The Ku Klux Klan was a white-supremacist organization that was a product of Civil War. The group's methods evolved over time, but the key goal was to promote white power by threatening minorities. After the Civil War ended in 1865, subsequently the Ku Klux Klan was created. It was created in 1865 by six college students for the purpose of horseplay and pure amusement and not with the intention of it becoming a white supremacist group. Once however the group gained great popularity and an increasing number of followers, the philosophy of the group changed. The group began targeting and harassing African-American’s but without the use of violence. Over time however the group changed their treatment towards African-Americans and began harassing them with extreme violence. The Klan was not alone in their practices and many other discriminating groups were forming at this time. The groups decided to meet with the Klan and joined forces, they collectively drafted a constitution. They also elected a central leader by the name Nathan Bedford Forrest, his title Grand Wizard.
As the group expanded the Klan began to divide themselves into subgroups. It was a hierarchy starting with the Grand Wizard on the top of the chain and the Ghouls at the bottom. The Klan evolved into a more strict group over time but was still populated by irresponsible civilians. The group referred to themselves as vigilantes and enforcers of the law. The Klan had a police force, a court system, and if needed, executioners. The group felt that they were positively affecting the American Society. At this point violence was used but very rarely.
As the group developed officer from the Confederate army started to join their organization, the group became extremely v...
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...t also compromises with the South in certain aspects. Although this plan seemed to be a good one, Andrew Johnson lost power before he can enforce them. So the last plan was Congresses, this plan ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. It’s goal was to protect the civil rights of all Americans, no matter what race you are. It also created the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867, which divided the South into five military districts. It also passed the Fifteenth Amendment, which forbid any State from denying suffrage due to race. This amendment was aimed directly to eradicate the Black Codes in the South. All these revisions angered the South, but no one was more angry than the Klan.
The Ku Klux Klan was extremely irate with the new reconstructed government. They felt is was their duty to restore power to the Whites, by terrorizing the newly freed African Americans.
After the Civil War, the South needed to rejoin the North to become a United States. President Abraham Lincoln was very lenient with the idea of restoring the states with the Union. He developed a plan called the Ten-Percent Plan, which proclaimed that ten percent of the southern states’ population needed to pledge to be loyal to the United States. After Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson took over. He was much more lenient towards the South than Lincoln was, giving the South the right to regulate their actions. For example, African Americans could be controlled, but still couldn’t be bought nor sold. Slavery technically ended, but the new sharecropper sy...
...ights for African Americans as well as a political rights for the people, his goal was to abolish slavery and felt that “all men created equally” should uphold for everybody, everybody that was man at least. Johnson the president, in the beginning proved to be loyal to his radicals by chastising the confederacy making sure there would be repercussions for their actions. Also his amnesty plan to reinstate the south states was far harsher than that of Lincoln's. Johnson’s sanctions deprived confederacy officers, people in high power, and anyone who owned valuable assets could be subject to confiscation. The purpose was to shift political power in south and reward it to freed blacks and white southerners who stayed neutral during the war. Hahn states in his article that, “During reconstruction, black men held political offices in every state of the former confederacy”
As President, Johnson decided to follow Lincolns plans by granting amnesty to almost all former confederates; establishing a Provisional government; and ratifying the thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery. However, Johnson was not the same man as Lincoln for he was quite unpopular, especially with Congress. As the south was in a transitional period, its politics were changing as well. First, the Reconstruction Act allowed blacks to v...
The KKK is the hooded legend of the past, present, and likely the future of the United States. Their stories of death and destruction across the United States and the midwest have frightened many of color and those of certain backgrounds and delegations for years.The history of the secret organization known as the Ku Klux Klan, goes back to 1865. The Ku Klux Klan began as a social group for Confederate veterans after the end of the civil war. On December 24th of the year 1865, the secret society that would change a nation, was born .
The KKK is a movement that has been very controversial since the Civil War. The Klan as they call themselves was created as a result of the occupation of Federal troops in the South. The KKK's purpose at the time was to provide the people of the south with the leadership to bring back the values of Western Civilization that was taken from them. In the 1920's the Klan had its most popular era. At this time the KKK was the most active politically then it has ever been in history. The KKK still exists today as a brotherhood and a new White racial community that lives and functions by the ideals it promotes. Today the Klan is in its 5th era and continues to be America's oldest and most effective White Christian Fraternal organization.
The first wave of the Ku Klux Klan was the founders. This band of brothers lasted from 1866 to 1874. Their goal was to restore the white supremacy by using violence and threats, including murder against blacks, which later spread to including other racial groups. They took on the look of all white with masks and robes to complete their look and hide their identities when “attacking,” usually at night. Some of the members in the Klan claimed to be the ghosts of the Confederate solders to frighten superstitious blacks. At the end of 1867, there were one hundred ninety-seven murders and five hundred forty-eight cases reported of assaults. In April 1868, 1,222 Republican votes were casted but by the ...
The Ku Klux Klan founded in 1865 by William Nathan Bedford a former confederate general, began a campaign of terror against free blacks and their white supporters. The KKK had a wide array of uneducated people because their main incentive was to recruit young, homeless, and mindless children to follow in their footsteps and become a member of the KKK. In many instances Klan members were
The KKK or Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee by former Confederate Soldiers. Some of the founders of this organization consisted of; Captain John Lester, Major James Crowe, and Richard Reed to name a few. Their main target at the time was blacks and any white person that stood with them. The Ku Klux Klan was the head of the racism movement in America. Being a hate group among minorities, they made them live in terror day in and day out. The KKK was the most feared group of people in the 1860’s.
In the spring of 1866, a year after the civil war had ended, six confederate veterans formed a social club in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee. Just out of the war and looking for excitement, they formed a secret society which they named the Ku Klux Klan. The name comes from the Greek word Kuklos, meaning circle. This small group started as a harmless, fun loving group, and developed into one of the largest, most violent groups in American history. The original group only lasted a few years, and left a permanent impression, rituals that people today still use.
The Ku Klux Klan was founded in May of 1866, in Pulaski, Tennessee by six veterans of the Confederate Army. The early years of the Klan's existence were focused mainly on restoring white power in the government. The Klan often spoke against Radical Republicans, the political party that most supported the rights of former slaves. At first the Klan seemed relatively harmless. But as time went on, the so called white supremacists showed how far they were willing to go to fulfill their craving for America to go back to its former ways.
Originated in 1865 by William Nathan Bedford,a former confederate general in the Civil War, the Klu Klux Klan wreaked havoc from 1866 to the later 1990’s , terrorizing many populations. The Ku Klux Klan’s main goal was to bring back the slavery of the blacks who had just been freed during the Civil War, and to keep the African American race from ever being free. Many black families suffered from the Ku Klux Klan’s hatred and were attacked by the Ku Klux Klan, who targeted those who were set free from slavery after the Civil War was over (racial problemsTrueman). They lived in constant fear of being captured, tutored and killed. In the day they lived with the sense of hatred all around them, and not a minute of their lives was lived without an urgency to look behind to see if someone was following. The nights were interrupted with the dreaded sounds of horses hooves and feet running around, setting fire to their homes. The abuse that these-innocent people struggled through was devastating and very wrong. After their at...
The KKK was once an African American hate group in the late 1800’s, created by Confederate generals who wanted to continue suppressing their former slaves with terror. It was shut down after their leaders were plagued with scandals, and their business dealings put out into the open, for all to see and read. People finally understood what the Klan was about and obviously did not want it. Although in 1915, William J. Simmons watched D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” which depicted the story of what happened after the Civil War, through the eyes of a glorified Klansman. He was stargazed at how Griffith depicted the Klan, and as him being a long time joiner of clubs, he decided to bring back the Ku Klux Klan. A surprising fact is how a man like this could lead a group of hate, as he used to be a minister. (“Ku Klux Klan -- Extremism in America”) This second generation of the Klan created almost an “Invisible Empire” by their high point. Their members were scattered across state and federal government, and one could say that they “co...
A modern-day monster takes shape in the form of the Ku Klux Klan due to the interacial and international fear they incite. Founded in 1865, the Klan began as a movement against economic equality for everyone. Their approach to white supremacy was emphasized in their violent attacks and bombings throughout the nation. In 1915, the Klan was revitalized and took a stance not only against African Americans, but now Roman Catholics, Jews, and Immigrants. This stance against several personal freedoms demonstrates their insular views on the world. The Klan opposes anyone who differs from their specific beliefs; not only do they carry a specific mindset, but they work towards this mindset in a violent manner using intimidation. “KKK members wore elaborate
I have learned that the Ku Klux Klan was in response to the Southern bitterness towards blacks having won freedom from slavery in the aftermath of the civil war. Congress had passed the Reconstruction Acts which divided the South into 5 military districts, each under a general. New elections were to be held in each state with freed, black, male slaves being allowed to vote; this infuriated Southerners. The first branch of the Ku Klux Klan was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee, around 1865, the name Ku Klux comes from the Greek word, Kuklose, meaning circle. The Klan was a secret organization founded by 6 ex-confederate veterans, they considered the Klan to be a secret social club, not knowing what a violent organization it would turn into. They decided to make their Klan costumes as odd as possible. Klan members would be dressed in white sheets and their faces would be covered with white masks. These ex-soldiers would ride through the town, make jokes and act silly, this made former black slaves to believe that the ghosts of the Confederate dead had risen to reclaim their land. Many Southerners began to join the Klan and harm former black slaves. Soon these night rides turned into violent night rides and lynching’s. Once the Klan began to make a name for itself, General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the famous cavalry leader, became the leader of this invisible empire. The Klan was effective in keeping blacks away from the voting polls. The Klan was coming under increased attack by Congress and the Reconstruction state governments. The leaders of the Klan realized that the Klan’s end was near as an organized force.
After the Civil War ended, the Southern states went through a time known as Reconstruction. Ex-Confederate soldiers had returned home now, and they were still upset about the outcome of the war. It is at this point in time that the Ku Klux Klan became a part of everyday life for many Southerners. In the beginning the Ku Klux Klan was started to be a way for people who had the same views to spend time together. The original members meant of the Ku Klux Klan to be a "hilarious social club" that would be full of aimless fun (Invisible Empire, p.9), though in later years the Ku Klux Klan became known for their violence against people outside the white race and people who associated with them. Contrary to what most people believe, the Ku Klux Klan was started because of a few people wanted to have some innocent fun, not because they were intending to start a chain of violence on anyone outside the white race.(The Klan, p.2)