Reasons For The Compromise Of 1877

The aftermath of the civil war left the U.S in a terrible position; thus calling for the dawning of the Reconstruction era. The idea of Reconstruction was brought up by Pres. Abe Lincoln, but it was brought out by Andrew Johnson after President Lincoln was assassinated. The hopes for former slaves was lifted when the 13th-15th amendments were established and many rights for black men were created. While Southern state governments abolished slavery, they did nothing to alter the status of freedmen and women; to show, the rights once held by former slaves were taken away from them. Black men could not vote, they could not own property, and they were forced into sharecropping, which made debt highly likely. Slavery was still punishment for crimes, but the biggest punishment for crimes committed by blacks was lynching.

It seemed as though black people were finally starting to be recognized as actual people. According to the article “Reconstruction” on the website ushistory.org it says, “Under federal bayonets,blacks, including those who had recently been freed, received the right to vote, hold political offices, and become judges and police chiefs.” African Americans were finally able to hold some type of power in political offices and could have jobs of importance, however, many Southerners were angered by black people having this new sense of freedom. From the same article it says, “Many Southern whites could not accept the idea that former slaves could not only vote but hold office. It was this era that the Ku Klux Klan was born.” Douglass’s dream of equality was starting to slip away with white supremacists discriminating against black people. To this day, there is still racism and discrimination among not only African Americans but all races and this goal of equality has yet to be reached and may not be achieved ever.

Following the Civil War, America was in shambles. There were many groups with strong, conflicting ideas of how things should be. However, most groups had one idea in common: reducing the rights of African Americans as much as possible. Freed slaves had very little freedom under the law, were treated like a lesser species by those around them, and faced dangerous environments everywhere they went. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation may have legally freed slaves, but African Americans were barely more than paid slaves.

The Compromise of 1877 was a very effective time period in history. Its main focus was to rebuild the South physically and as a nation. It was the compromise of the Reconstruction Era and the U.S. presidential election of 1876. Problems now went from the battlefields to politics. After the Civil War over, 3.9 million slaves were freed and given rights. This then created tensions between black and whites. The presidential election was another conflict that was resolved. Democrats and Republicans had many different opinions when it came to them being a bipartisan government, which created some tensions. Nevertheless, the Compromise of 1877 was the a compromise of the Reconstruction Era and the U.S. presidential election of 1876.

Many social changes occurred during the time from 1860 to 1877. In the history of the United States, blacks had been viewed as less than equal to whites. This was clearly shown through the three-fifths compromise which counted slaves as less than an actual

Once agreed Democrats now had control over the region which made Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina democratic states again and that ended the Reconstruction Era. Some of the long term consequences of the Compromise of 1877 were the broken promises to protect the civil and political rights of African Americans. From the end of the reconstruction southern legislatures passed laws requiring separation from whites and African American on everything from public transportation, theaters, schools, restaurants, and etc. This was more widely known as the Jim Crow Laws which enforced

The North’s victory after four years of fighting in the Civil War in 1865 allowed the 13th amendment to pass, and eventually added the 14th and 15th amendment to the constitution. These abolished slavery and attempted to create equal rights among all people. The Reconstruction Act divided the South into separate military districts and formed governments based on male suffrage. The South and North had extremely different views on how to rebuild the South and how former slaves should be incorporated into the country as freed people. The process of the Reconstruction period of rebuilding the South proposed many new challenges. The efforts to ensure equal rights to the freedmen failed because of the acts that were passed to control the labor and

The Civil War and the Reconstruction brought about much change and turmoil throughout the United States. During these periods, three main events occurred that resolved the issue of slavery, and expanded the power of the federal government.

Looking at the social order at the time is important to understanding what is to come. While the slaves were now free and able to do as they pleased, there was still a deeply embedded racism within the minds of Southern whites. Just because blacks had fought in the Civil War did not suddenly mean that the perception of blacks had changed; rather to the Southern elites, they still viewed blacks as inferior and only good for labor, longing to perpetuate the slave system but within a new industrial framework seeing as how the agricultural framework had been destroyed. This new system was to be found in through convict leasing.

After Reconstruction the south reverted back to the way it was with slavery, plantations, and the North still in the north. The new form of slavery still looked much like the old; it just had a different name. The south said that they were doing it for the betterment of all, but they just wanted things the way they had been. Now, though, they

There was a dispute over who won the election in 1876; the electoral votes were exceptionally close, and Samuel B. Tilden won the popular vote. Democrats threatened to filibuster if Tilden was not made president. The Compromise of 1877 allowed Rutherford B. Hayes to become president in exchange for all federal troops being pulled out of the southern states Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. In addition, the appointment of a Southern Democrat to Hayes’ cabinet, the construction of an additional transcontinental railroad to boost the economy in the south. Finally, the right to deal with African Americans without northern interference The Compromise of 1877 adequately ceased the Reconstruction Era.

The newly freed slaves were gaining rights that were always only a dream with legal marriage, education, and power over their children’s lives. However, Black Codes were being used to recreate slavery and were making it hard for African Americans to own property and function in society. (Lecture 1/29/16) Their rights were not given without many exceptions including that African Americans who were convicted of felonies were being put back to work on farms that they were just given the freedom to leave, and all of a sudden it was much easier to get a felony charge for being black and not having a job were considered committing a crime. President Johnson’s neglect of action in southern states was making it nearly impossible for the former slaves to function in society, even after The Civil Rights Act of 1866, and leads into the creation of the Ku Klux Klan

The South still had a disliking for blacks and the South began to form Black Codes. Black codes were restrictions put on blacks in the South. “Black codes denied blacks the right to vote, the right to own guns, the right to serve on juries, and some even forced them to work on plantations if they did not have a job” (Radical Reconstruction. youtube.com). Black codes unfairly restricted the rights of African Americans and they were morally wrong. There was much variation of the Black Codes depending on which state of the South. Some states did not even allow blacks to own property. “The Black Codes partially reverted the South into slavery” (Radical Reconstruction. youtube.com). Once the government realized what was happening they decided that reconstruction had to be enforced. “Congress sent the military creating radical regimes throughout sectionalist states” (Sparknotes.com). At this time in history the south was divided into five military districts and there was a United States general put in place for each. There were many disobedient white Southerners

Although the new change in government brought other changes to the south. Between 1871 and 1873 an epidemic spent through most of the south. This was yellow fever and it was infecting the non-acclimated population left and right. Mostly these people included the stationed union soldiers and other northern peoples in the south. Many people of the north wanted their soldiers to come home so that they could escape the epidemic and thus, the compromise of 1877 was easily created. During 1876, Rutherford Hayes met with southern Democrats in secret to negotiate acceptance of Hayes' election. Southern Democrats therefore agreed to allow Hayes's victory in the election if Republicans withdrew federal troops from the south. So, the compromise of 1877

African-Americans may sometimes wonder at the contradictory facts about their history presented in many standard history texts. These texts state that blacks were given the right to vote in 1870, yet the same texts will acknowledge that this right did not really exist for African-Americans until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.