1. The End of Reconstruction

2. EQ: Why did reconstruction come to an end
EQ: Why did reconstruction come to an end? What are the lasting effects of its failure?
Take notes on your own sheet of paper. Use the EQ as your heading.

3. 1. KKK and anti-black violence Important leaders were killed
Intimidation=> blacks did not vote
Democrats take over state governments in the south

4. 2. Amnesty Act approved by Congress
150,000 former confederates were allowed to vote
Increase the power of the Democratic Party in the South

5. 3. End of the Freedmen’s Bureau
Congress said the FB had fulfilled its purpose
Cost too much $

6. 4. Widespread corruption in the Grant Administration
Diverted attention away from the South
Credit Mobilier
Whiskey Rings
Railroad contract $ to Republicans
IRS accepted bribes from distillers

7. 5. Panic of 1873 5 year depression—no $ to send the South
Panic, as a health officer, sweeping the garbage out of Wall Street
September 29, 1873, subscribed to the belief that such financial “busts” cleansed the economy, weeding out inefficient businesses and allowing the strong to survive.

8. 6. No support from the SCOTUS
Slaughterhouse cases undermined 14th & 15th Amendments
Plessy v. Ferguson ruled “separate but equal” is Constitutional (legalized segregation)

9. 7. Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner die (1868, 1874)
Republicans become less “radical”
Focus more on Industry and Big Business than on Reconstruction

10. 8. The Compromise of 1877 Formal end of Reconstruction
Federal troops left the South
Democrats gain HOME RULE

11. The Big Picture Despite successes such as
Amendments 13-15
Schools, colleges, organizations
The end of Reconstruction came too soon for former slaves. Delayed full civil rights for African Americans for over a century.
Voting Restrictions (grandfather clauses, literacy tests, poll taxes)
Jim Crow laws (segregation and inequality)
Racism and violence (often left unpunished)

12. Literacy Tests