Samuel J. Tilden (Brothers No More)

Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 – September 2, 1885) was an American politician who served as the 18th President of the United States.

Early Life
See here.

Political Career
See here.

President of the United States
Tilden became governor of New York in 1875 and quickly gained a national reputation of honest governance. This made him an appealing candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1876 election- the Democrats were looking to move on from President Pendleton's recent visit with Confederate President Jackson, and also from several corruption scandals that plagued Pendleton's administration.

Tilden won the election handily, but only earned 45% of the popular vote in the face of split opposition. That low number caused many of his political opponents to question his legitimacy from the beginning, and the American public remained suspicious that the Democratic Party was trying to ally with the Confederacy. The Democratic-controlled Congress was eager to pass Tilden's suggested reforms in an attempt to move on from Pendleton's scandal.

President Tilden successfully moved the country onto a hard money (gold-backed) currency and got a few anti-corruption measures passed. He eventually found, to his disappointment, that the national Democratic Party was just as corrupt as the one in New York. Over a decade of complete rule over the United States had caused corruption to become commonplace in the Democratic Party, and there was a large group of congressmen who would protect the spoils system even if it meant putting their careers on the line. Tilden was forced to put his reforms on the back-burner in preparation for the 1880 election.

After winning a close election over National American candidate George F. Edmunds, the president immediately began a public crusade to pass massive civil service reform legislation. His own party, cooperating with some National Americans, would not budge on the issue. Tilden did his best to avoid corruption in his own administration, but even that was a hard task. In 1883, his treasury secretary was involved in a plot to sell cheap government land to railroads. Tilden's second term was and is considered a failure.

To make things worse, President Tilden's health began to rapidly decline in the later years of his second term. He was physically frail by the time he left office in March 1885.

Post-Presidency
After leaving Washington, Tilden returned to New York. He lived in seclusion for five months before dying on September 2, 1885.

Legacy
At the start of his term, Samuel J. Tilden was considered a modern Democratic hero who would bring back the party from its temporary downturn. While he did manage to put the Democratic Party back on its feet and win an unlikely reelection in 1880, his time as president is seen as a mixed bag. His first term was fairly successful, while he barely got anything done in his second term. There is, however, a strong argument to be made that it was the corrupt congressmen, and not the president, that was responsible for that failure. Tilden's ill health led to his final year in office being even less productive than the preceding seven, as he was unable to personally advocate for his reforms. When civil service reform was finally passed five years after his death, the act was partly dedicated to his memory.

In summary, Tilden is seen as a morally upright president who tried to stand up to his own party in one of the most corrupt times in American political history. He left his large personal fortune towards the foundation of a public library system in New York, which was a large part of his lasting legacy after his death.