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The End of the Reconstruction Stage III: Home Rule The Compromise of 1877 removed all the federal troops from the Southern States. This ended the Radical Reconstruction and began the third stage. During this stage , white Southerners regained control of their governments. This period was known as “redemption” in the South. These new “redeemer” Southern state governments immediately tried to undo what the radical reconstruction tried to accomplish. Because of the Constitution, these state governments could not abolish the 14th and 15th Amendments. These states will try to get around these laws. Avoiding the Amendments The South found several ways to avoid the Reconstruction Amendments and Congressional laws: 1) Poll Taxes - a tax placed on every voter in a state. Since poor African-Americans could not pay the tax, they were unable to vote. 2) Literacy Tests - a test to see if a person could read or write. If they failed, they would be unable to vote. Since many African-Americans had just begun to read and write, many failed the tests Poll taxes and literacy tests had an unforeseen effect. Not only did it stop African-Americans from voting, but it also stopped many poor white Southerners from voting. Many Southern States set up Grandfather Clauses. This law allowed people who could not pay the tax or pass the test could still vote if their grandfather was able to vote. These laws made sure that only Freedmen could not vote. In the state of Mississippi . . . during the Election of 1876, 180,000 African Americans voted in the Presidential election. by 1904, only 3,160 African Americans voted in the election. Enforcing Inequality Jim Crow Laws established strict racial separation (segregation) between whites and blacks in the South. Whites and Blacks were not allowed to interact in the community. These laws were supported by the Supreme Court in 1896 when the Plessey V. Ferguson case was decided. This decision said that segregation was legal as long as blacks were given “separate, but equal” facilities. KKK used intimidation and violence to reinforce the subservient position of African-Americans in society. This did not change in the United States until 1954 when the Supreme Court heard the case of Brown v. Board of Education. This case said that separate facilities were “unequal” Results of the Reconstruction There were three main results of the Reconstruction: 1) The Reconstruction Amendments These Amendments gave African-Americans freedom, citizenship and the right to vote 2) Resentment in the South For nearly 100 years, the South found ways to ignore and interrupt the rights of African-Americans. The South also became solidly Democratic. They associated the Republican Party with the reconstruction, so they never voted for a Republican candidate. 3) Movement to the West With the Civil War over and Reconstruction completed, many Americans wanted to move onto something new. Many people began to look for a new future in the Western territories