The country was mired in a severe economic depression for the fourth year in a row. President Ulysses S. Grant was retiring after two terms dominated by a succession of political scandals. The Democrats, once disgraced by their Civil War association with the rebellious South, had regained strength and confidence, winning a majority in the House of Representatives in Both men had reputations as reformers, and the two parties offered similar platforms advocating honest government and civil service reform.
The general election campaign was dominated by mudslinging and by charge and countercharge, while the nominees remained above the fray, leaving attack politics to surrogates and the highly partisan newspapers of the day. More than eight million voters turned out on election day, November 7. By evening, results arriving by telegraph showed a strong Democratic trend. Republican strongholds fell to Tilden, and by morning, he appeared to have won 17 states by a popular vote margin of at least ,, for electoral votes, at that time just one short of a majority.
Hayes was behind with 18 states and electoral votes, but Republican Party hopes revived when returns showed narrow leads for Hayes in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, which controlled 19 votes. Local Democrats disputed the results, asserting that federal troops had tainted the election; the GOP countered with claims that black Republican voters had been kept from the polls by force in many places.
Bitterly divided, each state sent two contradictory certificates of election results to Congress. A fierce battle over the disputed returns was predicted, with supporters of both candidates threatening violence.
Congress responded in January by establishing a bipartisan electoral commission made up of senators, representatives, and Supreme Court justices. The commission would determine which slate of disputed electors had the better claim.
On February 1, Congress met to count the electoral votes; the disputed returns were referred to the commission, which painstakingly examined each of them. The process continued for more than a month, but in every case the commission voted by the narrowest margin to accept the Republican electors.
Under the administration of President Andrew Johnson in and , new southern Ulysses Grant commanded the victorious Union army during the American Civil War and served as the 18th U. During the Civil Andrew Johnson , the 17th U. Johnson, who served from to , was the first American president to be impeached.
A tailor before he entered politics, Johnson grew up poor and Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Compromise of The Election By the s, support was waning for the racially egalitarian policies of Reconstruction , a series of laws put in place after the Civil War to protect the rights of African Americans, especially in the South. Recommended for you. Compromise of Missouri Compromise. Lyndon Johnson Pressures Senator Hartke.
Compromise of The Compromise of was made up of five bills that attempted to resolve disputes over slavery in new territories added to the United States in the wake of the Mexican-American War Missouri Compromise In , amid growing sectional tensions over the issue of slavery, the U. Memorable Elections The race for the U.
Presidential Elections Departing from the monarchical tradition of Britain, the founding fathers of the United States created a system in which the American people had the power and responsibility to select their leader. Hayes Rutherford B. Reconstruction Reconstruction , the turbulent era following the Civil War, was the effort to reintegrate Southern states from the Confederacy and 4 million newly-freed people into the United States.
Clara Barton's Benefactor. April 19, When President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for volunteers on April 15, , the first group of soldiers to arrive was the 6th Massachusetts Regiment. Attacked by Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore, they arrived at the Capitol bloodied and bruised and were housed in the Senate Chamber. Among those aiding the soldiers was a young government clerk named Clara Barton.
Thus began a career that culminated in the creation of the American Red Cross in This is a familiar tale, no doubt, but less known is the essential role played in this story by Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts. Senator Stephen Douglas Dies.
June 3, On June 3, , Illinois senator Stephen Douglas died in a Chicago hotel room after an exhausting effort to rally public support for the Union. Known as the "Little Giant," Douglas fought for passage of the Compromise of to preserve the Union and avoid civil war.
He then undid his own handiwork by promoting the Kansas-Nebraska Act to enable westward expansion in the young nation. A Dramatic Session.
July 4, This emergency first session of the 37th Congress lasted only five weeks, but circumstances of the day made it an extraordinary session.
Under the threat of Confederate forces, Congress enacted 67 major public laws, making this one of the most productive legislative sessions. George Norris. July 11, Nebraska's George Norris, the man many consider history's "greatest United States senator," was born on July 11, He served in the Senate for 30 years, from until In his book, Profiles in Courage, John F.
Kennedy wrote of Norris, "Nothing could sway [George Norris] from what he thought was right, from his determination to help all the people, from his hope to save them from the twin tragedies of poverty and war. Northerners expected an easy Union victory that day, but they soon learned that war was unpredictable. The "picnic battle," as it became known, resulted in a major Union defeat. Senator Killed in Battle. October 21, Senator Edward Dickinson Baker, veteran of the Mexican War, well-known lawyer and orator, and confidante of President Abraham Lincoln, answered his country's call to battle in Leaving the Senate Chamber behind, Baker led his troops into the Battle of Ball's Bluff and became the Senate's first and only sitting member to die in battle.
Creating a Confederate Senate. February 18, On February 18, , the Confederate Congress convened for the first time at the Virginia state capitol in Richmond. On its first day of operation, the Confederate Senate counted 20 of its 26 members present and elected a president pro tempore.
Because the Confederate Senate held many of its sessions in secret, did not use official reporters of debates to record public proceedings, and lost extensive records to the chaos of war, today we know very little about its operations.
Washington's Farewell Address. February 22, It is a Senate tradition dating back to On February 22 of that year, to boost morale during the bloody days of civil war, members of the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the president's cabinet gathered in the House Chamber to hear Secretary of the Senate John Forney read Washington's Farewell Address. Eventually becoming a yearly event, Washington's famous farewell has been read in the Senate every year since Constructing a National Symbol.
December 2, At noon on December 2, , a solemn ceremony marked completion of the dome and the placement of the Statue of Freedom. Senator Resigns to Protest Loyalty Oath. January 29, Senator James A. Bayard of Delaware objected to Congress' new oath of office, the infamous "Ironclad Test Oath" written during the Civil War to weed out traitors. Bayard argued that the new oath was unconstitutional and interfered with the president's pardoning power.
When the oath became mandatory in , Bayard dutifully swore the oath and then resigned from the Senate. The Senate Passes the Thirteenth Amendment. April 8, The film Lincoln told the story of President Abraham Lincoln and the final month of debate over the Thirteenth Amendment, leading to its passage by the House of Representatives on January 31, What the film did not portray, however, was the Senate's part of that story.
Andrew Johnson Under the Weather. March 4, The second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln began with the traditional swearing in of the vice president in the Senate Chamber. After delivering brief farewell remarks, outgoing vice president Hannibal Hamlin yielded to his successor, Andrew Johnson. As Johnson stood to address the Senate, it was immediately apparent that the man was seriously intoxicated. Musical chairs. March 9, South Carolina holds a significant Senate record.
For thirty-six years, from to , it sent the same two senators to Washington: Strom Thurmond and Ernest Hollings. Virginia, by contrast, holds a uniquely different record. In eight years of the Civil War-era, between and , it sent nine senators. This number appears even larger considering that Virginia had no senators for four of those eight years. April 30, Seventy-eight-year-old Alben Barkley, former majority leader and vice president, now a junior senator once again, delivered a rousing speech.
As the crowd roared its approval, the elder statesman collapsed to the floor. Solomon Foot Dies. March 28, The March death of the Senate's senior member, year-old Solomon Foot of Vermont, inspired revealing tributes by his colleagues. Regrattably, we know little of this esteemed senator today. He seldom spoke in the Senate, and, most unfortunately, he ordered his survivors to burn his papers.
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