1877+Compromise

1877 Compromise

Jasmine Conway March 7, 2009 American Studies 1 Period: 7   The Compromise of 1877 changed America for the better. The events leading to the Compromise of 1877 started with the Presidential Reconstruction. After President Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson came to office. Johnson declared Reconstruction complete after approving new constitutions for states against the Union. Congress created their own plan called Radical Reconstruction of the South. During this reconstruction, white people in the south passed many laws called The Black Codes. These codes prevented blacks from having the same rights as whites and to make matters worse the KKK were extremely violent at this time. Congress passed the KKK Act giving blacks military protection in 1871. The Radical’s were happy to hear Ulysses S. Grant was going to be president because of his inexperience they could manipulate him but they were wrong. His presidency actually ended the Radical Reconstruction.  By the mid 1870’s, Democrats were taking over the south once again by intimidating black and white Unionist. They drove them away from voting booths, kept them from getting jobs and used violence. The Fourteenth Amendment couldn’t help them because only the state government could prosecute their citizens behavior. The election of 1876 was disputed because it was a close race. Congress passed the Electoral Count Act which had 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats recount the disputed votes from Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida. The results turned out that Rutherford Hayes indeed won the election and the Democrats cheated. To avoid a division between the two parties a compromise was made. The Compromise of 1877 stated, Democrats had to allow Hayes as president and the Republicans pulled their troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.  The Compromise of 1877 changed the course of events. By taking the troops out of the South they left the African Americans vulnerable to the KKK and Black Codes. Without the troops the KKK would still attack the blacks because they had the same rights as whites. When the government decided to abandon the slaves the Democrats caused chaos and confusion to the southern states. Even though slaves were “free” the Democrats made sure didn’t have social programs, destroyed public schools, and couldn’t pay their taxes. Honestly when the slaves were freed it was a positive move for the United States but, removing the soldiers just took America a step back in the wrong direction.  The Compromise of 1877 matters today because we have come a long way since then. Today we’re truly free and the government has also changed. In 1877, African Americans couldn’t even vote and now we have an African American president. The KKK still exist but the government protects everyone 100%. If the Compromise of 1877 never happened maybe we would have had unity in America sooner than later. The Compromise of 1877 actually helped America realize that everyone can come together as one. We still have some issues with race but the government now takes more interest in having a peaceful country. 