Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/161

 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES 127 fraud by another. There must be nothing crooked on our part. Let Mr. Tilden have the place by violence, intimidation, and fraud, rather than undertake to prevent it by means that will not bear the closest scrutiny.&quot; The canvassing boards of the states in question declared the Republican electors chosen, which gave Mr. Hayes a majority of one vote in the electoral college, and certifications of these results were sent to Washington by the governors of the states. But the Democrats persisted in charging fraud; and other sets of certificates, certifying the Democratic electors to have been elected, arrived at Washing ton. To avoid a deadlock, which might have hap pened if the canvass of the electoral votes had been left to the two houses of congress (the senate hav ing a Republican and the house of representatives a Democratic majority), an act, advocated by mem bers of both parties, was passed to refer all con tested cases to a commission composed of five senators, five representatives, and five judges of the supreme court; the decision of this commission to be final, unless set aside by a concurrent vote of the two houses of congress. The commission, re fusing to go behind the certified returns, decided in each contested case by a vote of eight to seven in favor of the Republican electors, beginning with Florida on February 7, and Rutherford B. Hayes was at last, on March 2, declared duly elected