Sherry Chandler » The Redeemers
The Redeemers
Thomas Nast cartoon
The last Federal troops were withdrawn from the Southern states by the Compromise of 1877, which gave Rutherford B. Hayes the White House and ended Reconstruction. Radical Republicans withdrew with the troops and you might say the Redeemer Democrats bulldozed their way to enacting disenfranchising legislation. Wikipedia describes the Redeemers as the “conservative, pro-business wing” of the Democratic party. They cut back spending for public education and passed poll taxes, literacy tests, and residency requirements for voting. Sound familiar? Between 1900 and 1903, black voter registration in Alabama fell from 181,315 to 2,980. White registration fell by more than 40,000.
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