THE COMPROMISE OF 1877
“…The compromise of 1877 is arguably the most devastating single event in the history
of Blacks in America…”
Minister Louis Farrakhan spoke the above words, Feb. 27, in Rosemont,
Illinois at the conclusion of the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviours’ Day
convention. His address was nearly 4 hours long but the below excerpt
contains his full comments made about the far-reaching impact of this
not-often referenced or remembered part of American history.
…I want to show you how we have been tricked. There was a great compromise of 1877.
It’s called “The Great Betrayal of the Negro.” In 1865, the 13th amendment legally
abolished slavery but just 12 years later, in 1877, a decision was taken by the leaders of
America that would have profound consequences for the Black man & woman long, long
into the future. The Compromise of 1877 is arguably the most devastating single event in
the history of Blacks in America but these leaders, and we today in Black History Month
know almost nothing about that compromise. May I share it with you?
“The presidential election of 1876 ended in a deadlock between Republican Rutherford
B. Hayes, who represented Northern sentiment & interests and the Democrat Samuel
Tilden, who represented the former slaveholders of the South. The 2 sides fought over the
results for weeks & there were even threats of another Civil War and as the political
leaders wrangled over who was gonna be president, the bankers – the BANKers – and the
industrialists, the so-called robber barons, saw a way to exploit this political discord for
their own financial purposes. The American Bankers Association met on Jan the 26th,
1877 and then again on Feb 7 to strategize in the midst of the controversy. The
emancipation of the Black man had undermined the very source of their fortunes which
was the forced, plantation slave labor of the African. They had always sought to build up
the industrial infrastructure of the south: lay down railroads, build roads and shipping
ports all in order to supply more cotton for the world markets, not less. But they saw in
this political standoff a way to affect their plan to radically change the course of the
nation in their direction.
“If Tilden won, they thought, he would be facing a hostile Republican congress, so they
believed their plans would be better received under a Hayes administration. Southern
politicians, whose votes would be needed for these major projects, could be convinced to
go along with the promise of an enormous capital investment and a return to the old racial
order. That’s when a group of politicians from both parties secretly convened at the
Wormley Hotel in Washington, D.C. to attempt to resolve the conflict & save the Union
from political disaster and possibly a 2nd Civil War. After days of negotiations, they
finally agreed that if Rutherford B. Hayes were awarded the presidency, listen, he would
remove the federal troops in the South who were protecting Black ex-slaves and the
former southern slave holding class would be returned to power where they could
establish new forms of slavery free from federal control.
“The agreement, in effect, put the bankers and industrialists in control of the southern
economy and it forced Blacks back into the cotton fields to finance it all. After 12 years
of emancipation, Blacks would be returned to virtual slavery, denied civil rights and
assigned to permanent political, social & economic inferiority. Jim Crow laws took
immediate effect and Ku Klux Klan terrorism exploded: lynchings, rapes, mass murders
against America’s Black so-called citizens escalated. Black property was stolen , and let
me tell you, after the Emancipation Proclamation, Black people, ex-slaves built over 60
towns that they ran, they voted in blocs & put their own people in positions of power but
with this Compromise, all their gains were taken away and that decision in that Wormley
Hotel would, in effect, nullify the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution…”