1876 United States elections

The 1876 United States elections were held on November 7. In one of the most disputed presidential elections in American history, Republican Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio ended up winning despite Democratic Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York earning a majority of the popular vote. The Republicans maintained their Senate majority and cut into the Democratic majority in the House.

1876 United States elections
1874          1875          1876          1877          1878
Presidential election year
Election dayNovember 7
Incumbent presidentUlysses S. Grant (Republican)
Next Congress45th
Presidential election
Partisan controlRepublican hold
Popular vote marginDemocratic +3.2%
Electoral vote
Rutherford B. Hayes (R)185
Samuel J. Tilden (D)184
1876 United States presidential election in California1876 United States presidential election in Oregon1876 United States presidential election in Nevada1876 United States presidential election in Colorado1876 United States presidential election in Nebraska1876 United States presidential election in Kansas1876 United States presidential election in Texas1876 United States presidential election in Minnesota1876 United States presidential election in Iowa1876 United States presidential election in Missouri1876 United States presidential election in Arkansas1876 United States presidential election in Louisiana1876 United States presidential election in Wisconsin1876 United States presidential election in Illinois1876 United States presidential election in Michigan1876 United States presidential election in Indiana1876 United States presidential election in Ohio1876 United States presidential election in Kentucky1876 United States presidential election in Tennessee1876 United States presidential election in Mississippi1876 United States presidential election in Alabama1876 United States presidential election in Georgia1876 United States presidential election in Florida1876 United States presidential election in South Carolina1876 United States presidential election in North Carolina1876 United States presidential election in Virginia1876 United States presidential election in West Virginia1876 United States presidential election in Maryland1876 United States presidential election in Delaware1876 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania1876 United States presidential election in New Jersey1876 United States presidential election in New York1876 United States presidential election in Connecticut1876 United States presidential election in Rhode Island1876 United States presidential election in Maryland1876 United States presidential election in Vermont1876 United States presidential election in New Hampshire1876 United States presidential election in Maine1876 United States presidential election in Massachusetts1876 United States presidential election in Maryland1876 United States presidential election in Delaware1876 United States presidential election in New Jersey1876 United States presidential election in Connecticut1876 United States presidential election in Rhode Island1876 United States presidential election in Massachusetts1876 United States presidential election in Vermont1876 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
1876 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by Hayes, blue denotes states won by Tilden. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate.
Senate elections
Overall controlRepublican hold
Seats contested25 of 76 seats[1]
Net seat changeDemocratic +5[2]
House elections
Overall controlDemocratic hold
Seats contestedAll 293 voting members
Net seat changeRepublican +33[2]
1876 House of Representatives election results

  Democratic seat
  Republican seat

  Independent seat

This marks one of four occasions where a newly elected president entered office with a divided legislature, occurring again in 1860, 1884, and 1980. 1980 is the only other occasion where the president's party held the Senate, but not the House. A divided Congress also occurred after the 1984 and 2012 elections.

President

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The 1876 presidential election was heavily contested, and saw the highest turnout of voting age population in American history, 81.8%.[3] [4] Democratic Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York won the Democratic nomination on the second ballot of the 1876 Democratic National Convention, defeating Indiana Governor Thomas A. Hendricks and a handful of other candidates. Republicans chose Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes on the seventh ballot over Maine Senator James G. Blaine, Senator Oliver P. Morton of Indiana, Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow, and several other candidates.[5]

While Tilden outpolled Hayes in the popular vote by a margin of three percent, he had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 electoral votes in dispute. In Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, each party reported its candidate had won the state amid various allegations of electoral fraud and intimidation of voters. At the same time, in Oregon, one elector was declared illegal (as an "elected or appointed official") and replaced.

To resolve this dispute, Congress formed the Electoral Commission to investigate these electoral votes: this commission awarded all 20 electoral votes to Hayes after a bitter legal and political battle, giving him the victory with 185 electoral votes to 184. While many Democrats felt that Tilden had been cheated out of victory, the informal "Compromise of 1877" saw Democrats recognize Hayes as President in return for the end of Reconstruction.

Excluding the four-candidate 1824 election, Hayes' margin of victory of one electoral vote has never been matched as of 2020. This was the second of five elections where the winning candidate lost the popular vote, and the only one where the popular vote loser lost by more than one point until the 2016 election.

United States House of Representatives

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While the Republicans picked up a 33 seats in the House, it was not enough to regain a majority from the Democrats, who had 155 seats to the Republicans 136 (two seats being held by independents).[6]

United States Senate

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The Democrats gained three net seats in the Senate, but the Republicans held onto their majority. Since this election was held prior to ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, these seats were chosen by the state legislatures.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Not counting special elections.
  2. ^ a b Congressional seat gain figures only reflect the results of the regularly-scheduled elections, and do not take special elections into account.
  3. ^ Between 1932 and 2008: "Table 397. Participation in Elections for President and U.S. Representatives: 1932 to 2010" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-24. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
  4. ^ "EXPLAINER: 1876 election holds record for highest turnout". AP News. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
  5. ^ "1876 Presidential Election". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  6. ^ "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives". United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  7. ^ "Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present". United States Senate. Retrieved 25 June 2014.