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Two deals cut in contested United States presidential elections have been known as Corrupt Bargains.

1824

In the election of 1824, none of the candidates were able to secure a majority of the electoral vote, thereby putting rrrrrrrrrroutcome in the hands of the House of Representatives, which (to the surprise of many) elected John Quincy Adams over rival Andrew Jackson. Henry Clay was the Speaker of the House at the time, and he convinced Congress to elect Adams. Adams then made Clay his Secretary of State. Some people believe that an agreement was made ahead of time between the two, a Corrupt Bargain.

1876

The election of 1876 is sometimes considered to be a second Corrupt Bargain. Three Southern states had contested vote counts, and for either candidate to win the election, he would need more electoral votes. In Congress, an agreement was made: Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate, would be elected under the following conditions:

• Hayes's cabinet would include one Southerner.
• The Union troops would withdraw from the South.
• A policy of noninterference from Hayes.
• Reconstruction would be declared finished.

With the Union troops gone, there was no security that the South would uphold the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, so African-Americans were not guaranteed to be free. Hence, it was called a Corrupt Bargain. Many historians call this "The Great Compromise of 1877".

Other uses of the term

In addition, Gerald Ford's 1974 pardon of Richard Nixon was widely described as a "corrupt bargain" by critics of the disgraced former president. These critics claim that Ford's pardon was quid pro quo for Nixon's resignation, which elevated Ford to the presidency. Though highly controversial at the time, the majority of modern historians now believe that there was no provable overt collusion between the two men. Other references are made to these in renowned books like Founding Brothers by Joseph P. Ellis.

• Political history of the United States