Congress appointed an Electoral Commission consisting of five representatives, five senators, and five Supreme Court justices that met as each electoral tally was disputed. Eight were Republicans; seven were Democrats. Their hearings in the Supreme Court Chamber within the U.S. Capitol drew crowds of spectators. Florida was the first of the four states disputed in the month-long crisis.
U.S. Senate
The Florida Case before the Electoral Commission, oil on canvas by Cornelia Adèle Strong Fassett, 1879
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
Congress appointed an Electoral Commission consisting of five representatives, five senators, and five Supreme Court justices that met as each electoral tally was disputed. Eight were Republicans; seven were Democrats. Their hearings in the Supreme Court Chamber within the U.S. Capitol drew crowds of spectators. Florida was the first of the four states disputed in the month-long crisis.
U.S. Senate
