The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871

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             In response to these unsettling decisions made by the Southern States and their use of the ˜Black Codes', Congress passed several civil rights acts in an "effort to remedy the limitations of the Thirteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were congress' answer to the discriminatory action taken by the Southern states. Guaranteeing that no state would make laws to abridge "the privileges and immunities of citizens" or deprive any person of "life, liberty or property without due process of law," or "deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws," these Amendments were Congress' answer to the problems that the African Americans were facing. Since many of these states, initially refused to ratify the newly introduced Amendments, so "Congress instituted military, or radical, reconstruction, in the South. This use of force was made possible due to section five of the Fourteenth Amendment that allowed Congress to "have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of the Amendment. These efforts made by Congress were seen as effective at first, especially in "reconstituting the state electorates, but slowly stories began to be brought to the public eye about the brutal treatment that many former slaves were being subjected to; these attacks were done by hate groups, namely the Ku Klux Klan. .
             The Ku Klux Klan set out the primary targets of their terrorism as being "any blacks [that] challenged white supremacy by daring to vote, teach, or acquire land, and carpetbaggers, white Northerners who came to the South after the war to seek their fortunes or to assume office in the Reconstruction state governments. Dawning masks and robes that hid their identities, the Klan members preformed night rides on their primary targets. Operating in small rural towns and areas, they were known for killing "black political leaders, [they] also took heads of families, along with the leaders of churches and community groups.