Democrats Win House in 1874, Ending Reconstruction Majority

Democrats won a massive majority in the 1874 midterm elections, flipping over 90 House seats to gain control for the first time since before the Civil War. The economic depression, scandals in the Grant administration, and Northern fatigue with Reconstruction drove the Democratic wave. The new Congress blocked further Reconstruction legislation and set the stage for the withdrawal of federal protection from Southern Black voters and the compromise that ended Reconstruction.