Questions about Compromise of 1877
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What was the Compromise of 1877 and what did it settle?
The Compromise of 1877 was an informal political agreement that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election, in which Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. Under the arrangement, Democrats dropped their filibuster of the certified electoral results and Hayes was peacefully inaugurated on the 5th of March 1877. The deal is also known as the Wormley Agreement, the Tilden-Hayes Compromise, the Bargain of 1877, and the Corrupt Bargain.
How did the 1876 presidential election end up disputed?
Tilden won 184 uncontested electoral votes and Hayes won 165, but 185 were needed for a majority. Four states, Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina, submitted disputed slates of electors totaling 20 electoral votes. Congress created a 15-member Electoral Commission, which voted 8 to 7 along party lines to award every contested vote to Hayes.
What were the five terms of the Compromise of 1877 according to C. Vann Woodward?
Historian C. Vann Woodward, writing in his 1951 book Reunion and Reaction, identified five concessions: withdrawal of all remaining federal troops from the South; appointment of at least one Southern Democrat to Hayes's cabinet (David M. Key of Tennessee became Postmaster General); construction of a southern transcontinental railroad using the Texas and Pacific line; federal legislation to industrialize the South; and the right of the South to handle Black citizens without northern interference.
Did the Compromise of 1877 actually end Reconstruction?
Yes. Hayes withdrew the last federal troops from South Carolina and Louisiana after taking office, while outgoing President Grant had already removed soldiers from Florida. White Republicans left the Southern states almost immediately after the troops departed, Redeemer Democrat governments took control, and by 1905 most African-American people were effectively disenfranchised in every Southern state.
Why do some historians reject the Compromise of 1877 theory?
Allan Peskin, in his 1973 work Was There a Compromise of 1877?, argued that three of Woodward's five conditions were never fulfilled: no southern transcontinental railroad was built, no federal legislation to industrialize the South was passed, and the Republican Party did not abandon efforts to regulate Southern race relations until at least 1890. Peskin also argued that Speaker Samuel J. Randall ended the filibuster for pragmatic political reasons rather than as part of any deal.
What role did the fear of Mexicanization play in resolving the 1876 election crisis?
Greg Downs, in his 2012 book The Mexicanization of American Politics, argued that widespread fear of political violence turning the United States into a chaotic cycle of violent reprisals like those associated with Mexico was a more fundamental driver than any negotiated deal. Prominent Tilden supporters including Charles Francis Adams Sr. and Alexander Stephens lobbied against challenging the result partly because they shared this fear of state fragility and foreign domination.