Reconstruction Comes to an End

What problems did

Reconstruction lead Why and when did
to, and how did they Reconstruction
affect black and come to an end?
white southerners?
 Overview

• The Republican Party (Lincoln’s Party) struggled

during Reconstruction
• Disagreements among black leaders and
Republican factionalism (they couldn’t remain
united)
• Strong opposition from white southerners in the
Democratic Party
• Sadly, this opposition so desperately
wanted to restore white political power
that they were willing to resort to violence
and terror through groups like the Ku Klux
Klan (KKK).
 Southern whites
disliked federal
Claimed that Republican governments were corrupt
soldiers stationed
in their states

Rage and fear Race riots

erupted into
violence Black churches and schools were burned

Terrorist groups Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

formed Used violence and murder to subdue blacks and their supporters

Problems with Reconstruction

Enforcement Acts
• Congress passed three Enforcement Acts in
1870-71
• Banned the use of disguises to deprive
any person of his or her rights
• Set heavy penalties for anyone
attempting to prevent a citizen from
voting
• New laws empowered the U.S. Army
and Federal Courts to arrest and punish
members of the KKK
• The Klansmen were arrested and the Klan’s
power was broken within a few years
 New Labor Systems and Economic Hardship
• Most African Americans were
trapped in poverty
• Had to return to work on
plantations
• Sharecropping: landowner provided
land, seed (often cotton), tools, a
mule, and a cabin in exchange for
labor and most of the crop
• Sharecroppers got a plot of land
to do as they wished.
• Tennant Farming: renting land and
could choose which crops to grow,
Most grew food crops
Congress lost interest in Reconstruction
• Republicans retired and focus shifted to economics

Violent Redemption
• Shotgun Policy
• Hamburg Massacre

Election of 1876
• Democrat Samuel J. Tilden beat Republican Rutherford B. Hayes
• Republicans challenged election results

Compromise of 1877
• Three disputed states lead to charges of fraud
• Southerners agree to accept Hayes if he agrees to pull all federal troops from the South
• Hayes becomes the 19th president of the United States

The End of Reconstruction

Jim Crow& End of Reconstruction

Without Federal troops in the South, Blacks

were kept from voting by:
• Intimidation
• Poll Taxes which poor blacks
couldn’t afford
• Literacy Tests: Had to read and
write to pass; Southern states once
had laws against teaching slaves
how to read or write, therefore,
most blacks couldn’t read or write.
Tests were more difficult for blacks
• Grandfather Clause allowed
poor, uneducated whites to vote
Jim Crow & End of Reconstruction
The Civil Rights Cases & Plessy v. Ferguson

i. Civil Rights Cases of 1883

1. Southern business owners were refusing
public services to blacks
2. US Supreme Court struck down the Civil
Rights Act of 1875 (prohibited
discrimination of public facilities), saying
that the 14th Amendment applied only to
the states; Private citizens could now
legally discriminate based on race
Jim Crow & End of Reconstruction

• Plessy v. Ferguson
• Homer Plessy was 1/8th black and
tried to sit in the white section of
a train car; was arrested
• US Supreme Court ruled that
facilities could be separate as
long as they were equal, thus
establishing the “Separate but
Equal” clause which allowed for
legal segregation in the South
 End of Reconstruction

• Result: Even though Reconstruction

was meant to bring the United
States back together as one entity,
the culture of the South and
decisions made by the Supreme
Court allowed for legal
discrimination that would deny
many Blacks rights that would
eventually be fought for during the
Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s
and 1950s.
 Spectrum Analysis

• Instructions: In rotating stations, you will discuss and analyze various events
of Reconstruction. Based on the event, you will rate the event on the
spectrum and provide evidence for your justification.

Slave Free