During the Grant administration, Northerners began losing interest in Reconstruction. Many believed it was time for the South to solve its own problems. By 1876, Southern Democrats were regaining political and economic control in the South. Some freed men and women went back to work for landholders because they had no other way to make a living.

Reconstruction declined for other reasons. The old Radical leaders began to disappear from the political scene. Thaddeus Stevens died in 1868, and others retired or lost elections. Another factor that weakened enthusiasm for Reconstruction was racial prejudice in the North. This prejudice was used by opponents of Reconstruction. They argued that only Southerners really knew how to deal with African Americans and that the fate of the freed people should be left to the South. Southerners protested what they called “bayonet rule”—the use of federal troops to support Reconstruction governments. Grant had sent federal troops to the South to stop violence or to enforce the law only when absolutely necessary. Generally, though, he tried to avoid any clashes with the South.

In the early 1870s, reports of corruption in Grant’s administration and in Reconstruction governments spread throughout the nation. Some Republicans split with the party over the issue of corruption. Another group of Republicans broke with the party over Reconstruction, proposing peaceful reconciliation, or coming together again, with Southern whites. Calling themselves Liberal Republicans, these two groups nominated Horace Greeley, a newspaper editor from New York, to run against Grant in the 1872 presidential election. The Democrats also supported Greeley for president because he offered a chance to defeat the Republicans. Despite the division in the Republican ranks, however, Grant was reelected.

During the 1872 election campaign, Liberal Republicans called for expanded amnesty for white Southerners. In May 1872, Congress passed the Amnesty Act, which pardoned most former Confederates. Nearly all white Southerners could vote and hold office again. The amnesty changed the political balance in the South by restoring full rights to people who supported the Democratic Party.

In Southern states such as Virginia and North Carolina, where most voters were white, Democrats soon regained control of state governments. In states where African Americans held a majority or where white and African American populations were nearly equal, the Ku Klux Klan and other violent groups helped the Democrats take power by terrorizing Republican voters. In an election in Mississippi in 1875, Democrats won by a 30,000 majority, although the Republicans had held a 30,000 majority in the previous election. The Democrats used threats to pressure white Republicans to become Democrats.

The Democrats also used violence to persuade African Americans not to vote. By 1876, Republicans held a majority in Congress in only three Southern states, Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana. During these years, the Republicans had other problems they could not blame on the Democrats. In 1873, a series of political scandals came to light. Investigations uncovered top government officials making unfair business deals, scheming to withhold public tax money, and accepting bribes. One scandal involved the vice president, and another the secretary of war. These scandals further damaged the Grant administration and the Republicans. At the same time, the nation suffered an economic depression. Blame for the hard times fell on the Republicans.

By the time of the congressional elections in 1874, charges of corruption and economic mismanagement had badly weakened the Republican Party. Democrats gained seats in the Senate and won control of the House. For the first time since the Civil War, the Democratic Party controlled a part of the federal government. This situation further weakened Congress’s commitment to Reconstruction and protecting the rights of newly freed African Americans.

Grant considered running for a third term in 1876. Most Republican leaders preferred a new candidate, one who could win back the Liberal Republicans and unite the party. The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio, for president. A champion of political reform, Hayes had a reputation for honesty, and he held moderate views on Reconstruction. The Democrats nominated New York governor Samuel Tilden. Tilden had gained national fame for fighting political corruption in New York City. After the election, Tilden appeared to be the winner, receiving almost 250,000 more votes than Hayes. However, disputed returns from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon—representing 20 electoral votes—kept the outcome in doubt. Tilden had 184 electoral votes, only one short of what he needed to win. Yet, if Hayes received all 20 of the disputed votes, he would have the 185 electoral votes required for victory.

In January, Congress created a special commission, or group, of seven Republicans, seven Democrats, and one independent to review the election results. But the independent resigned, and a Republican took his place. After examining the reports of state review boards, the commission voted 8 to 7 to award all 20 disputed votes, and the election, to Hayes. The vote followed party lines. Democrats in Congress threatened to fight the verdict. Republican and Southern Democratic leaders met secretly to work out an agreement that would allow the Democrats to accept Hayes as president. On March 2, 1877, almost four months after the election, Congress confirmed the verdict of the commission and declared Hayes the winner. He was inaugurated president two days later.

The deal congressional leaders made to settle the election dispute, the Compromise of 1877, included various favors to the South. The new government would give more aid to the region Southern states. The Democrats, in turn, promised to maintain African Americans’ rights. In his Inaugural Address, Hayes declared that what the South needed most was the restoration of “wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government.” During a goodwill trip to the South, Hayes announced his intention of letting Southerners handle racial issues. In Atlanta he told an African American audience: “. . . your rights and interests would be safer if this great mass of intelligent white men were left alone by the general government.” Hayes’s message was clear. The federal government would no longer attempt to reshape Southern society or help Southern African Americans. Reconstruction was over.