1. Reconstruction Collapses

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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!!!

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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