Reconstruction Collapses

Grant’s Presidency During Grant’s presidency the office was weak and ineffective b/c… His lack of political experience His view of the president’s role B/l it was the president’s role to carry out the laws and leave the development of policy to Congress This weak presidency helps to divide the Republican Party

Division of Republicans Liberal Republicans… Began to agree with Democrats They b/l the Republican Party was being led by people who were only concerned w/ making money Conservative Republicans stayed true to their party

Grant’s Second Term Grant’s second term was filled with a series of scandals… Bribes Tax evasion Scandals  not Grant himself but the people he appointed to office These scandals hurt the administrations reputation

Panic of 1873 Economic crisis that began with… Grant’s second term A series of bad railroad investments Caused a large number of banks to declare bankruptcy Smaller banks were forced to close The stock market plummeted!!!

Democrats Gain Control The Republicans were politically suffering from… The Panic of 1873 The scandals surrounding Grant’s second term Democrats won control of the House of Representatives They also made gains in the Senate

Reconstruction Ends!!! Reconstruction ends b/c… Democrats regained control of the South Rising power of Democrats in Congress made it harder to enforce Reconstruction policies Northerners were tired of worrying about the South They b/c more concerned with their economic problems

The Old South Returns To ensure their candidates won elections, Southern Democrats began… Stuffing ballot boxes Stealing ballot boxes in Republican precincts Bribing vote counters By 1876 Democrats had taken control of most Southern state legislatures The Southern states not under Democratic control was only b/c Union troops helped Republicans keep control of those areas

Election of 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes – Republican Candidate Samuel Tilden – Democratic Candidate Tilden gets 184 electoral votes  1 vote short of a majority vote Hayes gets 165 electoral votes This leaves 20 electoral votes in dispute!!! With so much election fraud on both sides no one knew who won the election

Election of 1876 Congress appointed a commission of 15 people to recommend someone for the presidency Made up from the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court The commission had 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats Hayes (Republican candidate) won with 8 votes HOWEVER, the commissions recommendation was not binding if both houses of Congress did not accept it

Compromise of 1877 Hayes will be accepted by both houses due to a compromise Compromise of 1877 Several Southern Democrats voted w/ the Republicans Republicans promised to pull federal troops out of the South

A New South Historians are not sure if a real deal actually took place, but it is a logical assumption With the Union troops out of the South Southern Democrats could now “redeem” the South as a whole

New Southern Industry The South realized they could not return to… A pre-Civil War agricultural economy Domination by the planter elite Southerners called for the creation of a “New South” Railroads were built Tobacco processing b/c big business Strong iron and steel industry developed Especially in Birmingham, AL

End of Reconstruction The “New South” had some improvements but not as much as was hoped for… The South remained largely agrarian End of the Union troops presence meant a return to the “Old South” The “Old South” Difficult for African Americans African Americans worked in unfair conditions