The Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks, and called for reforms of every kind—­in the civil service, in the administration, in expenditures, in the internal revenue system, in the currency, in the tariff, in the use of public lands, in the treatment of the South.

%512.  Result of the Election.%—­While the campaign was going on, Colorado was admitted (in August, 1876) as a state.  There were then thirty-eight states in the Union, casting 369 electoral votes.  This made 185 necessary for a choice; and when the returns were all in, it appeared that, if the Republicans could secure the electoral votes of South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Oregon, they would have exactly 185.  In these states, however, a dispute was raging as to which set of electors, Republican or Democratic, was elected.  Each claimed to be; and, as the result depended on them, each set met and voted.  It was then for Congress to decide which should be counted.

Now, the framers of the Constitution had never thought of such a condition of affairs, and had made no provisions to meet it.  Congress therefore provided for an

%513.  “Electoral Commission,"% to decide which of the conflicting returns should be accepted.  This commission was to be composed of five senators, five representatives, and five justices of the Supreme Court.  The Senate chose three Republicans and two Democrats; the House, three Democrats and two Republicans.  Congress appointed two Democratic and two Republican justices, who chose the fifth justice, who was a Republican.  The Commission thus consisted of eight Republicans and seven Democrats.  The decision as to each of the disputed states was in favor of the Republican electors, and as it could not be reversed unless both houses of Congress consented, and as both would not consent, Hayes was declared elected, over Tilden, by one electoral vote; namely, Hayes, 185; Tilden, 184.

[Illustration:  Rutherford B. Hayes]

%514.  Financial Policy of Grant’s Administration.%—­The inauguration of Hayes was followed by a special session of Congress.  In the House was a great Democratic majority, pledged to a new financial measure—­a pledge which it soon made good.

The financial policy of Grant’s eight years may be summed up briefly: 

1. (1869) The “Credit Strengthening Act,” declaring that 5-20 bonds of the United States should be paid “in coin.”

2. (1870) The Refunding Act, by which $1,500,000,000 in bonds bearing five and six per cent interest were ordered to be replaced by other bonds at four, four and a half, and five per cent.  In this refunding, the 5-20’s, whose principal was payable in greenbacks, were replaced by others whose principal was payable “in coin.”

3. (1873) The act of 1873, by stopping the coinage of silver dollars, and taking away the legal tender quality of those in circulation, made the words “in coin” mean gold.