Three Suffragists Casting Votes, ca. 1917.

Americans observed the first uniform election day on November 4, 1845 in accordance with Congressional legislation passed earlier that year. The law, which ensured the simultaneous selection of presidential electors in each state, increased the power of political parties and reflected the democratization of presidential politics which had taken place since 1820.

As late as 1816, the citizens of nine states did not vote in presidential elections. Instead, previously elected state legislators chose the presidential electors who then determined the outcome of the contest.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952.

On November 4, 1884, Democrat Grover Cleveland defeated Republican James G. Blaine ending a particularly acrimonious campaign. The outcome of the race was determined by the electoral vote of New York, which Cleveland won with a plurality of just 1100 votes. Statesman Carl Schurz was among those who crossed party lines -- swing votes can make the difference on election day -- to support Cleveland, the first Democrat to occupy the White House after the Civil War.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president on November 4, 1952. A popular World War II general who ran on the slogan "I Like Ike," Eisenhower easily defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson.

As early as the 1930s, Americans were already yearning for the excitement of election days past. "Politics played a big part in the life of this town years ago," Thomaston, Connecticut First Selectman "E.R. Kaiser" observed in 1938:

Campaigns were hot, and there was always a big celebration afterwards. Used to have torchlight parades, and the whole town would turn out, either to watch 'em or to march . . . Each man wore a blue cape and carried a lantern on his shoulder. There were two bands in town, those days, Grilley's band and the Clock Shop band, and they'd both turn out.

"E. R. Kaiser,"
December 15, 1938.

Information retrieved from the Library of Congress

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