After 1876 the old guard in the South—the Redeemers—begin to take power again. They pass laws that make voters pay a poll tax: that means most blacks can no longer vote. They make it impossible for blacks to get a decent education or buy land. They will not allow blacks to have fair trials. Soon many Southern blacks are not much better off than they had been when they were slaves. Some are worse off. James Garfield is a congressman and former clergyman who will soon become president. He asks: "What is freedom? Is it the bare privilege of not being chained? If this is all, then freedom is a bitter mockery, a cruel delusion."