1866 Presidential Candidate Samuel Tilden Signed Indiana Southern Railway Bond (Signature Certified)

This beautiful $1,000 bond issued in 1866 by the Indiana Southern Railway Company bears the original signature of future presidential candidate Samuel Tilden, who won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote in the 1876 election. Railroad company bonds are among the largest and most beautiful financial documents in American history, and this scarce bond is certainly no exception. This remarkably complete certificate, with pastel blue colors and exceptional paper quality, has all but one of the original 60 interest payment coupons remaining. Its impressive size and vibrant coloring make for great wall art in the office or boardroom of any business magnate. A recent print of Samuel Tilden accompanies the document.

Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814- A August 4, 1886) was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, one of the most controversial American elections of the 19th century. Tilden was born into a wealthy family in New Lebanon, New York. Attracted to politics at a young age, he became a protégé of Martin Van Buren, the eighth President of the United States. After studying at Yale University and New York University School of Law, Tilden began a legal career in New York City, becoming a noted corporate lawyer. He served in the New York State Assembly and helped launch Van Buren's third party, anti-slavery candidacy in the 1848 presidential election.

Tilden initially cooperated with the state party's Tammany Hall faction, but he broke with them in 1871 due to boss William M. Tweed's rampant corruption. Tilden won election as Governor of New York in 1874, and in that office, he helped break up the "Canal Ring." Tilden's battle against public corruption, along with his personal fortune and electoral success in the country's most populous state, made him the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 1876. Tilden was selected as the nominee on the second ballot of the 1876 Democratic National Convention.In the general election, Tilden faced Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, another governor with reform credentials.

Most observers initially believed that Tilden had won the election, but disputes in four states left both Tilden and Hayes without a majority of the electoral vote. As Tilden had won 184 electoral votes, one vote shy of a majority, a Hayes victory required that he sweep all the disputed electoral votes. Against Tilden's wishes, Congress appointed the bipartisan Electoral Commission to settle the controversy. Republicans had a one-seat advantage on the Electoral Commission, and in a series of party-line rulings, ruled that Hayes had won all the disputed electoral votes. In the Compromise of 1877, Democratic leaders agreed to accept Hayes as the victor in return for the end of Reconstruction. Tilden was a major contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1880 and 1884 presidential elections but never ran for office again.