Why did Reconstruction end in 1877?

Johnson believed that everything he did was in the interest of preserving a constitutional government. ... Stanton was a staunch supporter of the Congress and did not agree with President Johnson's Reconstruction policies. ... Nearly 600,000 black students, from children to the elderly, were in southern schools by 1877. read more

Reconstruction came to an end as a direct result of too many Southerners opposing the reconstruction. When all efforts for reconstruction were met with a battle, the spirits of the Northerners to reconstruct the South began to wane because they did not want to constantly be met with confrontation while trying to reconstruct the area. read more

To be specific on why it ended in 1877, it was because of the election of 1876 and the subsequent Compromise of 1877. To give a brief recap here: The election in 1876 between Rutherford Hayes (Republican) and Samuel Tilden (Democratic) was immensely close, and came down to the final three states. read more

In 1877, Hayes withdrew the last federal troops from the south, and the bayonet-backed Republican governments collapsed, thereby ending Reconstruction. Over the next three decades, the civil rights that blacks had been promised during Reconstruction crumbled under white rule in the south. read more