Largely due to the resistance of Southern
whites, Republican control of the South
began to wane in the mid-1870s.DISPUTED RULE
Elections in the South were noted for violence
and accusations of fraud. Many elections
were contested, with Louisiana being one of the
most troublesome states. In 1872 Democratic
and Republican leaders claimed victory and
established rival governments in New
Orleans. Bloody battles between armed militias
failed to resolve the crisis. The Republicans
were forced to compromise, granting
Democrats control of the lower house so that
the Republican Governor could stay in office.RETURN OF DEMOCRATIC CONTROL
States with white voting majorities were the
first to elect Democrats. By 1875 Virginia,
Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee,
and Arkansas were led by Democrats. The rest
of the South was “redeemed” in the election of
1876 and its eventual compromise 344–45 ❯❯.right of black men to vote, were to
be written. They also boycotted the
elections to ratify these new progressive
constitutions. But resistance failed
to stop the constitutions from being
ratified, and most Southern states were
readmitted to the Union by 1868.
Other organizations appeared,
including the White League, which
started in Louisiana in 1874 and
expanded across the South. It
disavowed secrecy in favor of open
political activity supplemented by
armed intimidation, election fraud, and
unapologetic violence, maintaining
pressure on Republican organizers in
the South. Through legal and illegal
efforts, Southern whites continued to
work to end Reconstruction.
AFTER
“Hang, curs, hang!”
This cartoon in the Independent Monitor of Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, warned carpetbaggers and scalawags
(Southern whites who supported Reconstruction) that
they might be lynched by the Klu Klux Klan.
Klan violence
His face concealed in a hood, a Klu Klux Klan member
takes aim at a black family at home in their cabin, with
his accomplices looking on. A wave of violence against
blacks swept through the Southern states after the war.
“... these infamous associations
... rob, they murder, they whip ...”
FROM AN ARTICLE ENTITLED “WORSE THAN SLAVERY,” HARPER’S WEEKLY, 1874