Fraud and Intimidation in the Florida Election of 1876

The Presidential Election of 1876 was the most controversial election in American history. It is remembered because of the extended dispute over its outcome and because it has since been regarded as the end of Reconstruction in the South. The uncertain outcome was due to duplicate electoral certificates from Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana. These were the only Southern states which still had Republican governors. By various combinations of fraud and violence, both Democratic and Republican parties in these three states had managed to secure electoral certificates for their respective presidential candidates. Samuel J. Tilden, the Democratic candidate, received 184 undisputed electoral votes, and needed only one more for election. Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate, had only 166. There were nineteen disputed votes in the three southern states and Hayes would have to win all of them if he were to be seated