Sometimes lesser known parts of our nation’s history have major impacts on the legacy of racial injustice today. One such event happened 147 years ago this week when federal troops were removed from the state house in Louisiana on April 24, 1877. This marked the final removal of federal troops from the former Confederate states following the end of the Civil War in 1865. The presence of these troops coincided with the period known as Reconstruction in which newly freed Black people exercised their rights including the right for Black men to vote. Once the troops were removed, violence and intimidation against Black people greatly increased, and voter suppression resulted in white supremacists regaining political power at the state level. This effectively ended the brief period of Reconstruction and paved the way for decades of legal racial segregation known as Jim Crow.
After all the devastation and sacrifice of the Civil War and twelve years of Reconstruction, why would the federal government reverse course and allow the re-emergence of blatant white supremacy and the subjugation of Black citizens? While there is no single answer, a major factor was the highly disputed Presidential election of 1876. The election was so close that it was decided by an Electoral Commission established by Congress. All of the electoral college votes of the three disputed states of South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana were given to the Republican candidate Rutherford Hayes making him the winner over the Democratic candidate Samuel Tilden. This became known as the Compromise of 1877. It is widely believed that in exchange for their willingness to allow Hayes to become President, Democrats were promised that federal troops would be removed from Louisiana and local government control by whites would be permitted throughout the South. For almost all of the next century, the rights of Black citizens in the South were severely restricted and participation in the democratic process nearly eliminated. State constitutions were rewritten to codify racial segregation by law, and racial terror was used to enforce it by violence.
The Presidential election of 1876 and the subsequent Compromise of 1877 are vivid reminders that voting and elections have consequences. Attempts at voter suppression in 2024 through such tactics as restricting early voting, eliminating polling places, and disputing voting by mail disproportionately impact people of color. For those of us who believe in the inherent dignity of all people and the equal rights of all citizens to vote, it is important to be aware of and resist any attempts at voter suppression. Otherwise historians may have to record the sad story of The Compromise of 2024. The video posted below provides an overview of the history and consequences of the election of 1876 and The Compromise of 1877.