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:{{See also|Reconstruction}}
:{{See also|Reconstruction}}
With the defeat of the [[Democrat]]s and [[the South]], to the victors went the spoils. Republicans immediately stripped [[white]] [[male]]s who engaged in rebellion against the [[United States]] of the [[vote]] and gave it to Blacks. Newly freed Blacks held local, state and federal elected and non-elected positions as Republicans. The white males who were deprived of the vote were also barred from holding any civil service position and were universally Democrats. This disenfranchisement created enormous resentment among Democrats, so they formed the [[Ku Klux Klan]] to engage in voter intimidation and suppression.
With the defeat of the [[Democrat]]s and [[the South]], to the victors went the spoils. Republicans immediately stripped [[white]] [[male]]s who engaged in rebellion against the [[United States]] of the [[vote]] and gave it to Blacks. Newly freed Blacks held local, state and federal elected and non-elected positions as Republicans. The white males who were deprived of the vote were also barred from holding any civil service position and were universally Democrats. This disenfranchisement created enormous resentment among Democrats, so they formed the [[Ku Klux Klan]] to engage in voter intimidation and suppression.
On election day, November 3, 1874, an [[Alabama]] chapter of the White League repeated actions taken earlier that year in Vicksburg, Mississippi. They invaded Eufaula AL, killing at least seven black Republicans, injuring at least 70 more, and driving off more than 1,000 unarmed Republicans from the polls.<ref>Mary Ellen Curtin, ''Black Prisoners and Their World, Alabama, 1865-1900,'' University Press of Virginia, 2000, p. 55</ref> The group moved on to Spring Hill AL, where members stormed the polling place, destroying the ballot box, and killing the 16-year-old son of a white Republican judge in their shooting.<ref>Curtin (2000), ''Black Prisoners'', pp. 55-56.</ref> The White League refused to count any Republican votes cast. But, Republican voters reflected the black majority in the county, as well as white supporters. They outnumbered Democratic voters by a margin greater than two to one. The League declared the Democratic candidates victorious, forced Republican politicians out of office, and seized every county office in Barbour County, Alabama.<ref name="Curtin 2000 p. 56">Curtin (2000), ''Black Prisoners'', p. 56</ref> Such actions were repeated in other parts of the South in the 1870s, as Democrats sought to regain political dominance in states with black majorities and numerous Republican officials. In Barbour County, the Democrats auctioned off as "slaves" (for a maximum cost of $2 per month), or otherwise silenced all Republican witnesses to the events. They were intimidated from testifying to the coup if the case went to federal court.<ref name="Curtin 2000 p. 56"/>
When [[Reconstruction]] ended and federal troops were withdrawn, an amnesty was granted for white male Democrats who engaged in rebellion. African Americans in the South were left to the mercy of increasingly hostile state governments dominated by white Democratic legislatures; neither the legislatures, law enforcement nor the courts worked to protect freedmen.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties|author=Finkelman, Paul|year=2006}}</ref> As [[Democrats]] regained power in the late 1870s, they struggled to suppress black voting through intimidation and fraud at the polls. [[Paramilitary]] groups such as the [[Red Shirts]] acted on behalf of the Democrats to suppress black voting. From 1890 to 1908, 10 of the 11 former Confederate states passed disfranchising constitutions or amendments,<ref>{{cite book|title=Democracy's Privileged Few|author=Chafetz, Joshua Aaron|year=2007}}</ref> with provisions for [[poll tax]]es,<ref name="Klarman, Michael J. 2004">{{cite book|title=From Jim Crow to Civil Rights|author=Klarman, Michael J.|year=2004}}</ref> residency requirements, [[literacy test]]s<ref name="Klarman, Michael J. 2004"/> and [[grandfather clause]]s that effectively disfranchised most black voters and many poor white people. The disfranchisement also meant that black people could not serve on juries or hold any political office, which were restricted to voters; those who could not vote were excluded from the political system.
When [[Reconstruction]] ended and federal troops were withdrawn, an amnesty was granted for white male Democrats who engaged in rebellion. African Americans in the South were left to the mercy of increasingly hostile state governments dominated by white Democratic legislatures; neither the legislatures, law enforcement nor the courts worked to protect freedmen.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties|author=Finkelman, Paul|year=2006}}</ref> As [[Democrats]] regained power in the late 1870s, they struggled to suppress black voting through intimidation and fraud at the polls. [[Paramilitary]] groups such as the [[Red Shirts]] acted on behalf of the Democrats to suppress black voting. From 1890 to 1908, 10 of the 11 former Confederate states passed disfranchising constitutions or amendments,<ref>{{cite book|title=Democracy's Privileged Few|author=Chafetz, Joshua Aaron|year=2007}}</ref> with provisions for [[poll tax]]es,<ref name="Klarman, Michael J. 2004">{{cite book|title=From Jim Crow to Civil Rights|author=Klarman, Michael J.|year=2004}}</ref> residency requirements, [[literacy test]]s<ref name="Klarman, Michael J. 2004"/> and [[grandfather clause]]s that effectively disfranchised most black voters and many poor white people. The disfranchisement also meant that black people could not serve on juries or hold any political office, which were restricted to voters; those who could not vote were excluded from the political system.