Editing Samuel J. Tilden (section)

===Post-election controversy===
[[File:SJTilden of NY.jpg|thumb|Tilden]]

With the election in doubt, each party sent some of their most prominent leaders to monitor the election process in the three disputed Southern states.<ref>{{cite book |last=[[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary]] |date=1977 |title=Hearings Before the Electoral College and Direct Election, July 20, 22, 28, and August 2, 1977 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mENqG8QIyPgC&pg=PA458 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |page=458 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Initial election returns showed that Hayes had carried South Carolina by several hundred votes,<ref>{{cite book |last=Coffey |first=Walter |date=2014 |title=The Reconstruction Years: The Tragic Aftermath of the War Between the States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cBjHAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA302 |location=Bloomington, IN |publisher=AuthorHouse |page=302 |isbn=978-1-4918-5192-0 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> but that Tilden had won Florida by 91 votes<ref>{{cite book |date=1879 |title=Appletons' Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1878 |volume=New Series, Volume III |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gyhSAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA713 |location=New York, NY |publisher=D. Appleton and Company |pages=712–713 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> and Louisiana by over 6,000.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ellis |first=Richard J. |date=2015 |title=The Development of the American Presidency |edition=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=csUBCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT58 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Routledge |page=58 |isbn=978-1-3175-5295-6 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Republicans controlled the bodies charged with determining the validity of election results in all three states.<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 174–178</ref> On November 22, the South Carolina canvassing board adjourned after declaring that Hayes had won the state's electoral votes.<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 180–182</ref> On December 4, the Louisiana canvassing board announced that it had thrown out 15,623 votes due to "systemic intimidation," leaving Hayes as the winner of all of the state's electoral votes.<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 191–192</ref> Early on the morning of December 6, the day the Electoral College was scheduled to convene, the Florida canvassing board announced that Hayes had won the state by a margin of 924 votes.<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 193–197</ref> Democrats challenged the results in all three contested Southern states. Meanwhile, another controversy had arisen in Oregon, where a Hayes elector, John Watts, resigned because his simultaneous service as a presidential elector and as a low-ranking official in the [[United States Post Office Department|Post Office]] violated the [[United States Constitution]]. After Watts resigned, the state's Democratic governor appointed an elector to fill the vacancy, while, separately, the state's two remaining Hayes electors chose a third elector to fill the vacancy caused by Watts's resignation.<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 183–185, 197–198</ref>

On December 6, the members of the Electoral College met in Washington, D.C., but the disputes in four states prevented a conclusive vote for president.<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 197–198</ref> With the Electoral College unable to select a president, the disputed election became an issue for Congress to settle; Republicans controlled the Senate, while Democrats controlled the House. The vague wording of the Constitution gave rise to further controversy, as Republicans held that [[Thomas W. Ferry]], a Republican senator from Michigan and the [[president pro tempore of the United States Senate]], could determine the validity of the disputed electoral votes. Democrats argued that Ferry could only count the votes that were not disputed; in such a scenario, neither candidate would have an electoral vote majority, necessitating a [[contingent election]] in the [[United States House of Representatives]]. Since Democrats controlled a majority of the state delegations in the House, they would be able to elect Tilden as president in a contingent election.<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 200–201</ref> In response to the controversy, Tilden compiled his own study of electoral procedures in the previous 22 presidential elections. He delivered the study to every sitting member of Congress, but congressional Republicans were not swayed by Tilden's argument that history supported the Democratic position on the election returns.<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 203–204</ref> He continued to call for calm, and rejected Abram Hewitt's suggestion that he ask his supporters to engage in mass public demonstrations.<ref>Morris (2003), pp. 206–207, 214</ref>