The Goals And Failures Of The First — страница 7

the Presidential election of 1876, the Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, captured a majority of the popular vote and lead in the electoral college results. But the electoral votes of three Southern States still under Republican rule were in doubt, as Ginzberg writes, “In all three states the Republicans controlled the returning boards which had to certify the election results, and in all three states they certified their own parties ticket. As the history books reveal, the crisis was finally overcome when the Southern Democrats agreed to support the Republican Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, as a part of a larger compromise (The Compromise of 1877). Hayes promised in return to withdraw Federal troops from the South.” Eli Ginzberg and Alfred S. Eichner, Troublesome Presence: Democracy

and Black Americans (London: Transaction Publishers, 1993) pp. 182-183. 13 C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974) p. 54. 14 Southern Democrats were comprised of Southern elites and formed a coalition with Blacks to prevent poor Whites from passing economic initiatives such as free silver, the break up of monopolies, and labor laws. Gerald Gaither, Blacks and the Populist Revolt: Ballots and Bigotry In the New South (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1972) p.299. 15 The Coalition between poor Whites was based on a paternalistic order as C. Vann Woodward explains, “Blacks continued to vote in large numbers and hold minor offices and a few seats in Congress, but this could be turned to account by the Southern White Democrats who

had trouble with White lower-class rebellion.” C. Vann Woodward, Origins of a New South (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951) p.254. 16 Howard N. Robinowitz, Southern Black Leaders of the Reconstruction Era ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982) p.396. 17 Ibid. p.398. 18 C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974) p. 85. 19 William Julius Wilson, The Declining Significance of Race (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) p.63. 20 Until 1900, the only type of Jim Crow law (a law which legally segregates races) prevalent in the South was one applying to passengers aboard trains in the first class section. C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974) p. 67. 21

Woodward sees the failure of Reconstruction as related to three events. First, it was brought about by the rise of racist theories and ideas in intellectual circles around 1890. These ideas, such as eugenics and social Darwinism eroded support among elite groups such as Southern Democrats and Northern Republicans for political equality for Blacks. Second, the rise of United States imperialism lead by the Republican party starting in 1898, undercut the ability and willingness of Northern Republicans to be the moral authority on racial equality. Third, the emergence of the populist movement in the late 1880’s and 1890’s forced the White elites to abandon their alliance with Blacks. This was because both the populists and the Southern Democrats sought the Black vote and when

neither could be assured of controlling it, both Parties realized that it would be far better for them to disenfranchise the Black population than fight for its votes. C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974) pp.82-83. 22 Wilson sees the emergence of Jim Crow and disenfranchisement of Blacks as related to three major events. First, the recession of the 1890’s and the boll weevil blight brought Blacks and Whites in the lower-classes in intense competition for a shrinking pool of jobs. This intensification of competition between these groups manifested itself in White supremacy. Second, the rise of the labor movement in the 1890’s lead to the rise of lower-class Whites to power this allowed them to codify into law Jim Crow which

reflected their view of Blacks as competition in the labor market. Third, the migration of Blacks to urban areas in the North, and the use of Blacks as strike-breakers in Northern factories, created racial hostility among lower-class Whites toward Blacks. This forced Northern Republicans to no longer focus on racial equality because it undermined their support among White labor. William Julius Wilson, The Declining Significance of Race (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) pp.59-60. 23 Howard N. Robinowitz, Southern Black Leaders of the Reconstruction Era ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982) p.400. 24 Ibid. p.399. 25 Gerald Gaither, Blacks and the Populist Revolt: Ballots and Bigotry In the New South (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1972) p. 302. 26 Eli Ginzberg