December 10, 2000

Florida Fix

As noted in this space recently, Manatee County - which included today's Charlotte -- was deeply involved in the 1876 Hayes/Tilden electoral vote controversy.

Now comes Historian Richard White with a copy of "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper" of Dec. 16, 1876, recounting the disputed Florida vote certification at Tallahassee.

The article, headlined "Canvassing Presidential Votes At Tallahassee, Florida" follows:

* * *

When it became evident that Florida was a "doubtful" state, a force of the United States troops was sent to the capital city of Tallahassee under command of General Ruger.

An encampment was made in the open space -- seen in the engraving - between the State House and the railroad.

The commandant remained there until serious trouble was apprehended at Columbia, when he was ordered to the South Carolina State House, where he arrived on the 27th ult.

This city was partially occupied by United States troops in 1868, at the time of the first election of General Grant to the Presidency.

Throughout last week, the Board of State Canvassers held daily sessions. General Brannon commanded at this point -- in the absence of General Ruger - sitting within the bar at the State House.

The only marked excitement of the week occurred on the 27th, when the returns from Baker County were read giving the Republicans a majority of 41.

The reading of the counties was suspended after Washington County  with announcement that returns from Dade had not been received.

Notice of contest had been given by one side or the other in every county except one.

It was announced in a few minutes that Hayes was anywhere from 35 to 48 ahead. The result was finally settled with 42 for the highest Hayes elector and 36 for the lowest.

As soon as the evening session opened, Mr. Pasco arose and inquired of the Secretary of State, chairman of the board, if he had received another return from Baker County besides the one he had read.

The Chairman objected to the question and would not reply.

Mr. Pasco then charged openly and positively that such a return had been sent to the Board. He described the return -- a certified copy of which he had in his hand -- as being older in date than the one read by the Secretary. [The older return had] been legally attested and signed by the Clerk and Justice of the Peace as the law requires.

Mr. Pasco then demanded to know why it had been suppressed and insisted on it being produced at once.

The Chairman, though much confused, still refused to say whether he had received any such return or not.

Mr. Pasco then charged that - in utter violation of these plain rules - the Secretary of State had received two returns from one county and had decided the question between them himself by suppressing one and presenting the other.

He renewed his demand for presentation of the suppressed return.

The Chairman then confessed that he had received another return. Going to his desk, he produced it. It was a return dated three days before the other, signed -- as described by Mr. Pasco - and gave the Democrats a 95 [national] majority.

If this return is admitted, Mr. Tilden's majority is over 100. With both returns before the Board under contest, Mr. Tilden has three [Florida] electors and Mr. Hayes 1.

* * *

In the same issue, notes White, there is a story of the Democrats being held at rifle-point outside the capitol while the Army conducted a "security check." When they were finally allowed to enter, they discovered that the Republicans had already organized the legislature.

It must be remembered, that the main issue of the 1876 election was over the extent of "reconstruction" for Confederate Democrats who started the War Between the States.

After a decade of harsh control by "carpetbaggers" following the South's surrender, even northern zealots felt it was time to bury the hatchet and put the country back together economically.

Nonetheless, politicians on both sides in the 1876 election wanted to control reconciliation to their advantage.

It was widely feared that a dozen or more states would organize armed, vigilante squads to make sure the voting would be "fair" - that is, in accordance with their own opinion.

Late on election night, Democrat Charles Tilden received 250,000 more popular votes than Republican Rutherford Hayes. More importantly, Tilden also had 184 uncontested electoral votes - one short of the majority needed to elect. Hayes had 166 electoral votes.

Three states were in dispute - Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana.

The Florida Board of State Canvassers, meeting at Tallahassee, was composed of two Republicans - Secretary of State Samuel B. McLin and State Comptroller C.A. Cowgill. The lone Democrat was Attorney General William Cocke.

Historian Gene Burnett, in a 1992 issue of "Florida's Past," calls the outcome a "Florida Fix." It was arranged by a cabal of Republicans, newspapers, a powerful railroad baron and southern Democrat businessmen desperate for economic opportunity.

Inasmuch as neither candidate had attained an electoral majority, Congress appointed a 15-member Electoral Commission to resolve the problem. The commission consisted of five representatives, five senators and five Supreme Court Justices.

"A group of national publishers, led by Joseph Medill of the Chicago Tribune, were urgently advising Hayes to dump Reconstruction," writes Burnett. "Medill termed the reconstruction policy a failure."

They were strongly supported by the influential Col. Thomas A. Scott, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the world's largest freight carrier. He proposed to build a cross-country route, the Texas and Pacific, to bust the railroad workers union and the Central Pacific Railroad monopoly.

"Scott mobilized a whirlwind task force to fan out over key Southern states," says Burnett. "Armed with promises of 'very liberal' economic treatment, and an end of reconstruction, Scott was able to win a solid southern bloc in support of Hayes.

"He even won over the bellicose publisher of the Louisville Courier-Journal, Henry Watterson. Only weeks before, Watterson was calling on 100,000 Democrats to march on Washington to ensure Tilden's inauguration."

The electoral commission on Feb. 8, 1877, voted 8 to 7 to give Florida's electoral vote to Hayes. The deciding vote was cast by Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Bradley who had been leaning towards Tilden. A long visit by Scott the night before changed Bradley's mind.

The switch was cemented by a meeting between Southern Democrats and Northern Republicans at the Wormly House hotel in Washington, D.C., according to Historian C. Vann Woodward.

In return for Justice Bradley's switch, Hayes agreed to remove troops from Tallahassee and other southern states - along with granting power to Democrats for patronage, postmasters, railroad subsidies, branch banks and "internal improvements."

Democrats grumbled at first and threatened a filibuster in Congress. However, cooler heads pointed out the power of patronage. So deftly did Florida Democrats wield their new privileges they controlled the Florida Legislature for the next hundred years.

It was a fix of a fix.

Author: Lindsey Williams

cutline - scene of shack and capitol, 3 col.

bgital  Leslie's Newspaper engraving provided by Florida State

 Archives  endital

[ "United States troops encamped near the State House at Tallahassee, Nov. 24, 1876." ]

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