ELECTORAL COMMISSION, the body of men provided for by act of Congress,. Jan. 29, 1877, to settle certain disputed questions in regard to the electoral votes of sev eral states in the presidential election of 1876. The commission was composed of 5. senators, chosen by the senate; 5 members of the house of representatives, chosen by that body; and 5 associate justices of the supreme court, 4 of whom were designated by the act of congress, and the fifth selected by the four. The senate at the time was controlled by the republican party, the house of representatives by the democratic party, and there was thought to be danger of civil commotion in regard to certain questions likely to arise in the counting of the electoral votes of the several states in presence of the two houses. In these circumstances, a majority of each of the two political parties in congress, acting in a spirit of patriotism honorable to themselves and the country, agreed to create a commission to be constituted as above described, to which should be referred for judgment and decision the question which of two or more conflicting certificates received from any state of the votes cast by the electoral college of such state for president and vice-president in the election of 1876 was the cer tificate provided for in the constitution of the United States: the judgment of said commission in any matters referred to it, unless set aside by the concurrent action of the two houses of congress, was to be final. The proposed law was thereupon enacted, and in conformity with an understanding between the two political parties, the senate appointed 3 republicans, and 2 democrats, and the house of representatives 3 demo crats and 2 republicans as members of the commission. Of the 4 associates of the supreme court who were named in the law, 2 were understood to be democrats and 2 republicans; and these selected, as the fifth associate justice to serve with them upon the commission, Mr. Justice Bradley, a republican. The commission was constituted as follows: Justices Clifford, Strong, Miller, Field, and Bradley; senators Edmunds, Mor ton, Frelinghuysen, Thurman, and Bayard; and representatives Payne, Hawton, Abbott, Garfield, and Hoar. Justice Clifford, by seniority of appointment to the bench, was by
law president of the commission. As the counting of the electoral votes in the presence of the two houses of congress proceeded according to custom, it was found that there were conflicting certificates from four different states—Florida, Louisiana, Ore gon, and South Carolina; and the two houses were unable to agree in either case which certificate should be received as genuine. The certificates and accompanying papers were therefore successively referred to the commission, who proceeded to hear argument upon the questions involved. The result in each case was a decision of the commission, by a vote of 8 to 7—the vote following the exact line of in the body—that the certificate of the electoral votes cast for Hayes and Wheeler, the republican candidates for president and vice-president of the United States, was the certificate contained the lawful electoral vote of said state, and that the other certificates were illegal and void. The republican senate concurred in this judgment in each case, while the democratic house of representatives dissented. The decision of the commission, therefore, according to the terms of the statute, became irrevoca ble, and the said electoral votes were counted accordingly; and Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler were found duly elected, by a majority of one electoral vote, respectively president and vice-president of the United States for the term of 4 years, from the 4th of Mar., 1877. The controlling question before the commission was whether an electoral certificate being in form confessedly according to law, it was com petent for congress or the commission to go behind the same and take evidence aliunde in support of alleged irregularities and frauds committed before such certificate was issued. Upon this question the democrats in congress and in the commission -took the affirmative, while the republicans took the negative. The reasons of the latter for taking this ground were clearly set forth in the reports of the majority of the com mission to the two houses in congress upon the matters referred to that body.