As time moved on, impediments to Reconstruction greatly hindered its progress, to the point where Northerners did not seem to think pursuing the idea of Reconstruction was any longer worth their while.
Black codes
"Black codes" were laws created (mainly in Southern states) in order to restrict the rights of African Americans. These laws, in effect, were an attempt by whites to regain the control they had had over African Americans before the war. Although they were forbidden by the Civil Rights Act of 1866, black codes were very telling of what the South wanted moving forward in Reconstruction. Under Southern rule, African Americans could not bear arms, serve on juries, testify against white people, marry white people, or travel without a permit. On top of that, many states had countless other limitations for what black people could and could not do. It was almost as if the Civil War had ended in a draw, rather than a victory.
The KKK
The Ku Klux Klan started out as a social club for Confederate veterans, but quickly spiraled into a multitude of violent groups set on terrorizing African Americans and any whites who might get in their way. Their main goal was to recreate and maintain white supremacy in the country, and thought that the best way to go about doing it was to threaten and terrorize African Americans. Their actions did end up having a large impact on the government, because due to their threats many African Americans were too afraid, or were unable, to vote.
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a situation that resulted in a multiple year economic depression for the United States. The nationwide panic was caused by the bankruptcy of one of the largest bank firms in the country, and had a devastating effect on the stock market, as well as the state of the country's economy as a whole.
Slaughterhouse cases
In the Slaughterhouse cases, in 1873, the Supreme Court declared that the majority of African Americans' rights were not protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The way that the Supreme Court decided to "interpret" the amendments made by Congress was not at all how they were meant to be taken, and was a betrayal of the commitment the Union had made to protect African Americans by winning the war.
U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876)
U.S. v. Cruikshank was a crucial case in terms of the development of Reconstruction. In this case, the Supreme Court declared that whites could not be punished individually for oppressing blacks, because it was agreed that the Fourteenth Amendment didn't give the federal government that power. Restricting the Fourteenth Amendment was a step backwards for Reconstruction, and showed whites that actions of racism were okay and would not result in any consequence.
U.S. v. Reese (1876)
In U.S. v. Reese, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fifteenth Amendment did not gaurantee African Americans the right to vote, supporting white officials who had not been allowing African Americans to vote. This was a major impediment to Reconstruction, because at this point both amendments that were supposed to protect the newly freed African Americans seemed to be working against them.
Problems in the Grant administration
As time went by, it became more and more evident that there were some huge problems in the Grant administration. From 1872 to 1876, there were multiple scandals conducted with help from important political figures in the Grant administration, and even with lots of evidence, Grant refused to believe such close friends of his would do things like this. As a result, the Republican Party became greatly divided, and this made it hard for any work to be done in order to further Reconstruction.
Northern support wanes
During the 1870s, people in the North became less passionate about the success of Reconstruction. attention was directed to things like the problems in the Grant administration and the struggling economy following the panic of 1873. Neither did the Supreme Court seem to support any part of Reconstruction, so its progress slowed to a halt. Racial discrimination had not gone away from the South, but the desire to fix it had disappeared.
Faltering of Congressional support
Faltering of Congressional support occurred due to a few factors. First, although they had played an important role at the beginning of Reconstruction through creating bills and amendments to the Constitution, the Supreme Court reversed many of their attempts to protect African Americans. Also, when the general population's interest in Reconstruction declined, this also affected the people in Congress. Reconstruction simply wasn't the issue at the top of anyone's mind anymore.
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was when the Democrats agreed to let Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes become president only if their demands were met. These demands included removing militia from Southern states, giving the South money for construction of railroads, and having a conservative Southerner appointed to the Cabinet. The Republicans consented to their wishes, and thus marked the end of Reconstruction in the South.