In searching for a suitable article to include in my “This Day in History” section, I chose the February 20th, 1877 edition of the Sacramento Union to try to find something interesting.
There was column after column of reports on the volatile situation in Congress surrounding the contested 1876 election of Hayes and Tilden. The electoral college was tied, the votes from Oregon, South Carolina and Louisiana were suspicious enough to warrant recounts and a Congressional review, the Democratic caucus was considering “revolutionary” responses to the Hayes victory. It appears that Congress was in turmoil, these columns can be read here, under the heading ” THE ELECTORAL COUNT. ”
Included in this reading were references to the “White League”, a paramilitary “arm” of the Democratic party in Louisiana. Wikipedia has an interesting page, worth reading, which can be found here.
I kept thinking this seems oddly like the political climate in the US today, with Trump vs. the rest of the country.