History of Jim Crow Laws

     Following the end of the Civil War in the 1860s, former Confederate states saw an era of military rule from the North. However, reconstruction efforts by the Republican Party-controlled federal government ultimately failed to ease tensions in the po in the South; in fact, just 8 months following the ending date of the Civil War (April 9th 1865), the Ku Klux Klan was founded (December 24th, 1865) and would ravage America with anti-abolishment acts of violence. Regardless, efforts to rebuild and reform the South persisted on with scalawags (Southerners in support of federal reconstruction policies) and carpetbaggers (Northerners who relocated to the South to reinforce abolishment ideologies) in the front lines. These efforts, while slow, had the ability to create long-term change - unfortunately, these efforts would be cut off less than a score later. 
     In the realm of politics, the post-Civil War time period saw a golden era of Republican dominance in federal politics. Even with the exception of Andrew Johnson (promoted following the line of succession after Lincoln’s assassination), Grover Cleveland (a conservative-leaning Democrat), and Woodrow Wilson (elected following the iconic party-split by Theodore Roosevelt in the election of 1912), the Republican Party held on tightly to power. However, this was challenged for the first time in 1876. The Presidential Election of 1876 saw a close race between Republican Hayes and Democrat Tilden with Hayes barely winning the election by one electoral vote (185 v. 184). To compensate for the close tie and the prevention of post-election tensions from the Democratic Party, high-ranking officials from both parties made the Compromise of 1877. 
     While the Compromise of 1877 was successful in fending off a divide in North-South relations, it would cancel out years of work by reconstructionists. Union armies had slowly been leaving the Southern districts and the compromise brought a complete end to all military presence in the region, setting the stage for anti-abolitionists to return. 
     Immediately, Southern Democratic Party politicians would begin a long series of anti-voting policies to restrict the newly emancipated African-Americans from receiving their due rights. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution (1869) had granted all citizens, regardless of color the right to vote; Section 1 of the amendment also added on that “the right of citizens of the United States shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The intention of the amendment was clear: grant African-Americans the right to vote.
     Previously, Southerners restricted them from voting on account of race, color, and condition of servitude. In response to the amendment and the Union Army’s withdrawal, many began enforcing Jim Crow laws. Instead of preventing voting procedures on account of previous methods, they began setting prerequisites on voting such as literacy tests, purposely choosing voting centers to be in areas away from Black-concentrated areas, and utilizing Grandfather tests to ease voting procedures to those who had no recent family history of servitude (mostly whites). These policies would not stop even with the passage of time and with no entity to prevent politicians from allowing and enforcing these policies, Jim Crow laws would live on into the modern era.