Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 - August 4, 1886) was an American lawyer, politician, and Democratic statesman who served as the 25th Governor of New York (1875-1876) and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in the 1876 election. He is best known as the candidate who won the popular vote in that election but did not become president, following a disputed electoral count resolved by the Compromise of 1877.

Tilden was born in New Lebanon, New York, to a politically connected family with ties to the Jacksonian Democratic tradition. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, eventually building one of the most lucrative corporate law practices in the country, with clients including major railroads. His wealth and legal acumen made him a central figure in New York Democratic politics for decades.

He served in the New York State Assembly and as chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, but his national reputation was largely built on two reform efforts. In the early 1870s, he played a prominent role in exposing and dismantling the Tweed Ring, the corrupt Tammany Hall political machine led by William “Boss” Tweed. His success in that effort elevated him as a reform Democrat and led to his election as governor in 1874. As governor, he pursued further reform by moving against the Canal Ring, a network of contractors and officials defrauding the state through inflated canal maintenance contracts.

Tilden won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1876, running against Republican Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio. The election occurred in the aftermath of Reconstruction, amid widespread reports of voter suppression in Southern states and contested returns in Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon. Tilden won the national popular vote and appeared to lead in the electoral count, but 20 electoral votes from the disputed states remained unresolved.

Congress established a bipartisan Electoral Commission of fifteen members - five from the Senate, five from the House, and five from the Supreme Court - to adjudicate the disputed returns. The commission divided along party lines, 8-7 in favor of Hayes on each contested state, awarding him the presidency. The political bargain that followed, known as the Compromise of 1877, is understood by historians to have included the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the effective end of Reconstruction. Whether Tilden was the rightful winner of the election remains a matter of historical interpretation. For competing assessments, see 1876 Presidential Election - Debate.

Tilden accepted the outcome without leading public resistance, a decision that drew criticism from some Democratic partisans who believed he had surrendered a legitimate claim to the presidency.

Tilden did not seek public office again after 1876. He retired to his estate, Greystone, in Yonkers, New York, and continued his legal and business activities. He was considered a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 1880 and 1884 but declined to pursue the nomination, citing his health. He died in 1886 and left the bulk of his estate - approximately $5 million - to establish a free public library in New York City. That bequest became a founding component of the New York Public Library, formed through the consolidation of the Tilden Trust, the Astor Library, and the Lenox Library in 1895.

• Samuel Tilden - History
• Compromise of 1877
• 1876 Presidential Election
• 1876 Presidential Election - Debate
• Rutherford B. Hayes
• Reconstruction
• Tammany Hall
• New York Public Library

1. Flick, Alexander C. Samuel Jones Tilden: A Study in Political Sagacity. Dodd, Mead, 1939.
2. Hirsch, Mark D. “Samuel Tilden: The Story of a Lost Opportunity.” American Historical Review 56, no. 4 (1951): 788-802.
3. Morris, Roy Jr. Fraud of the Century: Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel Tilden, and the Stolen Election of 1876. Simon & Schuster, 2003.
4. Polakoff, Keith Ian. The Politics of Inertia: The Election of 1876 and the End of Reconstruction. Louisiana State University Press, 1973.
5. New York Public Library. “History of the Library.” nypl.org.