The United States has held 59 presidential elections. A few of these contests concluded in extreme controversy. This course will examine 8 such elections, concluding with the 2024 election which will be held the day before the final class session.
Each week, we’ll scrutinize one election. We’ll first look at the 1800 election where it took 36 votes in the House to declare Jefferson the winner. We’ll then review the 1824 election where Andrew Jackson received 15 more electoral votes and a third more popular votes than John Quincy Adams, but Adams became president. Then, in turn, we’ll examine the 1860 election of Lincoln; the 1876 selection of Rutherford Hayes that ended Reconstruction; the 1912 contest where Wilson defeated both an incumbent and an ex-president; the “hanging chads” election of 2000; and the 2020 election where, for the first time, the losing candidate refused to concede defeat.
The course will not use a text. Before each class, the facilitator will distribute a short reading describing the election and why it resulted in such controversy.
