The Compromise of 1877 and End of Reconstruction

After eight scandal ridden years and a great depression, Grant was done. The Republican Party feared they would lose the 1876 election and searched high and low for an honest candidate to be the standard bearer. They found Rutherford B Hayes of Ohio. He was a solid, honest governor with no ties to the corruption in Washington D.C.
The Democrats also searched for an honest man and found Samuel Tilden. As governor of New York, he destroyed one of the most corrupt political machines in history. With the American voter tired of the corruption in Washington and the continuing Southern issue, the Democrats felt confident going into the general election.
In 1876, the American voter was sick of Reconstruction. Reconstruction was the period after the Civil War in which the North attempted to reform the South and give African-American freedmen their rights. The White South resisted fiercely. Parts of the South were so violent, it makes 2008 Iraq look safe. By 1876, Northerners wanted to live and let live. They were sick of the South, sick of the violence, sick of the corruption in Washington and wanted the troops home.
In this environment, Tilden won the popular vote 51%-48%. However, two sets of returns came in from Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Under fair (i.e. safe) voting conditions, the GOP should have won those states easily. However, Democratic shenanigans and violence resulted in disputed results. A committee was established to determine a winner.
The committee had 15 members. Each party had seven members. The fifteenth member was an independent. That independent quickly resigned. The Democrats and Republicans cut a deal. The independent was replaced by a Republican and Hayes was president. In return, Hayes would pull the troops from the South.
The Compromise of 1877 left the Southern African-American population to the Democrats. In short order, their lives became even harsher than under slavery. It would be a century before the Second Reconstruction of the 1960s.