The Compromise Of 1877 Was The Compromise Of The Reconstruction Era And The Civil War

The Compromise of 1877 marking the end of Reconstruction that brought Rutherford B. Hayes into presidency had an extremely negative effect on the African-American population of the South in the late 19th century, dubbing the compromise as “The Great Betrayal.” In exchange for a Republican president, the Southern Democrats were free of military occupation, had improved infrastructure and a Democrat as Postmaster General, David McKendree Key.

As tensions between the North and the South rose on the issues of slavery and states’ rights, numerous compromises were proposed to ease the conflict. Such compromises included the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Crittenden Compromise. These compromises had intentions of defining where slavery was permitted and clarifying states’ rights. They were only temporary fixes to a more pressing issue. Between the Missouri Compromise and the Crittenden Compromise, a series of events changed the political atmosphere of the United States and prevented any more compromises on the institution of slavery from being passed.

The Compromise of 1850 brought relative calm to the nation. Though most blacks and abolitionists strongly opposed the Compromise, the majority of Americans embraced it, believing that it offered a final, workable solution to the slavery question. Most importantly, it saved the Union from the terrible split that many had feared. People were all too ready to leave the slavery controversy behind them and move on. But the feeling of relief that spread throughout the country would prove to be the calm before the storm.

The compromise of 1850 was a settlement on a series of issues plaguing the unity of the states. The primary issue to address was the institution of slavery, which was causing much dissension between the north and the south. Additional items to be addressed were territory issues and to prevent secession by the south. Henry Clay stepped forward to present a compromise, which had Congress in an eight-month discussion known as the “Great Debate”. As a result of the proposal, there were strong oppositions. One outspoken person who opposed the proposal was John C Calhoun. Calhoun was an intellectual southern politician, political philosopher and a proponent to the protection of Southern interests. He was an advocate for states’ rights and

1.Lincoln’s original plan was the Ten Percent Plan which would exclude the Confederates except for important officials. This is significant because this was the original idea that the United States wanted to follow in order to rebuild the country.

After the war, the government tried to solve key problems facing the nation. The 10% Plan was proposed by Abraham Lincoln and its purpose was to end Reconstruction quickly. It pardoned all Ex-Confederates in the South as long as they apologized, it would only need ten percent of the voters in each state to swear allegiance to the Union, and did not offer any type of equality to the Freedmen. The 10% Plan was a short-term effect because Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in 1865, and after he was killed and Vice President Andrew Johnson took over the idea of the 10% Plan disappeared. Another attempt to end Reconstruction by the government was proposed by the Radical Republicans in congress and was the complete

The Ku Klux Klan flourished in the South at the beginning of the Reconstruction succeeding the Civil War. There remained numerous ex-Confederates that were still strongly opposed to the Reconstruction and sought to preserve white supremacy in the South. Directly after the Civil War the government in the South was weak and vulnerable. The Ku Klux Klan leveraged this and used violence and threats to try to reestablish white supremacy. They were most successful in playing upon fears and superstitions. They not only brought terror to the black communities but they also targeted carpetbaggers and scalawags. They used these threats and fears in effectively keeping the blacks away from the polls so that the ex-Confederates could gain back political control in the

Lincoln's main goal was to reunite the Union after the North had won and demolished most of the South. Lincoln wanted to reunite the North and South but the South didn't want to join a slave free north. Lincoln came up with the 10 percent plan which required 10 percent of the state’s population to vote to be loyal to the North and then that state would have to create a new government. The southern states combated this plan with the Wade-Davis Bill which stated that reconstruction would be handed over to congress and the Southern States

There were two major turning points during this period were the Reconstruction and Industrialization. The civil wars ended in 1865 and with the end of the civil war bought Reconstruction to the south from 1865 to 1877. The physical rebuilding of the southern region began quickly and progressed rapidly, but reconstructing southern society was much more difficult process, especially considering the political question about how to integrate rebel states back into the nations and the social question about how to integrate 4 million newly freed slaves. (Shultz 2012) In 1863, Lincoln had issued his Ten-Percent Plan, which

As time passed the rapidly changing society in the nineteenth century, in 1820 the north and south began to have serious conflicting problems that were proved unfixable by compromise. During this time, the north underwent major social, economic, and industrial changes known as the Antebellum Period. While the south generally clung to king cotton and slavery and thus remained essentially the same. This arose a manifold of controversies with how issues such as tariffs, slavery, and land should be handled. Both the Union and the Confederacy tried to create compromises to resolve these problems, yet both sides were never completely satisfied no matter how hard they tried. This made it very close to impossible for them to completely put their

Youtube.com). Hate groups started to develop and the actions put forth by congress were not very effective at this time. One popular hate group was the Klu Klux Klan. “The KKK was formed in Tennessee and was created to terrorize blacks” (pinzler.com). Members of the Klu Klux Klan wore white robes and pointed hats. These hate groups main goals were to terrorize blacks in the South, but they also did other things. “These groups kept African Americans and white republicans from voting” (Sparknotes.com). There were consequences for people that were involved in hate groups; “If anyone attempting to prevent a person from voting [usually blacks or white republicans] would be fined or imprisoned” (visitthecapital.gov). Something known as the Klu Klux Klan Act was passed around 1871. “Between May 1870 and February 1871 congress passed three bills called the enforcement acts” (Visitthecapital.gov). Overall, these acts were meant to protect blacks on a state and a local level. Besides Black Codes and the groups there was another problem in the south which had to do with the 14th and 15th amendments. The 14th amendment was created on July, 9 1868 during the time of reconstruction. According to

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.

The 1877 Great Compromise was important for freed slaves because it signaled the end of Jim Crow and ushered in the Jim Crow Era. The 1876 election was disputed between Samuel J. Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes and to resolve it, the republicans agreed to withdraw the army from Louisiana and South Carolina. This withdrawal of troops from the south remove the only form of enforcement of the new laws protecting freed slaves from discrimination and segregation.

The Compromise of 1877 was an assumed upon agreement to settle the presidential election of 1876. The election was between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden, in which Tilden won the popular vote. The agreement was between the Republican and Democrat leaders of the time and removed all union troops from the south and settled the dispute for office. This agreement finally ended the battle between the north and south and allowed the two parties to make plans to rebuild the south. The text says that, "The Radical Republican vision, emphasizing racial justice, equal civil and political right guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, and a new southern economy organized around independent small farmers, never enjoyed the support

The fervent prayers of slaves had been answered by the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment. Five years later, the 14th Amendment ensured that all people who were born in the country to equality and citizenship. In addition, the 15th Amendment was made to give black males suffrage(the right to vote). Likewise many slaves were able to live their own lives as free men and women. However, the South were very bitter about the Emancipation and the result of the Civil War. The Union won the war after crucial victories in battles like Gettysburg and Vicksburg which lead to their success. The South did their best to ruin the lives of the black community. As a matter of fact, a hate group formed called the Klu Klux Klan became the main group