12.3 COLLAPSE OF RECONSTRUCTION Objectives:1.Summarize violent actions by the opponents of Reconstruction2.Identify reasons for the shift in power from Southern Republicans to Southern Democrats3.Identify reasons for the collapse of congressional Reconstruction

OPPOSITION TO RECONSTRUCTION

KU KLUX KLAN

• Formed in 1866

• “secret” society

• Used violence and intimidation

• Used economic warfare▫ What is economic

warfare?Mississippi Klansman, 1871Members 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.

Map: Popular Vote for President in the South, 1872

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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

The Grant administration had already undergone the embarrassment of a slew of scandals:

1. Credit Mobilier2. Sanborn Contracts3. Whiskey Ring4. Navy Contracts5. Emma Silver Mine

In the fall 1876 elections, the Democrats attempt to impeach the president.

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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

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?

Compromise of 1877

• Grant willing to run for 3rd term, but Congress votes 233- 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.

Map: The Presidential Election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877

The Presidential Election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877In 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.

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

TERMS

• Ku Klux Klan• Panic of 1873• Redemption• Rutherford B. Hayes• Samuel J. Tilden• Home rule

• Objectives:1.Summarize violent actions

by the opponents of Reconstruction

2.Identify reasons for the shift in power from Southern Republicans to Southern Democrats

3.Identify reasons for the collapse of congressional Reconstruction