Advertising Notice [16][17] They saw themselves as the military wing of the Democratic Party. Many of the seats in that election had been decided by only a few hundred votes. Why did the presidential election of 1876 anger Democrats? Any doubts about the party's future were dispelled firstly by the collapse of the Liberal Republicans in the aftermath of that election, and secondly by significant Democratic gains in the 1874 mid-term elections, which saw them take control of the House of Representatives for the first time in sixteen years. At the same time, key decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court struck at the protections afforded by Reconstruction-era constitutional amendments and legislation. ", How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century, National Archives and Records Administration, "1876 Presidential General Election Data National", "Corporations, Corruption, and the Modern Lobby: A Gilded Age Story of the West and the South in Washington, D.C.", United States presidential election, 1876, "You Think This Is Chaos? But Tilden had amassed only 184 electoral votesone shy of the number needed to defeat his Republican opponent, Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio. Philanthropist Peter Cooper from New York, The Greenback Party had been organized by agricultural interests in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1874 to urge the federal government to inflate the economy through the mass issuance of paper money called greenbacks. He instead tried to persuade Secretary of State Hamilton Fish to run for the presidency, but the 67-year-old Fish declined since he believed himself too old for that role. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. B.T. Beginning in 1873, a series of Supreme Court decisions limited the scope of Reconstruction-era laws and federal support for the so-called Reconstruction Amendments, particularly the 14th Amendment and 15 Amendment, which gave African Americans the status of citizenship and the protection of the Constitution, including the all-important right to vote. Meanwhile, the Democratic platform called for immediate reform of the federal government and, to forestall Republican charges of sectionalism, committed itself to the permanence of the Federal Union. It also called for civil service reform and restrictions on Chinese immigration to the United States. There were 369 electoral votes, of which 185 were necessary to a choice. The Reconstruction era (1865-1877) ushered in new rights and opportunities for formerly enslaved people but also saw ongoing racial division, violence against Black Americans, economic problems,. As Floridas Supreme Court had earlier declared a Democratic victory in the 1876 gubernatorial election, Democrats had been restored to power all across the South. Why did the Republicans win the presidential election of 1896? The majority party in each house named three members and the minority party two members. The two Republican electors dismissed Grover's action and reported three votes for Hayes.
