Letters and Literary Memorials of Samuel J. Tilden, V. 1

Samuel J. Tilden was the Democratic nominee who won the popular vote in 1876 but lost the presidency through a backroom deal that ended Reconstruction. He was also the reformer who took on Tammany Hall, the man who almost became president but was denied the office by the Compromise of 1877. This volume collects his letters, speeches, and literary memorials, offering an intimate window into the mind of a man who navigated the treacherous waters of 19th-century American politics with a fierce commitment to reform. The correspondence spans decades of political upheaval: the Civil War, Reconstruction, the rise of the political machine, and the corruption that marred Gilded Age governance. Tilden's letters reveal his thinking on the great questions of his era, from democracy and integrity in public service to whether principle can survive in politics. Here is the man who defeated Grover Cleveland in 1876, who argued for honest elections, who watched his victory be stolen and his name become a byword for stolen elections. For anyone curious about the American political tradition, this collection stands as a vital primary source from a figure who lost yet whose ideas about good governance continue to resonate.