worth of the metal contained within it accrued to the government's credit, not private citizens. President Hayes vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode the veto, and the Bland–Allison Act became law. Potter committee As the 1880 presidential elections approached, many Democrats remained convinced Tilden had been robbed of the presidency in 1876. In the House, Tilden supporter Clarkson Nott Potter of New York sought an investigation into the 1876 election in Florida and Louisiana, hoping that evidence of Republican malfeasance would harm that party's candidate in 1880. The Democratic caucus, including Randall, unanimously endorsed the idea, and the committee convened in May 1878. Some in the caucus wished to investigate the entire election, but Randall and the more moderate members worked to limit the committee's reach to the two disputed states. Randall left no doubt about his sympathies when he assigned members to the committee, stacking it with Hayes's enemies from both parties. The committee's investigation had the opposite of the Democrats' intended effect, uncovering telegrams from Tilden's nephew, William Tilden Pelton, offering bribes to Southern Republicans in the disputed states to help Tilden claim their votes. The Pelton telegrams were in code, which the committee was able to decode; Republicans had also sent ciphered dispatches, but the committee was unable to decode them. The ensuing excitement fizzled out by June 1878 as the Congress went into recess. Reelected Speaker As the 46th Congress convened in 1879, the Democratic caucus was reduced, but they still held a plurality of seats. The new House contained 152 Democrats, 139 Republicans, and 20 independents, most of whom were affiliated with the Greenback Party. Many of Randall's fellow Democrats differed with him over protectionism and his lack of support for Southern railroad subsidies, and considered choosing Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn of Kentucky as their nominee for Speaker, instead. Several other Southerners' names were floated, too, as anti-Randall Democrats tried to coalesce around a single candidate; in the end, none could be found and the caucus chose Randall as their nominee with 107 votes out of 152. With some Democrats not yet present, however, the Democrats began to fear that the Republicans and Greenbackers would strike a deal to combine their votes to elect James A. Garfield of Ohio as Speaker. When the time for the vote came, however, Garfield refused to make any compromises with the third-party men, and Randall and the Democrats were