3.13 The End of Reconstruction and Its Legacy

Reconstruction unravels

By the mid-1870s, Northern political will to enforce Black civil rights faded. The Compromise of 1877 resolved the disputed presidential election by giving Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency in exchange for withdrawing federal troops from the South, ending federal enforcement of Reconstruction-era protections and abandoning African Americans to hostile state governments.

Redemption and racial terror

White Southern Democrats, called Redeemers, regained control of state governments, often through violence and fraud by groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the Red Shirts. This period, called Redemption, dismantled Black political power gained during Reconstruction and reestablished white supremacist rule across the former Confederacy.

Legacy: Jim Crow and disenfranchisement

The end of Reconstruction opened the door to Jim Crow laws, legalized segregation, and voter suppression tactics like poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses. The Supreme Court's *Plessy v. Ferguson* (1896) upheld 'separate but equal,' cementing decades of legal discrimination that shaped Black life well into the 20th century.

Key terms

Compromise of 1877

Deal giving Hayes the presidency in exchange for removing federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.

Redemption

Period when white Southern Democrats regained political control, often through violence and fraud.

Redeemers

White Southern Democrats who sought to restore pre-Reconstruction racial and political order.

Jim Crow laws

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the South after Reconstruction.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court case upholding 'separate but equal,' legalizing segregation for decades.

Try an AP-style question

The Compromise of 1877 resulted in…

1. Southern states losing statehood
2. federal troops leaving the South
3. a new Freedmen's Bureau
4. expanded Black voting rights