The Fraud of 1876: The End of Reconstruction

Cumberland Valley, Virginia, Group of “contrabands”, Courtesy of the Library of Congress, 1862.

The Fraud of 1876 

The corrupt Presidential Election of 1876, often referred to as The Fraud of 1876, broke all the rules, likely installing the wrong candidate as President. His Presidency was based on one significant agreement – that he remove all occupying forces in the Southern cities. He kept that agreement, and as soon as the forces withdrew, the protection allowed newly freed slaves was withdrawn.

The federal government moved on and turned its back on the lives of former slaves. Southern governments quickly began rewriting their state laws and constitutions in a way that excluded African Americans from the normal channels of life. Segregation was institutionalized and African Americans were enslaved once more, but in a different way under Jim Crow laws.

This election has been widely referred to as The Fraud of 1876 due to the controversies surrounding the results. The Fraud of 1876 highlighted the challenges faced by African Americans during this tumultuous time.

The End of the Civil War

The end of the Civil War officially freed the four million enslaved persons in the South. Still, it left unanswered what and how to help former slaves become useful and independent citizens. Reconstructionists worked to develop a plan that created thousands of segregated schools. Job training, housing, and food supplements were offered, and most importantly federal laws were put into place to protect African American’s civil rights, including Constitutional Amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments).

Further protection came with the Union army occupying many Southern cities, and that provided force, when necessary, to protect Negroe’s civil rights. It was a good beginning, one with a promising future for blacks to join American society. The promise, however, was sabotaged before it had a chance of success. The end of Reconstruction was the betrayal of a dream of better lives for millions of blacks and for generations to follow.

The Fraud of 1876 marked a turning point in American history, leading to increased segregation and the establishment of Jim Crow laws that further oppressed African Americans.

True Voter Fraud in 1876

Unlike 2020, corruption did occur in the 1876 election – there was widespread voter fraud, ballot box tampering, voter suppression, and intimidation. The wrongdoing, however, involved both campaigns. In the end, the will of the people got lost in this chaos, and, instead, Congress made the decision. Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner after he made a “deal with the devil,” which required Southerners to come to the table with Northerners. The deal ultimately sold out millions of recently freed African Americans who had been promised a fair pathway to social justice by Lincoln.

The Fraud of 1876 is a stark reminder of how corruption can undermine democracy and civil rights.

The Compromise of 1877 allowed the South to go back to business as usual by removing the occupied military forces, which essentially nullified much of the progress to assimilate former slaves into society.

Supressed Black Voting

It shut down any significant economic and educational opportunities for blacks, suppressed black voting, and created a racist system of the rule referred to as Jim Crow, all backed up by white supremacy, which included various forms of intimidation, and violence. Under Lincoln, the mantra of the Republican party was to free the slaves and support them in obtaining the resources necessary to help them become independent and self-reliant.

The aftermath of The Fraud of 1876 saw an increase in systemic racism and voter suppression tactics that targeted African Americans across the South.

By 1876 the Republican party was willing to turn its back on that position; many Lincoln Republicans felt that the party’s integrity, indeed its morality, was dead. Soon, many thought that the party would experience that very same fate.

Lincoln’s Election of 1860

The legacy of The Fraud of 1876 continues to influence discussions around voting rights and equality in America.

Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election primarily due to the Democratic party splitting over the issue of slavery. The Northern Democrats’ platform was about maintaining slavery but not allowing it to spread into the new states created in the west. Southern Democrats wanted to maintain and expand slavery if planters desired to do so.

With two Democratic candidate opponents, Lincoln, who ran on a platform of preserving the Union and maintaining, not expanding, slavery, pulled enough votes away to win and establish the Republican party as the nation’s party for the next twenty-five years.

By 1864 his election platform was to end the war and free the slaves. After Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, his successor, Andrew Johnson, became a reluctant Reconstructionist who favored white privilege over real citizens’ rights for blacks; impeached, he avoided being removed from office by one vote. He was eventually forced into silence by the two houses of Congress, both controlled by the Republicans.

Andrew Johnson administration

Following Andrew Johnson’s disastrous one-term administration, Civil War hero General Ulysses S. Grant was elected President. Grants two terms as President were primarily due to the votes of many African Americans. Grant repaid that support by sending troops to stop unrest in the southern cities whenever the occasion occurred .

Much of the unrest was usually related to black voter suppression.  Grant’s administration, however, was rotten to the core with scandals that included many officials receiving bribes.

The events leading up to The Fraud of 1876 were crucial in shaping the political landscape of the United States.

So widespread were the scandals that even Grant’s personal secretary General Babcock was involved, and possibly his brother.  Grant, the only President ever to testify in a trial, responded many times that he could not remember or recall specific events. Although Babcock was acquitted, Grants career was over.

He had wanted a third term to  hopefully finish Reconstruction. The scandals had taken their toll on Grant’s image, and the Republican party realized it had little chance of winning again with Grant at the top of the ticket.

Samuel Tilden

Samuel Tilden’s campaign was significantly impacted by the events of The Fraud of 1876, which ultimately led to a controversial result.

With Grant out of the way, many thought that the 1876 election would finally be a victory for the Democrats. Samuel Tilden, the governor of New York, ran as an anti-corruption candidate, meaning anti-Grant type politician. Rutherford B. Hayes was named to replace Ulelles Grant as the Republican candidate.

Hayes, like Grant, had served in the Union army during the war. He had additionally distinguished himself as both a Congressman and Governor of Ohio. The candidates were considered honest and capable. Tilden had already proven himself in New York by driving the most corrupt dealmaker Boss Tweed from power.

1876 Election Day

On election day, armed groups in several southern cities were trying to block blacks from voting. President Grant stated that he ordered troops to the South to protect the election’s integrity. Still, it seemed to many Southerners that he was using his presidency’s power to steal the election for the Republicans. The initial results reflected that Samuel Tilden had won the popular vote by over 250,000 votes, and although he was ahead on the electoral vote, he was one vote short of winning.

Both Sides Cheated 

Both sides in The Fraud of 1876 engaged in tactics that would later be criticized for their ethical implications.

Both sides accused each other of cheating, the Republicans complaining the loudest that thousands of blacks were intimidated into not voting, by a group known as the Red Shirts. In Edgefield, South Carolina, more than 300 armed Red Shirts on horseback “packed their horses so closely together that the only approach to the windows, back of which was the ballot box, was under the bellies of the beasts,” the Times said.

A newpaper in Barnwell County reported “riflemen wearing red shirts, riding to and fro, cursing and threatening the negroes.” ” The red shirts killed six black men.” stated a paper in Hamsburg, South Carolina.  Another group backing a former Confederate general for governor threatened to kill the Republican Governor Daniel Chamberlain. According to the Washington Post “Voter intimidation also was rampant in Louisiana and Florida.

Widespread Fraud

Vote fraud was widespread on both sides. According to the Rutherford B. Hayes Library, the Democrats used “repeaters,” the name given to repeat voters. They printed fraudulent ballots to trick illiterate black voters into voting for Democrats. One voting precinct claimed more votes than registered citizens. The national voter turnout was 81.8 percent, still the highest ever for a presidential election.

The widespread fraud seen in The Fraud of 1876 revealed significant flaws in the electoral process.

In South Carolina, despite voter suppression, the official turnout was more than the total of registered voters.” Daniel Sickles, a politician and long-time self-promoter who was not shy of scandal himself, was the first to tell the Republicans not to concede the election to Tilden and the Democrats. Sickels sent a telegram to the states in question, advising them to “hold your state.”

The political maneuvering during The Fraud of 1876 was indicative of a larger struggle over civil rights and representation.

Congress 

Congress decided that the election results were corrupt and that a bi-partisan committee needed to make the decision. Seven Republicans and seven Democrats argued each candidate’s merits and tried to make sense of what the voters wanted. Furthermore, the committee was also aware of the agreement that Hayes had made, which was the deciding factor. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Bradley, a committee member, cast the deciding vote, and Rutherford B. Hayes was elected 19th President of the United States.

Congress’s decision regarding The Fraud of 1876 has been seen as a pivotal moment in American political history.

The Death of Lincoln

The death of Lincoln marked the beginning of a long struggle that would be exacerbated by The Fraud of 1876.

The death of Lincoln in April 1865 began the slow demise of promises made to the millions of former slaves. Lincoln had supported General William T. Sherman’s Special Field Order Number 15, dated January 16, 1865. This order redistributed over 400,000 acres of land owned by Southern plantation owners to blacks. This would allow them an opportunity to be self-employed farmers.  It would provide them a means of earning an income, an occupation in which were well versed.

By June of 1865, over 40,000 Freedmen had now settled on the 400,000 acres located in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Lincoln’s vision and promise were not to be. By the fall of 1865, President Andrew Johnson, a Southern sympathizer, overturned this order. He returned all the land to the original owners.

The reversal of Lincoln’s policies following The Fraud of 1876 had a lasting impact on land ownership for African Americans.

Broken Promises

Although in the end, Lincoln’s party won the election of 1876, but the rules had changed. There was no longer a clear and structured path for former slaves to assimilate peacefully into American society.  Any hope of social equality seemed unrealistic.  The compromise agreed to remove the troops from the South, which, in turn, unleashed white supremacy, and all its ominous manifestations were allowed to reign once more.

The compromises made post-The Fraud of 1876 further entrenched systemic inequalities in American society.

Large numbers of African Americans had supported the Republican party.  Indeed, many believed that like Grant, Haye’s election resulted from their support.  Alternatively, it did not matter.

The implications of The Fraud of 1876 continue to resonate in ongoing battles for civil rights.

The Republican party had moved on to other national concerns such as westward expansion and America’s industrialization. Reconstruction and concerns about blacks’ civil rights were no longer of paramount interest. The betrayal of African Americans was swift and intended. It would be nearly another century before they began to find a path to civil rights again.

The repercussions of The Fraud of 1876 were felt for generations, leading to a prolonged struggle for justice and equality.

About the Author

Allen Cornwell

Administrator

Allen Cornwell is a retired business owner and an adjunct professor of American History at a small college. He lives in rural Virginia and enjoys history, sports, old movies and visiting all types of museums. Cornwell has had a number of American history articles published and he earned his graduate degree in American History from Virginia Commonwealth University. He can be contacted at: allencornwell@mac.com

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