1877 – Reconstruction Ends with Federal Troop Withdrawal

On May 10, 1877, the last federal troops withdrew from South Carolina and Louisiana, marking the end of Reconstruction. This date symbolizes the federal government’s retreat from protecting the rights of newly freed African Americans in the South. With the Compromise of 1877 resolved, President Rutherford B. Hayes ordered the military to cease its enforcement of Reconstruction-era policies. As a result, Southern white Democrats regained control of state governments and quickly instituted Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised and segregated Black citizens for nearly a century. For Black communities, May 10 represented the betrayal of the promises of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. The withdrawal allowed white supremacist groups to rise unchecked and ushered in an era of racial violence and systemic discrimination. The consequences of this decision reverberated well into the 20th century and remain a powerful lesson about the fragility of civil rights without federal enforcement.