Electoral Vote, in 1890. ELECTORAL AND POPULAR VOTES OF EACH STATE, IN 1873 AND 1876, AND ELECTORAL VOTE IN 1880. 10 Alabama.. 6 Arkansas 3 Delaware 4 11 Georgia 21 Illinois.. 15 Indiana 54,044 40,749 1,068 50,638 45,880 11,115 10,200 62,715 76,278 4,000 II 241,248 184,770 3,058 3 204 487 3 17,765 15,428 :: :: 21 52,652 102,522 481, 14 21 15 186,144 163,637 1,417 15 11 Iowa II 5 Kansas. 131,233 71,119 2,221 5 12 Kentucky. 12 12 8 Louisiana 88,970 100,208 2,374 66,942 32,970 596 278,232 258,601 17,233 15 208,011 213,526 9.533 171,327 112,099 9,001 141 286 318,716 277.321 26,358 443 153 36 5 78,322 37,902 7,776 110 23 121,549 12 12 12 97,156 150,690 1,944 232,164 225,522 12,986 no ticket. 183,904 105,845 32,327 159 59,801 19,851 no ticket. 107 433 818 12 70,653 57,029 8 105,957 Maine 61,402 29,087 t75,135 179,636 148,707 11,498 257 8 $38,034 Maryland. 13 Massachusetts 66,300 49,823 663 65,067 442 no ticket. 218 8 66,750 67,685 19 8 13 11 Michigan 5 Minnesota. 8 Mississippi. 3458 13 133,472 59,260 71,981 91,780 74,039 $65,171 14,408 93 142 78,515 93,706 13 13 13 138,455 78,365 2,861 11 31 150,063 108,777 779 139 no ticket. 84 165,198 54.558 166,534 141,095 111,960 4,548 682 117 9,000 185,195 34,327 82,406 47,287 15 Missouri 3 Nebraska 3 Nevada... 15 119,196 151,433 2,429 15 855 5 72,962 131,301 34,895 942 2 320 48,799 2,311 72 5 93,903 8 52,605 112,173 53,316 3,267 286 2,113 8 34,854 75,750 5,797 no ticket. 677 18,245 7,705 15 145,029 203,077 3,498 64 8,403 6,236 31,916 15 153,587 208,589 35.135 17,554 2,320 1,599 3 54,979 5 New Hampshire.. 3 10,383 9,308 28,523 3,950 8 37,184 3 10,445 31,423 11,215 66 100 9 New Jersey 51 91,661 76,801 41,539 38,509 76 630 44,852 9 35 New York 9 103,517 115,962 425 712 43 35 10 North Carolina. 440,749 387,279 1,454 9 120,555 122,565 2,617 66 191 35 ΙΟ 94.304 69,474 35 489,207 521,949 1,987 2,359 35 ΙΟ 11,820 7,746 281,852 244,321 1,163 10 108,417 125,427 75 1,806 115,616 22 22 330,698 323,182 3,057 124,204 1,636 22 22 375,048 340,831 6,456 2 616 572 3 3 15,206 14,149 510 29 349,689 211,961 3 3 20,618 Rhode Island.. 29 29 29 4 13,665 384,122 366,158 7,487 1,319 83 29 29 444,704 5,329 4 7 South Carolina.. 4 15,787 10,712 68 60 4 18,195 7 72,290 12 Tennessee.. 12 12 83,655 22,703 187 7 7 191,870 190,906 7 7 94.391 12 12 12 8 Texas. 8 8 47,426 Vermont. 41,487 10,926 66,455 2,499 8 89,566 133,166 57.947 12 12 98.760 8 8 44,800 104,755 130,381 5,465 8 8 53,200 II Virginia 593 5 5 44,092 20,254 5 West Virginia 92,953 91,424 42 5 5 10 Wisconsin 32,323 боо 29,537 104,992 86,477 834 95.5581 139,670 45,091 18,182 II II 5 5 5 42,698 56,455 1,373 83,634128,158 5 5 46,243 10 10 ΙΟ 130,668 123,927 1,509 27 10 10 144,400 60 146,800 26,200 46 1,212 501 no ticket. 1,447 44 26 46 105 399 366 Total. 539 369 214 155 4,438,670 4,437,902 305,339 9,799 1,072 8,084 300 66 300 66 3.594,109 2,833,889 29,408 369 185 184 185 184 4,033,295 4,284,265 81,737 9,522 The 66 electors were chosen to cast their votes for Horace Greeley and B. Gratz Brown, but Mr. Greeley dying before the day on which the Electoral Colleges met, the 66 votes for President were cast as follows: 42 f HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND INAUGURATION, SUBSEQUENT TO THE MEETING OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGES. The doubt in regard to the result of the Presidential Election was not removed by the returns from the Electoral Colleges which met December 6, 1876, for in South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana two or more lists of Electors were returned, though some of them lacked the required authentication, and in Oregon, one name was returned who had confessedly not been elected, and there were in consequence three Electoral Certificates from that State, one containing the elected list, one substituting one name not elected for an elector declared to have been ineligible, and one made up of the names of this substituted elector and two others whom he had appointed. The confusion seemed constantly growing more hopeless, and the danger of revolution or violence constantly greater. Investigating Committees had been sent to South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana by both houses of Congress, and informal commissions sent by the President and by the Chairman of the National Democratic Committee. A joint committee was at last appointed from the Senate and House of Representatives, with instructions to consider and report a bill for regulating the counting of the votes for President and Vice-President. The questions which were to be solved were these: whether as one party claimed, the Vice-President or Acting Vice-President of the United States was vested with the exclusive power of opening and counting, or causing to be counted, the electoral vote; whether his functions in this matter were purely ministerial; whether in case of two returns he alone had the right to decide which were valid; and if not, whether the Senate or the House, or either or both, separately or together, as a joint convention, or the House voti g by States, had a right to decide the question for him; whether the House had a right, after objecting to the electoral vote of any State, to declare that there was no election, and to proceed to vote for a President by States, the Senate thereupon electing the Vice-President. There were other but minor questions also involved, and it was felt that there was need of great caution and wisdom in digesting a plan which would prove satisfactory to both parties and avert the threatened conflict. The committee was selected with great care, and consisted of some of the ablest men in each house. The President of the Senate named four Republicans and three Democrats, and the Speaker of the House four Democrats and three Republicans, so that each party might be represented by an equal number. The Senators on the committee were Messrs. Edmunds, Frelinghuysen, Morton, Conkling, Thurman, Bayard and Ransom, and the members of the House, Messrs. Payne, Hunton, Hewitt, Springer, McCrary, Hoar and Willard. The committee thus constituted, after long and careful deliberation, reported the following act on the 18th of January, 1877. THE ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION. AN ACT to provide for and regulate the counting of votes for President and VicePresident, and the decision of questions arising thereon, for the term commencing March Fourth, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-seven. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Senate and House of Representatives shall meet in the hall of the House or Representatives, at the hour of one o'clock post meridian, on the first Thursday in February, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, and the President of the Senate shall be their presiding officer. Two tellers shall be previously appointed on the part of the Senate, and two on the part of the House of Representatives, to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by the President of the Senate, all the certificates, and papers purporting to be certificates, of the electoral votes, which certificates and papers shall be opened, presented, and acted upon in alphabetical order of the States, beginning with the letter A; and said tellers having then read the same in the presence and hearing of the two Houses, shall make a list of the votes as they shall appear from the said certificates; and the votes having been ascertained and counted as in this act provided, the result of the same shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who shall therenpon announce the state of the vote, and the names of the persons, if any, elected, which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and Vice-President of the United States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the journals of the two Houses. Upon such reading of any such certificate or paper when there shall be only one return from a State, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all objections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and such objections shall be submitted to the Senate for its decision; and the speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like manner, submit such objections to the House of Representatives for its decision; and no electoral vote or votes from any State from which but one return has been received shall be rejected, except by the affirmative vote of the two Houses. When the two Houses have voted, they shall immediately again meet, and the presiding officer shall then announce the decision of the question submitted. SEC. 2. That, if more than one return, or paper purporting to be a return from a State, shall have been received by the President of the Senate, purporting to be the certificates of electoral votes given at the last preceding election for President and Vice-President in such State (unless they shall be duplicates of the same return), all such returns and papers shall be opened by him in the presence of the two Houses when met as aforesaid, and read by the tellers, and all such returns and papers shall thereupon be submitted to the judgment and decision as to which is the true and lawful electoral vote of such State, of a commission constituted as follows, namely: During the session of each House, on the Tuesday next preceding the first Thursday in February, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, each House shall, by viva voce vote, appoint five of its members, who with the five associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, to be ascertained as hereinafter provided, shall constitute a commission for the decision of all questions upon or in respect of such double returns named in this section. On the Tuesday next preceding the first Thursday in February, Anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, or as soon thereafter as may be, the associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States now assigned to the first, third, eighth, and ninth circuits shall select, in such manner as a majority of them shall deem fit, another of the associate justices of said court, which five persons shall be members of said commission; and the person longest in commission of said five justices shall be tho president of said commission. The members of said commission shall respectively take and subscribe the following oaths: "I,do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will impartially examine and consider all questions submitted to the commission of which I am a member, and a true judgment give thereon, agreeably to the Constitution and the laws: so help me God;" which oath shall be filed with the Secretary of the Senate. When the commission shall have been thus organized, it shall not be in the power of either House to dissolve the same, or to withdraw any of its members; but if any such Senator or member shall die or become physically unable to perform the duties required by this act, the fact of such death or physical inability shall be by said commission, before it shall proceed further, communicated to the Senate or House of Representatives, as the case may be, which body shall immediately and without debate proceed by viva voce vote to fill the place so vacated, and the person so appointed shall take and subscribe the oath hereinbefore prescribed, and become a member of said commission; and, in like manner, if any of said justices of the Supreme Court shall die or become physically incapable of performing the duties required by this act, the other of said justices, members of the said commission, shall immediately appoint another justice of said court a member of said commission, and, in such appointments, regard shall be had to the impartiality and freedom from bias sought by the original appointments to said commission, who shall thereupon immediately take and subscribe the oath hereinbefore prescribed, and become a member of said commission to fill the vacancy so occasioned. All the certificates and papers purporting to be certificates of the electoral votes of each State shall be opened, in the alphabetical order of the States, as provided in section one of this act; and when there shall be more than one such certificate or paper, as the certificates and papers from such State shall so be opened (excepting duplicates of the same return), they shall be read by the tellers, and thereupon the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all such objections so made to any certificate, vote, or paper from a State shall have been received and read, all such certificates, votes and papers so objected to, and all papers accompanying the same, together with such objections, shall be forthwith submitted to said commission, which shall proceed to consider the same, with the same powers, if any, now possessed for that purpose by the two Houses acting separately or together, and by a majority of votes, decide whether any and what votes from such State are the votes provided for by the Constitution of the United States, and how many and what persons were duly appointed electors in such State, and may therein take into view such petitions, depositions, and other papers, if any, as shall, by the Constitution and now existing law, be competent and pertinent in such consideration; which decision shall be made in writing, stating briefly the ground thereof, and signed by the members of said commission agreeing therein; whereupon the two Houses shall again meet, and such decision shall be read and entered in the journal of each house, and the counting of the votes shall proceed in conformity therewith, unless, upon objection made thereto in writing by at least five Senators and five members of the House of Representatives, the two Houses shall separately concur in ordering otherwise, in which case such concurrent order shall govern. No votes or papers from any other State shall be acted upon until the objections previously made to the votes or papers from any State shall have been finally disposed of. SEC. 3. That, while the two Houses shall be in meeting, as provided in this act, no debate shall be allowed and no question shall be put by the presiding officer, except to either House on a motion to withdraw; and he shall have power to preserve order. SEC. 4. That when the two Houses separate to decide upon an objection that may have been made to the counting of any electoral vote or votes from any State er upon objection to a report of said commission, or other question arising under this act, each Senator and Representative may speak to such objection or question ten minutes, and not oftener than once; but after such debate shall have lasted two hours, it shall be the duty of each House to put the main question without further debate. SEC. 5. That at such joint meeting of the two Houses, seats shall be provided as follows: For the President of the Senate, the Speaker's chair; for the Speaker, immediately upon his left; the Senators in the body of the hall upon the right of the presiding officer; for the Representatives, in the body of the hall not provided for the Senators; for the tellers, Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House of Representatives, at the Clerk's desk; for the other officers of the two Houses, in front of the Clerk's desk and upon each side of the Speaker's platform. Such joint meeting shall not be dissolved until the count of electoral votes shall be completed and the result declared; and no recess shall be taken unless a question shall have arisen in regard to counting any such votes, or otherwise under this act, in which case it shall be competent for either House, acting separately, in the manner hereinbefore provided, to direct a recess of such House not beyond the next day, Sunday excepted, at the hour of ten o'clock in the forenoon. And while any question is being considered by said commission, either House may proceed with its legislative or other business. SEC. 6. That nothing in this act shall be held to impair or affect any right now existing under the Constitution and laws to question, by proceeding in the judicial courts of the United States, the right or title of the person who shall be declared elected, or who shall claim to be President or Vice-President of the United States, if any such right exists. SEC. 7. That said commission shall make its own rules, keep a record of its proceedings, and shall have power to employ such persons as may be necessary for the transaction of its business and the execution of its power. Approved, January 29, 1877. This act passed the Senate January 25, 1877, forty-seven Senators voting for it, seventeen against it, and ten not voting. It passed the House, Jan. 26, one hun dred and ninety-one voting for it, eighty-six against it, and fourteen not voting. It was approved by the President, Jan. 29, 1877. On the 30th of January the Senate and House each elected their members of the Commission, and the four Judges of the Supreme Court virtually named in the act, proceeded to elect a fifth, choosing Justice Joseph P. Bradley, of N. J. The Commission was thus constituted as follows: |