Truce of 1877

Very seldom after a war is ended do you see the two sides immediately trying to make up.  This is essentially what the entire Reconstruction period was in the United States after the Civil War; the north and the south trying to make up with each other and incorporate the south back into the nation as it once was.  However, that was not a simple process.

                With each passing day after the Civil War had ended, the tensions that existed between the north and south grew increasingly futile.  There were constant questions that were up in the air in the country at this time such as: “What are we to do with all the free blacks?”  “Would they be allowed to vote?” “Would they be allowed to run for office?” “Was the Republican or Democrat party going to become the dominant party in this time?” “How was the minority political party going to have any input?”  All of these questions remained mainly intact throughout the entire 12 years of this period.  However, it was becoming obvious to southerners and democrats alike that they were not going to come on top of these political battles, and even worse to them, they were often times losing out to blacks.  This coupled with the fact that the south was being occupied by the northern troops for this entire period definitely led to a lot of animosity towards the north by these white southern democrats.

                After 12 years of this, there came the end of reconstruction in the south due to The Compromise of 1877, in which after a highly disputed presidential election, the Republican Party would seat Rutherford B. Hayes as president over Samuel J. Tilden.  In return for this, Hayes was to remove the troops from the south effectively ending reconstruction in the south.  As the picture here; “A Truce-not a compromise”, created in 1877 by Thomas Nast implicates, this was more of a truce than a compromise.

                It had gotten to the point that the south was so upset over the way reconstruction was going for their side, that they were outraged almost to the point of another war.  The posters in the background say things such as, “We the people are tired of war, intimidation, and assassination.”  Another says, “The Bloody Age of the United States of America.”  The posters in the back show that this period of time in American history was terrible and that all people were beginning to get tired of this after 12 long years.  The fliers on the table beneath the hands of what are presumably Hayes and Tilden, state, “Tilden or Blood.” One also states, “We must have political spoils or blood.”  This here also indicates that the south was ready once again to take action.

                The Compromise of 1877 can be viewed as a truce in this sense; the south wanted northern troops out of their homeland, meaning they could start enforcing state laws such as black codes that would once again allow the white democratic south to rise to political heights once again.  In turn the republicans got the presidency and an assurance of decreased violence by puling troops from the south.  In many ways the Compromise of 1877 is viewed as a failed compromise, but the cartoon artist here likes to think that the truce kept a second civil war from uprising in the United States of America.  Sure, the Republicans won the presidency due to this; however, the south had achieved its goal in ending reconstruction and having northern troops pulled out of the south, all thanks to this truce of 1877.

Citations

Nast, Thomas. ""A truce- not a compromise"." Harpers Weekly 02 17 1877. Web, http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume9/oct10/primsource.cfm.