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Difficulty: HardResistance to Reconstruction and its Ultimate Collapse

"The whole public are tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South, and the great majority are now ready to condemn any interference on the part of the general government... [P]reservation of peace in the States is of duties that devolve primarily upon each State, and... the power of the United States can only be resorted to when the State authorities are unable to cope with the lawlessness."
— United States Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont, letter to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames, September 1875

Based on the letter, which of the following historical developments during the late 1870s was a direct consequence of the federal stance described?

  1. The resurgence of Southern Democratic "Redeemers" to political power and the subsequent erosion of Reconstruction-era civil rights protectionsAnswer
  2. B
    The enactment of the Enforcement Acts by Congress to militarily dismantle the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations
  3. C
    The ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to guarantee voting rights for newly emancipated African Americans
  4. D
    The implementation of popular sovereignty to let Southern voters decide whether to permit slavery within their borders

Answer

The resurgence of Southern Democratic "Redeemers" to political power and the subsequent erosion of Reconstruction-era civil rights protections
The correct answer describes how the federal refusal to intervene militarily to protect Republican voters and state governments directly paved the way for the resurgence of white conservative Democrats (Redeemers) to power in the South. This shift in power resulted in the systematic disenfranchisement of African Americans and the roll-back of Reconstruction-era civil rights achievements.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the source text and context.
The letter from the U.S. Attorney General to the Governor of Mississippi in 1875 shows the federal government's reluctance to send troops to suppress violence in the South, citing public fatigue with Reconstruction.
Understanding the document's date (1875) and its message of non-intervention is critical to linking it to the end of Reconstruction.
2
Evaluate the direct impact of this federal non-intervention policy on Southern politics.
Without federal military protection, Republican state governments in the South collapsed, allowing conservative white Democrats (Redeemers) to take control.
This establishes the cause-and-effect relationship between federal retreat and the political transition in the South.
3
Assess the long-term consequences of the Redeemers' rise to power.
Redeemer governments instituted policies, laws, and disenfranchisement tactics that severely restricted the political and civil rights of African Americans, leading to the Jim Crow era.
This directly matches the historical developments of the late 1870s and 1880s following the collapse of Reconstruction.

Key Concept

The waning of northern political resolve and Southern white resistance led to the collapse of Reconstruction.
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Resistance to Reconstruction and its Ultimate Collapse

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