What happens when American citizens don’t trust the results of an election?
For a troubling answer, a new book looks at the aftermath of the 1872 Louisiana governor’s election between William Pitt Kellogg, a Reconstructionist Republican who helped integrate newly freed slaves into society, and John D. McEnery, a White nationalist.
The details are chronicled in “America’s Deadliest Election: The Cautionary Tale of the Most Violent Election in American History,” by Dana Bash, a CNN anchor, and David Fisher published by Hanover Square Press/HarperCollins.
Sitting Louisiana Gov. Henry Warmoth declared McEnery the winner, but rivals said Kellogg was victorious. Warmoth was impeached for allegedly stealing the election, and an interim governor was appointed for 35 days until President Ulysses S. Grant seated Kellogg — but not without federal troops in place to enforce the election of the new governor. It was the first of many violent scenes.
Immersed in political news
Bash, from New York City, is a history buff. She was on the air during the 2021 insurrection at the nation’s Capitol, when then-President Donald Trump would not concede the election to Joe Biden, with a riot ensuing.
The incident sparked her curiosity about whether anything similar had ever happened in the United States. That’s when Bash and Fisher learned about the post-Civil-War Louisiana election that caused riots and murders.
“The difference is that back in 1872 Louisiana, when people questioned whether there were fair elections, there were not,” said Bash recently, on a Zoom call from her CNN office in Washington, D.C.
“The Black vote was clearly being suppressed; many people of color were turned away at polling places and didn’t vote under the threat of violence. The Southern Democrats did not want Blacks to vote, because they were fearful that Black voters would put in a Republican who would fight for their rights.
“Blacks would go to the polls and be told there was a trivial question they had to answer, or other such nonsense. Black voters were showing affidavits of how they tried to vote, but Democrats said ‘No, no, no,’ and that’s how the pot boiled over and we got to the Colfax Massacre.”
The Colfax Massacre occurred when a riot broke out between armed White and Black citizens. In the end, 150 African Americans were killed in the riot, and two were lynched for attempting to vote against the wishes of their White neighbors.
William Cruikshank and 16 others in the White mob were brought to trial for violating the Enforcement Act, which made it a felony to deprive anyone of his civil rights. However, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Cruikshank, saying the civil rights of African Americans could be protected only by state legislatures and courts, which in the South meant no protection at all.
About those electoral votes
“Then fast-forward to 1876, and the presidential election with Rutherford P. Hayes,” said Bash.
Although Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote, he was one electoral vote shy of the needed count, so in a smoke-filled room it was agreed that a newly established Electoral Commission would make Hayes president, and with a wink and a nod he’d back off with protective federal troops.
“So, particularly with the Cruikshank decision, and then the election of Hayes, we got Jim Crow for 100 years,” Bash said.
Louisiana and its politics would become the precursor to many issues for the United States down the road. The electoral college has been controversial for over a century. Democrats win most of the popular vote in presidential elections; therefore, Republicans would be working against their own political interests to attempt a constitutional amendment that would extinguish that system.
But, Louisiana enjoyed an electoral college in which ultimate decisions could be controlled by Congress, not the popular vote, thereby marginalizing the ever-increasing Black vote. Those theories would spread to other states during Reconstruction.
Lessons from the past
It’s been a wild few months for Bash in her role as chief political correspondent for the network, first co-moderating the consequential Biden-Trump debate in June, and most recently, single-handedly conducting the first interview with Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz.
“Today’s politics are very reminiscent of Louisiana’s Gov. Warmoth, the carpetbagger from the North,” said Bash. “He did so many hateful, corrupt, and power-hungry things, yet he was charismatic and had a way of making people follow him … not unlike Trump. There are very similar dynamics in that much like Warmoth, some people love Trump, and some people love to hate him. It’s one of the biggest parallels between then and now: these two characters.”
With the U.S. presidential election less than two months away, Bash feels it’s important to learn from the lessons of the past.
“Honestly if I had known these stories,” said Bash, “I might have been better prepared for the ramifications of the 2020 election. When I told Mitch Landrieu about this project over a year ago, he said ‘Oh yeah, there isn’t anything happening in this country that hasn’t already happened in Louisiana.’”
Email Leslie Cardé at [email protected].
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66def4cb2d0440f5b57b3f174391ec7f&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theadvocate.com%2Fbaton_rouge%2Fentertainment_life%2Fcnn-anchor-donna-bash-writes-about-1872-louisiana-election%2Farticle_ca1ee804-5cc3-519f-92b7-8ab1c27d1c61.html&c=13565941212636216758&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-09 01:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
