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18th President of the United States | |
| Predecessor | George H. Pendleton |
| Successor | William B. Allison |
| Vice President | Thomas A. Hendricks |
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25th Governor of New York | |
| Predecessor | John Adams Dix |
| Successor | Lucius Robinson |
| Born | February 9, 1814 New Lebanon, New York, U.S. |
| Died | September 2, 1885 (aged 71) Yonkers, New York, U.S. |
| Political Party | Democratic |
Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 – September 2, 1885) was an American politician who served as the 18th President of the United States. He is noted for signing the law that outlawed slavery in the United States and advocating for civil service reform.
Early Life[]
Political Career[]
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 the Democratic Party during Pendleton's administration.
President of the United States[]
Tilden won the election handily, but didn't earn a majority of the popular vote in the face of split opposition and would likely have lost if the opposition parties had united around one candidate. The lack of a popular majority 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.
Immediately, Tilden enforced a strict policy in his administration of keeping distance from the Confederacy, including any public praise of them or any communication with them. Any communication would only be carried out for strictly necessary official business. Tilden considered it vital to prove that the Democratic Party was not in cahoots with the Confederacy in any way.
Tilden advocated for ending the inflationary policies of Pendleton's administration and putting the country onto the gold standard. He said that this would stabilize the economy and the country's trade markets, benefiting farmers and industrialists alike. Pendleton's faction opposed such proposals. Eventually, Tilden was able to strike a deal with Congress, passing a law that would gradually phase out greenbacks but keep the bimetal currency for the time being. He decided to shelve the issue for his possible second term.
President Tilden 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 party, and there was a large group of congressmen that 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.
Tilden would again fail to secure a clear popular mandate after he won a slim reelection but soundly lost the popular vote to National American Elihu B. Washburne. He was not deterred and 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. Politically weakened from his slim election victory, which opposition Democrats attributed to his reformist beliefs and hard money stance, he failed to get any reform legislation passed in his second term.
The National American majority in Congress did make it possible, however, to accomplish his long held goal of abolishing slavery. While National American leadership was weary of giving such a major accomplishment to a Democratic president, enough members of the party wanted abolition as soon as possible, at all costs. A law was proposed in Congress and passed. Tilden signed it into law on June 19, 1882. He considered it the proudest achievement of his life and the crown jewel on his legacy.
Most National Americans also supported the gold standard. While Tilden was somewhat wary of continuing to work with the other party to advance legislation, his principles were strong and he knew he would not be up for reelection in 1884 anyway. 1883 saw the passage of an act to end bimetalism and put the country on the gold standard.
This decision contracted the money supply and directly triggered the Panic of 1883, which started a years long recession. Supporters of the gold standard laid the blame at the feet of Pendleton's inflationary measures, saying that he had created an unstable economic bubble that was bound to collapse. They further claimed that an economic downturn was necessary in order to return lasting stability to the economy, but that future panics would be unlikely after this one had subsided. The majority of the population, however, resented the change and the ensuing economic recession, which led to the shuttering of numerous business, the loss of numerous jobs, and widespread poverty. Tilden lost his personal popularity for his role in the crisis.
President Tilden's health began to rapidly decline in the later years of his second term. He was physically frail by 1884 and mentally exhausted from the rigors of his time in office. He did not take an active role in the leading of the Tildenite faction that had sprung up around his policies as president, instead aiming to maintain party unity. He also showed little interest in trying to handpick his successor, instead content to let the convention come to its own decision. He left office quietly, handing it off to the first non-Democrat president in 16 years- William B. Allison.
Post-Presidency[]
After leaving Washington, Tilden returned to New York and resolved to stay out of politics entirely. He lived in seclusion for five months before dying on September 2, 1885.
Legacy[]
Tilden has a complex legacy. The abolition of slavery is seen as a long lasting positive accomplishment that no other postwar president had the courage to carry out, not even Lincoln. His reformist attitude is seen as admirable, but he failed to pass any major legislation to control the corruption problem in government. He left office as an unpopular president due to the failing economy, with hardcore Democrats accusing him of betraying the party by working with the National Americans. History has generally been kinder to Tilden's time in office than his contemporaries were. He is seen as a principled man who wished the best for the country but was unable to get it for the most part.
He left his large personal fortune towards the foundation of a public library system in New York, which was a major part of his lasting legacy after his death.
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