Today we are continuing my series on Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow in Florida. This series is looking at Florida politics from the 1860s to 1900; tracking the rise of Black political power and voting rights, eventually seeing the rise of Jim Crow and a repression of democracy.
In my last issue, we looked at the growing divisions in the Florida Republican Party. When Governor Ossian Hart passed away in 1874, Lt Governor Marcellus Stearns, a much more conservative Republican, took office. Stearns was antagonistic toward Black political power and he clashed with members of his own party as he sought to win his own term for Governor in 1876.
In the above article, I also looked at the continued decline for Reconstruction from Northern voters. President Grant remained committed to protecting Black rights, but an 1873 Depression undermined the push to keep federal troops in the southern states to protect Black citizens. By the time 1876 came around, most Northern Republicans wanted to leave the south to its own self-rule.
This article will look at the battle for Florida in the 1876 elections. As Governor Stearns fought re-election, Democrats felt they had the strongest opportunity yet to win the top office and end Reconstruction in Florida. This came at the same time as the chaotic Presidential election. This issue will take us right to election day, with a separate issue out in the next day or two looking at the vote count fight.
Since much of the events in the Governor’s race are guided by the Presidential fight, lets set the national stage first.
National Environment
On paper, the political environment heading into 1876 was ripe for the Democrats to win. The 1873 depression, like all economic disasters before and after, was blamed on the party in power; Grant and the Republicans. The 1874 Elections saw Democrats sweep into control of the House of Representatives.
As the Grant administration continued to be dogged by corruption scandals, civil service reform and anti-corruption became the biggest issue of the upcoming Presidential contest. With that in mind, Democrats nominated reformer New York Governor Samuel Tilden for President. Tilden had come to the Governorship after battling the Tammany Hall machine in NYC. With his nomination, Democrats hoped to win over enough northern reformers to take the Presidency. The implication was also that Tilden would secure most of the southern states thanks to the suppression of Black votes.
Republicans headed into 1876 feeling the need to run away from the Grant administration. This was not only over corruption issues, but the increasing unpopularity of Reconstruction. Northern voters no longer supported using federal troops to protect Black voters; entering an era of “moral fatigue.” Grant quickly became one of the few Republican leaders that still wanted to fight for the security of Black citizens in the South. He was willing to consider a 3rd term (this was before the passage of the 22nd amendment) in office largely due to his worry about the party abandoning southern Blacks after the next election.
There was little desire for a Grant third term among the GOP however. This was made clear in a December vote in the US House in 1875. That month, Democrats put up a resolution that condemned the idea of anyone running for a 3rd term. While the language was about “freedom and institutions” - it was entirely a shot at President Grant. The measure easily passed, securing a vast majority of Republican members and all Democrats.
Only 18 Republican Congressmen rejected the resolution. These 18, except for one, included every southern Republican still in office in the south. Also of note, all six of the country’s remaining Black Congressmen were also in the NO camp. Southern Republicans, especially Black Republicans, knew that Grant and federal troops were the only thing keeping white violence at bay.
Knowing the public nor the party desired it, Grant would ultimately not make any real push for a third term. In the summer of 1876, Republicans opted to nominate Rutherford B. Hayes as their Presidential nominee. Hayes’ reputation as reformer and someone more moderate on Reconstruction made him a strong candidate as the party ran away from the Grant administration. Hayes had been elected Ohio Governor in 1875 while arguing reconstruction needed to come to an end.
In his acceptance speech, which you can find here, Hayes pledged support for Black and white southerners with some flowery language, but pointedly said that “local government” was needed.
With such a recognition fully accorded, it will be practicable to promote, by the influence of all legitimate agencies of the General Government, the efforts of the people of those States, to obtain for themselves the blessings of honest and capable local government.
Hayes was setting the state for the end of federal troops in the south. His nomination and the party platform showed a clear retreat from the Grant position of protecting Black rights in the former Confederacy.
The Southern Battle Ground
Much of the Presidential contest would focus on key northern swing states; namely New York, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Tilden was expected to take much of the former confederacy, which had been falling one by one back into Democratic hands as the 1870s went on. Some of these Democratic gains came from whites simply outnumbering Blacks by large margins. However, states like Alabama and Mississippi only fell to Democrats thanks to extreme violent voter suppression. While a fair vote would have likely given Hayes one or both states, neither were expected to have a fair votes in 1876 and were hence predicted for Tilden.
Only three southern states remained in control of Republican Governors, and only these three states would at least be possibly for Hayes: Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina.
South Carolina and Louisiana were in extreme states of violence throughout the 1876 campaign, with White League and Red Shirts paramilitary organizations roaming around both states. These white “rifle clubs” committed to “redeem” their state with violence if necessary; working to either intimidate Black voters from casting ballots or killing Black voters. These tactics gained national attention in July of 1876 with the Hamburg Massacre in South Carolina; which saw red shirt militias terrorize and kill Black citizens in a multi-day riot. The horror of the riots was captured in Harpers Weekly.
However, despite these outrages, northerners did not want federal troops to constantly occupy the south. Grant sent what soldiers he could to try and keep the peace but was politically limited in how far he could go. The economic depression limited funds for soldiers and the Democratic-led house definitely was not going to fund an occupation of the south. The Hayes campaign, meanwhile, had little hope of holding any southern states and worried southern intervention would only hurt them in the north.
While Lousiana and South Carolina would lead in violence and massive electoral fraud, Florida was not immune from troubles either. Lets now turn to Florida and see how the 1876 contest took shape and played out there.
The 1876 Florida Governor Election
As the Presidential election geared up across the country, Florida entered the 1876 contests with Republicans on the precipice of losing power. In the 1874 midterms, Democrats had won the State House and the State Senate was a tie. Republicans were desperate to hold onto the Governor’s office and Democrats felt they had the best opportunity yet to take control.
The Republican Nomination
Like so many years before, Florida Republicans entered the election year with deep internal divisions. This time, the war was between Governor Marcellus Stearns and US Senator Simon Conover as both men sought the Governor nomination. Stearns had little to no support with the state’s Black population, who made up a vast majority of the Republican vote. However, in an era before popular primaries, this deficit did not matter. As the incumbent Governor, Stearns controlled many of the party levers of power, with hundreds of appointments to give out, which made it easier to build a power base with influential men that relied on his administration for support. This made it easy for Stearns to secure delegate elections that would send supporters to the state convention that would choose a nominee.
Conover played from behind from the beginning in the nomination fight. As the Senator campaigned to get loyal delegates elected from the respective counties, the convention list was already stacked with a large number of Stearns men. Heading into the summer convention, Stearns likely already had a majority of the vote locked up. This, however, did not stop the convention from becoming a massive clash with little sign of mending fences. At the convention, Congressman William Purman, a fierce enemy of Stearns, read a letter from abolitionist Fredrick Douglas backing Conover. Fights over delegate posts, which saw several pro-Conover delegates rejected from the proceedings, led to violence. At one point, Madison County Sheriff G. W. Bogue was shot in the leg during a fight that had erupted.
Thanks to his early control of the party apparatus, the convention easily nominated Stearns for a Governor. The Conover team, meanwhile, left the event and launched a new convention, which nominated Conover as the Governor nominee. This wasn’t just some ragtag group of angry delegates either. This breakaway convention was chaired by Congressman Josiah Walls. This was a serious force, further seen later in the summer when the national Republican convention agreed to seat the Conover delegation instead of the Stearns group. There were now TWO Republican tickets; both guaranteed to split the vote and make Democratic victory easy.
The division lasted through the summer and into the early fall. In August the state held its Congressional nominating Conventions, which saw both Stearns and Conover campaign to be seen as the “rightful” Republican ticket. For the Congressional nominations, William Purman was re-nominated for the 1st district. In the 2nd, district, however, Josiah Walls, who had lost his seat after an election challenge (see my last article), was passed over. The nomination instead went to Horatio Bigsbee, the district attorney who had fought hard to protect Black voting rights heading into the 1872 contest. Walls was nominated for Alachua County State Senator. With this change, Florida had no Black candidate for statewide or Congressional office for the first time since 1868.
The split in the Governor nomination came to a head at the end of the summer. DC Republicans, warning of such a split ticket guaranteeing Democratic victory, pressured Conover to drop his campaign. Conover bowed to the request, but he would not campaign for Stearns in any way shape or form. Black voters as well felt very hostile to Stearns, knowing he was no ally of theirs. However, the prospect of a Democratic victory was also an unimaginable option; leading many to begrudgingly stick with the GOP ticket.
The Democratic Nomination
The Democratic Party of Florida was far more united than the Republicans. While William Bloxham, the 1872 Governor nominee, was still the most prominent Democrat in Florida, he would not be the nominee. The Party leaders believed that nominating a Southern Democrat would limit the path to victory for a few key reasons. First, a white Florida native nomination would keep Republicans largely united, especially Black voters, who did not trust any native white Democrats. Second, Florida’s white population was seeing growth from other states, voters with little Confederate sympathies but who craved stable politics for business growth. Democrats were eager to appeal to this growing non-southern white population, so they went with a non-southern themselves.
The Democratic nominee would be George F. Drew, a lumber mill owner based in Madison County. Drew was originally born in New Hampshire, but had been managing a iron and timber business in Columbus, Georgia when the Civil War broke out. Drew was a firm unionist but had also done business with the confederacy. This biography gave the ex-confederates some comfort (and they likely did not know how pro-Union he was) and made him appealing for those not interesting in re-litigation the Civil War or slavery. Drew’s politics also offered broader appeal, with him being a Grant backer in 1868 but a Greeley backer in 1872.
There were some confederate Democrats that rolled their eyes at Drew, considering him a once-radical. However, there was little reported revolt at the idea, as the Democratic leaders sought to win back power however they could. Drew was a very appealing candidate to the business-minded moderates of the state; many of whom were sick of Republican divisions and who cared little for the long-term plight of the Black population. Republicans recognized the threat, saying that Drew was designed to “give the ‘Lost Cause’ a Union flavor.”
The Democratic convention was a much less contentious affair than the Republican counterpart. Once Drew and the full slate were nominated, the Democrats began a major registration drive across the state. There were still many native white voters who’d lost interest in politics. The Party machine worked overdrive to re-engage these voters, pushing that the state was close to being ‘redeemed.’
The 1876 Campaign of Intimidation and Fraud
The fall campaign in Florida was far less violent and heated as the contests that unleashed in South Carolina and Louisiana. However, this does not mean violence and intimidation were not widely utilized in the state. The effort to suppress Black voters had far more effect on the outcome of the elections than any issues the candidates proposed.
Intimidation and Violence
Heading into the general election campaign, both sides predicted rampant violence to consume the polls. Democrats felt that they were on the cusp of taking back their state, and would not rest at any step to achieve this. Republicans likewise anticipated such actions, so much so that Alachua Republican leader L.G. Dennis told Black voters to bring their guns to the polls to ensure they could vote. The events leading up to the elections did warn of a bigger clash on election day itself. Senator Robert Meacham, the Republican leader of Jefferson County, saw his house besieged by gunfire. A Republican rally in Lafayette County saw the speaker attacked by white Democrats.
The most famous attack occurred in Columbia County. There, just outside Lake City, two Black men were accosted by white regulators. The regulators tied a nose around the neck of one of the men and warned that if they did not both pledge to vote Democratic, then they and everyone they knew would be killed. This attack was only reported due to the bravery of the men, but was an event that for sure took place in many parts of the state.
As violence and intimidation were reported, Governor Stearns struggled with how to handle events. Years later, Democrat William Bloxham would report that he and other Democratic leaders met with Stearns leading up to the vote, warning that state militia and troops better be kept at bay heading into the vote. Bloxham reported that he told Stearns….
We have come sir, to put you on notice that if a single white man is killed in Leon County on election day, there are 300 of us who have sworn that your life shall pay for it
Stearns would call for a peaceful vote, but did little to deal with reports of intimidation and threats.
While there was violence in Florida, it was not as open and public as what occurred in the 1870 midterms. That year had seen a massive wave of assassinations and militias surrounding polling sites. Here much of the violence was a more targeted intimidation with fewer public clashes. This was a marked contrast from South Carolina and Louisiana, where white voters worked to brutally suppress Black voters in massive attacks. The chaotic violence of those states made it seem like Florida was relatively peaceful, baring a few incidents. However, as one historian laid out
“If Florida Conservatives incited fewer riots than their Carolina colleagues, they were no less committed to the redemption of their state at any price”
The violence and intimidation was not as public as 1870, but it was still there. The Lake City story no doubt affected the vote in Columbia County, but was also an event that likely played out in similar ways across the state. Individual-level intimidation was a common tool - something seen the famous 1876 political cartoon titled “Of Course He Wants to Vote the Democratic Ticket!”
Counties like Polk, Hernando, or Hamilton saw Republican vote share that fell well below the Black share of the population. After the election was over, when investigators from Washington tried to talk to local residents about issues with voter intimidation, many Black residents were hesitant to talk. One observer noted the fear among those they spoke with, that many felt silence would keep them safe. Hence it is reasonable to assume a great deal of violent intimidation took place; but did not get heavy reported.
Economic Warfare
Another major driver of votes against Republicans was economic intimidation; which is covered in good detail here. The 1876 contest saw a massive spike in Democrats working to tie employment and wages to party loyalty.
By this point, the vast majority of farm land remained in the hands of rich white landowners. Across the state, wherever the landlord could get away with it, they directly threatened Black voters that a Republican ballot meant loss of a job. Merchants likewise said they would prioritize Democrats when it came to giving out credit or loans. The same blackmail took place in non-farming jobs. The Democrat-run Florida Central Railroad Company handed out pre-marked and numbered Democratic ballots. Workers were told that if such ballots did not show up at the polling sites, they would be fired. Black voters were given two options: vote Democratic or don’t vote at all.
This system was not secret either, as the Democratic-friendly The Weekly Floridian newspaper directly called for this tactic to be adopted. Ironically, the Democrats were able to get away with this because of the failure of the moderate Republican leadership to better shield Black voters from economic exploitation. The efforts of Governor Reed and Governor Stearns to cozy up with white landowners and merchants led to them rejecting expanded protections for Black citizens.
Now those lack of protections were going to bite Stearns in the ass.
Issues with Election Integrity
A final point to discuss heading into election day was the “integrity" of the process. As discussed a bit in Part 3 of my series, elections at this time were constantly subject to fraud by all sides. This stemmed from the lack of uniform election systems in the state, as well as the state’s rural nature. A few key issues could affect the tabulation and casting of ballots. These issues are examined in more detail in this article, but I will cover some key dynamics here.
Thanks to the lack of a centralized election system, Florida did not have a uniform ballot. Voters were expected to go to the polling booth to either verbally declare or submit a pre-filled out ballot. Party ballots were often printed to be handed out to voters, a fact that led to very little ticket splitting in this era. Ballot stuffing was a major issue at this time. However, trickery was also a major problem. The 1876 election came with multiple reports of Democratic organizations creating Republican-looking ballots that actually had Democratic names. An example of such a ballot used in Jackson County can be seen below.
Few counties were divided up into precincts and the opening or closing of voting sites could be weaponized to suppress turnout. Likewise multiple voting sites without modern technology made it easier for people to vote at multiple sites in one day. Both parties were guilty of these practice.
The final major issue was Florida’s vast space and lack of good public roads. The result of the state’s geography meant that it could take days or weeks for returns to come in from the southern counties. Since the Republican-heavy panhandle counties would be able to report their totals first, elections often saw the Republicans take an early lead and then it would be a matter of whether the slow-reporting rural, white counties could flip the lead. The issue here was that these slow-reporting counties could change their results as they learned about the early reports. Accusations of counties waiting as long as possible to send their returns in flew after election day. Despite the fact Governor Stearns had the ability to control the appointment of local officials across the state, he appointed or kept in place many Democrats in assorted counties; these late-reporting counties among them.
All of these issues would come to a head once voting was wrapped up.
Election Day and a Close Vote
Election Day came in Florida without massive violent clashes, unlike the events of 1870. However, the months of intimidation and economic threats did succeed in keeping many Black voters from the polls, or forced them to cast Democratic ballots. As election day went on, both sides had accusations of fraud levied. Ballot boxes became major sources of conflict. In Jackson County, a Republican ballot box was supposedly destroyed. In Hamilton County, the leaders took the ballot box and would not hand it over until right before the State canvassing board met. In Volusia County, an effort to steal a ballot box was thwarted with a dummy box.
Once the voting was done, it quickly became apparent that Florida would be very close. Both parties claimed victory, but Republicans maintained a lead from the early reported majority-Black counties. Despite Black repression, enough whites, namely northern transplants, still backed the Republican ticket to keep the election very close. However, it was expected that the final vote could be within a couple hundred ballots; meaning every challenge and question about the integrity of the vote could effect the ultimate winner.
The results took on a national importance as the Presidential contest remained bitterly close. While Samuel Tilden had a solid lead in the popular vote, the electoral college remained up in the air. As the state returns became clear, Tilden had a solid lead in the electoral college, but did not yet have a majority. The early returns in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana showed all three states would be close. If Hayes could carry them all, he’d win the Electoral College.
Early into election night, Republican officials were dejected and assumed they had lost. Hayes went to bed that night assuming he’d lost the election. However, as the close returns became clear, Daniel E. Sickles, a Republican Party diplomat and former general, noted the close returns in the south. He quickly dispatched telegrams to the Governors in LA, SC, and FL.
With your state sure for Hayes, he is elected. HOLD YOUR STATE.
As Florida began to count its votes for President and Governor, national forces would descend on the state. Under the national spotlight, it would be come clear just how hard it was to determine who was the true winner of a very narrow contest for President and Governor.
In the next issue, out either tomorrow or Thursday, we will look at the results of the 1876 election in Florida. Who really won it? And how reconstruction came to an end.