Civil War During The Reconstruction Era

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

Many whites seen a gathering as a threat or taunt, and a new group known as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a threat to African Americans during Reconstruction. Major General Joseph Reynolds the man in charge of Reconstruction in Texas noted in a 1868 report “In some counties the civil officers are all, or a portion of them, members of the Klan. . . . The murder of Negroes is so common as to render it impossible to keep an accurate account of them.” . According to a secondary source that one historian noted various reason white Texans justified the killings of African Americans “Freedman did not remove his hat when he passed him (a white man); negro would not allow himself to be whipped; freedman would not allow his wife to be whipped by a white man; he was carrying a letter to a Freedman’s Bureau official; kill negroes to see them kick; wanted to thin out niggers a little; didn’t hand over his money quick enough; wouldn’t give up his whiskey flask.”

Along with being left with nothing but wasted years, casualties, and deeper in debt, the Confederates lost their cause and this made them angry. The Ku Klux Klan offered protection and support along with what they thought was justice. “To protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenseless, from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the brutal; the relieve the injured and oppressed; to succor the suffering and unfortunate and specially the widows and orphans of the Confederate soldiers.” This support and understanding that the Ku Klux Klan offered was attractive to the poor white Southerners. The Ku Klux Klan imposed extreme fear on African American, their purpose to discourage the African American vote for the Republican party. This in turn defeated the whole purpose as to why the Fifteenth Amendment was passed. A direct quote from: Political Terrorism by the Ku Klux Klan. “Q: What are they afraid of? A: Of being killed or whipped to death. Q: What has made them afraid? A: Because men that voted radical tickets they took the spite out on the women when they could get at them.” This primary document only adds to the point that African Americans during the Reconstruction period were terrorized and pressured to do what the Confederates demanded. Although all African Americans were free and Reconstruction had taken effect, African Americans in the South were still not living in peace during

In the article, “Political Violence During Reconstruction,” Samuel C. Hyde, Jr. meticulously examines racially based threats and violence that take place after the Civil War. The Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camellia are the focal points of Hyde’s article. These groups’ main objective was to maintain the power in the South with the planter elite. The planter elite was entirely comprised of wealthy white men. This is no surprise because during this time period, one only had power if he was white, wealthy and a man. The poor people were taken advantage of by the planter elite. The peculiar part here is that the poor people helped the wealthy white people stay rich, rather than help themselves. This happened mainly because of the planter elite; they manipulated the poor people into helping them. The poor people were coerced into helping the planter elite with two incentives: to become wealthy and to have a stronger

After the Civil War, many white Republicans from the North moved down South in order to develop more economic opportunities. But this meant that white Republicans brought their own political beliefs. According to David Hardin, a post-Civil War historian, Northerners “play a central role in shaping new southern governments during Reconstruction” (18). The KKK viewed these white Northerners as a moral threat to their political views, so they “would write notes ordering them to leave the country” (Brown & Shannon 12). Even though many white Northerners did

In the beginning of 1865, the Civil War came to a close, abandoning over 620,000 dead and a destructive path of devastating all over the south. The North now was confronted with the task of reconstructing the destroyed and aggrieved Confederate states.

The Civil war could very easily be known as one of the greatest tragedies in United States history. After the Civil War, the people of The United States had so much anger and hatred towards each other and the government that 11 Southern states seceded from the Nation and parted into two pieces. The Nation split into either the Northern abolitionist or the Southern planation farmers. The Reconstruction era was meant to be exactly how the name announces it to be. It was a time for the United States to fix the broken pieces the war had caused allowing the country to mend together and unite once again. The point of Reconstruction was to establish unity between the states and to also create and protect the civil rights of the former slaves.

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

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

Northerners that came down to the South and freed slaves were discriminated against in the South after the war. Carpetbaggers, Northerners who came to the South to aid Reconstruction efforts, were targeted by the KKK and some of the carpetbaggers were killed because they wanted to help with Reconstruction. Albion Tourgee, a white man that served as a judge during the Reconstruction period, said in a letter “... I have very little doubt that I shall be one of the next victims. My steps have been dogged for months, and only a good opportunity has been wanting to secure me the fate which Stephens has just met…” (Document A). Tourgee’s point was that white men who were Republicans and in a political position were major targets for the KKK, and Tourgee was worried that he was going to be next in the killings. Also in the letter, Tourgee says “...I say to you plainly that any member of Congress who, especially from the South, does not support, advocate, and urge immediate active and thorough measures to put an end to these outrages...is a coward, a traitor, or a fool” (Document A). Tourgee strongly suggests that there must be something done about the killings, and the people that don’t support his cause are weak and cowardly. The KKK was threatened by any Republican that had any sort of political power, just like Abram Colby. Colby was a former slave who was later elected to be in the Georgia State

The most radical Democrats with the white supremacist vision sought revenge to the North which included terror and violence, and the Republicans of the North fought for full freedom and citizenship for former slaves. During this period, shifts in people's personal beliefs helped establish order and justice. Reconstruction strongly shows how people's personal beliefs and opinions of the majority of a population are what establish order and equality in society, rather than enforcing laws that oppose people's own beliefs and opinions. All though reconstruction was not an immediate success, it is a strong example throughout humanity of how personal beliefs and opinions trump laws when it comes to making a change in society. This is directly shown through the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group, whose ideas and beliefs were firmly shaped based on their former views before the civil war. Laws did not hold them back from expressing their beliefs and terrorizing the African Americans. This idea is shown as well by President Johnson who opposed many new laws including the 14th amendment, making the moderate political group shift to being more Republican because of some of the firm democratic decisions he made. Additionally, another strong example of this idea is the

During the Reconstruction Era, an organization called the Ku Klux Klan was orchestrated by white supremacists, mostly in the South, who disliked and terrorized Black people and anyone who stood with the Republicans. When the Confederate states were brought back into the Union, they did not have much power or as many rights as they used to. In the fear of having them be a dominant region in the Union, some of the reconstruction acts that were implemented were trying to keep the southerners under control and keep them from having too much power. Thus, the group's goal was to reestablish white supremacy in the states. Moreover, they “usually carried out their attacks at night, acting on their own

Members of both parties, in the Ku Klux Klan and the anti-war protests of the 1960s rebelled because they felt that they were the victims of social change and political oppression. The KKK first emerged after the South’s defeat in the Civil War and emerged rejuvenated for the third time following the civil rights

In 1861, a horrific war began. Nobody had any idea that this war would become the deadliest war in American history. It wasn’t a regular war, it was a civil war opposing the Union in the North and the Confederate States in the South.. The Civil War cost many people’s lives on the battlefield and beyond. In addition it cost an extreme amount of money for the nation which possibly could have been avoided if the war had turned to happen a little differently.

During the Ku Klux Klan’s early days, they had already started targeting many, which were based on political issues. Since the Ku Klux Klan was a Democratic organization, they targeted the opposition parties (Smith). Besides politics, Ku Klux Klan were racists too. Their disappointment in the increase in the population of African-Americans, made them “[seek] the restoration of white supremacy through intimidation and violence aimed at the newly enfranchised black freemen” (Ku Klux Klan). The Ku Klux Klan’s activities are indeed inhumane, because one cannot harm others just because of their race. Fortunately for the outsiders, the Klan groups were