Editing Reconstruction era (section)

===Hayes ends Reconstruction===
{{Main|Electoral Commission (United States)|Compromise of 1877}}
[[File:President Rutherford Hayes 1870 - 1880.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Rutherford B. Hayes]], 19th [[President of the United States]] (1877–1881)]]
On January 29, 1877, President Grant signed the [[Electoral Commission (United States)|Electoral Commission Act]], which set up a 15-member commission of eight Republicans and seven Democrats to settle the disputed 1876 election. Since the Constitution did not explicitly indicate how Electoral College disputes were to be resolved, Congress was forced to consider other methods to settle the crisis. Many Democrats argued that Congress as a whole should determine which certificates to count. However, the chances that this method would result in a harmonious settlement were slim, as the Democrats controlled the House, while the Republicans controlled the Senate. Several Hayes supporters, on the other hand, argued that the President pro tempore of the Senate had the authority to determine which certificates to count, because he was responsible for chairing the congressional session at which the electoral votes were to be tallied. Since the office of president pro tempore was occupied by a Republican, Senator [[Thomas W. Ferry]] of [[Michigan]], this method would have favored Hayes. Still others proposed that the matter should be settled by the Supreme Court.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hayes vs. Tilden: The Electoral College Controversy of 1876–1877 |url=https://elections.harpweek.com/Controversy.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010124080100/http://elections.harpweek.com/Controversy.htm |archive-date=January 24, 2001 |access-date=May 14, 2021 |website=HarpWeek}}</ref> In a stormy session that began on March 1, 1877, the House debated the objection for about twelve hours before overruling it. Immediately, another spurious objection was raised, this time to the electoral votes from [[1876 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|Wisconsin]]. Again, the Senate voted to overrule the objection, while a filibuster was conducted in the House. However, the Speaker of the House, Democrat [[Samuel J. Randall]], refused to entertain dilatory motions. Eventually, the filibusterers gave up, allowing the House to reject the objection in the early hours of March 2. The House and Senate then reassembled to complete the count of the electoral votes. At 4:10 am on March 2, [[Thomas W. Ferry|Senator Ferry]] announced that Hayes and [[William A. Wheeler|Wheeler]] had been elected to the [[President of the United States|presidency]] and [[Vice President of the United States|vice presidency]], by an electoral margin of 185–184.

The Democrats agreed not to block Hayes' inauguration based on a "back room" deal. Key to this deal was the understanding that federal troops would no longer interfere in Southern politics despite substantial election-associated violence against Blacks. The Southern states indicated that they would protect the lives of African Americans; however, such promises were largely not kept. Hayes' friends also let it be known that he would promote federal aid for [[internal improvements]], including help with a railroad in Texas (which never happened) and name a Southerner to his cabinet (this did happen). With the end to the political role of Northern troops, the president had no method to enforce Reconstruction; thus, this "back room" deal signaled the end of American Reconstruction.{{sfnp|Woodward|1966|pp=3–15}}

After assuming office on March 4, 1877, President Hayes removed troops from the capitals of the remaining Reconstruction states, Louisiana and South Carolina, allowing the [[Redeemers]] to have full control of these states. President Grant had already removed troops from Florida, before Hayes was inaugurated, and troops from the other Reconstruction states had long since been withdrawn. Hayes appointed [[David M. Key]] from Tennessee, a Southern Democrat, to the position of [[United States Postmaster General|postmaster general]]. By 1879, thousands of African American "[[Exodusters]]" packed up and headed to new opportunities in Kansas.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Painter |first=Nell Irvin |title=Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas After Reconstruction |date=1976 |publisher=Norton |isbn=9780393009514 |location=New York |author-link=Nell Irvin Painter}}</ref>

The Democrats gained control of the Senate, and had complete control of Congress, having taken over the House in 1875. Hayes vetoed bills from the Democrats that outlawed the Republican Enforcement Acts; however, with the military underfunded, Hayes could not adequately enforce these laws. African-Americans remained involved in Southern politics, particularly in Virginia, which was run by the biracial [[Readjuster Party]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=James T. |date=May 1975 |title=Black Militancy in Readjuster Virginia, 1879–1883 |journal=[[Journal of Southern History]] |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=167–186 |doi=10.2307/2206012 |jstor=2206012}}</ref>

Numerous African-Americans were elected to local office through the 1880s, and in the 1890s in some states, biracial coalitions of populists and Republicans briefly held control of state legislatures. In the last decade of the 19th century, Southern states elected five Black U.S. congressmen before disenfranchising state constitutions were passed throughout the former Confederacy.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}