The KKK felt it had justification to commit crimes in the manner it did because it had both money and power. The group further felt justified because they were a group of white people with a shared idea on a severe issue in the society (Roark, 2012). Despite the sense of correctness and political justification, the members of the Klan covered themselves in masks to hide from the feds and the society because of the crimes they committed. Ku Klux Klan felt the need to maintain some traditions in the society then. Such traditions included the belonging of power to the white people. The Klan did not want anything with the black community and abhorred the idea of blacks holding office in the United States (Roark, 2012). Finally, the members considered and treated the black people as second-class citizens and did not want them to have a say in any matter pertinent to the affairs of the United States. Despite the excuses the group issued to the public or gave to justify its crimes and heinous acts, it remains that it was a violent group that set out for a particular community (Roark, 2012). The members wanted the black people to assume their positions as slaves and jump every time they were ordered to do so (Roark, 2012). Moreover, it held dear the superiority of the white race at the expense of other races and particularly the black race. All the crimes they did cause significant harm and detriment to the black people without being selective in their targets (Atkins, 2011). They saw the women as ones trying to overstep their lines or positions rather whenever they tried to be like the white ladies (Roark, 2012). What remains of great concern is the reason as to why the group was able to operate and function despite the calls to the government and authorities against it by the locals. The following paper argues that the Ku Klux Klan got away with their crimes because some of its members had political influence or knew someone (Roark, 2012).
The Ku Klux Clan was founded in 1866 after the civil war and its emergence sought to suppress and victimizes recently freed slaves (Atkins, 2011). It extended to the almost very state in the southern part of America by the year 1870 and soon became the prime mover for the South resistance against the policies established by the Republican Party that wished to have economic and political equality for black people (Dobbs, 2016). Indeed the Congress passed a bill that acted to curb the terror inflicted by the group but the group re-established its primary goal for bestowing white supremacy. The superiority of the white had been fulfilled through the victories of Democrats during the state legislatures in the South in the 1870s. White Protestant nativists revived the group after a declining period in the early years of the 20th century and proceeded to burn crosses and stage rallies, marches and parades in a bid to denounce the immigrants (Atkins, 2011). It further wanted to condemn Catholics, blacks, organized labor, and the Jews. The movement by the civil rights committee in the 1960s saw the surge of activity of the group that included the bombing of schools attended by black students as well as churches (Simkin, 2016). It further saw violence against both white and black activists that resided and conducted their activism in the south (Dobbs, 2016). All these acts were successful and continued because the group held the interests of the Democrat politicians at heart. It is imperative to suggest that hardly is it a coincidence that the group was formed immediately after the civil war that saw many black people in the south get freedom (Atkins, 2011). Initially, the southern and northern America fought over the ownership of slaves and almost seceded due to the withdrawal of that right by the then government of Lincoln. However, the southerner’s politicians wanted to have these rights, as it would benefit them correctly regarding their positions in the legislature.
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The formation of the Ku Klux Klan suggests political incitement as earlier pointed. First, the group comprised of very many Confederate veterans that began it as a social club located in Pulaski, Tennessee (Atkins, 2011). Later in the year 1867, the group gathered to meet all its local branches to form an invisible southern empire in a general convention. The leader of the meeting was the general of the Confederate, Bedford Forrest Nathan (Dobbs, 2016). He was the first elected leader assuming the nickname “grand wizard” and presided over some grand dragons or grand titans. Moreover, the beginning of this group coincided with the start of the second phase the post reconstruction of the civil war that had been established and placed in progress by the Republican Party that was in Congress (Atkins, 2011). The Congress passed the Reconstruction Act after a presidential veto soon after it had rejected the lenient policies of reconstruction suggested by President Andrew Johnson. According to this provision, the south fell into some divisions majorly five military districts with each state demanded to approve the 14th amendment that issued equal protection of constitutional laws to previous slaves (Atkins, 2011). It further enacted a male suffrage that was universal.
Racists activities in the south entailed riots aimed at the black people and the Republicans. In the year 1866, a quarrel that erupted between black ex-soldiers and the whites led to a riot in Memphis, Tennessee. The police officers helped the white people in their violent acts against the black community in black community sections (Simkin, 2016). The violence came to an end with 46 people dead and more than 70 wounded with many churches and schools torched to the ground. A similar violence transpired in New Orleans two months after the first riot following the attack of a white mob on a convention on black suffrage (Dobbs, 2016). It ended with 37 black people killed and three whites dead. However, what is interesting is the idea that the Ku Klux Klan grew in both strength and size amidst this violence acts despite the calls against it by many (Simkin, 2016). It proceeded to form the invisible empire in the year 1868 evolving into a terror group that was organized and had a vibrant leader in Nathan. White southerners from all lifestyles in the South joined the group and its ranks (Dobbs, 2016). The group collectively with some white locals spread out to punish the black communities unlawfully in the name of restoring the white culture and supremacy.
The group insisted that the blacks were in of punishment for various reasons such as behaving impudently towards the white people. Hence, they whipped teachers that taught in the freedmen schools and further burned these schools as well as the schoolhouses (Simkin, 2016). Indeed, the group was driven by this objective but its primary concern was to drive out the influence of the Republican in the south, and it did this by terrorizing and killing its leaders as well as its voters (Atkins, 2011). The group had its activities pick up and up to speed during the period that led to the 1868 presidential elections (Dobbs, 2016). The election saw the pitting of the Democrat Horatio Seymour against Ulysses’ Grant of the Republicans. The Republicans proceeded in their activities that saw white people fail to ascend to political power or any form of authority in their states (Simkin, 2016). The members of the Klan knew very well that black people would vote for the Republicans if given a chance. Therefore, the group employed brutality of any kind to intimidate the Republican voters. For instance, over 2000 murders committed were linked to the election (Dobbs, 2016).
The number of threats and beatings were higher in Georgia whereas 1000 black folks were killed in Louisiana as the elections approached. Democrats won in the three states where violence against Republican voters and more specifically the black people was brutally handled by the Klan (Atkins, 2011). The Klan organized terrorism murdering the organizer of the Republican party, George Ashburn in Columbus, Georgia. Most of the actions by the Klan aimed at intimidating the black people as well as white people that sought to vote for the Republican Party. The terrorism that had a political twist to it proved effective because the Democrat presidential candidate Horatio was in the lead by November despite the gubernatorial candidate of the Republican carrying the state elections in the month of April elections of the year 1868 (Atkins, 2011). Indeed, it was so following the fact that 1,144 people had voted for the Republican in April, but only 116 dared vote for it in November being surrounded by the Klan members at the election posts (Dobbs, 2016).
Participation of African-Americans in public life become one of the most talked about aspects of reconstruction in the south from the year 1867 onwards. Black people won the election of the southern state governments with some winning to the Congress of the United States. The Ku Klux Klan declared itself an underground movement of violence purposefully against the leaders and voters of the Republican as mentioned earlier (Simkin, 2016). All this was given reversing the policies instituted to give black people a voice in the society. At this time, the group expanded with the joining of two other similar groups, the Knights of White Camelia and white brotherhood. The constitutional conventions that were at 10% elected black legislators became victims of the violence with seven on them being killed (Simkin, 2016). The Klan had numerous branches in various states in the south but did not show off a well-orchestrated or straightforward leadership as an organization thus implying someone else had total control of the group. The most significant act of the Klan perhaps was during the 1871 raid on the union county jail where eight black prisoners were lynched (Simkin, 2016). The fact that the men entered the prison and conducted this crime suggests that the enforcers either allowed them to carry out the activities or were scared of them (Atkins, 2011). Either way, the police officers allowed them to carry on with their heinous crimes against other people and particularly the black population.
The leader of the Klan, Nathan Forest was a former member of the Confederate army. A series of events took place in the formation of the Klan and affiliation of members. The first branch was established in 1866, in Pulaski (Simkin, 2016). The second was established din the year 1867 in Nashville. Most of the members were former members of the Confederate army with Nathan Forest, its leader, a great general during the civil war of America (Atkins, 2011). However, the series of transformation in the operations and objectives of the group shows there was a driving force behind the group, and the force came from the political docket.
The first goal of this group was similar to that of others like the Men of Justice and The White Brotherhood, which was to stop the black community from voting. However, the establishment of white governments in the South led to more undermining of the black power by the Ku Klux Klan. Benjamin Butler, a Republican radical in the Congress urged the President Ulysses Grant that was a Democrat to act against the group (Simkin, 2016). Benjamin initiated an investigation in the year 1868 in many of the state counties declaring an organization called the Ku Klux Klan or rather the invisible empire of the south was very professional entailing white professions and every class (Simkin, 2016). The Klan had its constitution that insisted every member carries a gun, a signal instrument and the official gown of the group. The executions of the Klan took place at night and were mainly aimed at the black people (Atkins, 2011). In other words, the Klan was inflicting pain on the black community that was in support of the Republicans. The president-elect that was from the Democrats did not do anything to stop these acts despite the calls from the Congress.
Passing the Ku Klux Klan Act came a little too late. The Congress passed the bill in the year 1871 on 20th April giving the President all powers to intervene in states that were troubled with authority to suspend counties where significant disturbances were felt. However, the group had practically disappeared considering that it had accomplished its mission to restore white supremacy to the land (Dobbs, 2016). It is hardly a coincidence that visible action against the group was beginning to transpire immediately they had accomplished their core mission. All that while the group operated with the Congress still at loggerheads on what to do regarding the violent acts in the south, but members from the opposing sides came down immediately they knew the group was no longer present (Atkins, 2011). It would seem like a plan set out by some of the congressional representatives that were in full support of the group to allow them to act out and carry out their mission until they were done. It was then that the Congress would emerge to show contempt for the Klan in the open air by instituting the Act against the group (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013).
As pointed out, most of the members were former Confederate army members like Nathan Forest. Another member that had the military history was Hiram Evans who became the wizard of the group. Many hostile acts to the Jewish people, Roman Catholics, communists, and socialists as well as all persons that identified as foreigners marked his leadership. In the year when Hiram became the wizard of the group, the group saw a high number of its members elected into political positions assuming the political power (Simkin, 2016). Such included the state officials that were in Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Maine, and Indiana. Membership grew to 4,000,000 in the year 1925, and Klansmen were rarely arrested (Atkins, 2011).
It was very rare for the men to be detained and during those few times that they did get arrested, the Southern juries never convicted them. The members knew they had connections in power as their members had assumed leadership positions hence protecting them. Moreover, it was until the conviction of David Stephenson, one of the leaders of the Klan, that it was known that other members indulged in corrupt agreements with elected officials in the state (Atkins, 2011). For instance, it was found out that the mayor of Indianapolis and the governor of Indiana were corrupt and always protected members of the group from the law. The knowledge of such dealings cut down the membership to 30,000 until the disbanding of the group (Dobbs, 2016). However, it remains that these men used their legal positions to topple over the law, as it ought to have applied to the Ku Klux Klan members for very extended periods (Atkins, 2011). The aspect of the elected officials being once members of the Confederate army and some being the pioneers of the Klan insist that the group could conduct its mission of killing people unlawfully without being deal with by law. The elected leaders used the group to destroy their competition considering that the mission objectives of the group changed from restoring white supremacy to fighting the Republicans immediately when the Confederate army members decided to vie for elective posts in the South (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013).
The emergence of the Civil Rights Movement did well to revive the Ku Klux Klan and its organizations. The organization sought for equality but instead was met with the development of a heinous group. It is thus well to suggest that some of the government or Congress members that were threatened by the Civil Rights Movement called back the groups to fight for them. For instance, the black population in the year 1925 was 4.2% with only 2% registered as voters (Atkins, 2011). A white man was seen walking out of a Chevrolet vehicle and placing a box at the Sixteenth Baptist church steps. A bomb exploded killing four black children that had attended Sunday school classes at that particular church. An eyewitness came forward saying that Robert Chambliss that was a Ku Klux Klan member was responsible for the bombing of the girls. Robert was arrested and charged with both possession of dynamite and murder. However, he was acquitted of the murder charges and got out on a hundred dollar penalty for possession of dynamite (Atkins, 2011). The bombing of the Sixteenth Baptist Church remained an unresolved issue until the election of Bill Baxley as the Attorney General of Alabama. Baxley requested a thorough investigation into the matter by the federal bureau of investigation (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013). The bureau discovered many files that the organization had taken into custody as well as a substantial amount of evidence against the perpetrator, Chambliss but had not used them in the trial. It was a purposeful overlook of proof and lack of presentation of the same before trial in a bid to protect Chambliss (Simkin, 2016). However, Chambliss was found and tried again in the year 1964, in his 70s and was found guilty (Atkins, 2011).
An event took place that upset the Ku Klux Klan in the year 1981. A certain Josephus Andersonan that was an African American charged with the murder of a white police officer took place in Mobile finding Josephus not guilty (Dobbs, 2016). The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the matter, and the group felt that it was due to the high presence of blacks in the presiding jury. The Klan argued that they should be able to get away with murder if a black man could. Two members of the group decided to get justice for the dead white officer after the court failed to pass appropriate jurisdiction (Simkin, 2016). Therefore, the two, drove around looking for the young man that been acquitted by the court and took him to a different county and lynched him.
A brief investigation took place, and the police officers concluded claimed that the young man by the name Donald had been killed due to a drug dealing disagreement (Atkins, 2011). However, the mother to Donald was convinced otherwise because she knew her son never dealt drugs and sought justice for him. The mother contacted Jesse Jackson who traveled to Mobile to lead protests against the police investigation that was a total fail (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013). Thomas who was the assistant attorney in the United States in Mobile persuaded the FBI to look into the ordeal, a move that resulted in the confession of James Knowles to the killing of the young man. Knowles was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, and when Hays was tried for murder, Knowles was the witness at the confession stand leading to the passing of guilty verdict on Hayes (Simkin, 2016).
The Democratic leaders supported the group and even defended and protected it publicly. Democratic leaders attributed the violence of the Ku Klux Klan to the poor whites of the South despite the fact that the membership of the organization had crossed lines significantly (Atkins, 2011). The membership had grown from miniature farmers to lawyers, physicians, and merchants all the way up to ministers. Local law enforcement either belonged to the group or just declined to act against it in areas where most of the activities of the Klan took place. In cases where these men were arrested, nobody came out to testify against them, and those that attempted to do so were met with full force and brutality (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013). Many of the white leaders of the South remained silent on issues about the Ku Klux Klan hence giving them mandate and approval to go about their business (Simkin, 2016). It was tacit approval.
So protective of the group were the Democrats that it infuriated them to see any attempts to thwart the activities of the Klan. For instance, it was a long time coming when the Ku Klux Klan Act was implemented and insisted that the crimes the Klan had committed were federal offenses that included conspiracies that saw the deprivation of citizens the right to office. The Act gave the president the mandate and power to arrest all accused persons without a charge and send the federal forces to suppress the members of the Klan (Dobbs, 2016). Ulysses Grant, the then president, used the Act to crush the group and more specifically its operations in South Carolina. The act by the president in his bid to crush the group and thwart its activities in this area such as South Carolina upset and angered the Democrats (Atkins, 2011). It led to the alarming of the Republicans, resulting in the gradual reassertion of the white supremacy and saw the entire south led by Democrats once again in the year 1876.
According to WGBH Educational Foundation (2013), The meeting of the six founders of the Klan came at a time when the opening phase of reconstruction was almost coming to completion in the year 1865. All eleven of the previously rebel states were rebuilt on lenient terms that allowed the former leaders of the Confederate to assume their initial positions in power (Simkin, 2016). The states of the South began to enact laws that vividly suggested that aristocrats running them did not intend to yield their pre-war powers and dominate over the poor white folks but rather assert dominance and rule over the black community (Atkins, 2011). The laws were called black codes, which basically implied enslavement of the black people. The Democrats resolved a convention that began with the assurance that it was a white people government that sought to perpetuate the benefit and exclusiveness of the white race. It did not consider the black people as citizens of the United States of America. In fact, places like Virginia and Mississippi enacted very harsh laws against the black community, and President Andrew Johnson did not do anything to prevent them from being implemented and enforced (Atkins, 2011).
The legal framework that was now working in the South frustrated the Northerners that had previously celebrated victory over their confederacy as well as their form of slavery. The Congress did not seat the southern senators that defied the black codes as well as its representatives during the reconvening of the sitting in December the year 1865 after a lengthy recess (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013). Therefore, the stage was already set for the Ku lux Klan during its birth in Pulaski because it served to ensure that the northerners were not cheated out of the benefits of their victory and the die-hard citizens of the south that did not want to give them supremacy over the black people (Atkins, 2011). The birth of the Klan saw some victories for the radicals thaw got into many electoral positions in various states.
Leaders that fell betrayed by the reconstruction act and was sent as representatives to Nashville called upon the Klan. A tactic saw the planning of action against the new federal policy on reconstruction. The Klan became violent throughout the entire summer with nobody holding them down or back in their actions (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013). It was used as a cover for almost every crime and murder in the states but more significantly was used by the democrat's leaders that felt abhorred by the calls for equality by the Republicans (Atkins, 2011). Such problems led to the creation of the Klan and ended up deciding its direction regarding structure and organization. The Klan threatened black folks and rivals to the democrat politicians that had also gained power through intimidation by the group (Simkin, 2016). Therefore, it is well to say that leaders that had political influence and power so that they could drive out their political rivals purposefully orchestrated the group.
Conclusion
The Ku Klux Klan comprised of a 150 confederate white veterans mob that was formed in the year 1866. The group sought out black politicians insisting that they were trying to make Alabama African or rather Africanize the city. The social group proceeded out on a rampage, whipping, hanging, burning, decapitating, and shooting people in a bid to defeat the Republicans and hence store the supremacy of the white people. Ku Klux Klan felt the need to maintain some traditions in the society then. Such traditions included the belonging of power to the white people. The Klan did not want anything with the black community and abhorred the idea of blacks holding office in the United States. Finally, the members considered and treated the black people as second-class citizens and did not want them to have a say in any matter pertinent to the affairs of the United States.
The Ku Klux Clan was founded in 1866 after the civil war and its emergence sought to suppress and victimizes recently freed slaves. It extended to the almost very state in the southern part of America by the year 1870 and soon became the prime mover for the South resistance against the policies established by the Republican Party that wished to have economic and political equality for black people. The police officers helped the white people in their violent acts against the black community in black community sections. The executions of the Klan took place at night and were mainly aimed at the black people. In other words, the Klan was inflicting pain on the black community that was in support of the Republicans.
The president-elect that was from the Democrats did not do anything to stop these acts despite the calls from the Congress. The states of the South began to enact laws that vividly suggested that aristocrats running them did not intend to yield their pre-war powers and dominate over the poor white folks but rather assert dominance and rule over the black community. The Klan threatened black folks and rivals to the democrat politicians that had also gained power through intimidation by the group. Therefore, it is well to say that leaders that had political influence and power so that they could drive out their political rivals purposefully orchestrated the group. Conclusively, the Ku Klux Klan was very violent and strongly against the idea of black people having the power to have a say in anything.
References
Atkins, S. E. (2011). Encyclopedia of right-wing extremism in modern American history . ABC-CLIO.
Dobbs, C. (2016). Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstruction Era . New Georgia Encyclopedia . Retrieved 25 November 2016, from http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/ku-klux-klan-reconstruction-era
Roark, J. L., Johnson, M. P., Cohen, P. C., Stage, S., & Hartmann, S. M. (2012). The American Promise and a Combined Volume: A History of the United States . Macmillan.
Simkin, J. (2016). Ku Klux Klan (KKK) History . Spartacus Educational . Retrieved 25 November 2016, from http://spartacus-educational.com/USAkkk.htm
WGBH Educational Foundation, (2013). WGBH American Experience. U.S. Grant: Warrior | PBS . American Experience . Retrieved 25 November 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-kkk/
