Effect on DemocracyEffect on Democracy  Reconstruction expanded democracy while the federal government protected the rights of African Americans  When Reconstruction was abandoned, democracy was compromised and the rights of African Americans were limited by southern governments

Anti-African American Factions  Groups like the Ku Klux Klan organized to intimidate African American voters in the South  Blacks were only able to vote with the protection of federal troops stationed in the South  There were never enough troops to ensure the safety of black voters  African American voters were targets of both economic and physical intimidation as well as violence and even lynching

“Redeemers” of the South“Redeemers” of the South  White voters were eventually pardoned and allowed to vote again  They returned to positions of power and were able to, as they termed it, “redeem” the Southern governments  Republican leaders were replaced with Southern Democrats (Solid South), which remained in power until the Civil Rights Era

New Issues Undermine Reconstruction  New political issues replaced the nation’s interest in preserving the gains made in the Civil War.  Corruption in the Grant administration  Economic depression in the North  Growing interest in western settlement  Newspapers reported about the violence against Freedmen which undermined Northerners’ belief that things could change in the South  Continuing Southern resistance to granting African Americans equal rights undermined the public and governmental resolve to protect freedmen

Compromise of 1877Compromise of 1877  1876 presidential election was disputed and led to the Compromise of 1877  Republican Rutherford Hayes was awarded the Presidency in exchange for the promise to withdraw all federal troops from the South, returning political power to the Southern Democrats and effectively ending Reconstruction

Beginnings of the Jim Crow Era  After Reconstruction, the rights promised to African Americans in the 14 th and 15 th amendments were gradually rescinded by southern state governments  Southern whites used race to drive a political wedge between poor black and poor white farmers  Southern states passed laws requiring whites and African Americans to use separate facilities (segregation)

Plessy v. FergusonPlessy v. Ferguson  1896-Supreme Court upheld segregation  Ruled that “Separate but Equal” facilities were constitutional  Negated equal protection of African Americans under the 14 th amendment  Encouraged southern states to enact more segregation laws (Jim Crow Laws)

Legacy of Jim Crow LawsLegacy of Jim Crow Laws  Federal government not only abandoned African Americans after Reconstruction but, through the Courts, legitimized discrimination against them  Segregated by law, African Americans were relegated to second-class citizens

Voter DiscriminationVoter Discrimination  Poll taxes and literacy tests all but eliminated the effectiveness of the 15 th amendment in protecting the right to vote for African Americans  The Grandfather Clause ensured the poor, illiterate whites would still be able to vote  African Americans who could read and pay the tax were often too scared to vote  Without the power to vote, African Americans could not protect themselves through political participation

Economic TroublesEconomic Troubles  As cotton depleted the soil and prices fell, sharecroppers and tenant farmers fell deeper into poverty  African Americans were discriminated against in hiring practices of new southern textile mills  Unable to get work in the South, many African Americans migrated to the cities of the North looking for new opportunities