The Battle of the Ballots.

• Author: SCHAUMBURG, RON
• Position: Contested presidential elections of 1876

Which candidate had won? In 1876, the dispute nearly began a second civil war.

In the wee hours of March 2, 1877, Washington, D.C., was ready to party. In three days, a new President would be inaugurated with balls, parades, and public speeches. But one problem kept the lights on late in the Capitol: No one knew who that new President would be.

The Gore-Bush battle of 2000 isn't the first U.S. presidential election to go into overtime. When Democrat Samuel J. Tilden ran against Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, it took the country four months to decide who had been elected--and it turned out to be the candidate who had won fewer popular votes. But the real loser that year, like an innocent bystander socked in a bar-room brawl, was not either party, but America's black population.

The Civil War had concluded just 11 years before, and everyone knew that political arguments could end in bloodshed. After the war, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution had assured black males the right to vote. In the South, that fight had been protected by occupying federal troops.

But many Southern whites had chafed at seeing political power given to ex-slaves. They also resented the way Northerners had flocked to the South. Some of these men, known as carpetbaggers, had taken seats in state legislatures and exploited for their own gain the postwar rebuilding that gave the era the name Reconstruction.

By election time 1876, only three states still had standing federal troops. The country was weary of Reconstruction, and weary of the scandals that had rocked the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant. In nominating Tilden of New York and Hayes of Ohio, both parties chose reformminded Governors.

On Election Night, early returns showed Tilden on top. A few schemers, however, helped to change history. One of them was John C. Reid, managing editor of The New York Times--at the time, a very partisan Republican newspaper.

At 4 a.m. on Election Night, a Democratic campaign representative telegraphed Reid asking for the latest estimate of Tilden's electoral count. Reid realized the Democrats didn't know whether Tilden had captured certain key states. He woke up Zachariah Chandler, the Republican Party chairman, and Chandler telegraphed party leaders in states that had not reported their votes, telling them Hayes could win if he carried those states.

Readers of that day's Times learned how close Tilden was to wrapping it up:

At the hour of sending The Times...