Election of 1876

• Democratic party having already secured a majority in the South, made a concerted effort to win the White House. In the election, votes were supposed to be recounted in front of Congress by the President of the Senate but the president of the Senate was a Republican and the Speaker of the House was a Democrat, neither man could be trusted to count the votes.
• Congress passed the Electoral Count Act in 1877 to establish a special committee to recount the votes in a fair and balanced way. It was concluded that Republican Hayes was the new President. Democrats were outraged at first but quickly realised that the situation gave them the perfect opportunity to strike a bargain with the opposition to achieve their political goals.
• The result was the Compromise of 1877 - Democrats agreed to let Hayes become the President in exchange for a complete withdrawal of federal troops from the South. This led to a return of power to whites meant return to policy of old South.