What Hayes said was not what Hayes did. After securing promises from the Democrats, including Sen. Matthew Butler, that they would respect black civil rights, Hayes in March withdrew the troops from the South Carolina statehouse, thus effectively ending Chamberlain’s governorship. His decision won the praise of white Southerners and northern liberals alike. In Louisiana a federal commission negotiated a settlement that yielded the same results. In neither state did the Democrats keep their promises. A South Carolina freedman saw the writing on the wall: “I am an unprotected freedman … O God
...more
