Chapter 14: The Centennial Election
“Once the Conventions were over and done with, the whole nation held bated breath as the first rounds of endorsements began flying in. Congress was historically divided. Though endorsements were generally party line, they were also largely region line. Especially within the Republicans and Liberals. An unprecedented amount of New Englanders threw their weights towards Adams, damn near every midwesterner got out and campaigned for Blaine and Hayes, the failed reconstruction states were more blue than the sea while the successful reconstruction states were more red than a cherry so on and so forth. However there were three regions that were hotly contested.
The Mid Atlantic was a battle for Blaine and Tilden as both Republicans and Democrats blocked out any Liberal inroads into New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. (It’s important to note that this is less about the liberals and more because both Blaine and Tilden were from the Mid Atlantic.) The second major tossup was in the Border states and moderately successful reconstruction states. Instead of the Liberals getting out matched, it was the Republicans. In fact, Texas, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri were a brutal skirmish between Adams and Tilden with Blaine barley ever getting a mention. Finally there were the western states. Out west no one was locked out, it was a three way free for all. Many people out west supported whoever they thought would help their individual economies the most.
Many historians think that the campaigning in 1876 was by far the most nasty out of any of the elections from 1865-1892. Some of these fights even got physical. In a particularly unfortunate occasion, Tilden supporters beat and killed a Blaine supporter in a bar in Philadelphia. When it hit the papers, the Tilden campaign had to fight the scandal, vigorously denouncing any violence from their supporters. Yet that choice of words in of itself would hurt the already teetering support of Tilden among southerners, especially the members of the White Leagues. Interestingly Adams would gain the most from this. After all his ticket was the only one hosting an actual southerner. Gilbert Walker of Virginia. The Democrats would also face loud attacks in the north and south for remaining nearly silent on reconstruction. Tilden never mentioned it in any public statements and we can only gather from one interview, with William Allen that Tilden intended on setting a timetable for the end of reconstruction. This silence on behalf of Tilden was generally considered to be a mistake, as he ended up just depressing his support in both the north and more importantly the south. One of the primary things Tilden totally stood for was civil service reform, but Adams was even more vigours on that front and many people that deeply cared about the issue were always going to be voting Adams and not Tilden. All of that being said Tilden and Allen did a good job portraying themselves as a return to normalcy, and neither of the men individually were ever personally attacked, further adding to their validity.
By far James Blaine would have more troublesome scandals. Many considered him to be in the 'elite' (ironically even more than Charles Adams) and saw him as a failed Speaker, on top of that his Irish culture and his familial ties to Catholicism were rapidly and harshly attacked by vocal surrogates. Blaine would end up making the situation worse by going overboard on an anti-catholic hardline, depressing voter turnout in key states like New York, Santo Domingo and Massachusetts. States that Blaine desperately needed. By far though it was the 'Fisher Letters' [1] that damn near destroyed Blaine. In September of 1876, an anonymous leaker sent out letters that James Blaine had written to a businessman named Warren Fisher. These letters detailed corrupt dealings between Blaine and Fisher in the middle of the Credit Mobilier scandal. Blaine's surrogates universally attacked the letters as fakes. The confusion over who leaked it, what the letters actually said and the timeframe all added a confused fuel to the fire. Even Rutherford Hayes was confused about their reality of the letters, letting this slip in a private meeting. When this incident made its way to the press, more confusion arose. Did Hayes admit their reality? Was he dropping hints? Was he trying to take Blaine's place as nominee? Overall the confusion would end up saving Blaine who insisted until his dying day their were false. Yet they also undoubtedly would kill any and all chance towards winning many key states.
The only man who had practically no scandal was Charles Adams. Though he was attacked on all sides for being aristocratic or pro south or a vote splitter these issues were all combatted nicely. He was running with a man who came from a poor background, he made it quite clear that he is hoping to extend reconstruction for another four years while decreasing its cost and pulling some of the troops out, he wasn't a vote splitter he was a winner! All of these responses were spouted by the Adams' surrogates. He instructed his men not to go overboard on attacks against his opponents hoping to let them fight out and swoop from underneath them. He also kept hitting on the whole reason for the party. Civil service reform, civil service reform, civil service reform. Adams had more concrete answers and his opponents scandals turned his smaller third party campaign, into a proper major party campaign..."
-From The Third Adams
by Jacob Duffin, published 1955
NO ONE REACHED A MAJORITY OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE!
CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS
House of Representatives: 112 Liberals, 97 Republicans, 82 Democrats
Senate: 36 Republicans, 30 Democrats, 11 Liberals
"The second the results were confirmed by the papers in mid November the nation flew into chaos. No one had received a majority of the Electoral votes required to be President. The magic number 188 was not reached. This was the first time since 1824 this had happened. Tilden as expected, stole key states like New York, California and Indiana away from Blaine due to the Fisher letters and Adams successfully took most of New England and overperformed in the south! Tilden's blunders had granted Adams North Carolina, Texas and surprisingly Louisiana! This was a massive shock to the nation. People flooded the streets in protest and the backroom deals begun. A contingent election was going to head to the House for the President and the Senate for the Vice President.
In December, months before they would vote in February, many politicians moved to avoid the terrible thought of a deadlock in the House. Each state's delegation would deliberate and decide who their state at large would cast their ballot for. A majority of 20 states was needed to elect the next man in office. The Republicans and Liberals knew they had enough together to elect the next President and Vice President without having to talk to a single Democratic congressman. While that might not necessarily be a popular move, considering that Tilden won the popular vote by a somewhat wide margin, it's not like they really cared. Thus the talks began. Quickly it became apparent what the most natural course of action was. The Liberals would rather see Tilden in office than the corrupt Blaine. On top of that considering the Liberals held the House and the Republicans held the senate, why don't they compromise? Adams will be President and Hayes will be Vice President. The Liberals loved this idea and while they certainly got a lot of agreeing Republicans, they didn't get them all.
Off the bat once the deal was made, a few Republican representatives from Louisiana voted for Tilden taking their state away from Adams out of spite. However, Vermont, Nevada, Iowa, Nebraska, Florida, Arkansas, Wisconsin and most surprisingly Connecticut all cast a vote for Adams. Connecticut voted for Tilden the general election, but New England loyalty caused their politicians to vote for Adams. However that was only 19 states. Not the required 20. Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas and Minnesota were all entirely off the table and made it damn clear that the midwest was Republican country. Hell Wisconsin just barley flipped. With only weeks away from voting day in the House they needed One More State.
The delegation of Santo Domingo was evenly split. They had two Liberal Representatives and two Republican Representatives. This caused a mad dash to get just one of the Republicans to switch their vote and give the state to Adams. Charles Sumner and Charles Adams sailed to Santo Domingo to open negotiations, Roscoe Conkling went to assure the Republicans that should they keep Santo Domingo out of the vote in the house they could force a new deal, Samuel Tilden personally wrote a letter to both appealing to the popular mandate. This went on for six days, before Ignacio María González Santín one of the Republican Representatives offered a deal to Adams. We don't exactly know what it was, however it is known that the deal wasnt in line with the Half Breed message of Adams. The rest was History.
On February 6th 1877, Charles Adams the man with the smallest popular vote became the President Elect, the next day the Senate would easily approve Rutherford B. Hayes as Adams' Vice President. The nation had just had it's first ever third party victory..."
-from One More State
by Jake Morton, published 2008
House Contingent Election Results:
[1]: These are the Mulligan Letters. In our timeline these were revealed years later and by a worker named Mulligan. ITL they are released by a different worker with democratic sympathies. In both scenarios they are released during the campaign season. The reason their validity is never really confirmed is because OTL Mulligan testified before Congress while ITL it's just a whistleblower.
ALRIGHT! See I told you things got bigger than expected. Next chapter will be about the chaos of the Congressional decision and the begging of the Adams Presidency! Feel free to comment and send in feedback I love reading it! Hey at least Reconstruction wont end just yet...
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The Mid Atlantic was a battle for Blaine and Tilden as both Republicans and Democrats blocked out any Liberal inroads into New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. (It’s important to note that this is less about the liberals and more because both Blaine and Tilden were from the Mid Atlantic.) The second major tossup was in the Border states and moderately successful reconstruction states. Instead of the Liberals getting out matched, it was the Republicans. In fact, Texas, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri were a brutal skirmish between Adams and Tilden with Blaine barley ever getting a mention. Finally there were the western states. Out west no one was locked out, it was a three way free for all. Many people out west supported whoever they thought would help their individual economies the most.
Many historians think that the campaigning in 1876 was by far the most nasty out of any of the elections from 1865-1892. Some of these fights even got physical. In a particularly unfortunate occasion, Tilden supporters beat and killed a Blaine supporter in a bar in Philadelphia. When it hit the papers, the Tilden campaign had to fight the scandal, vigorously denouncing any violence from their supporters. Yet that choice of words in of itself would hurt the already teetering support of Tilden among southerners, especially the members of the White Leagues. Interestingly Adams would gain the most from this. After all his ticket was the only one hosting an actual southerner. Gilbert Walker of Virginia. The Democrats would also face loud attacks in the north and south for remaining nearly silent on reconstruction. Tilden never mentioned it in any public statements and we can only gather from one interview, with William Allen that Tilden intended on setting a timetable for the end of reconstruction. This silence on behalf of Tilden was generally considered to be a mistake, as he ended up just depressing his support in both the north and more importantly the south. One of the primary things Tilden totally stood for was civil service reform, but Adams was even more vigours on that front and many people that deeply cared about the issue were always going to be voting Adams and not Tilden. All of that being said Tilden and Allen did a good job portraying themselves as a return to normalcy, and neither of the men individually were ever personally attacked, further adding to their validity.
By far James Blaine would have more troublesome scandals. Many considered him to be in the 'elite' (ironically even more than Charles Adams) and saw him as a failed Speaker, on top of that his Irish culture and his familial ties to Catholicism were rapidly and harshly attacked by vocal surrogates. Blaine would end up making the situation worse by going overboard on an anti-catholic hardline, depressing voter turnout in key states like New York, Santo Domingo and Massachusetts. States that Blaine desperately needed. By far though it was the 'Fisher Letters' [1] that damn near destroyed Blaine. In September of 1876, an anonymous leaker sent out letters that James Blaine had written to a businessman named Warren Fisher. These letters detailed corrupt dealings between Blaine and Fisher in the middle of the Credit Mobilier scandal. Blaine's surrogates universally attacked the letters as fakes. The confusion over who leaked it, what the letters actually said and the timeframe all added a confused fuel to the fire. Even Rutherford Hayes was confused about their reality of the letters, letting this slip in a private meeting. When this incident made its way to the press, more confusion arose. Did Hayes admit their reality? Was he dropping hints? Was he trying to take Blaine's place as nominee? Overall the confusion would end up saving Blaine who insisted until his dying day their were false. Yet they also undoubtedly would kill any and all chance towards winning many key states.
The only man who had practically no scandal was Charles Adams. Though he was attacked on all sides for being aristocratic or pro south or a vote splitter these issues were all combatted nicely. He was running with a man who came from a poor background, he made it quite clear that he is hoping to extend reconstruction for another four years while decreasing its cost and pulling some of the troops out, he wasn't a vote splitter he was a winner! All of these responses were spouted by the Adams' surrogates. He instructed his men not to go overboard on attacks against his opponents hoping to let them fight out and swoop from underneath them. He also kept hitting on the whole reason for the party. Civil service reform, civil service reform, civil service reform. Adams had more concrete answers and his opponents scandals turned his smaller third party campaign, into a proper major party campaign..."
-From The Third Adams
by Jacob Duffin, published 1955
NO ONE REACHED A MAJORITY OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE!
CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS
House of Representatives: 112 Liberals, 97 Republicans, 82 Democrats
Senate: 36 Republicans, 30 Democrats, 11 Liberals
"The second the results were confirmed by the papers in mid November the nation flew into chaos. No one had received a majority of the Electoral votes required to be President. The magic number 188 was not reached. This was the first time since 1824 this had happened. Tilden as expected, stole key states like New York, California and Indiana away from Blaine due to the Fisher letters and Adams successfully took most of New England and overperformed in the south! Tilden's blunders had granted Adams North Carolina, Texas and surprisingly Louisiana! This was a massive shock to the nation. People flooded the streets in protest and the backroom deals begun. A contingent election was going to head to the House for the President and the Senate for the Vice President.
In December, months before they would vote in February, many politicians moved to avoid the terrible thought of a deadlock in the House. Each state's delegation would deliberate and decide who their state at large would cast their ballot for. A majority of 20 states was needed to elect the next man in office. The Republicans and Liberals knew they had enough together to elect the next President and Vice President without having to talk to a single Democratic congressman. While that might not necessarily be a popular move, considering that Tilden won the popular vote by a somewhat wide margin, it's not like they really cared. Thus the talks began. Quickly it became apparent what the most natural course of action was. The Liberals would rather see Tilden in office than the corrupt Blaine. On top of that considering the Liberals held the House and the Republicans held the senate, why don't they compromise? Adams will be President and Hayes will be Vice President. The Liberals loved this idea and while they certainly got a lot of agreeing Republicans, they didn't get them all.
Off the bat once the deal was made, a few Republican representatives from Louisiana voted for Tilden taking their state away from Adams out of spite. However, Vermont, Nevada, Iowa, Nebraska, Florida, Arkansas, Wisconsin and most surprisingly Connecticut all cast a vote for Adams. Connecticut voted for Tilden the general election, but New England loyalty caused their politicians to vote for Adams. However that was only 19 states. Not the required 20. Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas and Minnesota were all entirely off the table and made it damn clear that the midwest was Republican country. Hell Wisconsin just barley flipped. With only weeks away from voting day in the House they needed One More State.
The delegation of Santo Domingo was evenly split. They had two Liberal Representatives and two Republican Representatives. This caused a mad dash to get just one of the Republicans to switch their vote and give the state to Adams. Charles Sumner and Charles Adams sailed to Santo Domingo to open negotiations, Roscoe Conkling went to assure the Republicans that should they keep Santo Domingo out of the vote in the house they could force a new deal, Samuel Tilden personally wrote a letter to both appealing to the popular mandate. This went on for six days, before Ignacio María González Santín one of the Republican Representatives offered a deal to Adams. We don't exactly know what it was, however it is known that the deal wasnt in line with the Half Breed message of Adams. The rest was History.
On February 6th 1877, Charles Adams the man with the smallest popular vote became the President Elect, the next day the Senate would easily approve Rutherford B. Hayes as Adams' Vice President. The nation had just had it's first ever third party victory..."
-from One More State
by Jake Morton, published 2008
House Contingent Election Results:
[1]: These are the Mulligan Letters. In our timeline these were revealed years later and by a worker named Mulligan. ITL they are released by a different worker with democratic sympathies. In both scenarios they are released during the campaign season. The reason their validity is never really confirmed is because OTL Mulligan testified before Congress while ITL it's just a whistleblower.
ALRIGHT! See I told you things got bigger than expected. Next chapter will be about the chaos of the Congressional decision and the begging of the Adams Presidency! Feel free to comment and send in feedback I love reading it! Hey at least Reconstruction wont end just yet...
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The numbers don’t quite add up
