9.4 The Aftermath of Reconstruction A. Reconstruction Ends 1. Disclosure of widespread corruption also hurt Republicans. a) President appointed many friends to public offices who used their position to steal large sums of money from the government. b) Grant won reelection in 1872, but many northerners lost faith in Republicans. 2. Congress passed the Amnesty Act in 1872. a) It restored the right to vote to nearly all white southerners. b) White southerners voted solidly Democratic. c) By 1876, only SC, FL, and TN remained under Republican control. 3. The end of Reconstruction came with the election of 1876.

9.4 The Aftermath of Reconstruction a) Samuel Tilden(D) of NY vs. Rutherford B. Hayes(R) of OH. b) Both vowed to fight corruption. 4. The Presidential election was disputed in several states. a) Congress set up a special commission to settle the crisis. b) The commission, made mostly of Republicans, decided to give all 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes. 5. Southern Democrats could have fought the decision. a) They agreed to support the decision in exchange for an end to Reconstruction which was known as the Compromise of 1877.

9.4 The Aftermath of Reconstruction b) Once in office, Hayes removed the remaining federal troops from LA, FL, and SC ending the Reconstruction era. 6. Reconstruction had a deep and lasting impact on southern politics. a) For the next 100 years the South was a Democrat stronghold. b) African Americans slowly lost their political rights. B. New Legislation Restricts African American Rights 1. As federal troops withdrew from southern states, Conservative Democrats tightened their grip on southern governments. a) These Conservatives found new ways to keep African Americans from exercising their rights.

9.4 The Aftermath of Reconstruction b) Restricted the right to vote. 2. Over time, many states passed poll taxes, requiring voters to pay a fee each time they voted. a) Poor freedmen could rarely afford to vote. 3. States also imposed literacy tests that required voters to read and explain a section of the Constitution. a) Since freedmen had little education, these tests kept them away from the polls. b) African Americans who could read were asked much more difficult questions than whites.

9.4 The Aftermath of Reconstruction 4. Still, many poor whites could not pass the literacy tests. a) To increase the amount of white voters, states passed grandfather clauses, which stated that if a voter’s father or grandfather had been eligible to vote on 1/1/1867, the voter did not have to take the literacy test. b) No African American could vote before 1868. 5. After 1877, segregation, or legal separation of the races, became the law of the South. a) Jim Crow laws separated blacks and whites in schools, restaurants, theaters, trains, streetcars, playgrounds, hospitals, and even cemetaries. 6. African Americans brought lawsuits to challenge segregation.

9.4 The Aftermath of Reconstruction a) In 1896, in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal so long as facilities for blacks and whites were equal. b) Facilities were rarely equal. 7. Despite such setbacks, the Constitution now recognized African Americans as citizens. C. The “New South” Moves Toward Industry 1. During Reconstruction, the South made some progress toward rebuilding its economy. a) Cotton production slowly recovered. 2. After Reconstruction, a new generation of southern leaders worked to expand the economy. a) The “New South” would depend on itself for industry.

9.4 The Aftermath of Reconstruction 3. In 1880, the entire South still produced fewer finished textiles than MA. a) More and more southern communities were building textile mills to make their own cloth. 4. The tobacco industry also grew. a) In North Carolina, James Duke used new machinery to revolutionize the manufacture of tobacco products. 5. The physical characteristics of the environment influenced many of the economic activities of the South. a) The South tapped its mineral resources.

9.4 The Aftermath of Reconstruction b) AL became a steel producing state. c) LA and TX became leaders in producing oil. d) Other states produced copper granite and marble. 6. By the 1890’s many northern forests were cut down. a) The southern yellow pine competed with the northwestern white pine as a lumber source. b) Southern factories turned out cypress shingles and hardwood furniture. 7. Factories, farming, and mining modified the physical environment of the South. a) These industries provided jobs for struggling southerners.

9.4 The Aftermath of Reconstruction b) The South’s wood, steel and other products were used around the country. 8. The South had developed a more balanced economy by 1900. a) Still the South could not keep up with even more rapid growth in the North and the West.