# Canonical recap data for U.S. Presidential Election (1876) (1876)
# Source: https://recap.at/1876/hayes-tilden-election
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: hayes-tilden-election
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1876/hayes-tilden-election"
title: U.S. Presidential Election (1876)
aliases:
- Hayes-Tilden election
- 1876 presidential election
- The Disputed Election
subtitle: The contested Hayes-Tilden election and disputed Electoral Commission resolution; a landmark constitutional crisis and the election that effectively ended Reconstruction.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1876-11-07
datePrecision: day
year: 1876
decade: 1870
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: 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 India
summaryLong: 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.
lede: On November 7, 1876, Americans elected Republican Rutherford B. Hayes as president in one of the most contentious contests in U.S. history. Hayes defeated Democrat Samuel J. Tilden in a race so close it hinged on disputed electoral votes from three Southern states, triggering a constitutional crisis that wouldn't be resolved until March 1877—and fundamentally reshaping the country's approach to Reconstruction.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/President_Rutherford_Hayes_1870_-_1880_%283x4_cropped%29.jpg/1280px-President_Rutherford_Hayes_1870_-_1880_%283x4_cropped%29.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "1876 United States presidential election"
importance: 82
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Election date
  value: November 7, 1876
- label: Disputed electoral votes
  value: 20 (from Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina)
- label: Electoral College margin
  value: Hayes won 185-184
- label: Popular vote
  value: Tilden 4,284,020; Hayes 4,036,572
- label: Swing states
  value: Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Oregon
- label: Resolution date
  value: March 2, 1877
- label: Resolving body
  value: Electoral Commission (15 members)
timeline:
- date: 1876-11-07
  title: Election Day
  description: Americans vote in a highly polarized election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. Early returns suggest a Tilden victory, but results from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon remain uncertain.
- date: 1876-11-09
  title: Recount demands
  description: Both parties claim victory and demand recounts in disputed states. Republican operatives move to South Carolina and Florida to oversee counting efforts; Democratic representatives do the same.
- date: 1876-12-29
  title: Electoral Commission created
  description: Congress establishes a 15-member Electoral Commission (5 senators, 5 representatives, 5 Supreme Court justices) to adjudicate disputed electoral votes. The commission is split 8-7 in Republicans' favor.
- date: 1877-02-01
  title: Commission votes for Hayes
  description: Along strict party lines, the Electoral Commission awards all 20 disputed votes to Hayes. Democrats begin filibustering in Congress to prevent final certification.
- date: 1877-02-26
  title: Compromise of 1877
  description: Republican and Democratic leaders meet secretly at Wormley's Hotel in Washington. Republicans agree to end Reconstruction and withdraw federal troops from the South; Democrats agree to accept Hayes's victory.
- date: 1877-03-02
  title: Hayes declared winner
  description: Congress certifies Hayes as president-elect after the filibuster breaks. Hayes is inaugurated two days later without significant incident.
- date: 1877-04-10
  title: Last troops withdrawn
  description: Federal troops depart South Carolina, the final state occupied since Reconstruction began. The withdrawal marks the formal end of Reconstruction and opens the door to rapid disenfranchisement of Black voters.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_United_States_presidential_election"
  title: U.S. presidential election of 1876
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The 1876 election fracture exposed the fragility of American democratic institutions during Reconstruction. The compromise that ultimately seated Hayes—removing federal troops from the South in exchange for Republican victory—effectively ended Reconstruction and initiated nearly a century of Jim Crow rule across the former Confederacy.
categories:
- election
metaDescription: "The Hayes-Tilden election of 1876: America's most contested presidential race and the deal that ended Reconstruction."
wikidataQid: Q72251
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260623071435/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_United_States_presidential_election"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-23
  label: U.S. presidential election of 1876
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_United_States_presidential_election"
peoplesVoice:
- source: Samuel J. Tilden, Democratic Presidential Candidate
  voiceType: official
  context: Tilden's immediate response to the contested election results on November 8, 1876, as returns remained unclear in three Southern states.
  excerpt: We have been defeated, but the republic has been saved. The people have spoken, though the voice is not yet wholly clear.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 75
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - New York Times, November 8, 1876
  publishedAt: 1876-11-08
  originalLanguage: en
- source: James G. Blaine, Republican Congressional Leader
  voiceType: official
  context: Blaine defended Hayes's disputed victory during heated House debates over the Electoral Commission in January 1877.
  excerpt: The Republican party has preserved the Union and now preserves the Constitution. Hayes is the legitimate choice of the American people.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 70
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Congressional Record, January 1877
  publishedAt: 1877-01-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Henry Watterson, Editor, Louisville Courier-Journal
  voiceType: media
  context: Watterson's editorial response to the Electoral Commission's decision awarding all contested electoral votes to Hayes on March 2, 1877.
  excerpt: The people have been cheated. A president has been manufactured by a partisan tribunal when the nation expected honest arbitration.
  sentimentLabel: mocking
  significance: 72
  attribution: Louisville Courier-Journal, March 3, 1877
  publishedAt: 1877-03-03
  originalLanguage: en
- source: William E. Chandler, Republican National Committeeman
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Chandler explained the Republican strategy for Hayes's narrow victory in private correspondence shortly after the election.
  excerpt: Victory came not from overwhelming public support but from mastering the mechanics of contested electoral returns. The margins were razor-thin.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 58
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Chandler Papers, November 1876
  publishedAt: 1876-11-20
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Frederick Douglass, Civil Rights Leader and Washington Correspondent
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: Douglass expressed concern about Hayes's election and its implications for Reconstruction policies affecting freed slaves in early 1877.
  excerpt: We have seen the colored people of the South sold out to the enemy. Hayes will abandon us to save the Union a second time.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 85
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - New National Era, February 1877
  publishedAt: 1877-02-10
  originalLanguage: en
