The Compromise of 1877: Causes and Effects

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After we had fought the brutal, decimating Civil War, white supremacy in the caused our nation to take two steps further than we were even before the War. Obviously, hearing this, sounds like extreme conflict. Ironically enough though, this major step back in history was called, “The Compromise of 1877.” Unfortunately, this “compromise” did way more harm than good for African Americans. The Compromise of 1877 was a corrupt agreement between three powerful southern states and Rutherford B. Hayes that led to him being elected President and the stripping away from African American rights. After the Civil War, “Lives of black slaves had improved greatly and there was hope for emancipation of slaves in those states. However, The Compromise of 1877 took away all hope for slaves.” (Source 8) This “compromise” made slaves’ lives even more difficult than it was before. As soon as progress was being made, this set it back even more than it was before. This was from the perspective of a former Louisiana slave, Henry Adams, “The whole South - every state in the South - had got into the hands of the very men that held us as slaves.” (Source 7) This basically ripped any chance of freedom and equal …show more content…

After the Civil War, the nation was very obliterated - metaphorically and literally. Tensions between the North and the South were very high, and the fact that a lot of the land where battles had been fought was destroyed didn’t help at all. One side of Congress used Reconstruction to try and fix a divided country, while Congress in the South were behind the scenes tearing it apart even more. “‘The Compromise of 1877’ was the South’s last bit of ammunition against African Americans and abolitionists.” (Source 4) Since this tore the nation apart even more, and the South was not agreeing with anything that national congress was saying, national congress was forced to make an actual

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