I've read that George Custer had political ambitions and that if he had achieved victories, hoped to run for President of the United States. I know that speculative questions are rejected here, but I want to know if there are any indications from his surviving papers as to what his political positions might've been. I am wondering if George Custer had won at the Little Big Horn and been drafted and swept into the White House, would Reconstruction have ended?
The election of 1876 deserves a lot more attention in our historical memory. It's when the white supremacists finally won the civil war. It seems that shame has caused it to be erased from history, much like the Mexican War.
What were the issues of the election of 1876? What were the various factions that led to the compromise and abandonment of the former slaves?
The eleciton of 1876 was marred by corruption (South carolina has 101% voter turnout). Mostly in the South and mostly regarding the suppression of republicans. Regardless, after the ballots were counted the republican, Hayes, won the electoral college by only a single vote. The democrats claimed fraud and refused to certify the votes. Things came to a halt as no one could figure out a way forward. The Republicans owned the Senate but the Democrats the House. Eventually, a compromise was made where the Democrats would certify the votes in exchange for Hayes withdrawing federal troops from the South, in addition to some other things some of which happened some of which did not.
As for why Republicans were willing to make this compromise, well you have to remember that even though many Republicans and Northerners were abolitionist, or at least leaned that way, they were almost exclusively still White Supremacists. Plus Reconstruction was proving costly both in money and in lives. Many Republicans viewed they had already contributed enough to Black Americans by winning the Civil War and passing the 13th amendment. Ultimately Reconstruction became politically untenable as Southern Democrats despised it and Northern Republicans grew indifferent.