Introduce the Fall of Reconstruction governments to students by sharing a desired text resource or sharing the following brief overview:

The Republican state governments in the South were met by a strong backlash. Former Confederates and White supremacists attacked them immediately, targeting African American voters and politicians in particular. Southern Democrats and their supporters claimed that the presence of “ignorant” formerly enslaved people in the voting populace led to a “tragic era” of corruption and misrule. A concerted campaign of voting fraud, terror, and violence led up to the presidential election of 1876.

In the 1876 election, Rutherford Hayes was the Republican candidate and Samuel Tilden was the Democratic candidate. The results of the election were contested and Hayes agreed to the Compromise of 1877, also known as the Hayes-Tilden Compromise or the Electoral Commission Act. The compromise was a series of informal agreements and understandings reached between representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties. Under this compromise, Hayes would be awarded the presidency. In return, Hayes agreed to several concessions sought by Southern Democrats, including the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and an end to federal intervention in Southern state politics. The withdrawal of federal troops allowed Southern Democrats to regain control of state governments across the South. 

As a whole group discuss the following questions. 

• Why do you think the Republican party was willing to agree to this Compromise? Why do you think the Democratic party was willing to agree?
• What impact do you expect or know that the Compromise of 1877 will mean for African American voters and/or politicians? African American living in the South?

Next, show students the image of Compromise with the South by Thomas Nast. As a whole group discuss the following questions. 

• What do you see in this image?
• What do you think the illustrator intended for this image to mean/evoke in viewers?
• Although this image is from 1864, how it may relate to the Compromise of 1877?
• Why do you think the Republicans were no longer willing to support the aims of the Civil War and the civil rights of African Americans