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In 1876, there was a presidential campaign between the candidates Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, and Samuel J. Tilden, a Democratic. Both the Democrats and the Republicans claimed victory in the Electoral College. Tilden won the popular vote, which was challenged in some southern states, including Florida.
Because of the heated arguments and charges by both parties, a commission was formed to settle the matter. In January of 1877, legislation referred to as the "Electoral Count Bill" was presented to the Congress in order to decide which of the candidates would win the Presidency.
Under the rules of this bill, seven Democrats and eight Republicans comprised the commission that would settle the dispute, which was resolved according to party lines, with the Republicans being in the majority.
The angered Democrats threatened to block any decision that was made by the commission until after the date scheduled to be Inauguration Day. The threat left open the possibility of America having no President for a period of time. Thus, this threat forced each of the parties to discuss the situation and to create a compromise. The Democrats gave up Tilden's claims on the Office of President in exchange for the removal of Federal troops from all of the southern states, which is what the Republicans wanted.
President Hayes withdrew the Federal troops from the South as soon as he took office, thus ending the era of Reconstruction before its effects could begin to take shape. The newly freed slaves, as well as the blacks who had never been slaves, were then at the mercy of the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups and individuals. They suffered widespread injustices without Federal protection. The freedom and other rights provided by the Emancipation Proclamation, the U.S. Constitution's 14th and 15th Amendments, and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 were, for all real purposes, voided with the compromise.Racism grew rampant. Jim Crow laws and racist organizations flourished without restraint. To make matters even more searing, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional. Upon that burden to blacks was placed the Court's decision that separate but equal treatment of citizens of different races was constitutional, which was determined during the 1896 case of Plessy versus Ferguson.
The rights of Blacks were reduced to virtually nothing. Institutionalized racism, hate groups, and legal discrimination deprived them of their right to vote and other rights taken for granted by America's other citizens during that time. The effects are still with us today.
Our aim at the American Slaves Foundation is to begin the process all over again and to correct as many of the vestiges of slavery as possible. We know that the effects of hundreds of years of slavery on every American citizen from then until now cannot be corrected by any one program. We know that there are decades of work to do and that the current volunteers will not be alive to see the completion. But here is where we begin.
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