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Synopsis of the 1876 Election Republicans controlled the Senate while Democrats controlled the House of Representatives. The Senate was the chamber in which the electoral votes would be opened and counted, but in several states multiple and contradictory electoral certificates were submitted to Congress. Why did this happen? In three Southern states — South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana — both parties claimed victory in the state elections of 1876. Republican state governments, recognized by the existing state authorities and canvassing boards, certified electors pledged to Rutherford B. Hayes. Democratic officials and political organizations in those same states challenged those certifications and transmitted rival electoral returns pledged to Samuel J. Tilden. These disputes did not arise from provisional governments created by the Reconstruction Acts, which had ended years earlier with the readmission of the former Confederate states to congressional representation. Instead, they arose from contested elections, rival state authorities claiming legitimacy, allegations of fraud and intimidation by both parties, and uncertainty over which electoral certificates Congress was constitutionally obligated to count. The disputed returns were then sent to Congress, where they would be opened by the President of the Senate, Thomas W. Ferry, in the presence of both houses assembled in joint session. Notes from the Senate on when each ballot was received and how. Republicans claimed that Ferry had the right to decide which votes to count, but Democrats insisted that the joint session with its Democratic majority must decide. The Senate could not agree which electoral certificates represented the lawful votes of the states. Republicans generally favored the certificates issued by the existing state governments and canvassing authorities, while Democrats favored the rival certificates submitted by Democratic claimants in those states. The Republicans didn’t trust the Democrats' ballots, not just because they were the opposition party but because of many instances of voter intimidation in those states against Republican voters, primarily Black voters. Under the Twelfth Amendment, a contingent election occurs if no candidate receives a majority of appointed electors, then the election is decided by the House of Representatives with each state being counted as one vote. Republicans did not want the election to be decided in the Democrat controlled House so they decided to come up with an Electoral Commission to resolve the disputed ballots. This is the only “compromise” that happened, having the Electoral Commission in the first place. This bipartisan commission would have 5 members from the House, 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans, 5 members from the Senate, 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats, and five members from the Supreme court, 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans, and 1 independent. This means that the commission was 50/50 with Democrats and Republicans with one independent Justice to break the tie. This independent Justice is named David Davis, someone who has worked closely with both parties, in fact he was the head organizer of the Lincoln campaign of 1860. There were only 2 Democrat Justices and the rest were Republicans with one independent, that fact becomes very important. So David Davis being the only independent to break the tie in the Electoral Commission had the entire election to himself. This was a bad look for him, he was an independent and siding with either party will make him look like he was bought out. But he was given the excuse of the century to recuse himself from the commission. The same day the Electoral Commission Act was approved by the Senate the Democratic controlled state legislature of Illinois voted to elect David Davis as a Senator. At this time, before the 17th Amendment, state legislatures elected their Senators in congress. "Now, sir, the friends of this measure having brought the Supreme Court in here, I shall not hesitate to talk about it. The man fixed upon, we have been told by our friends and told by our enemies, was Judge Davis, of Illinois. Our democratic friends wanted a fair count. They are the fairest set of men that God ever made or suffered to grow up, if God did not make them. [Laughter.] And they wanted to have not only a fair but au impartial count. But in order t.bat the umpire might be perfectly fair and impartial, in order that every bias should be removed .from the mind of the umpire, au order is forwarded from Gramercy Park to the democrats of Illinois that they should elect Judge Davis United States Senator. Not that there is any wrong in it; not the least in the world. It is done Aim ply for the purpose of making Judge Davis unbiased. [Laughter.] And they want simple republicans to throw the power of the country into the hands of this judge that they have taken such pains to render unbiased." - Mr. Townshend of New York in the House during the debate on the Electoral Commission Act on January 26, 1877. "No gentleman should give this measure his support without understanding fully the effect of what he is doing. It will constitute a commission composed of fifteen individuals. Seven of these will consist of one political party and eight of the other party. The odd-numbered man must be selected from the four supreme judges not designated in the bill. Of these four, three are pronounced republicans, namely, Bradley, Hunt, and Swayne, and Mr. David Davis, who has little or no politics. Mr. Davis, having just been elected to the United States Senate, would not be offered a place in the commission and would not accept it if he were. The choice, then, must tall upon a republican. A republican then will decide every controverted question coming before the commission. Our democratic friends have bitterly opposed the idea of putting this power in the hands of Mr. FERRY, President of the Senate, simply because he is a republican, and yet they now propose to vest this same power in the hands of no less a partisan than he. What matters it whether Mr. FERRY or Mr. Bradley or Hunt or Swayne count the vote Y You are jeopardizing the expressed will of the people in the hands of the one as well as the other. I cannot and never shall consent to trust any one man with such tremendous power. I would not even if he were of my own party." - Mr. Carr during the House debate on the Electoral Commission Act on January 26, 1877. The next day the House approved of the Electoral Commission Act believing that they have duped the Republicans (a majority of Republicans in the House voting against the bill despite the majority of Republicans in the Senate voting for it), however there was a twist in the story, David Davis recused himself from participating in the Electoral Commission. So the commission was officially established by congress to decide the election and immediately the only independent person on the commission was elected to the Senate by the Democrats and then he recused himself, resulting in Justice Bradley becoming the fifteenth member of the commission and giving Republicans an 8-7 majority. The Illinois legislature's election of Davis ultimately had the opposite political effect from what many Democrats had expected. The Supreme Court replaced David Davis with a Republican Justice since the only two Democrat Justices were already on the commission. This gave the Republicans the deciding vote. The commission would meet for a month and every vote they had all Republicans voted for Hayes and all Democrats voted for Tilden. The Democrats never voted for Hayes all the way till Hayes' inauguration. The Democrats in the House tried to dismiss the decision of the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission had to decide for each of the four states separately, there was one ballot from Oregon that was challenged, and each of these decisions would be certified by both Houses in Congress, however, both Houses would need to reject a decision to dismiss it completely. If one House supported the decision then the decision would be counted. The House of Representatives rejected every decision that the Electoral Commission made regarding the Electoral vote of the four states with multiple ballots; but since the Senate approved the decisions of the Electoral Commission, which all counted Hayes as the winner by a vote of 8-7, and only one House is needed for approval, Hayes won all four states. The Democrats in the House did not stop there when challenging the electoral count; they claimed that more states, which voted for Hayes, had false ballots including Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and lastly Wisconsin. The Senate did not object to the count of these states since there was only one ballot from these states; since both Houses are needed to object to a ballot count, these counts went to Hayes. The delay tactic of the Democrats pushed Wisconsin's count to 4:00 AM on March 2, 1877, which is the time that Hayes was declared the winner. The congressional proceedings themselves do not reveal any point at which Democratic members agreed to support Hayes's election or withdrew their objections to his electoral votes.. No compromise or "corrupt bargain" was needed for the Republicans to win. There is no space for the Democrats to switch their vote for Hayes cause they rejected the count all the way to the last second. I left Tilden and Hayes out of this because they literally did nothing during this time except comment occasionally. Especially Tilden who stayed home the entire time and refused to speak with anyone. Hayes actually believed that he had lost the election. They had nothing to do with the outcome of the election. There is no primary document nor even an eye witness to any “corrupt bargain.” Hayes would end Republican enforcement of the Enforcement Acts if he was elected anyway. Hayes had already expressed support for what he termed "home rule" in the South during the campaign, making the eventual withdrawal of federal troops from South Carolina and Louisiana less surprising than later narratives sometimes suggest. What remained of Reconstruction was already ending; the end started with Grant’s second term, as more former Confederates were enfranchised they replaced their republican controlled state legislatures and their Representatives and Senators in Congress with Democrats. By 1877 Reconstruction as a congressional program had largely run its course, and most former Confederate states had long since returned to Democratic control. Federal troops remained in parts of South Carolina and Louisiana in support of Republican state governments facing Democratic challenges, but these states were no longer provisional governments operating under the Reconstruction Acts but instead military assignments under the Enforcement Acts to protect state legislatures, polling places, and courts from domestic terrorist actions like from the White League, Red Shirts, and the KKK. Notably, the principal disputes involved the remaining Southern states where Republican governments still depended heavily upon federal support and where political violence and contested elections had become commonplace. There was no bargain, the Republicans had already given up on Reconstruction due to the failures and corruption of the Grant presidency. Many staunch Republicans began to quiet their voices on the issue of civil rights even though the Republican Party platform of 1876 declared that securing civil rights was their main mission. Hayes said during his campaign that he would return "home rule" to the South but that he was also a defender of Black Civil Rights. Justice David Davis resigned as Justice of the Supreme Court and accepted his Senatorial seat as the only Independent in the Senate on the same day as Hayes' inauguration. Although his recusal ultimately resulted in Justice Bradley becoming the deciding member of the commission, the Democrats, especially in Illinois, apparently loved him and respected him even voting to make him President pro tempore in the Senate instead of voting for a Democrat. It was a weird and depressing end to a movement that gripped the nation for 12 years since the Death of Lincoln. Civil rights would be under attack after the election of Garfield and Arthur when the supreme court in 1883, without David Davis, ruled that the civil rights act of 1875 was unconstitutional, ending the first civil rights movement for Black Americans. Sources: 1. Journal of Congress. From Election Day to March 5 https://www.congress.gov/bound-congressional-record/1877/02/26/house-section 2. Proceedings of the Electoral Commission https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t4mk65g3d&seq=7

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List of the Founders of the United States of America from the six key assemblages that founded the nation. Table of Contents Below is a list of America's Founders/Framers/Fathers, comprising the national figures who played a direct role in shaping the United States between 1774 and 1790. This list covers six pivotal assemblies: the First Continental Congress, the Second Continental Congress, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the United States in Congress Assembled (the Congress of the Confederation), the Philadelphia Convention (the Constitutional Convention), and the state ratifying conventions for the federal Constitution. In total, 1,969 men participated in these six key assemblies. Excluding the state ratifying conventions, the number is 360. These men represented the political elite of the emerging nation, though hundreds of thousands of other men and women also contributed — and in many cases sacrificed — for American independence. Some of these men listed actually remained Loyalists despite participating in the First Continental Congress. For reference in the list below: First CC = First Continental Congress Second CC = Second Continental Congress DI = Declaration of Independence USCA = United States in Congress Assembled PC = Philadelphia Convention (Constitutional Convention) — an * indicates they participated but did not sign the Constitution SRC = State Ratifying Convention Voting in the ratifying conventions is indicated as: (Y) = voted for the Constitution (N) = voted against (A) = absent (NV) = present but did not vote Table of Contents Connecticut Delaware Georgia Maryland Massachusetts New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Virginia America's Founders Connecticut Delaware Georgia Maryland Massachusetts New Hampshire New Jersey New York North Carolina Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Virginia Connecticut Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 Roger Sherman Participated Participated Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 2 Eliphalet Dyer Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 3 Silas Deane Participated Participated 4 William Williams Participated Participated Participated (Y) 5 Oliver Wolcott Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 6 Samuel Huntington Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 7 Richard Law Participated Participated Participated (Y) 8 Andrew Adams Participated 9 Titus Hosmer Participated 10 Oliver Ellsworth Participated Participated Participated * Participated (Y) 11 Jesse Root Participated Participated Participated (Y) 12 Joseph Spencer Participated 13 Benjamin Huntington Participated Participated 14 James Wadsworth Participated 15 Joseph Platt Cooke Participated 16 William Samuel Johnson Participated Participated Participated (Y) 17 Stephen Mix Mitchell Participated Participated (Y) 18 Jonathan Sturges Participated Participated (Y) 19 Pierpont Edwards Participated Participated (Y) 20 Jeremiah Wadsworth Participated Participated (Y) Delaware Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 Thomas McKean Participated Participated Participated Participated 2 George Read Participated Participated Participated Participated 3 Caesar Rodney Participated Participated Participated 4 James Sykes Participated Participated (Y) 5 Nicholas Dyke Participated Participated 6 John Dickinson Participated Participated Participated 7 Thomas Rodney Participated 8 Philemon Dickinson Participated 9 Samuel Wharton Participated 10 Eleazer McComb Participated 11 James Tilton Participated 12 Gunning Bedford Jr. Participated Participated Participated (Y) Georgia Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 Archibald Bulloch Participated 2 John Houstoun Participated 3 John Zubly Participated 4 Lyman Hall Participated Participated 5 Button Gwinnett Participated Participated 6 George Walton Participated Participated Participated 7 Nathan Brownson Participated Participated (Y) 8 Joseph Wood Participated 9 Edward Langworthy Participated 10 John Walton Participated 11 William Pierce Participated Participated Participated* 12 Edward Telfair Participated Participated Participated (Y) Maryland Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 Samuel Chase Participated Participated Participated Participated Participated (N) 2 Robert Goldsborough IV Participated Participated Participated (Y) 3 Thomas Johnson Participated Participated 4 William Paca Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 5 Matthew Tilghman Participated Participated 6 John Hall Participated 7 John Rogers Participated 8 Robert Alexander Participated 9 Charles Carroll Participated 10 Benjamin Rumsey Participated 11 Charles Carroll of Carrollton Participated Participated 12 William Smith Participated Massachusetts Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 John Adams Participated Participated Participated 2 Samuel Adams Participated Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 3 Thomas Cushing Participated Participated 4 Robert Paine Participated Participated Participated 5 John Hancock Participated Participated Participated (Y) 6 Elbridge Gerry Participated Participated Participated Participated * 7 Francis Dana Participated Participated Participated (Y) 8 James Lovell Participated Participated 9 Samuel Holten Participated Participated Participated (A) 10 George Patridge Participated Participated Participated (Y) 11 Artemas Ward Participated Participated 12 Samuel Osgood Participated New Hampshire Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 Nathaniel Folsom Participated Participated 2 John Sullivan Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 3 John Langdon Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 4 Josiah Bartlett Participated Participated Participated (N) 5 Matthew Thornton Participated Participated 6 William Whipple Participated Participated 7 George Frost Participated 8 John Wentworth Jr. Participated 9 Woodbury Langdon Participated 10 Nathaniel Peabody Participated 11 Samuel Livermore Participated Participated Participated (Y) 12 John Taylor Gilman Participated Participated (Y) New Jersey Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 Stephane Crane Participated Participated 2 John Hart Participated Participated Participated 3 James Kinsey Participated Participated 4 William Livingston Participated Participated Participated 5 Richard Smith Participated Participated 6 John Hart Participated 7 Francis Hopkinson Participated Participated 8 Richard Stockon Participated Participated 9 Jonathan Sergeant Participated 10 Abraham Clark Participated Participated Participated 11 John Witherspoon Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 12 Jonathan Elmer Participated Participated New York Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 John Alsop Participated Participated 2 Simon Boerum Participated Participated 3 James Duane Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 4 William Floyd Participated Participated Participated Participated 5 John Haring Participated Participated Participated (N) 6 John Jay Participated Participated Participated (Y) 7 Philip R. Livingston Participated Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 8 Isaac Low Participated 9 Henry Winser Sr. Participated Participated Participated (N) 10 George Clinton Participated Participated (A) 11 Robert R. Livingston Participated Participated Participated (Y) 12 Lewis Morris Sr. Participated Participated Participated (Y) North Carolina Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 Richard Caswell Participated Participated Elected, died before attending 2 Joseph Hewes Participated Participated Participated 3 William Hooper Participated Participated Participated 4 John Penn Participated Participated 5 Cornelius Hornet Participated 6 Thomas Burke Participated Participated 7 John Williams Participated 8 Whitmell Hill Participated 9 Allen Jones Participated 10 William Sharpe Participated Participated 11 Willie Jones Participated 12 Samuel Johnston Participated Participated Participated (Y) Pennsylvania Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 Edward Biddle Participated Participated 2 John Dickinson Participated Participated 3 Joseph Galloway Participated 4 Charles Humphreys Participated Participated 5 Thomas Miffin Participated Participated Participated Participated 6 John Morton Participated Participated Participated 7 Samuel Rhoads Participated 8 George Ross Participated Participated Participated 9 Andrew Allen Participated 10 Benjamin Franklin Participated Participated Participated 11 Thomas Willing Participated 12 James Wilson Participated Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) Rhode Island Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 Stephen Hopkins Participated Participated Participated 2 Samuel Ward Participated Participated 3 William Ellery Participated Participated Participated 4 Henry Marchant Participated Participated (Y) 5 John Collins Participated Participated 6 Ezekiel Cornell Participated Participated 7 Daniel Mowry Jr. Participated Participated 8 James Mitchell Varnum Participated Participated 9 Jonathan Arnold Participated 10 David Howell Participated 11 James Manning Participated 12 Nathan Miller Participated South Carolina Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 Christopher Gadsden Participated Participated Participated (Y) 2 Thomas Lynch Participated Participated 3 Henry Middleton Participated Participated 4 Edward Rutledge Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 5 John Rutledge Participated Participated Participated Participated Participated (Y) 6 Thomas Lynch Jr. Participated Participated 7 Arthur Middleton Participated Participated Participated 8 Thomas Hayward Jr. Participated Participated 9 Henry Laurens Sr. Participated Participated (Y) 10 William Drayton Participated 11 Richard Hutson Participated Participated (Y) 12 John Matthews Participated Participated Participated (Y) Virginia Count Name First CC Second CC DI USCA PC SRC 1 George Washington Participated Participated Participated 2 Benjamin Harrison Participated Participated Participated Participated (N) 3 Patrick Henry Participated Participated Participated (N) 4 Richard Lee Participated Participated Participated Participated 5 Edmund Pendleton Participated Participated Participated (Y) 6 Peyton Randolph Participated Participated 7 Richard Bland Participated Participated 8 Thomas Jefferson Participated Participated Participated 9 George Wythe Participated Participated Participated* Participated (Y) 10 Thomas Nelson Jr. Participated Participated 11 Francis Lee Participated Participated 12 Carter Braxton Participated Participated

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