{"sf1_id":1088791,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Election of 1876","author":"AdamantZoroark","words":1567,"posted_at":"2016-10-22T10:09:00.000Z","tags":["No-Yiff","Political","Story"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1088791-the-election-of-1876","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/1088791","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=1088791\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"This is a fictionalized (well, with the presence of furs in this story, of course it is) account of the Election of 1876 - a great perversion of democracy and an especially poor event for the lives of black men and women in America. At one point, this election was the low point of our history, but now, 140 years later, we have a new threat to democracy with the Republican candidate for President threatening to refuse to accept the election results should he lose the election. So, while we witness the destruction of democracy threatened by a major party candidate who would also jeopardize the civil rights of millions of citizens, we must remember: We've been down this road before.\nEDIT 10/24: Corrected historical inaccuracy","content":"November 18, 1876 - Jacksonville,\nFlorida\n\n American\ndemocracy has reached a new low. Democratic candidate Samuel J.\nTilden was the undisputed winner of the popular vote. This means that\nhe should be the next President, right? Apparently not. See,\nAmerica has a very odd system of electing its Presidents. It's called\nthe Electoral College. In a nutshell, voters in each state do not\ndirectly elect the President. Instead, they vote for electors who\nrepresent their state, then these electors vote for the President.\nPreviously, this backwards system caused the election of 1824 to go\nto the House of Representatives, who voted for John Quincy Adams\nrather than popular vote winner Andrew Jackson. Apparently, now, it\nhas led to a new issue - the results in the states of Florida,\nLouisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon have been contested, meaning\nTilden could not be declared the winner despite having won the\npopular vote.\n\n I have a lot to\nlose from this contested election. You can call me Jack. I'm an\nanthro gray wolf. I was born into slavery on January 4, 1850. Slavery\nwas very much an institution maintained in America by the white man,\nbut my master was a human of African descent. I look back on my\nchildhood with dread; I was forced to work until I collapsed, and not\nonly was I whipped for failing to work as hard as my master pleased,\nI also frequently watched in horror as he did the same to his fellow\nnegro. The day slavery finally ended was the best day of my life.\nWhen I was finally free, I taught myself how to read and write,\neventually becoming a successful engineer. My civil rights here in\nFlorida are protected by the presence of federal troops enforcing\ncivil rights laws. I just heard about a plan to give all contested\nstates to Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, at the cost of\nhaving these troops withdrawn. I will get President Ulysses S. Grant\nto stop this from happening, with a plan in place to move to New York\nshould I fail to do so.\n\n \"Jack,\" a\nvoice called. \"Your train to Washington is going to leave. You\nshould get going.\"\n\n That was my\ngirlfriend, a white human named Susan. Our relationship remained a\nsecret; the two of us could face harsh legal penalties for being\ntogether.\n\n \"Yeah, I'm\ngoing,\" I said. \"Just had to get the last of my stuff together.\"\n\n I brought my last\nbag outside, putting it in the carriage and then giving Susan a last\nkiss before leaving.\n\n \"I don't know if\nyou can convince the President, but I wish you luck.\"\n \"I have to try.\nIf this deal goes through, the Southerners will once again be allowed\nto violate my civil rights. I have to push for some deal that will\nallow me to remain protected.\"\n \"Even if it\nmeans Tilden becoming President? But you voted for Hayes.\"\n \"This isn't\nabout that. Tilden won the popular vote. Not only do I have to\nprevent a deal that would allow Southern Democrats to start violating\nmy rights again, but I have to make sure Grant will uphold\ndemocracy.\"\n \"But is it\nreally democracy if women can't vote?\"\n \"I know. It's\npretty stupid that women can't vote. I've been advocating for women's\nsuffrage, but getting things to change is pretty hard.\"\n \"Yeah, it sure\nis... But, again, wish you luck in Washington. Love you.\"\n \"Love you too.\"\n\n I\nheaded my way towards the train station, getting there just in time\nto catch my train. Of course, the conductor made me sit in the\n\"Colored\" car, which I reluctantly did. There was really no\nrational basis for segregating the train cars, but I couldn't be\ngetting myself arrested before I even got to Washington. Once I sat\ndown, I lit a cigarette. I was sure to have a long week. I opened a\nbook, expecting to enjoy a quiet train ride, which ended up being\ndisrupted when a man sat by me.\n\n \"So,\" he said.\n\"Any reason you're going to Washington?\"\n \"Meeting with\nthe President. I have to make sure the right man gets in the White\nHouse on March 4.\"\n \"But how would\nthat help?\"\n \"I've discovered\nthat the Republicans intend to strike a deal with Southern Democrats,\nin which Hayes gets elected at the cost of the federal troops leaving\nthe South. Our rights are at stake here.\"\n \"But can you get\nGrant to stop it?\"\n \"I have to try.\nI've already planned to move to New York should I fail to convince\nGrant. I should be safer there.\"\n \"I doubt you'd\nbe treated better in New York, but I wish you luck.\"\n\n Finally, the man\nleft me alone, and the remainder of my trip was uneventful.\n\n\n\n November\n24, 1876 - District of Columbia\n\n I\nstood at the door of the White House, prepared to meet with the\nPresident. I felt pessimistic about it, but I had to try my hardest\nto prevent this deal from going through. Not only would this deal\nallow the civil rights of me, colored people, and of my fellow furs\nto be violated by the Southern Democrats once again, but it would be\na perversion of American democracy sure to be seen as the lowest\npoint of our great nation for well over a century.\n\n The door opened,\nand I was greeted by President Grant himself.\n\n \"Good afternoon,\nMr. President,\" I said. \"I'm Jack Greeley. I've come to talk to\nyou about the compromise.\"\n \"Ah, yes. Please\ncome in.\"\n\n The President let\nme in, guiding me to his office. There, he sat at his desk, as I\nsat in a chair across from him.\n \n \"Mr. President,\nI would like to ask that you reconsider this deal. It puts both civil\nrights and democracy in jeopardy.\"\n \"Mr. Greeley, if\nI understand correctly, you voted for Hayes. Is this correct?\"\n \"Yes, Mr.\nPresident.\"\n \"And you are\naware that Hayes would remain dedicated to fighting for the civil\nrights of freedmen like you?\"\n \"Yes, sir.\nThat's why I voted for him.\"\n \"Then may I\nunderstand why you want this deal to stop?\"\n \"Because not\nonly would putting the popular vote loser in office constitute a\ngross perversion of democracy, removal of the federal troops from the\nSouth puts the civil rights of freedmen like me in jeopardy. I don't\nknow what a Tilden presidency would do in the short term, but I do\nknow that the removal of troops from the South would be absolutely\ndevastating for the rights of freedmen in the long term.\"\n \"I understand\nyour concerns. However, the contested electoral votes need to be\nresolved, and I want to make sure our country gets a President who\nwould continue to uphold civil rights.\"\n \"Again, Hayes'\ncommitment to civil rights is why I voted for him. However, any deal\nthat involves turning a blind eye to atrocities committed by the\nSouthern Democrats is going to be absolutely disastrous for freedmen\nand their descendants in the long term.\"\n \"Do you have a\ndifferent proposal?\"\n \"In fact, I do.\nI would like to request instead that the Republicans concede the\nelection to Tilden, on the grounds that the troops in Florida,\nLouisiana, and South Carolina stay. This deal would both prevent\ndemocracy from being ruined and prevent civil rights from being\nviolated.\"\n \"Hmm... I'll\nthink about it.\"\n \"Thank you, Mr.\nPresident.\"\n\n I left the White\nHouse, feeling no better about the situation. I felt like President\nGrant just wanted me out of there, and that he wasn't giving my\nproposal any serious consideration. I got back in the carriage and\nstarted to write out a letter to Susan:\n\n\nDear Susan,\n\n\n I just finished meeting with the President. He said he would\nconsider my proposal, but I do not feel good about the situation. I\nhave to head to Albany now; I need to get out of Florida before the\nfederal troops leave. I hope you'll join me soon.\n\n\n\nLove,\n\n\n\nJake\n\n\n\nMarch 4, 1877\n- Albany, New York\n\n I\nnever heard back from Susan. The only things I heard about recently\nwere an act of Congress giving the election to Hayes, with the\nfederal troops leaving Florida pretty soon afterwards. So now, on the\nday of Hayes' inauguration, I sat at a pub, drinking, smoking, and\nmoping about how I couldn't save American democracy or the civil\nrights of freedmen in the South.\n\n\n\n\"You've sure been here a lot,\" said the bartender, a female gray\nwolf.\n\n\"November was hard on me. American democracy is dead and so are\nthe civil rights of freedmen.\"\n\n\"Yeah, I've heard this election was pretty bad. Tilden won the\npopular vote, so he should be in the White House right now.\"\n\n\"Yeah, exactly. I voted for Hayes and now I can't be happy with\nhim in there.\"\n\n\"Well, at the very least, future voters will remember this\nelection and make sure this never happens again. Although I'm not\nsure I could say American democracy was ever alive, given that women\nlike me can't even vote...\"\n\n\"This is true... It's truly stupid that women don't even get to\nvote.\"\n\n\n\nI paid the bartender and got up to leave,\n\n\n\n\"Hey, wait, I wanted to ask you something.\"\n\n\"Yeah?\"\n\n\"Um... Are you married?\"\n\n\"No, and I haven't heard from my girlfriend in months.\"\n\n\"Well, can I come by your place tonight?\"\n\n\"Oh... Sure.\""}