The Nerve-Wracking Election of 1876
As Seattle waited on the results of a razor-thin presidential race, telegraph wires buzzed with conflicting claims that would eventually decide the future of the nation.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The dispatch states that South Carolina and Florida are going Republican and the rest Democratic; Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia—all certainly Tilden. The result in the Northern states is doubtful. The state of Oregon, in the event of the above-named Southern and Wisconsin proving Republican as claimed, is supposed to hold the turning of the scale, which, with Oregon Republican, would stand 185 to 184. Tilden otherwise is elected. The result in New York, Indiana, Connecticut, Ohio and Illinois will be close. Public feeling in San Francisco is intense. There are prominent Republicans of the city dancing on the sidewalks, and at every reading of a favorable report from doubtful districts, the wildest enthusiasm prevails by waving of hats and handkerchiefs and intense cheering. It is necessary for the police to clear the street cars. Both parties are claiming the state of Florida, while Republicans claim it by 1,000 majority. The Democratic Central Committee at New Orleans claims Louisiana by 10,000. It is a neck and neck race, with few or no votes to spare. Such an evenly balanced result is better for the country than if either party had gotten away with any surplus large triumph.
“It is a neck and neck race, with few or no votes to spare. Such an evenly balanced result is better for the country than if either party had gotten away with any surplus large triumph.”
The 1876 election—the most contentious in American history—highlights a recurring anxiety in Seattle's civic life: the feeling that one's local political engagement is secondary to the mysterious, slow-moving calculations of distant electoral boards. Much like today, the era’s news was dominated by a 'wait and see' frenzy fueled by incomplete data and conflicting telegraphic rumors.
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