In 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes was, in an election mired in fraud and dispute, elected president. Hayes lost the popular vote but won the electoral college. He was declared the winner only after a Congressional commission awarded him twenty disputed electoral votes. As part of the compromise that allowed Hayes to receive the votes, he agreed to end the military occupation of the former Confederacy, effectively ending reconstruction.
Outgoing president Ulysses S. Grant was concerned that there would be a disruption to the inauguration, scheduled for Monday, March 6, 1877. At his, suggestion Hayes was instead sworn in on Saturday, March 3, 1877.
For those two days, the United States had two simultaneous presidents.
-Professor Walter
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