RECONSTRUCTION ENDS

Across the South, many white people refused to accept the legitimacy of the Republican party and Black voter participation in the 1870s. In numerous states, white Democrats went on the offensive against their Black and white Republican opponents. They engaged in fraud at the ballot box, “stealing” elections from their opponents. They also whipped up racial fears during campaigns to swing white voters to their cause. They formed armed militias and organizations that operated outside the law, such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the