The Meaning of Freedom:
The Failure of Reconstruction
Chapter 13
The Ku Klux Klan
Use threats,
intimidation,
beatings, rapes, and
murder
Founded in Pulaski,
TN in 1866
Originally a social
club
Took over areas of
western Alabama
Northern Georgia
Florida
SC and NC
Often wore hoods
and masks to hide
their faces
Killed/Beat many
white and black
people
Black churches and
schools were burned
Republican leaders
were routinely
threatened and
often killed
Black Chairmen of
the Republican Party
in SC
Murdered as he
stepped off a train in
1868
More killing
Lee Nance and white legislator Solomon G.
W. Dill were murdered in 1868 in SC
1870 black lawmaker Richard Burke was
killed in Sumter County, AL.
The Klan was rarely active where black
people were in a majority
Punishment for the Klan
The Enforcement Acts:
outlawed disguises and
masks and protected
the civil rights of
citizens.
Ku Klux Klan act made
it a federal crime to
interfere with voting,
hold office, and serving
on a jury.
Hundreds of Klan were
arrested.
President Ulysses Grant
suspended habeas
corpus and sent in the
Army.
Klansmen confessed
and were released or
fined for their crimes—
little were imprisoned.
The North loses Interest
Republicans in the North loses interest in
issues and principles and became more
concerned with elections and economic
issues.
Economic issues: The Panic of 1873
Freedmen’s Savings Bank lost more than one
million dollars of African Americans.
Bad investments caused the bank to close.
The Civil Rights Act of 1875
Senator Charles Sumner of MA was a
strong advocate the act.
Open all public accommodations to all
people regardless of race.
The House deleted bans on
discrimination in churches, cemeteries,
and schools.
The End of Reconstruction
Violent Redemption: AL in 1874black and white leaders were
murdered, destroyed crops and
homes
The Shotgun Policy: 1875 MI no
longer feared federal troopsdeclared open warfare on the black
majority.
“Mississippi is a white man’s
country, and by the eternal God
we’ll rule it.”
Grant refused to send federal troops
to help the governor—he was tired
of the violence in the South.
The Hamburg Massacre:
Black militia vs. White rifle
company—both sided suffered
loses. The white individuals
were acquitted of their crimes.
Grant were forced to send
federal troops to stop the
violence.
Democrats attacked, beat, and
killed black people to prevent
them from voting.
The Compromise of 1877
Hayes (R)-Tilden (D)
election
A tie between the two
candidates
Hayes promised to
remove federal troops
for the South
Redemption occurs
throughout the South
Redemption
Henry Adams, a black leader from
Louisiana: “The whole South—every
state in the South had got into the
hands of the very men that held us as
slaves.”