In what became known as the Compromise of 1877, Republican Senate leaders worked with the Democratic leadership so they would support Hayes and the commission’s decision. The two sides agreed that one Southern Democrat would be appointed to Hayes’s cabinet, Democrats would control federal patronage in their areas in the South, and there would be a commitment to generous internal improvements. More importantly, all remaining federal troops would be withdrawn from the South, a move that effectively ended Reconstruction. Hayes believed that Southern leaders would obey and enforce the Reconstruction-era constitutional amendments that protected the rights of freed people; however, his trust was soon proved to be misguided, and he devoted a large …show more content…
Racial violence in the Reconstruction period took three major forms: urban riots, interpersonal fights, and organized vigilante groups (Racial). There were riots in Southern cities several times during Reconstruction. The most notable were the riots in Memphis and New Orleans in 1866. A subsequent report by the Joint Committee of Reconstruction detailed the carnage in the Memphis riots of 1866: 46 blacks and 2 whites were killed, 75 blacks injured, over 100 black persons robbed, 5 black women raped, and 91 homes, 4 Churches and 8 schools burned in the black community. Modern estimates place property losses at over $100,000, suffered mostly by blacks. Many blacks fled the city permanently; by 1870, their population had fallen by one quarter compared to 1865 (Memphis). White men beat or shot black men with relative impunity, and did so over minor squabbles, labor disputes, longstanding grudges, and crimes of passion. These incidents sometimes were reported to local federal authorities like the army or the Freedmen’s Bureau, but more often than not such violence was unreported and