Presidential Controvery: The Compromise of 1877
Many people believe that the presidential election of 2000 was the closest and most controversial in history. Actually there was one much closer and more controversial. Its resolution resulted in the scuttling of reconstruction and likely set the cause of civil rights for African-Americans back a generation. It was the election of 1876, when Rutherford Hayes was selected President, despite losing the popular vote and possibly the electoral vote to Democratic candidate Samuel Tilden.
In an era before electronic media, the election results on the night of November 7, 1876, were too close to call. There were three states whose results were contested, and without being able to know on whose side of the line these results would fall, Democrat Samuel Tilden had 184 electoral votes, and his opponent, Republican Rutherford Hayes had 166. Tilden had received over 4.288 million votes or 50.9% of the popular vote, compared to 4.034 million or 47.9% for Hayes. The election looked like a cinch for Tilden.
As in 2000, Florida was one of the states whose electoral votes (all 4 of them) were in dispute. The other two were Louisiana (with 8), and South Carolina (with 7). In those days there were no dimpled or hanging chads, but election results in each state were rife with accusations of by fraud and threats of violence against Republican voters. In those days, parties were allowed to print ballots to enable voters to support them in the open ballots. To aid illiterate voters the parties would print symbols on the tickets. In this election, however, many Democratic ballots were printed with a Republican symbol (Abraham Lincoln) on them as a means to trick illiterate African-American voters into thinking that they were voting Republican. Many of these states were run by Republicans and their state electoral commissions disallowed a large number of Democratic votes and awarded their electoral votes to Hayes.
Meanwhile, in Oregon, the vote of a single elector was disputed. The statewide result clearly had favored Hayes, but the state's Democratic governor, La Fayette Grover, claimed that one elector, former postmaster John Watts, was ineligible to serve as an elector under Article II, Section 1, of the United States Constitution, since he was a "person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States." Grover then substituted a Democratic elector in his place. The two Republican electors dismissed Grover's action and each reported three votes for Hayes, while the Democratic elector, reported one vote for Tilden and two votes for Hayes.
With the state commissions reporting in this manner, Hayes ended up with a one vote majority in the Electoral College and he led 185 to 184. Not surprisingly, the Democrats, who hadn't elected a President since James Buchanan in 1856, cried fraud. The nation's passions were elevated as a result. Threats were made by disgruntled Democrats who said that Hayes would never be inaugurated. In Columbus, Ohio, a shot was fired at Hayes' residence as he sat down to dinner. Republican supporters marched to his home, calling for the "president" to speak. Hayes told the crowd that, "it is impossible, at so early a time, to obtain the result."
Outgoing President Ulysses Grant quietly strengthened the military force in and around Washington. He worked behind the scenes with leading members of both houses of Congress to come up with a resolution. The Constitution states that "the President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the [electoral] certificates, and the votes shall then be counted." Certain Republicans held that the power to count the votes lay with the President of the Senate. The Democrats objected to this because Thomas Ferry, the Republican President of the Senate, would count the votes of the disputed states for Hayes. The Democrats insisted that Congress should continue the practice followed since 1865, which was that no vote objected to should be counted except by the concurrence of both houses. The Democrats had a sizable majority in the House of Representatives.
The nation faced an unprecedented constitutional crisis. A compromise was reached when Congress passed a law on January 29, 1877, forming a 15-member Electoral Commission to settle the result. Five members were selected from each house of Congress, and they were joined by five members of the Supreme Court. The majority party in each house named three members and the minority party two. As the Republicans controlled the Senate and the Democrats the House of Representatives, this yielded five Democratic and five Republican members of the Commission. Of the Supreme Court justices, two Republicans and two Democrats were chosen, with the fifth to be selected by these four. The justices selected a political independent, Justice David Davis.
This did not come off as planned. The legislature of Illinois elected Davis to the Senate. Democrats in the Illinois legislature believed that this would get them Davis's support. However instead of staying on the Supreme Court so that he could serve on the Commission, Davis resigned to take his Senate seat. All the remaining available Supreme Court justices were Republicans, and Justice Joseph P. Bradley was then selected to round out the commission.
As Inauguration Day approached, the commission met on January 31, 1877. The commission made its decision about the disputed electoral votes in Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina. Bradley joined the other seven Republican committee members in a series of 8-7 votes that gave all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes, giving Hayes a 185-184 electoral vote victory, and with it the Presidency. The commission adjourned on March 2 and two days later Hayes was inaugurated.
The protest by Democrats would have persisted, were it not for an unwritten agreement purportedly reached between party leaders, with the agreement of Hayes, known as the Compromise of 1877. Under the agreement, Hayes agreed to pull federal troops out of state politics in the South, this ending the Reconstruction Era. When Hayes became president, he did in fact remove all of the remaining troops from South Carolina and Louisiana. As soon as the troops left, many white Republicans also left and Democrats, many of whom were former Confederates, took control of the states. African-American Republicans were betrayed as they lost power in the south.
The compromise essentially stated that Southern Democrats would acknowledge Hayes as president, but only on the understanding that Republicans would meet certain demands:
1. All U.S. federal troops from the former Confederate States were to be removed. (By this time U.S. troops remained only in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida, but the Compromise removed them as well.)
2. At least one Southern Democrat was to be named to Hayes's cabinet. (David M. Key of Tennessee became Postmaster General.)
3. Construction of another transcontinental railroad using the Texas and Pacific in the South was to take place.
4. Legislation would be passed to help industrialize the South and get them back on their feet.
In exchange for these promises, Democrats accepted Hayes's presidency without further protest. Hayes was peacefully inaugurated and the Republicans lived up to the deal, at least the first two parts of it. The third and fourth point were never acted on.
Some historians argue that the things offered to Southern Democrats were not really a compromise, they would have happened in any event. Others argue that the Republican Party abandoned the freedmen of the south. Regardless, Reconstruction ended, and the Democratic Party regained political control of the South, much as things had been before the Civil War. A short-term electoral victory stripped southern freedmen of the protection of the federal government and led to some very sorry chapters in the nation's history.
In an era before electronic media, the election results on the night of November 7, 1876, were too close to call. There were three states whose results were contested, and without being able to know on whose side of the line these results would fall, Democrat Samuel Tilden had 184 electoral votes, and his opponent, Republican Rutherford Hayes had 166. Tilden had received over 4.288 million votes or 50.9% of the popular vote, compared to 4.034 million or 47.9% for Hayes. The election looked like a cinch for Tilden.
As in 2000, Florida was one of the states whose electoral votes (all 4 of them) were in dispute. The other two were Louisiana (with 8), and South Carolina (with 7). In those days there were no dimpled or hanging chads, but election results in each state were rife with accusations of by fraud and threats of violence against Republican voters. In those days, parties were allowed to print ballots to enable voters to support them in the open ballots. To aid illiterate voters the parties would print symbols on the tickets. In this election, however, many Democratic ballots were printed with a Republican symbol (Abraham Lincoln) on them as a means to trick illiterate African-American voters into thinking that they were voting Republican. Many of these states were run by Republicans and their state electoral commissions disallowed a large number of Democratic votes and awarded their electoral votes to Hayes.
Meanwhile, in Oregon, the vote of a single elector was disputed. The statewide result clearly had favored Hayes, but the state's Democratic governor, La Fayette Grover, claimed that one elector, former postmaster John Watts, was ineligible to serve as an elector under Article II, Section 1, of the United States Constitution, since he was a "person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States." Grover then substituted a Democratic elector in his place. The two Republican electors dismissed Grover's action and each reported three votes for Hayes, while the Democratic elector, reported one vote for Tilden and two votes for Hayes.
With the state commissions reporting in this manner, Hayes ended up with a one vote majority in the Electoral College and he led 185 to 184. Not surprisingly, the Democrats, who hadn't elected a President since James Buchanan in 1856, cried fraud. The nation's passions were elevated as a result. Threats were made by disgruntled Democrats who said that Hayes would never be inaugurated. In Columbus, Ohio, a shot was fired at Hayes' residence as he sat down to dinner. Republican supporters marched to his home, calling for the "president" to speak. Hayes told the crowd that, "it is impossible, at so early a time, to obtain the result."
Outgoing President Ulysses Grant quietly strengthened the military force in and around Washington. He worked behind the scenes with leading members of both houses of Congress to come up with a resolution. The Constitution states that "the President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the [electoral] certificates, and the votes shall then be counted." Certain Republicans held that the power to count the votes lay with the President of the Senate. The Democrats objected to this because Thomas Ferry, the Republican President of the Senate, would count the votes of the disputed states for Hayes. The Democrats insisted that Congress should continue the practice followed since 1865, which was that no vote objected to should be counted except by the concurrence of both houses. The Democrats had a sizable majority in the House of Representatives.
The nation faced an unprecedented constitutional crisis. A compromise was reached when Congress passed a law on January 29, 1877, forming a 15-member Electoral Commission to settle the result. Five members were selected from each house of Congress, and they were joined by five members of the Supreme Court. The majority party in each house named three members and the minority party two. As the Republicans controlled the Senate and the Democrats the House of Representatives, this yielded five Democratic and five Republican members of the Commission. Of the Supreme Court justices, two Republicans and two Democrats were chosen, with the fifth to be selected by these four. The justices selected a political independent, Justice David Davis.
This did not come off as planned. The legislature of Illinois elected Davis to the Senate. Democrats in the Illinois legislature believed that this would get them Davis's support. However instead of staying on the Supreme Court so that he could serve on the Commission, Davis resigned to take his Senate seat. All the remaining available Supreme Court justices were Republicans, and Justice Joseph P. Bradley was then selected to round out the commission.
As Inauguration Day approached, the commission met on January 31, 1877. The commission made its decision about the disputed electoral votes in Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina. Bradley joined the other seven Republican committee members in a series of 8-7 votes that gave all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes, giving Hayes a 185-184 electoral vote victory, and with it the Presidency. The commission adjourned on March 2 and two days later Hayes was inaugurated.
The protest by Democrats would have persisted, were it not for an unwritten agreement purportedly reached between party leaders, with the agreement of Hayes, known as the Compromise of 1877. Under the agreement, Hayes agreed to pull federal troops out of state politics in the South, this ending the Reconstruction Era. When Hayes became president, he did in fact remove all of the remaining troops from South Carolina and Louisiana. As soon as the troops left, many white Republicans also left and Democrats, many of whom were former Confederates, took control of the states. African-American Republicans were betrayed as they lost power in the south.
The compromise essentially stated that Southern Democrats would acknowledge Hayes as president, but only on the understanding that Republicans would meet certain demands:
1. All U.S. federal troops from the former Confederate States were to be removed. (By this time U.S. troops remained only in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida, but the Compromise removed them as well.)
2. At least one Southern Democrat was to be named to Hayes's cabinet. (David M. Key of Tennessee became Postmaster General.)
3. Construction of another transcontinental railroad using the Texas and Pacific in the South was to take place.
4. Legislation would be passed to help industrialize the South and get them back on their feet.
In exchange for these promises, Democrats accepted Hayes's presidency without further protest. Hayes was peacefully inaugurated and the Republicans lived up to the deal, at least the first two parts of it. The third and fourth point were never acted on.
Some historians argue that the things offered to Southern Democrats were not really a compromise, they would have happened in any event. Others argue that the Republican Party abandoned the freedmen of the south. Regardless, Reconstruction ended, and the Democratic Party regained political control of the South, much as things had been before the Civil War. A short-term electoral victory stripped southern freedmen of the protection of the federal government and led to some very sorry chapters in the nation's history.