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Tom West

If there is one thing on which all Americans should agree, it is that mistrust in democracy always grows when the courts get involved in deciding elections.

The first such major crisis occurred in 1876. Two sets of Electoral College members were presented from Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana. Democrat Samuel Tilden won the popular vote in all three. However, Republicans countered that many Blacks were prevented from voting by threats and intimidation. Had Black votes been allowed, the argument was, most would have voted Republican because it was Republicans, not Democrats, who supported their God-given right not to be enslaved.

  
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