Rutherford B. Hayes

The Voting Rights Act & The Great Betrayal of 1877

April 30, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On April 24, 1877, on orders from President Rutherford B. Hayes, federal troops withdrew from the state house in Louisiana — the last federally defended state house in the South — just 12 years after the end of the Civil War.

This withdrawal marked the end of Reconstruction and paved the way for the unrestrained resurgence of white supremacist rule in the South, carrying with it the rapid deterioration of political rights for Black Americans.

What began with Hayes’s elevation to the Presidency following the disputed Election of 1876, is now having dramatic political consequences 150 years later. [Read more…] about The Voting Rights Act & The Great Betrayal of 1877

The End of Reconstruction & The Civil Rights Cases of 1883

August 19, 2025 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Shortly after the Supreme Court handed down the Civil Rights Cases in 1883 [which declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional], a mass meeting was called for Lincoln Hall in the nation’s capital. Two prominent Republican orators — one black and one white — were the featured speakers. Frederick Douglass — the runaway slave who had become an avid student of the Constitution in the course of his career as an abolitionist — spoke first.

Robert G. Ingersoll [born in 1833 in Yates County, NY] — highly valued as a Republican orator despite his outspoken atheist views — closed the program. In some ways, the event was a political rally, similar to others that had characterized both the long battle against slavery and the heady early days of Reconstruction. [Read more…] about The End of Reconstruction & The Civil Rights Cases of 1883

US Military in Our Streets: Posse Comitatus in Historical Perspective

June 8, 2025 by John Warren 3 Comments

In the 1975 film Posse, Amsterdam, NY native Kirk Douglas (who directed the film) plays an unscrupulous U.S. Marshal running for U.S. Senate who leads an elite posse in pursuit of a gunslinger to further his political career. In the final scenes the posse has to reassess whose side they are really on. The echos of recent events are uncanny.

The word posse is a shorted form of posse comitatus meaning “power of the county.” It refers to the power of local officials to grant policing authority to local people to assist in criminal justice activities. It’s a powerful authority, easily manipulated by unscrupulous actors and has been frequently abused throughout American history by local (and a few times national) officials, especially to racially target minorities. [Read more…] about US Military in Our Streets: Posse Comitatus in Historical Perspective

Wanna Bet? Election Wagering Is Nothing New

September 9, 2024 by John Warren Leave a Comment

Billionaire Peter Thiel-funded Polymarket, an online crypto-based prediction market that accepts bets on electoral outcomes (among other things) is expected to have $1 billion wagered on the presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris by election day.

That may be a record for election wagering, but betting on politics is nothing new. Wagering on election outcomes is probably as old as elections themselves, and was particularly popular in the United States until it was outlawed. [Read more…] about Wanna Bet? Election Wagering Is Nothing New

1876: The Ticonderoga Sentinel Gets Political

January 24, 2024 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

The season was changing. “Berrying days are buried,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on September 8, 1876. “The evenings are delightful, and some persons are covering over the more delicate plants to keep off the frost.”

There was even bigger change afoot at the local weekly newspaper, under new ownership. The two-and-a-half-year-old newspaper made its first political endorsements – for Republican presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and gubernatorial candidate Edwin D. Morgan. [Read more…] about 1876: The Ticonderoga Sentinel Gets Political

Albany’s Daniel Manning: Newspaperman & Secretary of the Treasury

October 4, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Daniel Manning was born in Albany, NY, on August 16, 1831, the second son of John and Eleanor Manning. The Mannings were of Irish, English, and Dutch descent.

Daniel was six at the time of the Panic of 1837 when his father died, causing financial strain on the politically connected family. When Daniel was ten he was appointed a page in the New York State Assembly where he served for two years. During the second year, he also got a job distributing the Albany Atlas newspaper. [Read more…] about Albany’s Daniel Manning: Newspaperman & Secretary of the Treasury

Rutherford B. Hayes

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