Nineteenth Century Political Party Photograph Collection
The Collections includes members of the political landscape during the 19th century from approximately 1850-1900. Many of the politicians shown are military generals, Senators, Supreme Court members, or other important Cabinet members from either the Johnson, Grant, or Hayes' administration. The Collection includes political members from the Whig party, Democratic party and Republican party. Many of the politicians played critical roles in either helping or stopping the progress in Reconstruction and made other important social and economic decisions. Also included is a photo of the Electoral Commission of 1877 and the 1862-1863 Supreme Court.
Electoral Commission
The Electoral Commission was a temporary body created by Congress to resolve the disputed United States presidential election of 1876. It consisted of 15 members. The election was contested by the Democratic ticket, Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks, and the Republican ticket, Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler. Twenty electoral votes, from the states of Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina, were in dispute; the resolution of these disputes would determine the outcome of the election. Facing a constitutional crisis the likes of which the nation had never seen, Congress passed a law forming the Electoral Commission to settle the result. Members: Senator Thomas F. Bayard (Delaware), Senator Allen G. Thurman (Ohio), Senator George F. Edmunds (Vermont), Senator Frederick T. Frelinghuysen (New Jersey), Senator Oliver Hazard, Senator Perry Morton (Indiana), Congressman Josiah Gardner Abbott (Massachusetts, Congressman Eppa Hunton (Virginia), Congressman Henry B. Payne (Ohio), Congressman James A. Garfield (Ohio), Congressman George Frisbie Hoar (Massachusetts), Supreme Court Justice Nathan Clifford* (Maine), Supreme Court Justic Stephen Johnson Field (California), Supreme Court Justice Joseph Philo Bradley (New Jersey), Supreme Court Justice Samuel Freeman Miller (Iowa), Supreme Court Justice William Strong (Pennsylvania).
1877
Supreme Court
Members: Samuel F. Miller, James M. Wayne, David Davis, Noah Swayne, Morrison Waite, Nathan Clifford, Richard W. Thompson, Stephen J. Field, Robert C. Grier
1877