History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 / Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens

by George Washington Williams

FROM 1868 to 1872 the Southern States had been held by the Republican party, with but a few exceptions, without much effort. The friends of the Negro began to congratulate themselves that the Southern problem had been solved. Every Legislature in the South had among its members quite a fair representation of Colored men. Among the State officers there was a good sprinkling of them; and in some of the States there were Negroes as Lieut.-Governors. Congress had opened its doors to a dozen Negroes; and the consular and diplomatic service had employed a number of them in foreign parts. And so with such evidences of political prosperity before their eyes the friends of the Negro at the North regarded his "calling and election sure."

In 1873 a great financial panic came to the business and monetary affairs of the country. It was the logic of an inflated currency, wild and visionary enterprises, bad investments, and prodigal living. Banks tottered and fell, large business houses suspended, and financial ruin ran riot. Northern attention was diverted from Southern politics to the "destruction that seemed to waste at noon-day." Taking advantage of this the South seized the shot-gun and wrote on her banners: "We must carry these States, peaceably if we can; forcibly if we must." An organized, deliberate policy of political intimidation assumed the task of ridding the South of Negro government. The first step was in the direction of intimidating the white leaders of the Republican organizations; and the next was to deny employment to all intelligent and influential Colored Republicans. Thus from time to time the leaders of the Republican party were reduced to a very small number. Without leaders the rank and file of the party were harmless and helpless in State and National campaigns. This state of affairs seemed to justify the presence of troops at the polls on election days. Under an Act of Congress "the President was empowered to use the army to suppress domestic violence, prevent bloodshed," and to protect the Negroes in the constitutional exercise of the rights conferred upon them by the Constitution. This movement was met by the most determined opposition from the South, aided by the sympathy of the Northern press, Democratic platforms, and a considerable element in the Republican party.

In 1874 the condition of affairs in the South was such as to alarm the friends of stable, constitutional government everywhere. The city of New Orleans was in a state of siege. Streets were blockaded with State troops and White Line leagues, and an open battle was fought. The Republican State government fell before the insurgents, and a new government was established vi et armis. Troops were sent to New Orleans by the President, and the lawful government was restored. The Liberal movement in the North, which had resulted in the defeat of the Republican tickets in Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and even in Massachusetts, greatly encouraged the Bourbon Democrats of the South, and excited them to the verge of the most open and cruel conduct toward the white and black Republicans in their midst.

A large number of Northern Legislatures passed resolutions condemning the action of the President in sending troops into the South, although he did it in accordance with law. Many active and influential Republicans, displeased with the action of the Republican governments at the South, and the conduct of the Forty-third Congress, demanded the destruction of the Republican party. The Liberal movement had started in 1872. Its leaders thought the time had come for a new party, and counselled the country accordingly.

The Forty-fourth Congress was organized by the Democrats. The Cabinet Ministers were divided on the policy pursued toward the South. In the autumn of 1875 the shot-gun policy carried Mississippi; and from the 6th of July till the Republican government in that State went down into a bloody grave, there was an unbroken series of political murders.

President Grant was met by a Democratic Congress; a divided Cabinet: Zachariah Chandler and Edwards Pierrepont were in sympathy with him; Bristow and Jewell represented the Liberal sentiment. Then, the Republican party of the North, and many leading journals, were urging a change of policy toward the South. The great majority of Republicans wanted a change, not because they did not sympathize with the Negro governments, but because they saw some of the best men in the party withdrawing their support from the administration of Gen. Grant. There were other men who charged that the business failures in the country were occasioned by the financial policy of the Republican party, and in a spirit of desperation were ready to give their support to the Democracy.

It was charged by the enemies of Gen. Grant that when he was elected President he had a solid Republican South behind him; that under his administration everything had been lost; and that he was responsible for the political ruin which had overtaken the Republican party at the South. The charge was false. The errors of reconstruction under the administration of President Andrew Johnson, and the mistakes of the men who had striven to run the State governments at the South had to be counteracted by the administration of President Grant. This indeed was a difficult task. He did all he could under the Constitution; and when Congress endeavored to pass the Force Bill, the Hon. James G. Blaine, of Maine, made a speech against it in caucus. Mr. Blaine had a presidential ambition to serve, and esteemed his own promotion of greater moment than the protection of the Colored voters of the South. And Mr. Blaine never allowed an opportunity to pass in which he did not throw every obstacle in the way of the success of the Grant administration. Mr. Blaine has never seen fit to explain his opposition to the Force Bill, which was intended to strengthen the hands of the President in his efforts to protect the Negro voter at the South.

When the National Republican Convention met at Cincinnati, Ohio, in the summer of 1876, there was still lacking a definite policy for the South. Presidential candidates were numerous, and the contest bitter. Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes, at that time Governor of Ohio, was nominated as a compromise candidate. There was no issue left the Republican party, as the "bloody shirt" had been rejected by the Liberals, and was generally distasteful at the North. But the initial success of the Democratic party South, and the loss of many Northern States to the Republicans, had emboldened the South to expect national success. But a too precipitous preparation for a raid upon the United States Treasury for the payment of rebel war claims threw the Republicans upon their guard, and, for the time being, every other question was sunk into insignificance. So the insolence of the "Rebel Brigadier Congress," and the letter of Samuel Jones Tilden, the Democratic candidate for the Presidency, on the question of the Southern war claims, gave the Republican party a fighting chance. But there were a desperate South and a splendid campaign organizer in Mr. Tilden to meet. And with a shot-gun policy, tissue ballets, and intimidation at the South, while a gigantic, bold, and matchless system of fraudulent voting was pushed with vigor in the North, there was little show of success for the Republican ticket. The contest on the part of the Republicans was spiritless. It was difficult to raise funds or excite enthusiasm. The Republican candidate had only a local reputation. He had been to Congress, but even those who had known that had forgotten it. A modest, retiring man, Gov. Hayes was not widely known. The old and tried leaders were not enthusiastic. Mr. Blaine had no second choice. He was for himself or nobody. The Democrats prosecuted their campaign with vigor, intelligence, and enthusiasm. They went "into the school districts," and their organization has never been equalled in America.

The result was doubtful. One thing, however, was sure: the Negro governments of the South were now a thing of the past. Not a single State was left to the Republican party. Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina were hanging by the slender thread of doubt, with the provisions of a returning board in favor of the Republican party. The returning boards were the creation of local law; their necessity having grown out of the peculiar methods employed by Democrats in carrying elections. These boards were empowered to receive and count the votes cast for presidential electors; and wherever it could be proven that intimidation and fraud had been used, the votes of such precincts, counties, etc., were to be thrown out. The three doubtful States named above were counted for the Republican presidential electors. Their work was carried before Congress. A high joint electoral commission was created by law, composed of the ablest men of the two parties in Congress, with the salt of judicial judgment thrown in. This commission examined the returns of the three doubtful States, and decided not to go behind the returns; and, according to a previous agreement, one branch of Congress ratifying, the candidate having the more votes was to be declared duly elected.

The country was in an unprecedented state of excitement; and even European governments felt the shock. The enemies of Republican government laughed their little laugh, and said that the end of the republic had come. British bankers brought out into the light Confederate bonds; while stocks in the United States went through an experience as variable as the weather in the Mississippi valley. The public press was intemperate in its utterances, and the political passions of the people were inflamed every hour. The national House of Representatives was a vast whirlpool of excitement,—or, rather it was an angry sea stirred to its depths, and lashing itself into aimless fury by day and by night. When the vote of a State was called, some Democrat would object, and the Senate, which was always present, would retire, and the House would then open a war of words running through hours and sometimes days. When the debate ended, or rather when the House had reached the end of its parliamentary halter, the Senate would again enter, the vote of the State would be counted, and the next one called. Thus the count proceeded through anxious days and weary nights. Business was suspended; and the bulletin boards of commercial 'changes were valueless so long as the bulletin boards of the newspapers contained "the latest news from Washington."