Chapter 11 section 3

Chapter 11 section 3

The Compromise of 1877

The election for governor and other statewide offices in 1876 had no clear winner. Francis T. Nicholls was the Democratic candidate and Stephen Packard headed the Republican ticket. Just as in 1872, both parties claimed victory and both set about establishing governments. On January 9, the day after his inauguration, Democratic Governor Nicholls approved of an attack on the Cabildo, which was home to a Metropolitan Police precinct and the chambers of the state Supreme Court. The outnumbered Metropolitans quickly surrendered. The members of the state’s highest court resigned and Nicholls appointed new ones.

Despite the Democratic military victory, the final outcome of this dispute was decided not in Louisiana but in Washington, DC. The presidential election of 1876 was hotly contested and resulted in a period of uncertainty about whether the winner was Republican Rutherford B. Hayes from Ohio or Democrat Samuel Tilden from New York. Tilden  won the popular vote but was one vote short of the number he needed to win the Electoral College. There were nineteen disputed electoral votes available in three states where election outcomes were also disputed. The states were Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina.

Multiple Choice

Who was the winner of the election of 1876?

• John Bearcat

• Brian Waldinger

• Francis T. Nicholls

• Stephen Packard

After several months of power struggles, a commission that included members of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court decided the presidential election in Hayes’s favor. Many Americans were upset with that decision, some of them even accusing the new president of fraud. In addition to the formal decision in Hayes’s favor, there had also been an informal deal behind the scenes that assured Hayes of the victory. In order to appease Southern Democrats, Hayes made several promises, including an agreement to remove all remaining federal troops from the South. In agreeing to this condition, Hayes ended the federal government’s commitment to Reconstruction, and handed control back to Democrats. 

The Redeemers

These Democrats called themselves Redeemers because they saw themselves as redeeming (saving) southern honor as they returned white Democratic political control. They called this white Democratic political control home rule. Thus, in the view of Democrats, the removal of federal troops and the end of Reconstruction constituted a form of redemption for them and their states. Above: The Electoral Commission held a secret session by candlelight on the question of Louisiana’s disputed votes. 315 Section 3: The End of Military Reconstruction In Louisiana, the removal of federal troops ended the dispute between the Nicholls and Packard factions.

Multiple Choice

What deal did Rutherford B. Hayes make in order to secure the presidential election in his favor?

• To name Tilden Vice President

• to remove all remaining federal troops from the South.

• To end Slavery

• To only serve one term

Multiple Choice

The Name given to Southern Democrats who made the deal with Hayes and ended Reconstruction in the South.

• Tecnocrats

• Recons

• Neocons

• Redeemers

Multiple Select

What events marked the end of Reconstruction in the South?

• The Removal of Federal troops and federal military rule in the South

• The end of the Civil War

• The transfer of power to Southern Democrats

• The Election of Ulysses S. Grant

By April 1877, Packard and the Republicans had given in, and Francis T. Nicholls became the sole governor of Louisiana. Reconstruction ended, but many challenges remained and many questions were still unanswered, especially with regard to the rights of former slaves and their descendants.

Governor Nicholls struggled with the myriad (extremely numerous) issues he faced, including opposition from within his own party. Many contemporaries considered Nicholls too moderate on issues related to the freedmen. The Democrats who opposed Nicholls— many of them blatantly corrupt—called for a constitutional convention in 1879. They replaced the equalitarian 1868 document with a new document that reflected their very different priorities. Their proposed constitution also called for new elections immediately, ending Nicholls’s term as governor one year early. Knowing he could not defeat the forces against him, Nicholls returned to private life in 1880.

Multiple Choice

Why did some members of his own party not like Governor Nicholls?

• They felt he was too Moderate

• "Closet Republican"

• They felt he was too far Right when it came to dealing with the freemen

• They felt he was too hard on the freemen

In later years while reflecting on what he called his “private misfortunes” during the Civil war, Nicholls added, “Every battle I went into I was wounded, and so could not serve all the time.” Regrettably, this was also true of his first term as governor. In this case, the political wound he was dealt came from his fellow Democrats. Even after Democrats regained firm control of the state’s political leadership, disagreements continued to plague politics, and the corruption that sullied (dirtied, dishonored) the process continued unabated in the years to come. It is to that period in Louisiana history we now turn.