Who was the rightful winner of the 1876 election?

[Frodo]

Inspired by Boss Tweed's thread.......

[minionofmidas]

Peter Cooper.

[Speed of Sound]

Just about anyone will tell you it was Tilden

[PBrunsel]

Hayes.

Those three states were corrupted by both parties, but Hayes won the popular vote in each.

[Q]

There's no way Hayes won the popular vote in all 3 "disputed" states.  The Electoral Commission's 8-7 GOP-Dem breakdown paralleled the outcome of their vote on the winner - not one commission member voted for the other party's candidate, solidifying that politics and hackery, and not a true investigation into the vote counts, determined who won.

But the so-called Compromise of 1877 that settled the election (as far as choosing who would take office) proved that this whole affair was the most fraudulant attack on democracy this country has seen.

In the Compromise, which occurred in the back room of a Washington hotel whose name currently escapes me, a group of Southern Democrats in Congress agreed to uphold Hayes as the winner in exchange for Republicans' promises to end Reconstruction and allow the South to oppress blacks for another 80 or so years.

To me, probably the most underhanded treatment of Americans by their government.

[© tweed]

I find it very hard to believe that Hayes really won 3 southern states, all isolated from each other, including South Carolina.  The Deep South just didn't break to the Republicans back then.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but I remember Hayes compromising to end reconstuction if the commission awarded him the election, or something to that effect.

Simply, if the will of the people wasn't violated, my Governor would have been President.

[Q]

I find it very hard to believe that Hayes really won 3 southern states, all isolated from each other, including South Carolina.  The Deep South just didn't break to the Republicans back then.

Yeah, just look at the 1876 map.  South is solid red, with LA, SC, and FL as lone blue islands within.  It's suspicious.

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Exactly.  See my post above.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

To me, probably the most underhanded treatment of Americans by their government.

By far, by far

[WI_Dem]

I think SC may have voted Republican in 1876, but not LA and FL. SC had a huge black population that would have voted for Hayes, but LA and FL weren't as heavily black as SC and I doubt Hayes would have collected any southern white votes at the time. Sorry to put it in these racial terms, but it is important to understanding this election.

I have always believed Tilden won this election.

[minionofmidas]

I think SC may have voted Republican in 1876, but not LA and FL. SC had a huge black population that would have voted for Hayes, but LA and FL weren't as heavily black as SC and I doubt Hayes would have collected any southern white votes at the time. Sorry to put it in these racial terms, but it is important to understanding this election.

I have always believed Tilden won this election.

Florida and Louisiana were both about 50% Black at the time.
If there's one state where the 1876 election's result is heavily fraudulent even by the standards of the day, it's Mississippi.

[CheeseWhiz]

The rightful winner, Tilden was.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Hayes.

Those three states were corrupted by both parties, but Hayes won the popular vote in each.

^^^^^^^

[jokerman]

Tilden

Damn Yankees and Carpetbaggers, but at least we struck a deal and got them out of the South the next year.

[Emsworth]

Tilden was the rightful victor. He may or may not have won the votes of the three southern states, but he certainly did receive one vote from Oregon.

[minionofmidas]

Tilden

Damn Yankees and Carpetbaggers, but at least we struck a deal and got them out of the South the next year.

And that has been the South's ruin for the next (economically: ) 69 / (morally: ) 88 years.

[PBrunsel]

Tilden was the rightful victor. He may or may not have won the votes of the three southern states, but he certainly did receive one vote from Oregon.

That one vote still boggles my mind how it was cast. Governor Grover appinted a Democratic elector who voted for Tilden, but it never was counted. That is the only way anyone could argue Tilden won the race, though he overwhelmingly lost the state of Oregon to Hayes.

[Q]

I think SC may have voted Republican in 1876, but not LA and FL. SC had a huge black population that would have voted for Hayes, but LA and FL weren't as heavily black as SC and I doubt Hayes would have collected any southern white votes at the time. Sorry to put it in these racial terms, but it is important to understanding this election.

Florida and Louisiana were both about 50% Black at the time.

The total population may have been, but among voters, it would have been far lower.

[Emsworth]

That one vote still boggles my mind how it was cast.

Hayes won the Oregon popular vote; thus, originally, all three Oregon electors were Republican. However, one Oregon elector was a government employee, and was therefore ineligible to be a part of the Electoral College. The Governor replaced the ineligible Republican elector with a Democratic elector.

The way the Electoral Commission handles this controversy is truly mind-boggling. For Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana--where the electoral votes were certified for Hayes--the Commission said that it would not second-guess the official certificate of the state governments. For Oregon--where one electoral vote was certified for Tilden--the Commission said that it would second-guess the official certificate. This inconsistency, I think, was clearly the result of partisanship.

This was, of course, only a technicality; Hayes was the "fair" winner of all three Oregon electors.

[jimrtex]

Tilden was the rightful victor. He may or may not have won the votes of the three southern states, but he certainly did receive one vote from Oregon.

That one vote still boggles my mind how it was cast. Governor Grover appinted a Democratic elector who voted for Tilden, but it never was counted. That is the only way anyone could argue Tilden won the race, though he overwhelmingly lost the state of Oregon to Hayes.

Electors ran as individuals, though pledged to a party.  One of the Republican electors was a postmaster, and ineligble to be an elector.  So the governor certified the election of the 4th place candidate (the top Democrat).  It wasn't a particularly lopsided vote.

The 2 remaining Republican electors met and accepted the resignation of the 3rd electors, and then appointed him to fill the vacancy (he had since resigned his postmastership).



[/quote]

[Dr. Cynic]

Tilden.

By the way, it's Samuel J. Tilden, not Samuel G. Tilden... An easy typo, that my Anal Retentive self needed to clear up.

[Democratic Hawk]

Tilden. As if a Republican could have carried, fair and square, Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina back then in a popular vote

Dave

[PBrunsel]

Tilden. As if a Republican could have carried, fair and square, Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina back then in a popular vote

Dave

I don't know, Grant did it. Those also were Republican controlled states. The Solid South was a product of the 1880s, not the 1870s.

[jokerman]

Tilden. As if a Republican could have carried, fair and square, Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina back then in a popular vote

Dave

I don't know, Grant did it. Those also were Republican controlled states. The Solid South was a product of the 1880s, not the 1870s.

Grant did it for the same reasons that Hayes stole them.  Disenfranchisement of white voters.

[Gustaf]

People seem to be over-looking the wide-spread disenfranchisement of Republican voters (of both races) all over the South at that time. The way I see it, both sides cheated the hell out of each other in different ways, particularly in the Southern states, so there is no way of determining who "should" have won. Since Hayes did win, I voted for him.

[Democratic Hawk]

No way would the Deep South have been voting for the party of Abe Lincoln back then had things been fair and square. However, the GOP seems to have always had significant support in the Upper South

The thought of those states, especially South Carolina, where I believe (though I may be wrong) all counties voted to secede. Florida, of course, was sparsely populated back then

Dave