The campaign that followed proved one of the most memorable in our history.

When it came to an end the result showed on the face of the returns 196 in the Electoral College, eleven more than a majority; and in the popular vote 4,300,316, a majority of 264,300 for Tilden over Hayes.
How this came to be first contested and then complicated so as ultimately to be set aside has been minutely related by its authors.
The newspapers, both Republican and Democratic, of November 8, 1876, the morning after the election, conceded an overwhelming victory for Tilden and Hendricks.

There was, however, a single exception.

The New York Times had gone to press with its first edition, leaving the result in doubt but inclining toward the success of the Democrats.

In its later editions this tentative attitude was changed to the statement that Mr.
Hayes lacked the vote of Florida--"claimed by the Republicans"-- to be sure of the required votes in the Electoral College.
The story of this surprising discrepancy between midnight and daylight reads like a chapter of fiction.
After the early edition of the Times had gone to press certain members of the editorial staff were at supper, very much cast down by the returns, when a messenger brought a telegram from Senator Barnum, of Connecticut, financial head of the Democratic National Committee, asking for the Times' latest news from Oregon, Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina.