Americans are likely to dwell for a long time upon the glories of our
Centennial of Independence. The year 1876 came and went, and left its
impress on the world. Our great Exposition at Philadelphia was
happily devised. We celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of our
independence, and invited all nations, _including Great Britain_, to
join us in the festival. The Exposition was successful in a high
degree. The nation was at its best. The warrior President who had led
her armies to victory announced the opening and the close. Great
things were seen. One or two great orations were pronounced, and in
particular a great Centennial poem was contributed by that gifted son
of genius, Sidney Lanier, of Georgia. Nor do we refrain from
repeating, after twenty years, one of his poetic passages:
"Long as thine Art shall love true love;
Long as thy Science truth shall know;
Long as thine Eagle harms no Dove;
Long as thy Law by law shall grow;
Long as thy God is God above,
Thy brother every man below,
So long, dear Land of all my love,
Thy name shall shine, thy fame shall glow!"
With the autumnal frost the great Exposition was concluded; and with
that autumnal frost came a peril the like of which our nation had not
hitherto encountered. The presidential election was held, and ended in
a disputed presidency. We had agreed since the beginning of the
century that ours should be a government by party. Against this
policy Washington had contended stoutly; but after the death of the
Father of his Country, the policy prevailed--as it has continued to
prevail more and more to the present day.
In 1876 a Democratic reaction came on against the long-dominant
Republican party, and Samuel J. Tilden, candidate of the Democracy,
secured a _popular_ majority. The _electoral_ majority remained in
dispute. Both parties claimed the victory. The election was so evenly
balanced in its results--there had been so much irregularity in the
voting and subsequent electoral proceedings in the States of Florida,
Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon, and the powers of Congress over
the votes of such States were so vaguely defined under existing
legislation--that no certain declaration of the result could be made.
The public mind was confounded with perplexity and excitement, and
there began to be heard the threatenings of civil war.
Perhaps the nation did not realize the danger; but the danger was
present, and threatened to be overwhelming. The Republican party in
possession of the Government was not willing to lose its advantage,
and the Democratic party, declaring its majority to be rightful, was
ready to rise in insurrection. As to the facts in the case, neither
Samuel J. Tilden nor General R.B. Hayes was clearly elected to the
presidency. The Democrats had carried two or three States by the
persuasion of shotguns, and the Republicans with the aid of electoral
commissions had counted in the electoral votes of a State or two which
they did not carry at all. The excitement increased with the approach
of winter, and it was proposed in a leading Democratic journal of the
West that a hundred thousand Democrats should rise and march unarmed
on Washington City, there to influence the decision of the disputed
question.
When Congress convened in December, the whole question of the disputed
presidency came at once before that body for settlement. The situation
was seriously complicated by the political complexion of the Senate
and the House of Representatives. In the former body the Republicans
had a majority sufficient to control its action, while in the House
the Democratic majority was still more decisive and equally willful.
At length the necessity of doing _something_ became imperative. The
great merchants and manufacturers of the country and the boards of
trade in the principal cities grew clamorous for a peaceable
adjustment of the difficulty. The spirit of compromise gained ground,
and it was agreed to refer the disputed election returns to a joint
high commission, to consist of five members chosen from the United
States Senate, five from the House of Representatives, and five from
the Supreme Court.
The judgment of this tribunal was to be final. The commission was
accordingly constituted. The disputed returns were sent, State by
State, to the High Court for decision. That body was itself divided
politically, and _every member decided each question according to his
politics_. The Republicans had seven votes in the court, the Democrats
seven votes, and one vote, that of Judge Joseph P. Bradley, was said
to be independent. But Judge Bradley was a Republican in his political
antecedents, and whenever a question came to a close issue, he decided
with his party.
On the second of March, only three days before the time for the
inauguration, a final decision was reached. The Republican candidates
were declared elected _by one electoral vote_ over Tilden and
Hendricks. Mr. Tilden had himself counseled peace and acquiescence.
The decision was sullenly accepted by the Democrats, and the most
dangerous political crisis in American history passed harmlessly by
without violence or bloodshed. No patriot will care to see such a
crisis come again.