The Compromise of 1877

The Corrupt Bargain. A political cartoon by Joseph Keppler depicts Roscoe Conkling as Mephistopheles, as Rutherford B. Hayes strolls off with a woman labeled as "Solid South."

The Compromise of 1877 refers to a purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election, regarded as the second "corrupt bargain," and ended Congressional ("Radical") Reconstruction. Through it, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden on the understanding that Hayes would remove the federal troops whose support was essential to the survival of Republican state governments in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. The compromise took effect even before Hayes was sworn in, as the incumbent president, Republican Ulysses S. Grant, removed the soldiers from Florida. As president, Hayes removed the remaining troops in South Carolina and Louisiana. As soon as the troops left, many Republicans also left (or became Democrats) and the "Redeemer" Democrats took control.

The purported compromise essentially stated that southern Democrats would acknowledge Hayes as president, but only on the understanding that Republicans would meet certain demands.

The following elements are generally said to be the points of the compromise:

• The removal of all federal troops from the former Confederate States. (Troops remained in only Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida, but the compromise finalized the process.)
• The appointment of at least one southern Democrat to Hayes's cabinet. (David M. Key of Tennessee became Postmaster General.)

The construction of another transcontinental railroad using the Texas and Pacific in the South (this had been part of the "Scott Plan," proposed by Thomas A. Scott, which initiated the process that led to the final compromise). In exchange, Democrats would:

• accept Hayes's presidency, and
• respect blacks' rights.

In fact, in regards to the first point, Hayes had already announced his support for the restoration of "home rule," which would involve troop removal, before the election. It was also not unusual, nor unexpected, for a president, especially one so narrowly elected, to select a cabinet member favored by the other party. As for the final two points, if indeed there was any such firm agreement, they were never acted on.

In any case, whether by a semi-formal deal or simply reassurances already in line with Hayes's announced plans, talks with Southern Democrats satisfied the worries of many and, therefore, prevented a Congressional filibuster that had threatened to extend resolution of the election dispute beyond Inauguration Day 1877. No serious effort was made to fund a railroad or provide other federal aid. An opposing interest group representing the Southern Pacific successfully thwarted Scott's Texas and Pacific scheme and, ultimately, ran its own line to New Orleans.

Whatever "deals" may or may not have taken place, in formal legal terms, the election of 1876 was not decided by such acts, but by the official vote of Congress to accept the recommendations of the Electoral Commission they themselves had set up as a way out of the election impasse. The expectation in setting up the committee had been that its decisions would be accepted by Congress. It was only when certain Democrats disagreed with the commission's decisions in favor of Hayes that this arrangement was jeopardized. This group threatened a filibuster (opposed by Republicans and Congressional Democratic leadership as well) that would prevent the agreed-upon vote from even taking place. Discussions of the points in the alleged "compromise" only concerned convincing key Democrats not to acquiesce in a filibuster. The very threat of a filibuster, a measure used by a minority to prevent a vote, indicates that there were already sufficient votes for accepting the commission's recommendations.