For more Americans, and even for most of those with an interest in history, the years 1866 – 1900 pass in kind of a blur. It’s where our knowledge of presidents fades. In high school, teachers talk about the Industrial Revolution, an amorphous enough concept to cover many bases. With the Spanish-American War (1898), things get interesting again – Teddy, Model Ts, the Wright brothers. In working on a book, I came across a passing reference to some labor problems in 1877, so when I saw this book, I thought I would get some background. Did I ever. Turns out 1877 was a major turning point, with many lessons about just what America was and would become.
Historians talk of the “Panic of 1873”, but it wasn’t a panic, but a major depression that lasted for six years. By 1877, the country had reached bottom. Millions had no jobs, no food and no place to live. There did not seem to be any hope left that things would turn around. The government reacted with austerity measures, sure that a free market, the only solution compatible with a growing social Darwinism, was the only reasonable approach. Then the problems began.
In the run up to the 1876 elections, white supremacists in the South started a vicious campaign of voter suppression. Blacks and anyone who would vote for Republicans was targeted. House burnings, rape and murder. Only the Army had kept the lid on the violence, but the post-war Army was small and not up to the task. Republicans were not interested in re-igniting the Civil War and sought compromise. Southern Democrats were and didn’t. In 1876, states with majority black population voted overwhelmingly for white supremacist politicians. This violence was the original basis of the “solid South”.
This stolen election threw the entire presidential process into doubt. If guns and violence could elect a president, then could the republic survive? A North that was tired of the “Negro question” gave in. Hayes became president and white rule of the South was confirmed. The old slave codes were modified and became the Jim Crow laws. This changed the entire country. While the Union had won militarily, the white supremacists won culturally. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, moved to Florida, hired black servants and settled in.
This was also a climatic year for the Native Americans. Custer had been defeated in 1876, but 1877 saw the Sioux hunted and eliminated as a force. Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce reacted to theft of their lands by white settlers and fled, setting off a tragic drama that could only have one ending. Texas and New Mexico also sought to bring order to their non-white natives, the Hispanics who had lived there for generations. As in the South, no white man was ever prosecuted for killing a non-white, but non-white could cause a riot by asking to be treated fairly. In California, the Chinese were hated even more that the Hispanics, with violence often breaking out.
Over all of this ran a fear of poverty. Buttressed by a scientific seeming social Darwinism, the middle class identified itself as industrious and hard working. Those who failed to reach middle class were by definition not hard working and evolutionary failures. They should not be rescued or even helped, as that would stunt their ability to raise themselves up. Churches and charities worked to separate the “worthy poor” from the supposed army of tramps. And it was considered an army. Newspapers reported on masses of highly organized and secretive tramps who were just waiting to fall upon some isolated house, always in some distant state. In reality the tramps were displaced agricultural workers, traveling as always to seek work and avoid starvation, their number swollen by the depression. The Paris Commune (virtually unknown to modern Americans) was cited as the tramps’ goal – disorder, anarchy and crime. Harsh measures were taken. Charity work was stopped. Vagrants arrested and jailed. Being unemployed became a crime, even though unemployment was high.
In concert with this, the Molly Maguires were raised to an existential threat to the nation. This loose alliance of workers seeking wage protection, job security and safety improvements was demonized as a world-wide (mainly Irish and mainly mining) conspiracy. The conditions in mines were such that “wage slave” was an apt phrase. But seeking any change or improvement brought harsh repression. Innocent men were executed, police and militia operated as ordered by the mine owners and government officials (usually the same people).
In an environment where workers faced cut after cut while the factory and mine owners prospered, workers had few alternatives to starvation. Finally driven to extremes, the Great Strike of 1877 broke out. Rail workers, later joined by others, closed down freight traffic, allowing the mail and passenger lines to operate. The workers shut down the saloons and were non-violent in the main. In reaction, the powers that be brought in the militia and Federal troops, who often opened fire on unarmed strikers. Faced with armed troops under the command of railroad executives, the strike collapsed.
It was overall an unimaginably violent era. Governments were kept deliberately weak in the South and West, empowering individuals to seek their own vengeance or justice. That lynch mobs usually targeted the non-whites was taken as a sign that they needed a firm hand to prevent their getting out of control. Killers were rarely convicted of murder, as self-defense (even against an unarmed opponent) was a well recognized defense.
This very violent year laid the groundwork for much that would follow. Workers understood that they needed unity and political power before they would be heard – and started to develop it. Blacks understood just how abandoned they were and worked to build what they could in the ruins of their hopes – school and churches. Women responded to the troubles by banding together to fight one of the main causes of violence and poverty – alcohol. Churches recognized the need for a “social gospel” as an alternative to the gospel of wealth. These movements would take decades to come to fruition, but they would be the basis of Populist and Progressive reforms.
As a final note, I would mention that the author’s previous work, Arming America, was successfully attacked by gun advocates for unsupported footnotes and sources. This book uses newspaper accounts as its main sources. In my reading, it brings together many pieces that I had known about earlier. That kind of synthesis is what makes the book so valuable. I not only learned new things, I was shown how those things fit together. The past is indeed another country.
Sun Jan 22, 2012 at 2:01 PM PT: Taking recognition of some of the comments: There are many specialist titles concerning Reconstruction (such as The day freedom died : the Colfax massacre, the Supreme Court, and the betrayal of Reconstruction by Charles Lane), the Great Strike, the conquest of the remaining Native tribes and violence in America. If one is a researching historian, they should be consulted. The strength of this book is stated in a review in the Journal of American History "In an age of boutique course offerings built around a single analytical category, arching syntheses such as 1877 are increasingly rare." Historical analysis can be in-depth or over-arching. This book is one of the later. In my case, I am working on notes to accompany an unpublished autobiography in which 1877 is an important year, so an overview was what I needed. I am not citing the work, merely using it for background. In this, the reviews agree I am on firm ground.
Michael A Bellesiles remains a controversial figure and lost his job over serious inconsistencies in his sources for his discredited Arming America. I give him credit for working to regain his standing and hope that this book will help him in that endeavor.