U.S. Senate
Ticket to the House of Representatives Gallery for Counting the Vote for President and Vice-President, February 2, 1877
Congress Resolves a Disputed Presidential Election
In 1876 Congress settled the tangled presidential election between Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and Democratic nominee Samuel J. Tilden. After a vicious contest, Tilden won the popular vote, but the Electoral College vote was disputed. A Democratic House and Republican Senate created an Electoral Commission of Members of Congress and Supreme Court justices to resolve these votes. The commission voted along party lines to assign all the disputed votes to Hayes, making him the nineteenth president
A dispute exists with regard to the result of the election of the Chief Magistrate of the nation. . . . The country . . . wants to be assured that the result of the election will be accepted without resistance… and that the highest officer shall not hold his place with a questionable title of right.
President Ulysses S. Grant, Message on Signing Legislation Creating the Electoral Commission, January 29, 1877
U.S. Senate
