outraged, and many demanded that they filibuster the final count in the House. Randall did not commit, but permitted the House to take recesses several times, delaying the decision. As the March4 inauguration day approached, leaders of both parties met at Wormley's Hotel in Washington to negotiate a compromise. Republicans promised that, in exchange for Democratic acquiescence in the commission's decision, Hayes would order federal troops to withdraw from the South and accept the election of Democratic governments in the remaining "unredeemed" states there. The Democratic leadership, including Randall, agreed and the filibuster ended. Monetary disputes Randall returned to Washington in March 1877 at the start of the 45th Congress and was reelected Speaker. As the session began, many in the Democratic caucus were determined to repeal the Specie Payment Resumption Act of 1875. That Act, passed when Republicans last controlled the House, was intended to gradually withdraw all greenbacks from circulation, replacing them with dollars backed in specie (i.e., gold or silver). With the elimination of the silver dollar in 1873, this would effectively return the United States to the gold standard for the first time since before the Civil War. Randall, who had voted against the act in 1875, agreed to let the House vote on its repeal, which narrowly passed. The Senate, still controlled by Republicans, declined to act on the bill. The attempt at repeal did not end the controversy over silver. Democratic Representative Richard P. Bland of Missouri proposed a bill that would require the United States to buy as much silver as miners could sell the government and strike it into coins, a system that would increase the money supply and aid debtors. In short, silver miners would sell the government metal worth fifty to seventy cents, and receive back a silver dollar. Randall allowed the bill to come to the floor for an up-or-down vote during a special session in November 1877: the result was its passage by a vote of 163 to 34 (with 94 members absent). The pro-silver idea cut across party lines, and William B. Allison, a Republican from Iowa, led the effort in the Senate. Allison offered an amendment in the Senate requiring the purchase of two to four million dollars per month of silver, but not allowing private deposit of silver at the mints. Thus, the seignorage, or difference between the face value of the coin and the