How did the Panic of 1873 affect conditions in the South?
A. Fear of poverty and scarcity brought the country together which strengthened racial relations.
B. The epidemic killed many workers which made jobs available for those who did not get sick.
C. It helped the rise of Jim Crow because there wasn’t enough money to invest in Reconstruction efforts.
D. It forced Radical Republicans to create new laws to avoid an economic depression.

The Republicans in the southern states, before falling to the Democrats, tried to make laws and apply retrenchment in order to cease a forthcoming economic depression. But these moves did not prove to be beneficial as the depression had already started to tend businesses in the south to close down.

The Democrats held the power of the house as the construction of railroads were left; retrenchment; and people were burdened with heavy taxes.