Jack of Harts

The 1876 election is generally considered to be one of the most controversial elections in American history. Democrat organizations like the Red Shirts and White League operated openly, unlike the defunct KKK, organizing armed marches numbering in the thousands to drive out or murder Republican officials, or keep Republicans from voting at all on election day. They printed ballots with Republican symbols but Democrat names to entice illiterate voters into casting the wrong ballot, and vote stuffing was so impressive that it resulted in 101% of the possible vote tallied in one State. Three States sent two official election results to the Electoral College. One endorsed by the existing State government, and one endorsed by the Democrats. And the Oregon governor disqualified one elector because he was a Postmaster, and therefore a government employee, and replaced him with a Democrat elector. An Electoral Commission awarded all disputed votes to Republican President Hayes, and a hasty series of backdoor meetings between Republicans and Democrats followed. The Republicans finally agreed to pull out the last of the federal troops enforcing the now-unpopular Reconstruction efforts, and the Democrats agreed not to protest the election. And so Reconstruction came to an end in the United States of America.