Final answer:
The 1876 presidential election was a contentious event where Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote, but Rutherford B. Hayes won the Electoral College due to the Compromise of 1877, which ended Reconstruction. The contested states' disputed electoral votes were central to the election's outcome.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Presidential Election of 1876
The presidential election of 1876 was one of the most contentious and significant in American history. Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate, ran against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. Initially, the election seemed to favor Tilden, who won the popular vote and swept the South, barring the contested states of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. However, the disputed electoral votes from these states as well as Oregon led to uncertainty about the outcome.
Ultimately, an impartial electoral commission was created, leading to Hayes's victory in the Electoral College. The contentious results were resolved by the Compromise of 1877, where Hayes informally agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, thus formally ending Reconstruction, in exchange for not being filibustered by southern legislators.
The election symbolized the nation's fatigue with Reconstruction and set the political tone for the era. It highlighted the continuing divisions in American society and the compromises made to maintain peace and political balance at the cost of leaving African Americans in the South without federal protection against disenfranchisement and segregationist policies that would soon emerge.