Following the end of Reconstruction in 1877, Democrats made large gains in congressional elections in the South. Northern Republicans had been responsible for Reconstruction programs that undermined the powers of individual Southern states—partly to protect the rights of recently freed slaves, and partly to maintain influence over the national government: no Democrat was elected president from 1860 through 1884.

A Democratic majority gained control of the House of Representatives in 1878. They wanted to remove the last example of Reconstruction and return full constitutional power to Southern states. Nevertheless, the federal government continued to supervise elections in the South because of widespread evidence that African American voters were being intimidated from voting—through laws enacted to discriminate against them, and often through violence.

James A. Garfield (1831-1881; see entry in volume 3), a Republican congressman from Ohio, had served on...