Election of 1876Rutherford B. Hayes (R) from Ohio

- three term governor- OH an important swing state

Samuel J. Tilden (D) from N.Y.- NY prosecutor who convicted Boss Tweed

Very tight elections results with Tilden only one electoral vote from becoming President

Becomes an issue of who should be able to count the votes, Dems or Rep?

Map 23-1 p494

The Compromise that Ends ReconstructionCompromise of 1877:

- Electoral Commission to decide the vote causes heated feelings and threat of political deadlock

- Democrats agree to President Hayes winning the election as long as…- withdrawl of federal troops in the South- southern rail line (which was never done)- federal limitation on Civil Rights movement at the state level, despite the 14th Amendment-S.C. ruled that civil rights applied to government actions, not peoples actions

Reconstruction is over!

Southern “Redeemers”Reconstruction dead African Americans in

the South were “friendless” - a new type of treatment characterized by fear

Sharecropping: not much better than slavery itself.- Crop-lien system: credit given to poor farmers in return for financial gain from the crops they raised. - Permanent debt!

- Jim Crow laws: separation of facilities- Voter intimidation- Plessy v. Ferguson: separate but equal is equal, segregation.- African American facilities were far from equal: Lynching to enforce this new order of the South

Class StruggleDifficult times for working class:

- Economic depression and inflation- Wealthy remained wealthy- Attempts to unionize fail due to government support of big business (RR strike) AND tension amongst workers based on race/ethnicity

Chinese harassed by the Irish- “Not a Chinamans’ chance” - jobs in RR and gold mining when over led to even more minimal jobs- little chance of family- Cheap labor was a concern to Irish: violence

- Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882

Working Class DiscontentPeople’s Party or “Populist” Party

- West/South farmers- Platform included:

- direct election of Senators- free and unlimited coinage of

silver to meet inflation of gold- government ownership of:

-RR, telegraph, telephone

- shorter workday- immigration restrictions

- Nationwide strikes erupt with support of the Populist Party incl. Homestead Strike (pay cuts)

- Again, government ends the strike

Early Sign of What’s to ComeImpact of the Populist Party:

- one of the only third party to win electoral votes- Little support in the East- Race: attempts to bring African Americans into the Populist Party badly hurt African Americans long term.

- Grandfather clause- Literacy tests

• Zinn Chapter 11: 251• Chinese Exclusion Act