What started out as a small association became a federal issue. Political elections gave the Klan a chance to gain more power, more "brothers", more advantages. At one point, it became "so politically powerful that it held its own primaries to decide which brother to support in the regular Democratic ones."
The first meeting was organized in Nashville with the intention to “develop the principles that would guide all dens”. They did so in a secret constitution in which they called a Prescript. In this document, they recognized the supremacy of the “Divine Being” while also acknowledging the supreme laws of the United States government. The klan referred to themselves in the prescript by using two asterisks - ** -
Through research and evidence, it is clear that the historical interpretations of the origins of Klan and its establishment as an organization and its origins have changed over time. Starting in 1906, historians argued that the Klan was a benevolent, social organization, working as law-enforcers to help maintain a distinct social order between Southern whites and newly freed slaves. Completely ignoring the violence produced by the Klan, historians depicted the Klan as a positive, well-rounded organization. The second historical interpretation shone a new light on the Klan, exposing it for its violent and racially motivated actions. Historians argued that the Klan’s establishment was as a political organization that made a negative and lasting impression on all of U.S. history. The third and final interpretation argues that the Klan was established as a result of a struggling planter class. Historical interpretations during this time period describe the main goal of the Klan as wanting to answer to the desires and goals of the planters’ class. Because of this, historians during this era never saw the Klan as being an obstacle for newly freed slaves nor did they see the Klan having a negative effect on society. In conclusion, it is evident that historical interpretations develop and
Because of the Klans action many of their plans and activities did not work because the Texas government took note of their actions and hate crimes since the United States government also took notice of it and order that something be done to allow blacks to officially be able to vote since the Texas government constitution was not specific originally and did not enforce these
After the Reconstruction, the Democrats recovered control of the Confederate States, which caused the old Klan to die out in the 1870s. The new Klan recreated itself in 1915. The new Klan was responding to the fast-growing ethnic minorities in the United States. The Klan only wanted 100% Americanism, natives, white Protestants born in the United States. The Klan was against immorality, rejected bootleg liquor, and taught hate against African Americans, Roman Catholics, Jews, immigrants, Communist, atheists prostitutes, and adulterers. The new Klan saw these groups as a threat because they believed they would make a difference in the voting platform. The Klan was most influential in Atlanta because that was the base for their headquarters.
Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people,--a disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded save by the simple ignorance of a lowly people. The first decade was merely a prolongation of the vain search for freedom, the boon that seemed ever barely to elude their grasp,--like a tantalizing will-o'-the-wisp, maddening and misleading the headless host. The holocaust of war, the terrors of the Ku-Klux Klan, the lies of carpet-baggers, the disorganization of industry, and the contradictory advice of friends and foes, left the bewildered serf with no new watchword beyond the old cry for freedom" (Chapter 1). They thought the Black people did not enjoy their deserved rights, like the 14th and 15th Amendments. 14th Amendments provided civil rights for African Americans, and15th Amendments provided voting rights for African Americans. Ku Klux Klan preventing African American from using the 15th Amendment to enable them to vote. Ku Klux Klan was the terrorist arm of the Southern Democratic Party. The immediate goal of these groups was to keep white and black Republicans away from polling places. Their violent tactics, targeted at black leaders, escalated during Reconstruction. White mobs killed three state legislators during these turbulent times.
Forever. 170). The Klan were white southerners who were organized and committed to the breaking down of Reconstruction. By methods of brutality, “the Klan during Reconstruction offers the most extensive example of homegrown terrorism in American history” (Foner. Forever. 171). The Ku Klux Klan as well as other groups killed or tormented black politicians or threatened the blacks who voted in elections. The Klan strongly disagreed with the northern idea that slaves should become part of the government. The Historian Kenneth M. Stampp states, “for their [the North] supreme offense was not corruption but attempting to organize the Negroes for political action” (Stampp. Era. 159). This corresponds with Foner’s idea that the South was not open to the idea of change but more so consumed with the idea of recreating a society similar to one of the past. However, the goal of white power groups was not just politics. The Klan wanted to restore the hierarchy once controlling the South. Foner observes that, “the organization took on the function of the antebellum slave patrols: making sure that blacks did not violate the rules and etiquette of white supremacy” (Foner. Forever. 172). Like the power the southern whites formerly held over the slave population, the Ku Klux Klan wanted to control the African American population still living in the South. They did not want the freedmen to become integrated into their society because they saw them as lesser people. By suppressing and
The Klan on their march displayed their increasing numbers and was marching to show how powerful the KKK have become. The KKK was working on an effort “to get lawmakers to pass discriminatory laws against immigrants” (www.georgiaencyclopedia.org, “Ku Klux Klan in the Twentieth Century”). The Klan believed to protest against all races and work to influence the government to put restrictions on allowing other races in the United States. In their march they worked to intimidate blacks, Catholics, Jews, and all other races. In addition, in the voting system, millions of its members succeeded in electing hundreds of KKK-backed candidates to local, state, and even federal office, the group proved unable to preserve its influence at the ballot box beyond that decade (www.brandeis.edu, “Ku Klux Klan’s lasting legacy on the U.S. political system”). The KKK was solely trying anyway to get the public's attention and gain support while they worked to changed the way Americans viewed the opposing
This turn to violence was how the first Ku Klux Klan rose. The Klan was formed by six ex-Confederate Veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee, this organization started off small but began absorbing most of the other anti-Reconstruction groups in the south, like the Men of Justice, the Pale Faces, the Constitutional Union Guards, the White Brotherhood, and the Order of the White Rose (Infoplease.com). The Ku Klux Klan was created in fear of an insurrection by the ex-slaves, now the freedmen. The most recognized founder of the Klan was Nathan Bedford Forrest. Their white robes and masks are supposed to be a representation of ex-Confederate soldiers who died during the civil war. One of the Klan’s biggest goal was keeping the freedmen away from the voting polls to assure the success of ex-Confederates in gaining back their political control in many states. In 1871, President Grant took an aim at the Klan for their interference in black suffrage but by this time the support for Reconstruction was beginning to diminish because racism was still very much alive in both the north and the south. As time progressed the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives. The democrats waged a campaign of violence to take control of Mississippi to which President Grant responded with a refusal of federal troop intervention which ended support of the Reconstruction era. In the election of 1876, Republican, Rutherford B. Haynes, reached a compromise with
The Ku Klux Klan flourished in the South at the beginning of the Reconstruction succeeding the Civil War. There remained numerous ex-Confederates that were still strongly opposed to the Reconstruction and sought to preserve white supremacy in the South. Directly after the Civil War the government in the South was weak and vulnerable. The Ku Klux Klan leveraged this and used violence and threats to try to reestablish white supremacy. They were most successful in playing upon fears and superstitions. They not only brought terror to the black communities but they also targeted carpetbaggers and scalawags. They used these threats and fears in effectively keeping the blacks away from the polls so that the ex-Confederates could gain back political control in the
This started “the rise of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) it grew more during the beginning of the 20th century. It was a “secret terrorist organization founded the Reconstruction” (Sonneborn 14).
In 1919 the Klu Kluc Klan ( KKK) became a national power. The Klan was major powerhouse behind Jim Crow. Blacks were not just going to stand by and let the Klan have control over them, so b;acks used the power of the press and the courts
Topic: In 1866, the Ku Klux Klan was founded by many former confederate veterans in retaliation to their current Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks. The Reconstruction era sparked by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation clearly defined that the days of white superiority were in dissolution. Through a willful ignorance and an insecurity of what might postlude the civil rights movement, the KKK rose, using terror in pursuit of their white supremacist agenda. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former Lieutenant general in the Civil war, became the KKK's first Grand Wizard. Now with a steady leader the klan became a persistent political party aimed at dismantling the increasingly
Boxer is a hard working horse that is being taken advantage of by Napoleon. Boxer is unaware of that Napoleon has made him be the main worker of the windmill. Boxer is used by Orwell to show how leaders exploit the working class for their own personal gains. In the literary analysis essay “Animal Farm: An Allegory of Revolution” Valerie Meyers states that Boxer’s role in the novel is to show “the decent working man, fired by enthusiasm for the egalitarian ideal, working overtime in the factories or on the land, willing to die to defend his country” (27).
For our project we chose to use Macbeth as our inspiration. In our art piece, Lady Macbeth is standing tall looking over her shoulder at an distanced Macbeth, who is seen off to the side, not as a lesser character, but as an isolated being holding a dagger. The dagger is dripping crimson red blood, fresh from his latest kill; King Duncan. Over Lady Macbeth’s right shoulder is the devil; the king of all evils and evil doings; Satan. Creeping over her shoulder, the devil is clasping onto Lady Macbeth with his dagger like nails, gripping on, waiting for his next victim. In the background there are flames that engulf Satan and Lady Macbeth, while Macbeth is surrounded by trees that are green and thriving, but they are soon to be reduced to ash
Every single person on Earth has their own distinct personality backed up by their behavior. But, how much is our personality is affected by the environment surrounding us? This debate has existed since 1869, when the phrase "Nature Versus Nurture" was created the English polymath, Francis Galton. On one side, there are those who argued that our personalities and traits are determined by our genetic model and DNA. On the opposite spectrum are the people agreeing with the nurture side of the debate, which argues that people are born with a mind as a “blank state”, where through learning and interactions with the surrounding environment, we gain an understanding of life. (Nature vs Nurture)