<P> The Compromise of 1877 was an informal, unwritten deal that settled the intensely disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election . It resulted in the United States federal government pulling the last troops out of the South, and formally ended the Reconstruction Era . Through the Compromise, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden on the understanding that Hayes would remove the federal troops whose support was essential for the survival of Republican state governments in South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana . The compromise involved Democrats who controlled the House of Representatives allowing the decision of the Electoral Commission to take effect . The outgoing president, Republican Ulysses S. Grant, removed the soldiers from Florida . As president, Hayes removed the remaining troops from South Carolina and Louisiana . As soon as the troops left, many white Republicans also left, and the "Redeemer" Democrats took control . They already dominated other state governments in the South . What was exactly agreed is somewhat contested as the documentation is insufficient . </P> <P> Black Republicans felt betrayed as they lost power and were subject to discrimination and harassment to suppress their voting . By 1905 most black men were effectively disenfranchised by state legislatures in every southern state . </P>

The compromise of 1877 signaled an end to