Editing Samuel J. Tilden (section)

==State party leader==
Following the end of the Civil War, Tilden won the election for chairman of the [[New York State Democratic Committee]].<ref>Morris (2003), p. 98</ref> He served as Seymour's campaign chairman in the [[1868 United States presidential election|1868 presidential election]], but Seymour lost the election to Republican nominee [[Ulysses S. Grant]].<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 97–98</ref> After the election, Tilden broke with [[William M. Tweed]], the leader of the [[Tammany Hall]] [[political machine]].<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 101–104</ref> Through bribery, patronage, and control of [[Irish-American]] voters, Tweed and his allies had become the dominant power in both New York City and the state of New York.<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 99–102</ref> In 1871, former Tammany associate [[James O'Brien (U.S. Congressman)|James O'Brien]] leaked Tweed's account books to the ''[[New York Times]]''.<ref name="Morris 2003, p. 103">Morris (2003), p. 103</ref> The ''Times'' subsequently began a public crusade against Tammany Hall, and Tilden launched an investigation into Tweed's bank records.<ref name="Morris 2003, p. 104">Morris (2003), p. 104</ref> Tilden ran for the New York State Assembly as part of a slate of anti-Tammany Democrats; at the state party convention, he declared that it was "time to proclaim that whoever plunders the people, though he steal the livery of heaven to serve the devil in, is no Democrat."<ref name="Morris 2003, p. 103"/>{{efn|Tilden was referencing ''[[The Course of Time]]'', an 1827 poem by [[Robert Pollok (poet)|Robert Pollok]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bartlett |first=John |author-link=John Bartlett (publisher) |date=1856 |title=A Collection of Familiar Quotations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrFDBtxCbEYC&pg=RA3-PA273 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Allen and Farnham |page=273 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In Pollok's work, a man "stole the [[livery]] of the court of Heaven to serve the Devil in." In other words, putting on a veneer of respectability to hide his corruption.}} The anti-Tammany Democrats, including Tilden, won a major victory in the [[New York state election, 1871|1871 state elections]], and Tweed was indicted on 120 counts of fraud and other violations.<ref name="Morris 2003, pp. 103–104">Morris (2003), pp. 103–104</ref> After the election, Tweed fled the state, but he was eventually extradited back to New York, where he died in prison in 1878.<ref name="Morris 2003, pp. 103–104"/>

Tilden's role in taking down Tweed bolstered his popularity, and he was [[1874 New York state election|elected governor of New York in 1874]].<ref name="Morris 2003, p. 104"/> As governor, he continued to focus on rooting out corruption. He helped to break up the "[[Canal Ring (New York)|Canal Ring]]," a bipartisan group of state and local officials who had enriched themselves by overcharging for the maintenance of the [[New York State Canal System]].<ref>Morris (2003), p. 105</ref> Tilden gained a national reputation as a reform governor, a valuable asset given the [[Scandals of the Ulysses S. Grant administration|number of scandals]] that had come into public view during the [[presidency of Ulysses S. Grant]].<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 104–105</ref>

In 1875, Tilden received an honorary LL.D. from [[Yale University]].<ref name=Yale_Catalogue>{{cite book |last=Yale University |date=1877 |title=Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Yale University |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UahGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA51 |location=New Haven, CT |publisher=Morehouse and Taylor |page=51}}</ref> At the same time, Yale also enrolled him as a graduate of the Class of 1837 and he received his [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree.<ref name="Yale_Catalogue"/>