About this episode

This episode explores the political corruption and challenges in America following the Civil War, highlighting the dominance of local political machines and the impact of the Compromise of 1877.

In the years following the Civil War, American politics were disjointed, corrupt, and, at the federal level, largely ineffective in terms of addressing the challenges that Americans faced. Local and regional politics, and the bosses who ran the political machines, dominated through systematic graft and bribery. Americans around the country recognized that solutions to the mounting problems they faced would not come from Washington, DC, but from their local political leaders. Thus, the cycle of federal ineffectiveness and machine politics continued through the remainder of the century relatively unabated. Meanwhile, in the Compromise of 1877, an electoral commission declared Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the contested presidential election in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. As a result, Southern Democrats were able to reestablish control over their home governments, which would have a tremendous impact on the direction of southern politics and society in the decades to come. All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/20-1-political-corruption-in-postbellum-america…

People in this episode

Host: Miranda Casturo

Topics covered

• Political Corruption
• Postbellum America
• Civil War
• Federal Politics
• Local Politics
• Machine Politics
• Southern Democrats

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OpenStax

Places: South Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, Washington, DC

More episodes of A Journey into Human History

• Relief from the Chaos of Urban Life · June 26, 2026 · 21 min
• The African American “Great Migration” and New European Immigration · June 24, 2026 · 12 min
• Urbanization and Its Challenges · June 22, 2026 · 14 min
• A New American Consumer Culture · June 19, 2026 · 7 min
• Building Industrial America on the Backs of Labor · June 17, 2026 · 24 min
• From Invention to Industrial Growth · June 15, 2026 · 17 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the A Journey into Human History podcast page.