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 Electoral College Controversy: Electoral Commission

 


 "Compromise-Indeed!"
  Cartoonist:  Thomas Nast
  Source:  Harper's Weekly
  Date:   January 27, 1877, p. 64

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Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
This cartoon registers the dissatisfaction that many Republicans, including candidate Rutherford Hayes, felt about the Electoral Commission Act: "Compromise-Indeed!" reads the caption. Democrats, on the other hand, widely supported the law which created a multi-institutional committee to settle the election dispute. Dominating this picture is the image of the cocked pistol and bullwhip, their meaning reinforced by menacing quotes-"Tilden or Blood"-printed on a profusion of papers. To Nast, at this point, the commission was merely an institutionalized way to allow Democratic coercion to prevail.
 

 

 

 
 

 

     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 

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