Electoral Commission was a group created by Congress in 1877 to decide who won the presidential election of 1876. Both Republicans and Democrats claimed victory. Samuel J. Tilden, the Democratic candidate, had 184 electoral votes, or one short of a majority in the Electoral College. Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate, had 165 votes. Twenty votes were disputed.
To settle the matter, Congress created the Electoral Commission. The commission was made up of 15 members: five senators, five representatives, and five Supreme Court justices. Congress carefully arranged that three senators and two representatives were to be Republicans, while two senators and three representatives were to be Democrats. Of the justices, two Democrats and two Republicans were named, and these four had power to choose a fifth. They would probably have chosen David Davis of Illinois, an independent in politics. However, his decision to accept election to the United States Senate left only Republican justices from whom to choose. As a result, the Electoral Commission had a Republican majority of eight to seven. By a strict party vote, the commission gave every one of the disputed votes, and the election, to Hayes.
See also Electoral College; Hayes, Rutherford Birchard (The election dispute); Tilden, Samuel Jones.
