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Compromise of 1877

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The Electoral Commission of 1877 holding a secret session by candle-light.
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The Electoral Count Act Is Broken. Fixing It Requires Knowing How It Became Law.

Trump tried to exploit flaws that were embedded in the law from the start.
by Rachel Shelden, Erik B. Alexander via Made By History on October 8, 2021
Rutherford B. Hayes and Donald Trump.
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The Election From Our Past That Blares a Warning for 2020

A contested presidential election in 1876 produced a devastating compromise.
by Richard Kreitner via Made By History on September 11, 2020

A Disputed Election, a Constitutional Crisis, Polarisation… Welcome to 1876

Eric Foner sees parallels with our own time but warns that yesterday’s solution would be a disaster.
by Martin Pengelly via The Guardian on August 23, 2020
A hand demonstrates a push lever system in voting booth, and students wait in line to vote in a mock election held at Morgan State University in Baltimore

The Forgotten First Voting Rights Act

How the defeat of the 1890 Lodge bill presaged today’s age of ballot-driven backlash.
by Ed Burmila via The Forum on October 17, 2022
John Marshall Harlan and Robert James Harlan

The Black Hero Behind One of the Greatest Supreme Court Justices

John Marshall Harlan's relationship with an enslaved man who grew up in his home showed how respect could transcend barriers and point a path to freedom.
by Peter S. Canellos via Politico Magazine on June 6, 2021
Ted Cruz.

The Dangerous Historical Precedent for Ted Cruz’s Shameless Electoral College Gambit

The Texas senator claims to be moved by the spirit of 1876, but he’s just another huckster playing a risky game with democracy.
by Matt Ford via The New Republic on January 5, 2021
A political cartoon of one hand holding another down on a gun.

“If Anybody Says Election to Me, I Want to Fight”

The messy election of 1876.
by Jon Grinspan via Perspectives on History on October 19, 2020
Crowd of people at the counting of Electoral College votes in the U.S. Congress.

The Electoral College’s Racist Origins

More than two centuries after it was designed to empower southern white voters, the system continues to do just that.
by Wilfred Codrington III via The Atlantic on November 17, 2019
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No Place to Make a Vote of Thanks

On the long tradition of Black third-party activism.
by Marc Blanc via HNN on April 23, 2024
A collage in which a photograph of Blanche Ames Ames is superimposed on a photograph of John F. Kennedy.

How John F. Kennedy Fell for the Lost Cause

And the grandmother who wouldn’t let him get away with it.
by Jordan Virtue via The Atlantic on November 13, 2023
A group of the newly emancipated working with the US army, 1862.

The Promise of Freedom

A new history of the Civil War and Reconstruction examines the ways in which Black Americans formed networks of self-reliance in their pursuit of emancipation.
by Elias Rodriques via The Nation on October 3, 2022
Black and white photo of the “Star-Spangled Banner” flown during the War of 1812, 1914.

A Fiery Gospel

A conversation about changing the American story.
by Lewis H. Lapham, Kermit Roosevelt III via Lapham’s Quarterly on September 19, 2022
Drawing of a crowd of delegates at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. (Franklin McMahon / Getty Images)

A Big Tent

The contradictory past and uncertain future of the Democratic Party.
by Nicholas Lemann via The Nation on July 11, 2022
Man is being carried by a lot of people while sitting on a chair

What Made Gilded Age Politics So Acrimonious?

Fearful of increasing participation, elites of the era attempted to rein in democracy.
by Chris Lehmann via The New Republic on June 21, 2021
A man during the Capitol Siege holding a Confederate flag.

The Case for a Third Reconstruction

The enduring lesson of American history is that the republic is always in danger when white supremacist sedition and violence escape justice.
by Manisha Sinha via New York Review of Books on February 3, 2021
Raphael Warnock
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Warnock’s Win Was 150 Years In the Making — But History Tells Us It Is Fragile

The selection of African American Sen. Hiram Revels in 1870 offered great hope — but it was soon dashed.
by William Sturkey via Made By History on January 18, 2021
Broadside showing the Louisiana Returning Board entitled "The Political Farce of 1876," published by Joseph A. Stoll, c. 1877.

Undecided Candidates

An excerpt from the diary of presidential hopeful at the outset of the contested election of 1876.
by Rutherford B. Hayes via Lapham’s Quarterly on November 3, 2020
John F. Kennedy signing a copy of "Profiles in Courage" for a young man.

J.F.K.’s “Profiles in Courage” Has a Racism Problem. What Should We Do About It?

Kennedy defined courage as a willingness to take an unpopular stand in service of a larger, higher cause. But what cause?
by Nicholas Lemann via The New Yorker on July 23, 2020

The Confederates Loved America, and They’re Still Defining What Patriotism Means

The ideology of the men who celebrated the United States while fighting for its dissolution is still very much alive.
by Richard Kreitner via The New Republic on June 30, 2020

Reconstruction in America

Mass lynchings of Black people following the Civil War.
by Jennifer Rae Taylor, Kiara Boone, Jonathan Gibson, Sade Stevens, Kayla Vinson, Trey Walk, Sumita Rajpurohit, Breana Lamkin via Equal Justice Initiative on April 23, 2020
Lithograph by Winslow Homer titled "Thanksgiving Day in the Army" depicting soldiers pulling apart a wishbone.

A Confederate Curriculum

How Miss Millie taught the Civil War.
by Jonathan Zimmerman via Lapham’s Quarterly on November 6, 2017

Mapping Occupation: Force, Freedom, and the Army in Reconstruction

A detailed look at when and where the U.S. Army was able to enforce the new rule of law in the years following the Civil War.
by Gregory P. Downs, Scott Nesbit via Mapping Occupation on March 1, 2015
Inaugural oath being sworn by President
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Four More Years: Presidential Inaugurations

An hour of stories about a few high-stakes inaugurations from the past.
via BackStory on January 11, 2013

Lincoln and Marx

The transatlantic convergence of two revolutionaries.
by Robin Blackburn via Jacobin on August 28, 2012

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