Most might not know the name of Rutherford B. Hayes or remember anything special about him and his presidency, but his election to the presidency might show us that our current political atmosphere is not as special as we might think. 

The election I’m talking about is the election of 1876. What was so interesting about this election is not the campaign but what followed. The parties were the same as they are today but  the base was a bit different than what we see today from the Democrats and Republicans. Democrats had their support in the former confederacy and from immigrants across the nation while Republcian’s strength was found in the north and out west. The Republicans nominated Governor of Ohio Rutherford B. Hayes to succeed 18th president Ulysses S. Grant, while the Democrats nominated the northerner New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden. Here is where things got weird. First off, no one really knew who won. Some papers just sided with the candidate they supported and declared them the winner like “The National Republican” that declared Hayes the winner and others like “The Louisiana Democrat” ran headlines that said that Tilden won and the Republican rule was over. While in the electoral college, things would become messy to say the least. In Oregon, one of the electors for Hayes was replaced due to the fact he was a postmaster and being a “federal office holder” disqualified you from being an elector. He was replaced by a Tilden elector by the Governor. While in Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida “White thugs had stuffed or stolen ballot boxes, intimidated black voters, and printed Democratic ballots with the Republican symbol to trick illiterate voters.” (Ross, 2016).  As a compromise between the Democrats who controlled the House and the Republicans in the Senate, both parties agreed to a plan to have a bipartisan commission with five Republicans, three senators and two representatives, and five Democrats, two senators and three representatives. The commission would also include Supreme Court Justices, three appointed by Republicans, two by Lincoln and one by Grant, and one appointed by the Democrat James Buchanan. However, Justice Stephen Johnson Field was a Democrat so the leaning composition was really two and two. There would also be an independent Supreme Court justice appointed by Lincoln but he resigned to be a senator and was replaced by Joseph P. Bradley, appointed by Grant,  who was considered to be the most moderate of the Republican appointed justices on the bench. In the end, the vote was unsurprising with Hayes winning 8-7, and Hayes was inaugurated. However, things were not done just yet and the Democrats had a last card up their sleeves. They threatened to filibuster the commission until inauguration causing it to be thrown in the House where they had the majority. To avoid this constitutional shenanigans “…four Southern Democrats met with five Ohio Republicans… in return for the presidency, to allow “local self-­ government” in the South.” He would pursue a policy of noninterference in Southern affairs, order federal troops to stop protecting the remaining Republican governments…” (Ross, 2016). This deal would be called the “Compromise of 1876” and was viewed as the end of Reconstruction. 

Sure, compared to the last century of politics, our two and half decades since 2000 might seem like a hot mess, but compared to 1876 things are pretty normal or even business as usual. We saw recently (in 2000) ballots being thrown out and their validity debated and many people remember the “hanging chad” debacle. Or, not new, is ‘not news’ agencies calling elections for people who did not win,we still see people today saying Trump won in 2020. This happened in Oregon when they replaced the Hayes voter too. Recently in Nebraska, we see  they almost changed the system of voting from a congressional system to a winner take all. I can say this about learning about past elections, living through this and talking to family, things will never be normal because U.S. politics is just not that normal.

 

 

References

 

E.W. Halsey. (1876, November 15). The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, November 15, 1876, Image 2. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82003389/1876-11-15/ed-1/seq-2/

 

Sanderford, A. (2024, September 24). State Sen. Mike McDonnell deflates GOP hopes for Nebraska winner-take-all in 2024. Nebraska Examiner. https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/09/23/state-sen-mike-mcdonnell-deflates-gop-hopes-for-nebraska-winner-take-all-in-2024/

 

Ross, M. A. (2016). Rutherford B. Hayes. In K. Gormley (Ed.), The Presidents and the Constitution: A Living History (pp. 253–265). NYU Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1803zfw

 

W.J. Murtagh. (1876, November 9). National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, November 09, 1876, Image 1. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86053573/1876-11-09/ed-1/seq-1/