 The End of Reconstruction Unit II – Chapter 5 Ch. 12,3 text

Grant’s Presidency  Corruption scandal problems  Grant not directly involved, but failed to stop or address corruption of his friends and staff  Public grew tired of corruption of powerful industrialists and government officials  1873 – economic depression

Supreme Court  1873 – Slaughterhouse Cases  1875 – US v. Cruikshank  Limited the scope/influence of 14 th and 15 th amendment  Highlighted gov’t apathy towards equal civil rights

Southern Backlash  Formation of the KKK  Little fear of consequences  Redeemer movement – bipartisan effort to rebuild the traditional south (of course, the parties work together when they ought not too)  Reelection of white Confederates to political positions  1874 – Radical Republicans lost the House

Compromise of 1877  Election of 1876  Split between popular and electoral vote  Rutherford B. Hayes (Rep) elected president in exchange for the end of troop occupation and Cabinet positions for Southerners  Effectively ended Reconstruction  Public fatigued with Reconstruction and distracted by economic problems and concerns with immigration

Evaluating Reconstruction  Increased suffrage for blacks, but very limited gains  Reinvigorated women’s rights movement  Strengthened two party system – Rep. became seen as the party of big business, Dem. became associated as the pro- labor (and anti-black and immigrant) party  Increased power of federal government  Bitterness between North and South