabinet. He served as Secretary of the Navy for the final 2 months of Hayes' presidency, January 7 to March 4, 1881, and lived until 1920.

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November 7, 1876 was a Tuesday. No sporting events were played that day.

March 2, 1877: Rutherford B. Hayes Is Certified As President

March 2, 1877: The Electoral Commission, appointed to settle the disputed Presidential election of November 7, 1876, makes its ruling. The vote is no surprise, since the Commission consists of 8 members of the Republican Party and 7 members of the Democratic Party. By a vote of 8 to 7, it certifies the following count of the Electoral College: 185 votes for the Republican nominee for President, Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio; and 184 votes for the Democratic nominee, former Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York.

Tilden had won a majority of the popular vote, but, according to the Constitution of the United States, it's the Electoral Vote that matters. He seemed to have won that, too, but the Republicans stole the Electoral Votes of Louisiana (8), South Carolina (7) and Florida (4), plus 1 in Oregon. And the Commission awarded Hayes all of the 20 disputed Electoral Votes, just enough to win.

The Commission's decision comes just 2 days before the end of the 2nd term of outgoing President Ulysses S. Grant -- and it is the end of the great program of Reconstruction, designed to make the Southern States that had been brought back into the Union after the American Civil War conform to the Constitution of the United States and all of its protections for all American citizens, regardless of race.

It is known as the Compromise of 1877: The U.S. House of Representatives, under control of the Democrats, then actively hostile to civil rights, would allow the creation of the Commission, which they knew would certify Hayes as the winner, if the Republican leaders of both houses of Congress would agree to stop Reconstruction, and let the Southern States do as they pleased. The Democrats were willing to cede the Presidency for a principle, though it was an evil one.

Like so many other political movements, before and since, the Republicans of 1876-77 fought for freedom, and settled for power. Hayes himself did not object, but became known as "Rutherfraud," "His Fraudulency" and "Old 8 to 7."

He announced in his Inaugural Address that he would serve only 1 term, and kept his promise. He made no move to run for re-election, and at the 1880 Republican Convention, he received one Delegate on the 10th, the 11th, and the 12th ballot, then "lost" it, and never regained it. The Convention nominated Representative James A. Garfield of Ohio -- who had been a member of the Electoral Commission, but hadn't intended to be a candidate in 1880.

Tilden was convinced he was robbed, but did not run again in 1880 or 1884, due to ill health, and died in 1886.

But was he robbed? The Democrats, then the nation's conservative party, may have engaged in serious intimidation of newly-enfranchised black voters in Southern States. It's possible they tried every bit as hard to steal those States on Election Day as the Republicans did afterward. We may never know who truly deserved to win.

Regardless, there is absolutely no known evidence that either Hayes or Tilden participated in any election fraud on his own behalf.

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March 2, 1877 was a Friday. Baseball season was a few weeks away from beginning. Football was in the off-season. Basketball had not yet been invented, and hockey barely existed. So there were no scores on this historic day.