How close was the US to another Civil War in 1876 (Short Animated Documentary)
video description
Date: 2025-09-01
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 20
colinleighton8295
I respectfully disagree regarding the agreement being a myth. 1877 effectively ended reconstruction and importantly the Republican’s chances in the south, as it was now clear that there would be no federal troops preventing voter supression of black voters ever again. And while Hayes might have had more moderate views than Grant, it’s important to note that Grant also removed troops from the south in the outgoing moments of his presidency, which would be consistant with him trying to legitimize Haye’s incoming term. I understand this is speculative, but it is more or less the consensus among historians that the Republicans didn’t give up their voting power in the South for free, but to ensure haye’s presidency would be seen as legitimate.
As for your argument about the democrats continuing to claim tilden won, that doesn’t really matter IMO, because it’s entirely feasible that they DID believe they won but nonetheless understood the reality of republicans (grant) currently occupying the white house. They made the agreement knowing they more or less had to, but at least got something out of it. But that didn’t mean they weren’t still bitter and wanted everyone to know that.
Anyway, sorry for the essay, I love this stuff and your content!
reply
I respectfully disagree regarding the agreement being a myth. 1877 effectively ended reconstruction and importantly the Republican’s chances in the south, as it was now clear that there would be no federal troops preventing voter supression of black voters ever again. And while Hayes might have had more moderate views than Grant, it’s important to note that Grant also removed troops from the south in the outgoing moments of his presidency, which would be consistant with him trying to legitimize Haye’s incoming term. I understand this is speculative, but it is more or less the consensus among historians that the Republicans didn’t give up their voting power in the South for free, but to ensure haye’s presidency would be seen as legitimate.
As for your argument about the democrats continuing to claim tilden won, that doesn’t really matter IMO, because it’s entirely feasible that they DID believe they won but nonetheless understood the reality of republicans (grant) currently occupying the white house. They made the agreement knowing they more or less had to, but at least got something out of it. But that didn’t mean they weren’t still bitter and wanted everyone to know that.
Anyway, sorry for the essay, I love this stuff and your content!
reply
selfdo
The Southern States, even if they had the collective will to re-secede from the United States and fight, simply lacked the means to do so in 1877. But the narrator neglected to mention that one of the states threatened to send its militia of 30K men, Kentucky, to march on Washington and prevent the Hayes inauguration, and WV and VA, though they didn't formally mobilize their respective militias, promised the Kentucky force safe passage to DC, and wouldn't discipline any of their militia personnel that volunteered to join them. At the time, the estimated strength of US forces, Army and Navy, in vicinity of Washington, was about 7, 000 personnel, mostly military bureaucrats, and the midshipmen at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. KY had remained strongly loyal to the Union during the civil war, though in its western parts there was a pro-Confederacy movement, and the Confederate congress had seated delegates from a provisional Confederate group proclaiming itself the legitimate state government at Paducah, though it fled from the state shortly after the KY governor sent a force to arrest them. In the 1876 election, Kentucky went over sixty percent for Tilden, and WV and VA likewise were solid Tilden wins.
reply
The Southern States, even if they had the collective will to re-secede from the United States and fight, simply lacked the means to do so in 1877. But the narrator neglected to mention that one of the states threatened to send its militia of 30K men, Kentucky, to march on Washington and prevent the Hayes inauguration, and WV and VA, though they didn't formally mobilize their respective militias, promised the Kentucky force safe passage to DC, and wouldn't discipline any of their militia personnel that volunteered to join them. At the time, the estimated strength of US forces, Army and Navy, in vicinity of Washington, was about 7, 000 personnel, mostly military bureaucrats, and the midshipmen at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. KY had remained strongly loyal to the Union during the civil war, though in its western parts there was a pro-Confederacy movement, and the Confederate congress had seated delegates from a provisional Confederate group proclaiming itself the legitimate state government at Paducah, though it fled from the state shortly after the KY governor sent a force to arrest them. In the 1876 election, Kentucky went over sixty percent for Tilden, and WV and VA likewise were solid Tilden wins.
reply
eritain
The um, actually comment -- 2 items:
The 13th amendment abolished chattel slavery, but it did not abolish slavery. In fact, it explicitly preserved it, when practiced upon prisoners. (Cue Jim Crow state governments criminalizing things they could convict Black folks for) As of 2025, nine states have gone further and constitutionally prohibited involuntary labor in prisons, whereas fifteen explicitly uphold it in their own constitutions.
We commonly speak of states being readmitted to the Union, but legally, they never left. This is the position of the 1869 US Supreme Court ruling in Texas v. White, the Reconstruction acts passed by Congress in 1867, and the previous presidential orders for reconstruction. The states, once reconstructed, were readmitted to representation in Congress and to what Lincoln once called their proper practical relation to the Union.
reply
The um, actually comment -- 2 items:
The 13th amendment abolished chattel slavery, but it did not abolish slavery. In fact, it explicitly preserved it, when practiced upon prisoners. (Cue Jim Crow state governments criminalizing things they could convict Black folks for) As of 2025, nine states have gone further and constitutionally prohibited involuntary labor in prisons, whereas fifteen explicitly uphold it in their own constitutions.
We commonly speak of states being readmitted to the Union, but legally, they never left. This is the position of the 1869 US Supreme Court ruling in Texas v. White, the Reconstruction acts passed by Congress in 1867, and the previous presidential orders for reconstruction. The states, once reconstructed, were readmitted to representation in Congress and to what Lincoln once called their proper practical relation to the Union.
reply
history_matters
Only like 5% of people owned slaves. and I have to elaborate after hearing what you said.
You honestly believe everybody in the north was just so good, honest, and brave that they fought a bloody war and lost half their children because they so desperately wants to free some slaves
You're crazy. Nobody is that decent. It's not even close. Name one other time anything remotely like that has happened in historyever.
This war was about the south trying to get out from a new central banking authority, and to phase out the slavery system over the course of a several years so that the south didn't fall into economic recession from the labor shock.
You'll be saying Iraq was about weapons of mass destruction one day too.
reply
Only like 5% of people owned slaves. and I have to elaborate after hearing what you said.
You honestly believe everybody in the north was just so good, honest, and brave that they fought a bloody war and lost half their children because they so desperately wants to free some slaves
You're crazy. Nobody is that decent. It's not even close. Name one other time anything remotely like that has happened in historyever.
This war was about the south trying to get out from a new central banking authority, and to phase out the slavery system over the course of a several years so that the south didn't fall into economic recession from the labor shock.
You'll be saying Iraq was about weapons of mass destruction one day too.
reply
johncoker6146
I am a history major but this version of the 1876 election. I have never heard about because in college my professors said the 1876 election came down to South Carolina because the Governor race in SC between Chamberland a Republican and Wade Hampton a Democrat was in dispute because both claimed they won and Chamberland was being protected by federal troops. At the time the electoral count was tilden 184 and Hayes 177. the Republicans approached Hampton and said if SC gave there 8 electoral votes to Hayes in return all federal troops would be removed from SC and Hampton would be governor it was compromise of 1877. As result Hayes won by one vote over tilden.
reply
I am a history major but this version of the 1876 election. I have never heard about because in college my professors said the 1876 election came down to South Carolina because the Governor race in SC between Chamberland a Republican and Wade Hampton a Democrat was in dispute because both claimed they won and Chamberland was being protected by federal troops. At the time the electoral count was tilden 184 and Hayes 177. the Republicans approached Hampton and said if SC gave there 8 electoral votes to Hayes in return all federal troops would be removed from SC and Hampton would be governor it was compromise of 1877. As result Hayes won by one vote over tilden.
reply
GeorgiaRidgerunner
I was previously un aware of this but what i do know is this
we southerners would like to forget the civil war but the thing is we cant if we cant when we get the upperhand in a bebate or an argument which is most of the time to be quite honest the yankee scum always goes to tried and well you lost the civil war or something about the civil war quite frankly you cant keep ripping open old wounds and rubbing salt in said wounds and not think bad things are gonna happen this country right now is more divided than it ever has been and a second civil war is in everyone mind none of southerners want the war but the dems just keep pushing
reply
I was previously un aware of this but what i do know is this
we southerners would like to forget the civil war but the thing is we cant if we cant when we get the upperhand in a bebate or an argument which is most of the time to be quite honest the yankee scum always goes to tried and well you lost the civil war or something about the civil war quite frankly you cant keep ripping open old wounds and rubbing salt in said wounds and not think bad things are gonna happen this country right now is more divided than it ever has been and a second civil war is in everyone mind none of southerners want the war but the dems just keep pushing
reply
patrickokeano352
By 1876 the experiment known as the first self-governing free constitutional republic had already been corrupted. The objective of the US in creating a New Order for the Ages was to establish the concept of a 'free citizen' rather than another reiteration of a mere subject. It failed. In 1865 there was bait and switch courtesy of Lincoln which permitted formerly tyrannical institutions to embrace 'western democracy' and tell their 'subjects' they too were 'free citizens. You all remain subjects. Free citizens have choice. And the concept that someone or something should have entitlement to what you have is the culprit. Liberty means choice.
reply
By 1876 the experiment known as the first self-governing free constitutional republic had already been corrupted. The objective of the US in creating a New Order for the Ages was to establish the concept of a 'free citizen' rather than another reiteration of a mere subject. It failed. In 1865 there was bait and switch courtesy of Lincoln which permitted formerly tyrannical institutions to embrace 'western democracy' and tell their 'subjects' they too were 'free citizens. You all remain subjects. Free citizens have choice. And the concept that someone or something should have entitlement to what you have is the culprit. Liberty means choice.
reply
charleslewis1881
1876 was only 11 years after the first civil war. The streets in virtually every town were filled with crippled and insane veterans. Hands, feet, arms, legs missing and in terrible straights. Quite a few of them were still alive when we went to war in 1916. Every town had a graveyard where members of the community were buried (often in absentia due to a lack of body parts. These examples of why not to start another such war.
reply
1876 was only 11 years after the first civil war. The streets in virtually every town were filled with crippled and insane veterans. Hands, feet, arms, legs missing and in terrible straights. Quite a few of them were still alive when we went to war in 1916. Every town had a graveyard where members of the community were buried (often in absentia due to a lack of body parts. These examples of why not to start another such war.
reply
LeftvsReich
The greatest mistake this nation ever made was giving the traitors of the former Confederacy the ability to vote for what they couldn't take by force. We're seeing the consequences of this more today than ever before. These traitors never should have been treated as full citizens ever again after the Civil War, and most certainly should have never been allowed back into office in any capacity.
reply
The greatest mistake this nation ever made was giving the traitors of the former Confederacy the ability to vote for what they couldn't take by force. We're seeing the consequences of this more today than ever before. These traitors never should have been treated as full citizens ever again after the Civil War, and most certainly should have never been allowed back into office in any capacity.
reply
michaeloptv
Cool fact:
In 1887 (10 years later) Congress passed an act stating that the vote tally was FINAL and couldn’t just be swapped by states and strengthened laws to try to prevent swing votes in the electoral college.
In other words: had the rules of Today been in place Tilden would have been president. Because a state just cannot throw out votes without probable cause.
reply
Cool fact:
In 1887 (10 years later) Congress passed an act stating that the vote tally was FINAL and couldn’t just be swapped by states and strengthened laws to try to prevent swing votes in the electoral college.
In other words: had the rules of Today been in place Tilden would have been president. Because a state just cannot throw out votes without probable cause.
reply
OneShotBruh
I have to say, seeing a (slightly longer) video made me feel extremely weird. After the half way point I felt as if the video had ended and I was hallucinating the rest xD
Great video though, despite what I wrote above, I think I like this change and I hope it is a permanent one (unless there really isn't that much to say on a topic without going into details.
reply
I have to say, seeing a (slightly longer) video made me feel extremely weird. After the half way point I felt as if the video had ended and I was hallucinating the rest xD
Great video though, despite what I wrote above, I think I like this change and I hope it is a permanent one (unless there really isn't that much to say on a topic without going into details.
reply
helloimskip
1: 22 Thank you accurately depicting the Ku Klux Klan from what they actually looked like from the 1860s and 1870s. The popular image of Klansmen with the white robes and pointy hats (likely based off the Spanish Easter Capirote dress) only came around in the 1920s after the film, The Birth of a Nation, popularized that outfit for the Klan revival in the 1920s.
reply
1: 22 Thank you accurately depicting the Ku Klux Klan from what they actually looked like from the 1860s and 1870s. The popular image of Klansmen with the white robes and pointy hats (likely based off the Spanish Easter Capirote dress) only came around in the 1920s after the film, The Birth of a Nation, popularized that outfit for the Klan revival in the 1920s.
reply
tylerhernandez5978
Thanks for using French to represent Louisiana's votes, we were still solidly francophone at that time, many of us still are!
As a Louisianian, Hayes winding down reconstruction was one of the worst things ever to happen to us. We needed that federal oversight, here in New Orleans, our police are under FBI supervision, it's still that bad down here.
reply
Thanks for using French to represent Louisiana's votes, we were still solidly francophone at that time, many of us still are!
As a Louisianian, Hayes winding down reconstruction was one of the worst things ever to happen to us. We needed that federal oversight, here in New Orleans, our police are under FBI supervision, it's still that bad down here.
reply
RedDeadSavvy813
Fantastic work as always.
Election 1876 was one of the most consequential elections in American history. Whenever the media screams, Politics as usual, Remember decency and civic virtue in the good old days, or This upcoming election is the most critical election in US History, show them this video.
America was about to be consumed by oblivion.
reply
Fantastic work as always.
Election 1876 was one of the most consequential elections in American history. Whenever the media screams, Politics as usual, Remember decency and civic virtue in the good old days, or This upcoming election is the most critical election in US History, show them this video.
America was about to be consumed by oblivion.
reply
HealYourWorldview
Do you all ever notice that American history classes always suspiciously ignore teaching details of 1865 - 1840 issues. Alot of shady things happened post civil war but sure Custer's last stand and indian battles are all we were exposed to. There is a glaring blank spot and it's obvious the 4th branch of government was already a huge problem.
reply
Do you all ever notice that American history classes always suspiciously ignore teaching details of 1865 - 1840 issues. Alot of shady things happened post civil war but sure Custer's last stand and indian battles are all we were exposed to. There is a glaring blank spot and it's obvious the 4th branch of government was already a huge problem.
reply
WreckedRover
You limey liar. Lincoln could have freed the slaves in the Union any time he wanted. He didn't do that until after the war. In fact the emancipation proclamation only gave freedom to slaves in rebel controlled territory. In another words that slimey Lincoln was trying to foment a slave uprising and get a bunch of women and children killed/raped.
reply
You limey liar. Lincoln could have freed the slaves in the Union any time he wanted. He didn't do that until after the war. In fact the emancipation proclamation only gave freedom to slaves in rebel controlled territory. In another words that slimey Lincoln was trying to foment a slave uprising and get a bunch of women and children killed/raped.
reply
envyamore9588
We're literally dealing with the problems of this year today. ending reconstruction was a horrific move that allowed postbellum ideologies to ferment in Europe and cause the world wars and such ideologies have been again weaponized today to justify maga and severe corruption of government as industry and government engage the vile maxim.
reply
We're literally dealing with the problems of this year today. ending reconstruction was a horrific move that allowed postbellum ideologies to ferment in Europe and cause the world wars and such ideologies have been again weaponized today to justify maga and severe corruption of government as industry and government engage the vile maxim.
reply
robertallen4490
Seems like it’s always the veterans who grasp how horrible war is, and the ones who have never seen combat who romanticize the glory of war, and often see it as a noble struggle they wish to turn to all too often. Firsthand knowledge of just how horrible the 1861 Civil War was probably prevented the 1876 war from ever happening.
reply
Seems like it’s always the veterans who grasp how horrible war is, and the ones who have never seen combat who romanticize the glory of war, and often see it as a noble struggle they wish to turn to all too often. Firsthand knowledge of just how horrible the 1861 Civil War was probably prevented the 1876 war from ever happening.
reply
Thomas-n4r
I think we need another civil war. Not so one side can dominate the other. So people alive currently can experience the horrors of a war between brothers on native soil. Maybe then everyone will SHUT UP for a change and realize coming together is better than killing and burning your fellow Americans.
reply
I think we need another civil war. Not so one side can dominate the other. So people alive currently can experience the horrors of a war between brothers on native soil. Maybe then everyone will SHUT UP for a change and realize coming together is better than killing and burning your fellow Americans.
reply
history_matters
Not a 'civil war' a blue demoncrazy against real people today the maga/rep - the blue ones as always ripped us of as thay doing it nowdays in northamerica/deuilsrope/australia/nz - not a civil war but assault against humanity/life/liberty with thair invadors and illegals in the ndo's but c timo
reply
Not a 'civil war' a blue demoncrazy against real people today the maga/rep - the blue ones as always ripped us of as thay doing it nowdays in northamerica/deuilsrope/australia/nz - not a civil war but assault against humanity/life/liberty with thair invadors and illegals in the ndo's but c timo
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
