Wormley House Agreement

Carol Gelderman, A Free Man of Color And His Hotel; Race, Reconstruction and the Role of the Federal Government, (Washington, D.C., Potomac Books, 2012); John DeFerrari, «The Talented Mr James Wormley,» Streetsofwashington.com, www.streetsofwashington.com/2012/09/the-talented-mr-james-wormley.html. Although tilden or Hayes did not attend the Wormley meetings, they were both mailed by telegram. A «secret agreement,» later known as the Compromise of 1877, was reached on Monday, February 26, 1877, just days before the end of the grant administration. The agreement paved the way for the end of reconstruction because Hayes negotiators assured the Southern Democrats in writing that in exchange for the election`s consent, federal forces would be withdrawn in the three southern states and that those states would regain the right to «control their own affairs.» The famous caterer James Wormley bought properties on I Street in the early 1850s between 15th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. and developed these properties into a store of thriving restaurants and hotels. Business quickly became a favorite among military and political leaders of the time, as well as musicians and literary figures such as General George McClellan, Mississippi Senator (then President of the Confederation) Jefferson Davis, and Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner. In May and December 1860, Lieutenant-General Winifred Scott stayed at Wormley`s house for a month while in town on business. In 1861, after a stay, the English writer Anthony Trollope wrote: «My owner told me that he was sorry that I was leaving… No white American citizen, who takes the position of the owner, would have let himself be demeaned by such comfortable words… Wormley was commissioned in 1867 by Foreign Minister William H. Steward to place the Japanese commission in his hotel for six weeks. Hayes appointed Tennessees David Key to the general post, but never followed the promised land allocation for Texas and the Pacific.

Within two months, however, Hayes had ordered federal troops to leave their posts, which guarded Louisiana and the South Carolina Statehouses, allowing Democrats to take control of both states. With the Florida Supreme Court having already declared a Democratic victory in the 1876 governorship elections, Democrats had been brought back to power across the South. The outgoing president, Republican Ulysses S. Grant, abducted the Florida soldiers and, as president, Hayes abducted the remaining troops from South Carolina and Louisiana. As soon as the troops died, many white Republicans left the city, and the Redeemer Democrats, who already dominated other southern governments, took control. The exact terms of the agreement are somewhat disputed because the documents are insufficient. [1] WORMLEY LECTURE. The Wormley Conference was the name of the lecture series that settled the controversy surrounding the controversial election of 1876. The name was born out of the fact that the closing conference was held on February 26, 1877 at Wormley`s Hotel in Washington, D.C. In accordance with the terms of the agreement, The Democrats authorized the counting of votes that would make Rutherford B. Hayes the President of the United States; In exchange, Republicans withdrew federal troops from southern states, thus accepting the downfall of reconstruction governments in those states.