biography
| name: |
Tilden, Samuel J(ones)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1814–86)
|
| biography:
| Lawyer and public official, born in New Lebanon, New York, USA. In poor health as a boy, he had little formal education, but managed to attend Yale for one term and law school in New York City. Admitted to the bar in 1841, he built a prosperous practice and became active in Democratic politics, leading the Free-Soil wing of the party and supporting the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War. After taking a leading role in breaking up Boss Tweed's ‘ring’, he was elected governor of New York on a reform platform (1875–7). He ran for president as a Democrat in 1876 and won the popular vote in a close race, but when an electoral commission awarded the disputed election to Rutherford B Hayes, he returned to New York City and resumed his law practice. He left a Tilden Trust to support what became the New York Public Library. |
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