[Sidenote:  The electoral commission (1877).] One serious difficulty was not yet foreseen and provided for—­that of deciding between two conflicting returns sent in by two hostile sets of electors in the same state, each list being certified by one of two rival governors claiming authority in the same state.  Such a case occurred in 1877, when Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina were the scene of struggles between rival governments.  Ballots for Tilden and ballots for Hayes were sent in at the same time from these states, and in the absence of any recognized means of determining which ballots to count, the two parties in Congress submitted the result to arbitration.  An “electoral commission” was created for the occasion, composed of five senators, five representatives, and five judges of the supreme court; and this body decided what votes were to be counted.  It was a clumsy expedient, but infinitely preferable to civil war.  The question of conflicting returns has at length been set at rest by the act of 1887, which provides that no electoral votes can be rejected in counting except by the concurrent action of the two houses of Congress.

[Sidenote:  Presidential succession.] The devolution of the presidential office in case of the president’s death has also been made the subject of legislative change and amendment.  The office of vice-president was created chiefly for the purpose of meeting such an emergency.  Upon the accession of the vice-president to the presidency, the Senate would proceed to elect its own president pro tempore.  An act of 1791 provided that in case of the death, resignation or disability of both president and vice-president, the succession should devolve first upon the president pro tempore of the Senate and then upon the speaker of the House of Representatives, until the disability should be removed or a new election be held.  But supposing a newly elected president to die and be succeeded by the vice-president before the assembling of the newly elected Congress; then there would be no president pro tempore of the Senate and no speaker of the House of Representatives, and thus the death of one person might cause the presidency to lapse.  Moreover the presiding officers of the two houses of Congress might be members of the party defeated in the last presidential election; indeed, this is often the case.  Sound policy and fair dealing require that a victorious party shall not be turned out because of the death of the president and vice-president.  Accordingly an act of 1886 provided that in such an event the succession should devolve upon the members of the cabinet in the following order:  secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, secretary of war, attorney-general, postmaster-general, secretary of the navy, secretary of the interior.  This would seem to be ample provision against a lapse.