The President Who Wasn't

One hundred fifty years ago, in 1876, America experienced one of the closest presidential elections in its history. The Democratic nominee, New York State Governor Samuel J. Tilden garnered 50.92% of the popular vote to 47.92% for the Republican nominee, Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes. The initial Electoral College tally had Tilden with 184 votes (one shy of a majority) and Hayes with just 165.

But, 20 Electoral College votes were in dispute—from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon—due to duplicate slates of electors being presented. Moreover, Republican voters in many southern states were intimidated and even killed. Barely a decade after the end of the Civil War, the nation faced another constitutional crisis. 

Congress decided to resolve the dispute through establishment of a 15-member Electoral Commission (7 Democrats, 7 Republicans and one Independent). A series of 8-7 votes gave all 20 disputed Electoral College votes to Republican Hayes—beating Tilden by a margin of 185-184.

Democrats in Congress were initially outraged, but their rage was tempered by newly inaugurated President Hayes supporting the Compromise of 1877. The act effectively ended Reconstruction by withdrawing all federal troops from the last two Southern states that were still occupied: South Carolina and Louisiana. The aftermath was the era of Jim Crow and its institutionalized discrimination against African-Americans throughout the South. And, no Republican presidential candidate would win a former Confederate state until Warren G. Harding in 1920.

So, Tilden—who won the popular vote—lost the presidency through a political contrivance of Congress. And, a disputed presidential election had impact on American society for at least a century afterward.