In 1814, on this day the nineteenth President of the United States, Samuel Jones Tilden (pictured) was born in the town of New Lebanon, Columbia County in New York State.

Samuel J. Tilden
19th US PresidentHe studied law at Yale and New York Universities before being admitted to the bar. A skilled corporate lawyer, he became rich representing many railroad companies during the shaky railroad boom decade of the 1850s. He also was a member of the New York State Assembly and a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1846. In 1848, largely on account of his personal attachment to Martin Van Buren, he participated in the revolt of the "Barnburners" or Free-Soil faction of the New York Democrats. He was among the few such who did not join the Republican Party and, in 1855, was the candidate of the Soft faction for New York State Attorney General.

Tilden became chairman of the Democratic State Committee after the Civil War. After having good relations to William M. Tweed and working closely together with him in the Democratic Party, Tilden came into conflict with the Tweed ring of New York City. Corrupt New York judges were the ring's tools, and Tilden, after entering the New York State Assembly in 1872 to promote the cause of reform, took a leading part in the judges' impeachment trials. By analyzing the bank accounts of certain members of the ring, he obtained legal proof of the principle on which the spoils had been divided. As a reform-spirited Governor in 1874, he turned his attention to a second set of plunderers, the "Canal Ring", made up of members of both parties who had been systematically robbing New York State through the maladministration of its canals. Tilden succeeded in breaking them up.

His successful service as governor gained him the presidential nomination. In one of the closest contests in American Presidential history, he narrowly won the general election, beating Republican Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes only by gaining a majority of the districts in the State of Pennsylvania. The outcome was heavy with consequence, because the disposition and outlook of this man could shape the future of the nation. Because he entered office with the need to confront the explosive issue of whether Reconstruction should continue.