Although the campaign between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden was bitter, few differences of principle distinguished the candidates. The election produced an apparent Democratic victory. Tilden carried the South and several large Northern states, and his popular margin over Hayes was nearly 300,000 votes. But disputed returns from Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and Oregon, whose electoral votes totaled 20, threw the election in doubt. Hayes could still win if he managed to receive all 20 votes. The Constitution had established no method to determine the validity of disputed returns. The decision clearly lay with Congress, but it was not obvious with which house or through what method. (The Senate was Republican, and the House was Democratic.) Members of each party naturally supported a solution that would yield them the victory. Finally, late in January 1877, Congress tried to break the deadlock by creating a special electoral commission composed of five senators, five representatives, and five justices of the Supreme Court. The congressional delegation consisted of five Republicans and five Democrats. The Court delegation included two Republicans, two Democrats, and the only independent, Justice David Davis. But when the Illinois legislature elected Davis to the U.S. Senate, the justice resigned from the commission. His seat went instead to a Republican justice. The commission voted along straight party lines, 8 to 7, awarding every disputed vote to Hayes. Behind this seemingly partisan victory lay a series of elaborate and sneaky compromises among leaders of both parties. When a Democratic filibuster threatened to derail the electoral commission’s report, Republican Senate leaders met secretly with Southern Democratic leaders. As the price of their cooperation, the Southern Democrats exacted several pledges from the Republicans, which became known as the Compromise of 1877: the appointment of at least one Southerner to the Hayes cabinet, control of federal patronage in their areas, generous internal improvements, federal aid for the Texas and Pacific Railroad, and most important, withdrawal of the remaining federal troops from the South. In his inaugural address, Hayes announced that the South’s most pressing need was the restoration of "wise, honest, and peaceful local self government," and he soon withdrew the troops and let white Democrats take over the remaining Southern state governments. The outcome of the election created such bitterness that not even Hayes’s promise to serve only one term could mollify his critics.
Why does this account reveal about how disputed elections were handled during this time? How would you describe President Hayes inaugural address after those sneaky compromises and secret meetings? Do you think "compromises" and "secret meetings" decide important political issues today? Why, or why not?
