Tale of Two Elections: A Comparison of the 1876 and 2000 Presidential Election in Florida
Within days of the 2000 election night, cries of disenfranchisement of minority voters were heard through out the nation. Tales of police intimidation, racist purge rolls, confusing ballots, uncooperative poll workers, and physical barriers to poll stations all seemed to hearken back to earlier times when black voters truly were unable to vote freely. Some have even compared the problems of the 2000 election with the 1876 election. However, those who attempt to make comparisons between the disenfranchisement of African Americans in 1876 and the alleged disenfranchisement of African Americans in 2000 would be making an error. Thus, this research paper will prove a couple of important points. First, there was wholesale intentional disenfranchisement of African American voters in 1876. Second, the similarities between the 2000 and 1876 elections outside of the issue of disenfranchisement are indeed striking. Third, that despite such similarities there was almost no outright disenfranchisement of black voters in Florida in 2000.
I will start by focusing entirely on the obstacles black voters faced in 1876 in Florida. Congressional testimony and local papers of the time period provided a wealth of knowledge on both the mental, physical and economic barriers Democrats attempted to form against black suffrage. I will also discuss Democratic motivations for stopping black suffrage by putting the election within the context of the end of the second reconstruction. Using secondary sources, the last part of my discussion of the 1876 election will be an examination of the formulation of the Compromise of 1877, and the long lasting repercussions it had for black voting rights.
The second half of the paper will be broken into two sections. The first will be a detailed examination of the political atmosphere preceding and following the 2000 election and how it mirrored the atmosphere surrounding the 1876 election. The second section will be an examination of the charges made against Republican officials in Florida and the general charges of disenfranchisement. A combination of media transcripts, congressional testimony and secondary sources will be used for this section. Lastly, I will be assessing the validity of those charges of disenfranchisement in Florida and the motivations behind those whose charges of disenfranchisement were without merit.
I will start by focusing entirely on the obstacles black voters faced in 1876 in Florida. Congressional testimony and local papers of the time period provided a wealth of knowledge on both the mental, physical and economic barriers Democrats attempted to form against black suffrage. I will also discuss Democratic motivations for stopping black suffrage by putting the election within the context of the end of the second reconstruction. Using secondary sources, the last part of my discussion of the 1876 election will be an examination of the formulation of the Compromise of 1877, and the long lasting repercussions it had for black voting rights.
The second half of the paper will be broken into two sections. The first will be a detailed examination of the political atmosphere preceding and following the 2000 election and how it mirrored the atmosphere surrounding the 1876 election. The second section will be an examination of the charges made against Republican officials in Florida and the general charges of disenfranchisement. A combination of media transcripts, congressional testimony and secondary sources will be used for this section. Lastly, I will be assessing the validity of those charges of disenfranchisement in Florida and the motivations behind those whose charges of disenfranchisement were without merit.
School:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department:
History
Research Advisor:
Vernon Burton
Department of Research Advisor:
History
Year of Publication:
2002