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Reconstruction efforts in the US after the Civil War failed due to resistance, the economy, and poor law enforcement. Specific factors included the 1876 presidential election, increased violence by the Ku Klux Klan, and Democrats regaining power in the South. Oppositional aggression and violence increased as African Americans were pushed to participate as equals. Southern Democrats used racial imagery to vilify Reconstruction policies and bring about their demise. The 1876 presidential election brought about the final end of Reconstruction, with Hayes assuming the presidency and Democrats regaining control of government affairs in the remaining Reconstruction states.
The end of reconstruction efforts in the United States after the Civil War came in 1877. Some of the general factors that contributed to the failure of Civil War reconstruction included resistance, the economy, and poor law enforcement. Specific factors that ultimately ended the Reconstruction era included controversies surrounding the 1876 presidential election, increased violence by the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups, as well as Democratic candidates regaining power in the states of the South. Violence and changing political climates, more than any other factor, brought about the end of Reconstruction.
Before and after the Civil War, Confederate Loyalists and influential white leaders vehemently opposed any form of government in the South that was not based on white supremacy. As Republican politicians and carpet raiders — a term used for northern Republicans who moved south during Reconstruction — pushed African Americans harder to participate as equals, oppositional aggression and violence increased. The actions of the Ku Klux Klan, originally formed as a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1866, rapidly advanced from civil protests to acts of violence intended to intimidate black voters. Public officials increasingly sided with African Americans in labor and equal rights disputes, which prompted violent responses and increased prominence of the Klan.
While Klan members and other extremists engaged in acts of violence designed to intimidate African Americans and Reconstruction supporters, Southern politicians worked to rally anti-Reconstruction supporters to the polls. Using racial imagery that played on fears and exaggerated claims, Southern Democrats worked tirelessly to vilify Reconstruction policies and bring about their demise. Undecided Southerners were bombarded with broadsides, political cartoons, and other campaign efforts centered around the unpalatable idea that slaves had the right to vote or hold public office, and blamed economic conditions on African Americans. Feelings of shame about the military defeats in the Civil War, as well as the resulting poverty, facilitated efforts to vilify Northerners, Republicans, and advocates of racial equality.
The 1876 presidential election brought about the final end of Reconstruction, as Rutherford B. Hayes, a Northern Republican, ran in direct competition with Samuel J. Tilden, a Southern Democrat. South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana were the only remaining Southern states where Republican Reconstruction-era governments remained in power. Both candidates said they carried these states to election. The 1877 agreement ended the heated and violent dispute, with Hayes assuming the presidency and Democrats regaining control of government affairs in the three remaining Reconstruction states. As part of the settlement, Hayes agreed to end federal involvement in race issues or interference in Southern affairs.
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