The Compromise of 1877<span> was a purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the intensely disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election. It resulted in the national government pulling the last federal troops out of the South, and formally ended the Reconstruction Era.</span>
The second last sentence of the first paragraph is the key message conveying Lincoln's view that war was forced for the protection of the nation.
"<span>Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish."</span>
