They were aided by a financial panic happened in 1873
1873年的金融恐慌恰好帮了民主党一把
This was actually an international financial panic. Here's a image of a bank run at the time
这是一场席卷全球的金融恐慌,这是当然银行出现挤兑的情形
that led the Democrats to regain the house of representatives
这场恐慌使民主党重获了不少众议员席位
and that led to one of the most interesting and problematic elections in U.S. history which is the election of 1876
这也催生了美国历史上最荒唐、也最不正当的总统选举——这就是1876年的大选
The Republicans choose a somewhat dull attorney Rutherford B. Hayes
共和党人选了一个古板的律师拉瑟福德·海斯,做候选人
And the Democrats go for quite the opposite Samuel Tilden, an extremely wealthy man
民主党人的选择则相反,他们选了极为富有狄而登做候选人
who became a district attorney and was a crusader against corruption
他曾任州检察官,是位倡导打击腐败的改革者
Samuel Tilden was famous the man who sent "Boss" Tweed of the famous Tammany ring in New York city to prison
他做过最出名的事就是把坦慕尼协会的老大,催德送进了监狱
So he was a reformer, New Yorker
他是个改革者,是个纽约客
look like the Democrats were going to be able to come back and win. The Republican were running scared
他这架势看起来好像民主党有望重夺政权了。共和党人被吓到了
And if you look at the election return, you can see something very interesting. You can see Samuel Tilden in the popular vote getting 51%
看看当时的选情,你会发现一些有趣的现象,你会发现狄而登获得了51%的选民投票
So he certainly won when he came to actual votes but the electoral college was uncertain
单看选民投票他是获胜的,但选举人票的情况则不那么明朗
The uncercainty had to do with three southern states that were still occupied by federal troops as part of reconstruction
有三个南部的州选情无法确定,这些州当时仍被联合军队控制,重建工作仍在进行