Download The End of the Reconstruction

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