Even though the U.S. government sent troops into the South to protect African Americans and help integrate them into society, white Southerners consistently resisted change. They used increasingly violent methods to suppress African Americans through groups like the Ku Klux Klan. When leading citizens were part of these groups, the army could not provide enough protection and eventually African Americans stopped exercising their rights.
The country went into a deep depression, sparked by the Panic of 1873. By the presidential election of 1876, approximately 15% of the country was unemployed. Thousands of businesses had failed. Almost a third of the nation's railroads had to stop operating. Times were tough and people were more concerned about their next paycheck than continuing to support Reconstruction.
The Election of 1876 was the final event that ended Reconstruction. It was contested between Democrat Samuel Tilden and Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. The unpopularity of the Republican party meant that Tilden received more votes than Hayes. However, there were disputes in the electoral vote count. A special commission gave the votes to Hayes, but the Republicans agreed to end Reconstruction as part of the Compromise of 1877.
The people most pushing the South to provide equal rights to African Americans were the Radical Republicans in Congress. The country had a Republican president in Ulysses S. Grant. However, the Grant administration was accused of corruption and suffered multiple scandals. This made the Republican party (but not Grant) unpopular.
By 1876, the conflict between North and South had been going on for decades. People in the North were tired of fighting a battle that they thought they had won back in 1865. The country was back together. Slavery was abolished. Protecting the rights of African Americans became less of a priority. People started to look at moving West or into cities on the nation's great railroad network.