Modern History Study Notes: Post-Reconstruction, Election of 1876, and the Gilded Age

Course Logistics and Deadlines

• Quiz: Scheduled for tomorrow.

• Discussion Assignment:

  • Based on assigned readings.

  • Due Sunday (typically scheduled for Friday, but released early to provide additional preparation time).

• Project Topic Proposal Guidelines:

  • Submission Deadline: Due on Monday.

  • Required Length: Approximately 1 page outlining the proposed topic.

  • Topic Selection and Approval Process:

    • Proposals containing raw, sketchy, or excessively broad topics will receive guidance and direction to help refine the topic.

    • Submissions that fail to satisfy basic assignment requirements will be returned for redirection.

    • Proposals can be iteratively edited and resubmitted until mutual approval is established, resulting in a score of 100%.

    • If an initial proposal receives an 80%, the student may elect to keep that grade and proceed without further revisions.

White Supremacy, the Ku Klux Klan, and Federal Enforcement

• Rise of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK):

  • Formation: Formed in Southern states as an insurgent response to the Fifteenth Amendment and the political empowerment of African Americans.

  • Political Objectives: Aimed to seize political control across the South and re-establish a white supremacist political order.

  • Tactics: Deployed widespread violence, intimidation, beatings, arson, and murder targeting African American voters and Southern white Republicans.

• Federal Enforcement Acts:

  • Congressional Action: President Ulysses S. Grant urged Congress to pass a series of Enforcement Acts in the 1870s.

  • Legal Impact: Made interference with a citizen's voting rights a federal crime, empowering federal marshals and troops to intervene and protect voters at polling stations.

The Disputed Election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877

• The Presidential Election of 1876:

  • Candidates: Republicans nominated Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes; Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden.

  • Popular Vote: Samuel J. Tilden won the national popular vote by approximately 250,000 to 400,000 votes and was one electoral vote short of winning the presidency.

  • Disputed Returns: Electoral votes from three Southern states—Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina—were heavily contested due to voter intimidation and fraud.

• The Special Electoral Commission:

  • Formation: Congress created a special 15-member electoral commission consisting of members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Supreme Court to resolve the disputed electoral votes.

  • Decision: The commission voted along party lines to award all disputed electoral votes from Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina to Rutherford B. Hayes.

  • Margin of Victory: Rutherford B. Hayes won the presidential election by a single electoral vote margin of 185 to 184.

• The Compromise of 1877 and the Conclusion of Reconstruction:

  • Informal Agreement: To prevent political paralysis, Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats reached an unwritten deal known as the Compromise of 1877.

  • Terms: Democrats agreed to accept Rutherford B. Hayes as President on the condition that the federal government withdraw all remaining federal military troops from the South.

  • Historical Impact:

    • The withdrawal of federal troops marked the formal end of the Reconstruction era.

    • While the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments permanently eliminated slavery and guaranteed constitutional rights, deep racial division, violence, and disenfranchisement remained as the nation entered the Gilded Age and the Second Industrial Revolution.

Post-Reconstruction and the Emergence of the Gilded Age

• Timeframe: Late 1800s (1890s) transitioning into the early 20th century.

• Transition from Reconstruction:

  • Follows the conclusion of Reconstruction-era policies under Presidents Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant.

  • Marks a shift from presidential Reconstruction policies to socio-economic developments in the South.

  • The Gilded Age period begins in the late 1870s and early 1880s, succeeding Reconstruction.

• New Post-Slavery Generation:

  • By the 1890s, a new generation of African Americans born after the Civil War and emancipation came of age.

  • Encountered evolving legal and social challenges.

Legalized Segregation and the Mississippi Plan

• Regional Enforcement of Jim Crow:

  • Specific statutes varied by state across the South (e.g., Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee), but systematically imposed oppressive restrictions.

• The Mississippi Plan:

  • Implemented as a legislative strategy to disenfranchise African American voters.

  • Residency Requirements: Mandated living in the state of Mississippi for 2 years and residing within a city for at least 1 of those 2 years (disfranchising rural agrarian voters).