1. 12.3 COLLAPSE OF RECONSTRUCTION
Objectives:
Summarize violent actions by the opponents of Reconstruction
Identify reasons for the shift in power from Southern Republicans to Southern Democrats
Identify reasons for the collapse of congressional Reconstruction

2. OPPOSITION TO RECONSTRUCTION
KU KLUX KLAN
Formed in 1866
“secret” society
Used violence and intimidation
Used economic warfare
What is economic warfare?
Mississippi Klansman, 1871
Members of the Ku Klux Klan devised ghoulish costumes to heighten the terror inspired by their acts. This photograph shows the costume of a Mississippi Klansman from 1871.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

3. Map: Popular Vote for President in the South, 1872
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

4. Grant Administration
Grant – Popular soldier, inept (corrupt?) politician
Grant’s Cabinet and Administration famous for graft, corruption and nepotism (his wife’s family)
Despite, numerous scandals and charges of incompetence, Grant is reelected in 1872!
Handles Panic of 1873 poorly

5. The Grant administration had already undergone the embarrassment of a slew of scandals:
1. Credit Mobilier
2. Sanborn Contracts
3. Whiskey Ring
4. Navy Contracts
5. Emma Silver Mine
In the fall 1876 elections, the Democrats attempt to impeach the president.

6. Panic of 1873 After the war, many businesses were booming
Investors borrowed too much money and went bankrupt
This let off a chain reaction throughout the economy.
**Within a year:
89 railroads went broke
18,000 companies folded
Within 5 years, 3 million people had lost their jobs

7. Reconstruction fades…..
14th Amendment:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Only protects rights as citizens of the U.S., most basic civil rights were obtained through citizenship of the state.
Supreme Court says this does not give the Fed. Govt. the right to punish whites who oppress blacks
15th Amendment:
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Supreme Court says it does not “confer the right to vote upon anyone” but merely lists grounds on which states cannot deny suffrage.
Why are these interpretations SO important to African Americans in the South?

8. Compromise of 1877
Grant willing to run for 3rd term, but Congress votes to 18 on resolution to discourage him
Republicans nominate Rutherford B. Hayes, veteran from Ohio
Democrats nominate Samuel J. Tilden, reformer who convicted Tweed
Tilden wins 184 of 185 needed votes, with 20 contested electoral votes. Tilden also wins popular vote.

9. Map: The Presidential Election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877
In 1876 a combination of solid southern support and Democratic gains in the North gave Samuel Tilden the majority of popular votes, but Rutherford B. Hayes won the disputed election in the electoral college, after a deal satisfied Democratic wishes for an end to Reconstruction.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

10. Compromise of 1877: AKA the Hayes-Tilden deal
America has to deal with Southern redemption
Republicans controlled the electoral commission, and gave election to Hayes.
To avoid conflict, North/Republicans offer to withdraw federal troops from Louisiana and South Carolina.
Freedmen are abandoned for Northern political interests
This creates home rule
What is Home Rule? Who did it favor, Democrats or Republicans?
IMPORTANT RESULT: RECONSTRUCTION OFFICIALLY OVER

11. TERMS
Objectives:
Summarize violent actions by the opponents of Reconstruction
Identify reasons for the shift in power from Southern Republicans to Southern Democrats
Identify reasons for the collapse of congressional Reconstruction
Ku Klux Klan
Panic of 1873
Redemption
Rutherford B. Hayes
Samuel J. Tilden
Home rule