What event helped bring Reconstruction to an end?

• A. Emancipation Proclamation
• B. Thirteenth Amendment
• C. Reconstruction Acts
• D. Compromise of 1877 and withdrawal of federal troops

Answer: (D)

The event that brings Reconstruction to a close is the Compromise of 1877, which included pulling federal troops out of the Southern states. This withdrawal ended federal enforcement of Reconstruction policies, allowing Southern governments to regain control and roll back many gains for African Americans. With troops gone, the era of Reconstruction effectively ends and the South moves into the era of Jim Crow laws and disenfranchisement.

The other options fit earlier stages of the era. The Emancipation Proclamation shifted the war’s aims and began freeing enslaved people but did not end Reconstruction. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, a foundational change, but Reconstruction continued afterward. The Reconstruction Acts reorganized Southern states and set conditions for readmission, extending the process rather than ending it.