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Compromise of 1877

 

 
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Compromise of 1877
 
 
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The Compromise of 1877 was an informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election. Through it, Republican
Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party . It is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP....
 Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was an Politics of the United States, Law of the United States, Military of the United States and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States ....
 was awarded the White House
White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian architecture and has been the executive residence of every U.S....
 over Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party . It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world....
  Samuel J. Tilden on the understanding that Hayes would remove the federal troops that were propping up Republican state governments in South Carolina
South Carolina

South Carolina is a U.S. state in the Southern United States of the United States. It borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north....
, Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
 and Louisiana
Louisiana

The State of Louisiana is a U.S. state located in the U.S. Southern States of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans....
. Consequently, the incumbent President, Republican Ulysses Grant, removed the soldiers from Florida before Hayes as his successor removed the remaining troops in South Carolina and Louisiana.






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The Compromise of 1877 was an informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election. Through it, Republican
Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party . It is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP....
 Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was an Politics of the United States, Law of the United States, Military of the United States and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States ....
 was awarded the White House
White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian architecture and has been the executive residence of every U.S....
 over Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party . It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world....
  Samuel J. Tilden on the understanding that Hayes would remove the federal troops that were propping up Republican state governments in South Carolina
South Carolina

South Carolina is a U.S. state in the Southern United States of the United States. It borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north....
, Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
 and Louisiana
Louisiana

The State of Louisiana is a U.S. state located in the U.S. Southern States of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans....
. Consequently, the incumbent President, Republican Ulysses Grant, removed the soldiers from Florida before Hayes as his successor removed the remaining troops in South Carolina and Louisiana. As soon as the troops left, many Republicans also left (or became Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party . It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world....
) and the "Redeemer
Redeemers

The "Redeemers" were a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era of the United States era, who sought to oust the Republican coalition of freedman, carpetbaggers and scalawags....
" Democrats took control.

Compromise

The compromise essentially stated that Southern Democrats would acknowledge Hayes as President, but only if the Republicans acceded to various demands:
  1. The removal of all Federal troops from the former Confederate States
    Confederate States of America

    The Confederate States of America formed as the government set up from 1861 to 1865 by eleven Southern United States U.S. state of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S....
    . (Troops only remained in Louisiana
    Louisiana

    The State of Louisiana is a U.S. state located in the U.S. Southern States of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans....
    , South Carolina
    South Carolina

    South Carolina is a U.S. state in the Southern United States of the United States. It borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north....
    , and Florida
    Florida

    Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
    , but the Compromise finalized the process.)
  2. The appointment of at least one Southern Democrat to Hayes' cabinet. (David M. Key
    David M. Key

    David McKendree Key was a Democratic Party United States Senate from Tennessee from 1875 to 1877 as well as the United States Postmaster General under President Hayes....
     of Tennessee
    Tennessee

    Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
     was Postmaster General
    United States Postmaster General

    The United States Postmaster General is the executive head of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence....
    ). Hayes had already promised this.
  3. The construction of another transcontinental railroad
    Transcontinental railroad

    A Transcontinental Railroad is a railroad that crosses a continent from "coast-to-coast". Railroad terminal are at or connected to different oceans....
     using the Texas and Pacific
    Texas and Pacific Railway

    The Texas and Pacific Railway Company was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California....
     in the South (this had been part of the "Scott Plan
    Thomas Alexander Scott

    Thomas Alexander Scott was the president of what was the largest corporation in the world, the Pennsylvania Railroad, during the middle of the 19th century....
    ", which initiated the process that led to the final compromise);
  4. Legislation to help industrialize the South.


Points 1 and 2 took effect almost immediately; 3 and 4 were never recognized.

The informal agreement made the southern Democrats very happy, and there was no filibuster. There was no serious effort made to fund a railroad or provide other federal aid. An opposing interest group representing the Southern Pacific
Southern Pacific Railroad

The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company , was an United States railroad....
 successfully thwarted Scott's Texas and Pacific scheme and ultimately ran its own line to New Orleans.

Historians argue that the agreement should not be called a compromise (Peskin, 1973). Others emphasize that the Republican party abandoned the Southern Blacks (DeSantis, 1982) to racist Democratic party rule. In any case, Reconstruction ended, and the supremacy of the Democratic Party in the South was cemented with the ascent of the "Redeemer"
Redemption (United States history)

Redemption, in the history of the United States, was a term used by white Southerners to refer to the reversion of the U.S. South to conservative Democratic Party rule after the period of Reconstruction era of the United States , which in turn followed the U.S....
 governments that displaced the Republican governments. After the Compromise of 1877, white supremacy generally caused the South to vote Democratic in elections for federal office (the "Solid South
Solid South

Solid South refers to the electoral support of the Southern United States for the Democratic Party candidates for nearly a century from 1877, the end of the Reconstruction era of the United States, to 1964, during the middle of the African-American Civil Rights Movement ....
") until 1964

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