The presidential election of 1876 is one of the most interesting in American history. The final 1876 result of the November voting was not known for months, until just before the inauguration date of March 5, 1877.
The protagonists in 1876 were Rutherford B. Hayes for the Republicans and Samuel J. Tilden for the Democrats; both were men of integrity and highly thought of by friends and political enemies alike. At first it appeared that Tilden had won, but then the Republican parties in the South managed to overturn the election results on the grounds that black Republican voters had been forcibly kept from voting and the results had thus been changed. It was a classic standoff with disputed electoral votes littering the political landscape.
At length, wiser heads prevailed and a special commission was established to sort out the mess. It was supposed to be composed of seven Democrats, seven Republicans and one Independent, but at the last moment the Independent had to withdraw and was replaced by a Republican. The commission voted along straight party lines and Hayes was officially elected just three days before the inauguration.
Strangely, although there were large-scale public protests at this sham election, Samuel Tilden, as well as other key Democrats, merely went through the motions of protesting. Later on it was learned that there had in fact been a secret arrangement whereby the Republicans got the presidency, an empty honor as it turned out, while
