1876 (novel)

Gore Vidal's 1876 was published in 1976 and details the events of a year described by Vidal himself as "probably the low-point in our republic's history."

In 1876 the U.S. presidential election was a close run contest between the Democratic candidate, Samuel J. Tilden, and the Republican Rutherford Hayes. Tilden won the popular vote, but there was a dispute over the results in four states, including Florida. In Florida the Republican leaders of the State initially reported a victory for Tilden, before deciding that in fact Hayes had won. Vidal builds up to this historic crisis through the activities of a mixed cast of historical and fictional characters, many of the latter having previously appeared in Burr: A Novel, or having descended from characters in that novel.