Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 1876. The Republican ticket of Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio and House Representative William A. Wheeler of New York very narrowly defeated the Democratic ticket of Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York and Governor Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana.
Following President Ulysses S. Grant's decision to retire after his second term, U.S. Representative James G. Blaine emerged as frontrunner for the Republican nomination; however, Blaine was unable to win a majority at the 1876 Republican National Convention, which settled on Hayes as a compromise candidate. The 1876 Democratic National Convention nominated Tilden on the second ballot.
The election was among the most contentious in American history, and was widely speculated to have been resolved by the Compromise of 1877, in which Hayes supposedly agreed to end Reconstruction in exchange for the presidency. In the first count, Tilden had 184 electoral votes (one vote short of a majority) to Hayes's 163, with the 22 votes from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon disputed. To address this constitutional crisis, Congress established the Electoral Commission, which awarded all twenty votes and thus the presidency to Hayes in a strict party-line vote. Some Democratic representatives filibustered the commission's decision, hoping to prevent Hayes's inauguration; their filibuster was ultimately ended by party leader Samuel J. Randall. On March 2, 1877, the House and Senate confirmed Hayes as president. This was the last election taken under Reconstruction, in which some Southern states voted for a Republican candidate. Following the election, Southern states were able to fully implement Jim Crow laws, disenfranchising black Americans, and beginning a period of Democratic domination known as the Solid South. No Republican presidential nominee would win a former Confederate state until Warren G. Harding won Tennessee in the 1920 United States presidential election.
It was the fifth of six consecutive presidential election victories for the Republican Party and the second of five U.S. presidential elections in which the winner did not win a plurality of the national popular vote, after the 1824 election. Although Tilden defeated Hayes in the official popular vote tally, the election involved substantial electoral fraud, voter intimidation by paramilitary groups such as the Red Shirts, and disenfranchisement of black Republicans. The election had the highest voter turnout of the eligible voting-age population in American history, at 82.6%.Between 1828–1928: Between 1932 and 2008: Tilden's share of the popular vote, 50.9%, is the largest received by a candidate who was not elected to the presidency and makes him the only presidential candidate in American history to lose despite winning an outright majority of the popular vote. Tilden was also the last person to win an outright majority of the popular vote until William McKinley in 1896. As of 2024, this remains the only presidential election in which both candidates were sitting governors, and was the last presidential election during which the presidential electors of a state (Colorado) were appointed at the discretion of the state legislature rather than by popular vote.
Nominations
Republican Party nomination
1876 Republican Party ticket for Presidentfor Vice President 29th & 32ndGovernor of Ohio(1868–1872 & 1876–1877) U.S. Representativefor New York's 19th(1861–1863 & 1869–1877)
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 despite 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. Grant had already ruled himself out of the running in May 1875.[url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-general-henry-white-president-the-pennsylvania-republican-convention-the-subject] 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 Ballot1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7thHayes 61646768104113384Blaine 285296293292286308351Bristow 11311412112611411121Morton 12412011310895850Conkling 9993908482810Hartranft 5863687169500Jewell 11000000Washburne 0113340Wheeler 3322220Not Voting 2212120
Vice Presidential Ballot Ballot 1st (Partial Roll-Call)Wheeler 366Frelinghuysen 89Jewell 86Woodford 70Hawley 25Not Called 120
Democratic Party nomination
1876 Democratic Party ticket for Presidentfor Vice President 25thGovernor of New York(1875–1876) 16thGovernor of Indiana(1873–1877)Campaign
Democratic candidates: Samuel J. Tilden, governor of New York Thomas A. Hendricks, governor of Indiana Winfield Scott Hancock, United States Army 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
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 inside the auditorium in St. Louis amid 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. It has been claimed that the voting Democrats received Tilden's presidential nomination with more enthusiasm than any leader since Andrew Jackson.They Also Ran
Presidential Ballot1st (Before Shifts) 1st (After Shifts) 2nd (Before Shifts) 2nd (After Shifts) UnanimousTilden 403.5410.5508534738Hendricks 133.5140.585600Hancock 777760590Allen 565654540Bayard 313111110Broadhead 195000Parker 181818180Thurman 00220 Source: Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held in St. Louis, Mo., June 27th, 28th and 29th, 1876. (September 3, 2012).
Source: Official proceedings of the National Democratic convention, held in St. Louis, Mo., June 27th, 28th and 29th, 1876. (September 3, 2012).
Vice Presidential Ballot1stThomas A. Hendricks 730Blank 8 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: Peter Cooper, U.S. philanthropist from New York Andrew Curtin, former governor of Pennsylvania William Allen, former governor of Ohio Alexander Campbell, U.S. representative from Illinois
Candidates gallery
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 during the month of May 1876. Peter Cooper was nominated for president with 352 votes to 119 for three other candidates. 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.
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.
General election
Campaign