Samuel Tilden

Samuel Tilden (1814-1886), American lawyer and political leader. Samuel Jones Tilden was born in New Lebanon, New York, and educated at Yale University and the University of the City of New York (now New York University). Tilden was admitted to the bar in 1841 and two years later was named corporation counsel of New York City. Counsel for several railroads, he achieved nationwide fame in law. At the same time, he rose rapidly in Democratic Party ranks and was named chairman of the state of New York in 1866. From 1868 to 1872 he led a successful attack on the Tammany Hall boss William Marcy Tweed and his organization, known as the Tweed Ring, which controlled politics in New York City and the state. As governor of New York from 1874 to 1876, Tilden continued to attack political corruption. He was the Democratic Party candidate for president in 1876. Although he won approximately 250,000 more popular votes than his Republican Party opponent, Rutherford B. Hayes, the electoral vote in several states was contested. The Electoral Commission of 1877 created by Congress declared Hayes the winner by one electoral vote, and Tilden retired from public life. He bequeathed most of his fortune for the establishment of the New York Public Library.