Election Of 1876 Dbq

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The year of 1876 was and will probably be forever known as the most disputed election in the American history of elections. There was a lot of violence, discrimination and unjust results during the election of 1876-1877. The electoral commission was developed due to circumstances the election caused. Samuel J. Tilden had outpolled Rutherford B. Hayes in the popular vote, but due to the twenty uncounted electoral votes, there was a compromise and Hayes was elected President. The results of the election could and would have been different if the popular votes were considered in the decision of the presidency in the year of 1876. The Electoral Commision should altogether be abolished or if the chance came, modified, because of the following reasons, …show more content…

Hayes who was in the Republican party and Samuel J. Tilden who, opposite of Hayes, was in the Democratic party. The Electoral College was first developed with the constitution to serve as a compromise, because people thought Congress should elect the president while others thought the popular vote should have the decision. Each state has a minimum of three electors which is constructed of two senators and a representative. The more representatives a state has, the more electors granted. Although the popular votes do not determine the elector votes, it almost always happens where the electors vote for whom the popular votes resulted in. This is one of the many reasons why the Electoral College is unfair, past elections have shown that bigger populations have more electoral votes, concluding that smaller states’ votes become insignificant. This leaves people in question, is the Electoral College now based on where you live? Even though the purpose of the electoral college is to ultimately decide who will occupy the position of the president, there was an Electoral Commision of elite representatives, established to determine the 19th President, because of the situation the electoral college caused. The commission included five representatives from the House, another five associates from the Senate and five justices from the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Justices in the Electoral Commission were David Dias …show more content…

The Reconstruction is known as period after the Civil War. (1865-1877) These were the years the federal government used to rebuild the retreated states. Indeed the causality in the election took place during the Reconstruction and with folks in the South were growing tired of the oppression and lack of control, they saw an opportunity to gain back control of the state. In result Hayes was in favor of the Electoral Commission and was also supported by the Democrats only because he agreed to withdraw the troops in the South. (history.com) The outcome was the end of military control and the end of Reconstruction. (history.com) Although the End of Reconstruction was a positive impact on America during this time, the methods the government used were not necessary to determine the 19th