Did Rutherford Hayes steal the election of 1876?

[Schmitz in 1972]

The Republicans did everything they could to steal it, but ultimately the election came down to two incredibly stupid blunders on the Democrats part. The first was allowing Colorado to be admitted to the Union right before the election. Although not a single popular vote was cast in the state, the three electoral votes of the state put Hayes over the top. The second blunder was perhaps the single worst mistake ever in presidential elections. The commision had picked David Davis, the open-minded independent justice on the Supreme Court, as the final member of the electoral commission, but Democrats in Illinois appointed him Senator, hoping this would convince him to select Tilden in the commission vote. Instead, Davis resigned from the commission, feeling he could not serve as the impartial 15th member with this new Democratic tag. His refusal left only Republican justices to select from for the 15th member, and predictably the commission voted 8-7 to give Hayes the win.