In 1876 contested election, northern Republicans and southern Democrats make a compromise. The Compromise of 1877 was a purported unwritten deal that settled the intensely disputed election. Hayes becomes president, but all federal troops are pulled out of state politics in the South. The republicans keep their power in the white house, but abandon the blacks in the south. The Reconstruction Era was over, and White Supremacy was on the rise bringing with it lynching, disenfranchisement, and Jim Crow laws. It is the beginning of another very sad chapter in American history.
I am not blaming Rutherford B. Hayes, but compared to the words and actions of his Ulysses S. Grant, he seemed to either have his hands tied, or was just looking the other way. In his first to address to congress he rambled on with these words:
"It may not be improper here to say that it should be our fixed and unalterable determination to protect by all available and proper means under the Constitution and the laws the lately emancipated race in the enjoyment of their rights and privileges; and I urge upon those to whom heretofore the colored people have sustained the relation of bondmen the wisdom and justice of humane and liberal local legislation with respect to their education and general welfare. A firm adherence to the laws, both national and State, as to the civil and political rights of the colored people, now advanced to full and equal citizenship; the immediate repression and sure punishment by the national and local authorities, within their respective jurisdictions, of every instance of lawlessness and violence toward them, is required for the security alike of both races, and is justly demanded by the public opinion of the country and the age. In this way the restoration of harmony and good will and the complete protection of every citizen in the full enjoyment of every constitutional right will surely be attained. Whatever authority rests with me to this end I shall not hesitate to put forth."
I hope this post does not give the impression that Rutherford B. Hayes was a racist. Both he and his wife were abolitionists, and dedicated much of their life to humanitarian causes. After his presidency, Hayes remained active with humanitarian causes such as prison reform, education, aid for black schools, veteran’s affairs, and local charities. He traveled frequently for speaking engagements. He wrote extensively on his beliefs on social reform and growing concern about the increasing disparity of economic classes. He just did not reign over the south with an iron fist.
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