The candidates in the 1876 presidential election were Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden. Hayes was a former governor of Ohio. Tilden was a wealthy corporate lawyer and former governor of New York who tried to end the corruption in New York City's government. Tilden clearly won 184 electoral votes leaving him 1 shy of a majority vote. On the other hand, Hayes clearly won 165 electoral votes which left 20 votes in dispute. Nineteen of the votes were in the three southern states Republicans still had control of. The three states were Lousiana, South Carolina and Florida. There was so much election fraud from both sides that no one could figure out the winner. Congress tried to resolve the situation by appointing a 15 person commision
