Political And Political Factors : The Goals Of The Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan, known as the KKK, has been one of the most feared groups in America since the end of the civil war during post-war reconstruction.. The civil war was not just about the rights of the black man, but it was a very important part. People in the north mostly believed the black person was due the same liberties insured by the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment of the constitution gave equal protection to former slaves. However people in the south saw the black man as inferior and a slave needed to work on the plantation. This led to continued unrest after the war. Some felt the black man and those that supported his cause needed to be stopped. They wanted to control the black population. The Klan also would torture white people who were sympathetic to the blacks and their situation.

The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865 and was made to resist the Reconstruction of the Civil War. They believed whites were racially superior to blacks and held this belief fiercely. Raiding African American homes, lynching innocents, and burning down African American farms. With rises and falls of members, the Ku Klux Klan always was apart of US history after the Civil War. They

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

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

The third historical interpretation argues that the Klan was originally established as an organization as a result of a struggling plantation system. This particular perspective offers a differing view which allows for the reader to establish an understanding of the evolving interpretations of the Ku Klux Klan as an organization. Michael W. Fitzgerald, a historian in Reconstruction and agricultural history, makes an argument in his article, “The Ku Klux Klan: Property Crime and the Plantation System in Reconstruction Alabama” (1997), that the Klan originally emerged as a result of labor turmoil following the Emancipation Proclamation. Fitzgerald describes labor turmoil during Reconstruction as a conflict involving wealthy plantation owners

The Ku Klux Klan was a secret terrorist organization that was created by six well educated Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee in the December of 1865. Their main objective was to restore white supremacy through acts of violence such as murder, against both Black and White Republicans. The KKK had eventually spread to every southern state, and Klansmen would often terrorize republicans regardless of their race. Members of the KKK believed that African Americans were inferior to Whites and did not believe that Blacks deserved equal rights. Although the rebel groups were outlawed and made illegal, many of them remained in existence and appeared after the reconstruction had ended. This proved the Reconstruction to be ineffective as many Southerners were still fighting against the government and opposed them. In addition, African Americans were still deprived of their rights by these

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 KKK was an organization that formed around the civil war, whose purpose was to discriminate blacks and to deplete their freedom in horrible ways. The KKK in

Life for African Americans in the United States has never been easy. First they were enslaved and later became free. Lastly they just needed the same rights as everyone else. The Klu Klux Klan wasn’t going to let that happen. The Klan wanted to stop all political and economical equality for African Americans. They were violent and terrorized all African Americans and anyone who tried to help them acquire equality. The Klu Klux Klan is a harsh and is extremely racist. They had a part in economic and social problems in the United States in the late 1860s (History.com Staff).

One of the Ku Klux Klan’s mains purposes was to protect the way they live from African Americans, Jews, and Catholics. They had the biggest impact on African Americans. The discrimination and the violence of the group was well known through different communities. The Klan was also known for crucial beatings and murders against the black population. They tried to emphasize that the blacks were a subpar race.

The KKK was originally founded as a social club for past Confederate soldiers. In 1865, the KKK grew into a terrorist association. The KKK had racist activity in the form of riots in the South aiming directly at the blacks but also targeted the Republicans. The KKK killed 46 people, wounded 70 and a large quantity of churches and schools were burned.

The Ku Klux Klan organization is very important in history but unfortunately it was a bad group of people who where racist. Also the end of the Civil war is a very significant part of history. As the struggle of blacks for freedom came to an end, a new form of struggle began to form. Political, social, and economic gains of blacks after the Civil war became really frightening!! The idea of whites loosing superiority over blacks felt unacceptable. The poor social white class feared of losing their jobs, and the wealthy of loosing cheap labor. As a result, racist groups began to form. The name Ku Klux Klan is now known all over the world. At first formed as a small social

The Ku Klux Klan was a racial hate group in the south that made sure blacks did not get any civil rights. Members in the Ku Klux Klan believed whites were superior to other races. The KKK hated the blacks because they believed slaves, who were the blacks, are to be less than human. Only white Anglo-Saxon Protestants or known as “WASPS” could become members. The members also had to pay monthly fees so they could “adopt a highway” to look good in the eyes of the communities.

The KKK started off harmless, then quickly became involved in the violent struggle of the Reconstruction Era. They believed that blacks were inferior members of society, and were undeserving of citizenship or legal protection. Violence within the KKK was very destructive, and Congress soon responded by passing a series of federal acts to enforce the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. The Civil Rights Act of 1871, more formally known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, gave federal officials the power to arrest anyone who sought to deprive citizens of their constitutionally guaranteed rights.

The Ku Klux Klan was a politically and racially motivated group that discouraged and frustrated attempts at racial equality (Bowles 2011). They were against all equality for anyone who supported a Union or was black. They were in control of the Southern states and they ran amuck abusing and murdering anyone they felt would threaten their way of life and the local and state governments sat back and supported their efforts to keep the blacks enslaved at all costs. In and article written by the Harper’s Weekly paper about the atrocities in the South it stated that,