DOUBLE VACANCY
As the lame duck 40th Congress gathered in joint session on February 6, 1869 the mood was solemn. The great chamber was silent as senators and representatives entered the room. Everyone was hard-faced and somber. They were there to fulfill a constitutional duty. Their task was to count the votes of the Electoral College from the 1868 election for President and Vice President of the United States. Many of them had participated in this quadrennial activity before. Everyone knew the nuts and bolts of what was going to happen, yet each and every man in that room knew that they and the nation were about to sail into uncharted waters.
Seated behind the podium were the Speaker of the House, Theodore Pomeroy (R-New York) and President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Benjamin Wade (R-Ohio). In due course, Mr. Pomeroy rose and banged his gavel. It was odd seeing him standing there. He was standing in the place where Schulyer Colfax had stood for the previous five years; the place where Colfax should be standing on this day. Sadly such was not the case.
Two months earlier, Ulysses Simpson Grant had been elected President of the United States and elected with him as Vice President was Schuyler Colfax, Jr. Their Republican ticket had won 52.7% of the popular vote and was assured of a majority of votes from the Electoral College. The presidential electors did met that December in their respective state capitals, as they had done twenty times before, to cast their ballots for President and Vice President in accordance with the Constitution.
All was going as planned with the transition of power from the old administration to the new. President Andrew Johnson was glad to be finishing his term in the fullness of its prescribed time, and to be leaving Washington for good. Then, like being hit square in the face by an unexpected snowball, tragedy struck. In fact, it struck twice that day, hundreds of miles apart. For decades to follow, the mention of the date December 24, 1868 would prompt memories of “where they were when they heard the news of Grant and Colfax’s deaths.
In the early afternoon of that fateful day, President-elect Grant was boarding a carriage with his wife, Julia, and their two children, at their home in Galena, Illinois when John Jacobs emerged from the back side of the house. He approached the family, and attacked them. Grant was shot in the throat and both boys received stab wounds. Once subdued, Jacobs shouted, "An eye for an eye; my children are avenged.” Two of Jacobs' children had died four years earlier during the siege of Vicksburg and John had been slashed in the shoulder that year by the sword of Grant himself during the battle of Chattanooga. Grant’s children survived the attack, but he died a few hours later. Jacobs was hanged on September 26, 1869 for the crime.
Word of Grant’s death reached Vice President-elect Colfax that night as he was attending a Christmas Eve service in Washington D. C. In the commotion and rush as they left the church, Colfax slipped on the ice and hit his head. Insisting that he was okay, Colfax and his wife (he had married Ella Wade, a daughter of Senator Benjamin Wade a month earlier) returned to their home. The next day, Colfax woke with a splitting headache and blurred vision. By the time the doctor arrived later that morning the pain was unbearable and he was feverish. At 11:50 AM Colfax suffered a massive stroke. He died on December 27 at 7:35 PM.
Six weeks later, Theodore Pomeroy, the newly selected Speaker of the House, read the elector's votes state by state. A few moments later the clerk handed him a piece of paper with the vote totals written on it. Pomeroy cleared his throat and said, "the electoral vote is... 214 votes for the Republican Party ticket of Grant and Colfax; 80 votes for the Democratic Party ticket of Seymour and Blair. Ulysses Grant and Schuyler Colfax have been elected President and Vice President of the United States. Is there anyone who wishes to contest these results?" There was silence in the room for what seemed like an hour. BANG went the speaker's gavel. "Then these results are received and declared legal and final." BANG went his gavel again. Another seemingly long silence again gripped the room. "Regrettably, gentlemen, this time our work is not finished. For today our nation is mourning the death of both the President-elect and Vice President-elect. We are grieving the loss of..."
After several speeches, the Speaker addressed the Congress. "Gentlemen, in accordance with the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, and in light of the situation we face today, I declare that on March 4th of this year both the office of President and that of Vice President of the United States shall be vacant. According to that act, the President pro tempore of the Senate, should become acting President between then and March 4th of next year. The current President pro tempore, Mr. Benjamin Wade of Ohio, is retiring at the end of this congress. The President pro tempore of the Senate in the new Congress will be Mr. Henry Anthony of Rhode Island. He is in line to serve as Acting President from March 4th of this year, when Mr. Johnson’s Presidential term ends, until next March 4, following a Presidential election to be held on November 2, of this year. Do I hear a motion to confirm Mr. Anthony as Acting President of the United States and to call a special Presidential election for November 2, 1869?" A motion is made, seconded, and unanimously approved.
Anthony then rose from his seat. There was silence again in the room as he walked toward the podium. Then, a lone, young congressman began to clap. A few moments later, a few more began clapping. Awkwardly, a few more joined in, and then more. Soon all, many with tears in their eyes, were applauding the new Acting President of the United States, Henry Anthony.
