The Civil War And Reconstruction

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.

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

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

As reconstruction begin, many whites in the South seemed to ignore the fact that Blacks were no longer slaves. The Southern states created laws called ‘Black Codes’ that restricted the rights of the freed slaves. “Black codes were laws that were passed in each of the former confederate states following the civil war that applied only to black people.” (Hine, Darlene Clark, et al. 303) The laws highlighted that blacks have no right to vote in elections. However, after the troops were sent to the South, Blacks’ right to vote and involve in public office were secured. Many whites complained about the policy, and some of them created secret organization called Ku Klux Klan. This group tried everything including extreme and inhumane violence to

Southern resistance to “Radical Rule” became increasingly more violent and more frequent, sparking the need for Grant to create three Enforcement Acts. The first act delivered a penalty to anyone who interfered with the right to vote. The next sent federal officials to monitor the southern elections. The third, the Ku Klux Klan Act outlawed the activities of the KKK. The acts, however, were not often enforced.

In 1925, The head of the Ku Klux Klan was in Indiana was sentenced to life in prison for assaulting a girl who late poisoned herself. Congress passed a series of anti-Ku Klux Klan laws in 1870 and 1871. The Enforces Act of 1870 banned the use of terror, force, or bribery to prevent people from voting because of their race.The Ku Klux Klan held rallies to intimidate the volunteers. The KKK murders three Civil Right workers in

Congress organized a joint select committee made up of seven senators and fourteen representatives to look more in depth in the KKK and its murderous activities. Then in 1871 the Civil War Act was passed, also known as the Ku Klux Klan act. This was a congressional bill passed in response to widespread KKK violence in the south. Many were murdered and many blacks, Newley franchised avoided the polls out of the fear of their lives. Violence spiraled out of control by the late 1860’s and early 1870’s because the state legislatures turned a blind eye. This act restored the south in time for the 1872

In summary, the book talks vividly about the rise and reasoning of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915 and a brief background about the founder, William Joseph Simmons. It also focused on members of the Ku Klux Klan in Clarke County, Georgia. This revival of the original KKK, that formed after the Civil War, now hated everyone that wasn’t one of them, a WASP or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. A majority of their hatred was directed to

White supremacy groups posed a major threat on the blacks free way of life. The Klu Klux Klan, which began in 1865 in Tennessee, murdered many blacks whose only crime was the desire to vote. The Klan would inflict vengeance on colored citizens by breaking into their homes in the dead of night, dragging them out of their beds, torture them in inhuman ways and most instances murder them mainly for their political affiliations. Each member of the Klan must furnish himself with a pistol, gown, and a signal instrument which was part of the Klan’s constitution and bylaws each member abided by.

Later in 2001 and 2002, the FBI had looked over some of the cases and convicted two Klan members from the KKK. The FBI decided to dig deeper into the files, and convicted many more Klansmen to be arrested. Then President Lyndon Johnson began and FBI operation that sent over two thousand spies to the Klan meeting. Gathering information for years and convicting more and more felons. The Klan finally started to fall apart. But back in the ‘60’s, many of the crimes were not filed. Much because of some police sheriffs being part of the

The Ku Klux Klan were violent against white and black republican leaders that supported the blacks right to vote.By 1870 the Ku Klux Klan was all over the south. Klan members got bigger in the regions of the south.The courts had found it hard to find people to give evidence to them when the Klan members did something wrong, therefore they got away with violence.The KKK act had called certain crimes done by members as federal offenses, meaning the Klan members were going to get punished now.

The history of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is more than half as old as the United States of America itself, and the impact that the terrorist organization has had on American culture still resonates with many people today. There were times when prominent figures of many states were members of the KKK; they worked with the interests of the KKK at heart. “The organization also used violence against minority groups and immigrants to intimidate those sectors of the American population and their supporters as well, in order maintain “white supremacy”.” The KKK specialized in the use of propaganda through scare tactics and the media. However, the organization also exuded a twisted sense of moral righteousness in order to garner public support. The KKK

African Americans gained liberty and rights throughout the Reconstruction, which dissatisfied numerous of white southerners since most of them believed in white superiority. On that account, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was founded during 1866 in Tennessee. The KKK was a white underground terrorist group that aimed to regain white supremacy by starting a movement against the Reconstruction, targeting the African Americans and white Republicans. The constant attack caused by the KKK made numerous of black citizens fear to get involved in political activities such as running for a position in the office or vote. It also impacted the blacks socially by making the African Americans afraid to attend schools or go to churches. White southerners also

Six Confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee created the original Ku Klux Klan on December 24, 1865, during the Reconstruction of the South after the Civil War. The KKK stretched into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a mouthpiece for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies designed to create political and economic equality for blacks. The members conducted a campaign of intimidation and violence directed at white and black Republican leaders. Though Congress passed legislation

Consisting mainly of white southerners,the Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 and had spread throughout almost every southern state by 1870. The group created an underground network that used intimidation and violence to deter both blacks and whites to reconstruct a racially broken society. "The Klan had used fear, intimidation and murder to brutally oppress over African-Americans who sought justice and equality and it sought to respond to the young workers of the civil rights movement in Mississippi in the same way." (Charles Randel). Legislation was later passed by Congress to suppress the Klan's terrorism, and sent them on the decline. White supremacy was revived in the early 20th century when members of the Ku Klux Klan began staging rallies, parades, and burning crosses. They also began condemning immigrants, Catholic Jews, blacks, as well as some minority groups. During the 1960's civil rights movement, the Ku Klux Klan bombed black schools and churches as a way to make a