Grant’s Fight: The Ku Klux Klan Act

Welcome to Civics and Coffee. My name is Alycia and I am a self-professed history nerd. Each week, I am going to chat about a topic on U.S history and give you both the highlights and occasionally break down some of the complexities in history; and share stories you may not remember learning in high school. All in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of coffee. 

INTRO MUSIC

Hey everyone, welcome back. 

In the presidential contest of 1868, 400,000 newly enfranchised Black men made their way to the polls - most voting for the first time thanks to the Reconstruction Acts passed the year before. Their choice was overwhelmingly for the military hero and political outsider, Ulysses S. Grant. The adopted campaign slogan, let us have peace, spoke to the thousands of voters who cast their ballots for Grant, helping secure his electoral victory. Assuming the presidency amidst ongoing racial tensions and violence - especially throughout the former Confederacy - Grant understood that finding peace was going to be a difficult task. 

As towns and cities south of the Mason Dixon line continued to demonstrate their desire to maintain a quote unquote white man's government by any means necessary – and as citizens both black and white wrote of the non-stop terror they lived through for simply exercising their rights, President Grant realized that a more robust response would be required if there was any hope of meeting his goal. The existing amendments did not seem to be enough. The president knew there needed to be more. As a result, Congress passed the Enforcement Act of 1871 - better known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. But what was it? And how could it possibly help the president achieve his goals? 

This week I am diving into the KKK Act of 1871. How did it come about? How was the law used to squash racial and political violence? And how has it been used since? 

Grab your cup of coffee, peeps. Let’s do this. 

In covering Reconstruction, I’ve talked extensively about the violence and intimidation Black Americans faced for attempting to exercise their rights. Despite losing the Civil War and begrudgingly accepting the end of slavery, many white southerners were aghast at the idea that Black men could achieve positions of political or economic prominence. Racial prejudices of the day meant that many white Americans believed their Black neighbors to be inferior in every way. In their eyes, if Black Americans wanted anything more than freedom, they would have to earn it. 

Grant spoke in earnest when he called for peace. When signing the 15th Amendment into law, the president also originally planned on declaring a general amnesty for disenfranchised former rebels hoping it would bring quote: “good feeling and harmony throughout the south” end quote. However, Grant decided he could not in good faith move forward with extending amnesty to former rebels when they continually demonstrated their animosity toward the Black Americans they once claimed as property. The president was overwhelmed with letters from residents south of the Mason Dixon line detailing the ongoing terror they faced for supporting the republican ticket. They pleaded with the president to keep the troops in cities and towns throughout the south and several of the letters beseeched the president to act quickly. One such letter came from a formerly enslaved man named Louis Foy who, on October 29, 1870 wrote to Grant to describe the incredible violence and intimidation he experienced for being a supporter of the Republican ticket. Foy, like so many of his Black neighbors, was beaten and shot inside his own home and called on Grant as quote “my president” end quote to do something about it. 

On March 9th, 1871, President Grant issued a message to Congress: it was time to send the military into the South. As historian Fergus Bordewich describes quote: “he (i.e. Grant) stated his case forcefully: authority was collapsing in large parts of the South, life and property were at risk wherever the Klan was ascendant, and for public officials even such basic functions as the delivery of mail and the collection of federal revenue were becoming a matter of life or death,” end quote. Grant argued that since the states had demonstrated an inability to stamp out these evil acts, it fell to the federal government to take action. “Therefore,” Grant wrote, “I urgently recommend such legislation as in the judgment of Congress shall effectually secure life, liberty, and property, and the enforcement of law, in all parts of the United States.” 

Congress responded three weeks later on March 28th, 1871 when Ohio Representative Samuel Shellabarger introduced H.R. 320, titled An Act to Enforce the Provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes. After passing the house on April 6th, the bill was returned by the Senate on April 14th. Congress voted to authorize the bill six days later on April 20th where it went to President Grant’s desk for signature. The third and last enforcement act, the law put several parameters in place including making it a federal crime to deny any group or individual quote “any of the rights, privileges, or immunities, or protections named in the constitution,” end quote. It banned things like insurrection and witness or political intimidation that interfered with civil rights. It allowed federal judges to keep Klan members off of juries and required everyone - both public officials and private citizens - to take action against any activities they knew to be interfering with someone’s civil rights. Most importantly, it gave the president the authority to call up the army against any local rebellions and suspend habeas corpus. And it wasn’t long before Grant would call upon the newly established Department of Justice and Attorney General Akerman to enforce the law. 

Amos Akerman served as Grant’s Attorney General from June 1870 through December 1871. Born in 1821 in New Hampshire, Akerman graduated from Dartmouth before moving down south where he worked as a teacher, eventually studying law and opening a practice in Georgia ahead of the breakout of the Civil War. Unable to earn a full time living as a lawyer, Akerman also owned a farm where he enslaved several African Americans. When the war broke out, Akerman sided with the south and served in the Confederate army. However his opinions on slavery evolved and Akerman eventually became a supporter of the abolitionist cause. It was under his leadership that the newly established Department of Justice sought to break the strength of the Ku Klux Klan in the south. Akerman’s efforts would prove pivotal in Grant’s quest to rid the former confederacy of racial violence. 

Akerman believed that the amendments passed in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War infused the federal government with more authority, what he described as a quote unquote more national power. Thus, the federal government had to act quickly and assert a larger role in correcting any failures of the state to act to reaffirm these new powers, writing to Charles Sumner quote, “unless the people become used to the exercise of these powers now, while the national spirit is still warm from the glow of the last war, the ‘states rights’ spirit may grow troublesome again,” end quote. As it turned out, Akerman would not have to wait long to test the validity of his legal theory.  

Just six months after signing the Ku Klux Klan Act, several counties in South Carolina acted in such a manner that demanded a response from the federal government. Considered one of the first instances of domestic terrorism, members of the Ku Klux Klan engaged in a campaign of violence and intimidation to scare Black Americans away from the voting booth. Their motivation was their anger over the results of the 1870 election where a high number of black voters turned out, leading to significant republican victories and even the election of some black legislators. Still holding firm to the belief in a quote unquote white man’s government, white supremacists felt they had to act to correct course to prevent large republican majorities from taking over local office. In their eyes, the results from 1870 were not legitimate and they needed to ensure the scam did not continue. Further increasing tensions was South Carolina Governor Robert K. Scott who permitted armed black militia companies to protect black americans while they cast their ballots - something white southerners claimed made them feel threatened. Thus, these men decided they had no other choice than to take back political control by any means necessary, prompting white men of all walks of life to join the Klan. 

Beginning in 1871 and using physical and sexual assault and murder, members of the Klan sought to purge the reconstructionist government and intimidate people who previously voted the republican ticket to either change their vote or prevent them from voting again. They focused on the South Carolina up country where Black Americans were not in a majority. If you recall my prior episodes about the Klan and white supremacist violence, then this should come as little surprise since the Klan frequently operated in places where Black Americans were evenly split with whites or in the minority. Their fight to purge the republican dominated legislature was branded as quote unquote redemption despite the fact that their ends were only achieved through terrorizing their Black neighbors. Their preferred method of intimidation were night rides where they donned white hoods and raided the homes of known republican supporters. While white Republican supporters were also fair game, the Klan overwhelmingly chose to attack Black Americans, forcefully entering their homes and committing heinous acts of violence. If the men in question were not home, the Klan simply used their families to send a message - and several women and children were assaulted, mutilated, or otherwise tortured. 

Upon hearing of the violence, President Grant declared nine counties in South Carolina in rebellion and suspended habeas corpus in October 1871. This permitted federal troops to be deployed to the area to make mass arrests, and they rounded up over 600 suspects by the end of the year. The defendants were indicted in the United States circuit court for the district of South Carolina by a majority black jury since many white residents failed to respond to their jury summons. There are some scholars who speculate that the reason behind the failed jury service was the result of the requirement that potential jurors swore an oath under the penalty of perjury that they had never aided a conspiracy to violate civil rights - something many of them would be incapable of doing. Whatever the reasons, those who were charged faced two federal statutes: the enforcement act of 1870 and section two of the KKK Act of 1871. 

District attorney David Corbin worked alongside South Carolina Attorney General Daniel Chamberlain in prosecuting the cases - which sought to achieve two primary goals: get as many convictions as possible and try to establish a legal precedent for a broad reading of the rights protected by the 14th and 15th amendments; namely, that the due process clause of the 14th amendment had nationalized the bill of rights making it applicable to the states - hoping to enshrine Akerman’s interpretation of the power of the newest amendments to the constitution. Utilizing this legal strategy, the prosecuting attorneys hoped to argue that the men who invaded the homes of Black Americans and seized their weapons violated the victims’ 2nd and 4th amendment rights. This would be quite an uphill battle since the text of both the 14th and 15th amendments specifically cited actions of state governments - not private citizens - which is who were charged with the crimes.

In a little bit of legal magic, the attorneys attempted to argue that since the state of Carolina refused to act to stop the perpetrators, the federal government had the legal authority to invoke the enforcement and KKK acts. During the trial, the attorneys walked cautiously, arguing that the charges were brought not so much because of the personal actions of the individuals charged with crimes, but due to the inaction of the state government to prevent the issues from happening in the first place. The prosecution also realized that 600 defendants was quite the task and therefore decided to focus on the leaders of the Klan. Unfortunately, the most prominent members of the organization had already fled the jurisdiction once they heard the President had suspended habeas corpus and therefore would not be held to account. Prosecutors then focused their attention on those with the highest known status in the Klan. Some who joined the Klan against their will turned state’s evidence, testifying against the other defendants helping to secure a number of convictions - over one thousand when all was said and done. As Grant biographer Ron Chernow explains quote, “The conviction rate was even better than it sounded. The federal court system was burdened with cases and many federal judges, appointed before Grant, didn’t sympathize with the anti-Klan crusade,” end quote. 

The prosecutions in South Carolina were significant in that they successfully broke the Klan violence in the area - and sent much of the other white supremacist organizations into hiding. While racial and politically motivated violence did not stop, the widespread pervasive acts largely diminished for fear of prosecution from the federal government. Grant remained committed to rooting out the Ku Klux Klan even when facing resistance from members of his administration. Again from Chernow quote: “At cabinet meetings, he (ie Grant) repeatedly allowed Akerman to expatiate on Klan horrors even though some members could not have cared less,” end quote. When it came to cast their ballots in the 1872 elections, many southern residents felt confident that they could vote however they wanted without risking the terror of years past. 

One Republican out of Mississippi explained in a letter to the President quote: “At one time, just previous to the passage of that law, the K.K. organizations were being perfected in every county in the state. It is believed by our friends that had the law not been passed, not one of them would have been safe outside of a few of the larger cities. As it is, the K.K.’s, cowards as they are, have for a time at least suspended their operations in all but the easter parts of the state,” end quote. 

Grant eventually called for Akerman’s resignation when the Attorney General rocked one too many boats over his battles with the leaders of the railroad companies – prematurely ending the tenure of one of the most tenacious Attorney’s General in American history. The battle against the Klan continued when Grant selected Geoerge H. Williams to lead the Justice Department. Under Williams’ leadership, the federal government brought three times the number of cases against suspected Klanmen, securing roughly four times the number of convictions as his predecessor. 

But the administration could not continue its dogged pursuit of racial justice in the face of the mounting antipathy of northern residents who found the ongoing legal battles and interference in southern affairs tiring. Additionally, portions of the law would be deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883, further reducing the capacity of the federal government to prosecute white supremacists for their crimes. Several provisions, however, remain codified in federal law including allowing individuals to sue in federal court when state and local officials violate the law. In the 1960s, one Freedom Rider decided to use the statute against FBI agents for failing to protect him when they knew he faced a significant risk of violence in Alabama. 

The federal government under Grant sought to protect the lives and liberties of newly emancipated Black Americans when it was neither politically popular nor expedient to do so. Despite these hurdles, Grant and the radical Republicans in Congress passed legislation aimed at breaking the back of white supremacist organizations to increase voter participation. And when South Carolina residents decided to test Grant’s fortitude and willingness to enforce the law, they quickly learned that the president was a man of his word. 

The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 was a tremendous political achievement and one of the most comprehensive attempts at safeguarding civil rights for Americans in the Reconstruction era, something that would not be repeated in scope until the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. 

Thanks, peeps. I will see you next week.

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