The Stolen Election: Hayes Versus Tilden—1876

By Lloyd Robinson

Book Overview

A screamingly close presidential election. Allegations of fraud. Democrats and republicans, North and South, black and white--all at loggerheads. With each passing day, the conflict becomes more complex. Hard-eyed political operatives from both parties rush south to fight on every front. "Spin" is everywhere, he truth hardly to be found. From coast to coast, American alternate between anger astonishment, and despair. One candidate got more popular votes. But he will ultimately be defeated by an astonishing sequence of events--culminating in the tie-breaking vote of a single Justice of the United States Supreme Court. It's not the year 2000. It's 1876. It' the election that ended the Civil War--and set the stage fro eighty bitter years of segregation in the South. We live in its shadow still. Read the full story. You'll never look at American politics the same way again.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765302063
• ISBN13: 9780765302069
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Forge Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.6" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

The stolen election of 1876.

I thought this a great read after the fiasco of the 2000 election. Our constitution is great, but what if the electoral votes are so close and people decide to cheat in a election year. This was exactly what happened in 1876 where both Democrats and Republicans cheated to get their man into the White House. The result was the end of Reconstruction and the disenfrachisement of the black population in the South by our glorious Democratic Party. It also resulted in a disaster of the Hayes Presidency, rather than a reform minded Samuel Tilden as President.Robinson wrote this book in the sixties, but it is still relevant today. Unless the American people change the way we elect our presidents, this might well happen again. This is solid, interesting read.

INTERESTING PERSPECTIVE ON AN INTERESTING PERIOD

Lloyd Robinson first wrote this book in the 1960s and interest was renewed after the 2000 election. As a history buff, I found this book to be surprisingly well-written and informative. I say "surprisingly" because I kind of expected a book that would get bogged down in minutia and academia. However, this book gives an excellent portrayal of the country in 1876, especially in the South where the white Democrats were trying to reclaim power from the Republicans and the former slaves who were beholden to the Republicans. Although Mr. Robinson clearly felt the election was stolen and Tilden should been president, he also points out irregularities in the south, especially in the disputed states of South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida whereby blacks were not allowed to vote and how this contributed to Tilden's victory in the popular vote in these states.If you are a history buff and enjoy reading about politics of previous eras this is a book worth reading.