In 1876, the Democrat Samuel Tilden won the popular vote, but a dispute over the close Electoral College vote had to be settled in favor of Hayes by a Congressional commission. The first of these three documents relates to the collection of those disputed Electoral College votes. It begins with an Autograph Note by Acting Secretary of the Treasury Charles F. Conant (1835-1886), 24 February 1877: "This paper was handed to me by Mr. Z. Moses, clerk to Mr. Ferry, Vice President, with the statement that the names appearing thereon were those of the messengers bringing the electoral votes from the several states mentioned which were allowed and counted, but to whom the President of the Senate could not, on account of complications, give the certificates." On verso are named the messengers for Florida, Louisiana and Oregon. The Florida voting, decided by less than a thousand votes, would be enough to swing the election to Hayes. Also included is a letter from Treasury Department official John P. Bigelow to Acting Secretary Conant on the day the commission awarded the presidency to Hayes: "At 4:40 this morning I cabled to our london office 'count completed 4:10 AM Hayes declared elected. Insist upon new call before March 4th' . . . I have been on the floor of the House sixteen hours and as it is now after five o'clock will probably be late at the dept." Washington, 2 March 1877. The third item is a printed pamphlet by a future president on the contested election: James A. Garfield. Counting the Electoral Vote: Speech . . . Delivered in the United States House of Representatives. 15 pages; uneven toning, minimal wear. Washington, 1877.
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