Force Acts

The Force Acts passed by the Congress of the United States shortly after the American Civil War helped protect the voting rights of African-Americans. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 is sometimes included with the three Acts passed in 1870–71 when referring to the Force Acts.

The Force Acts were mainly aimed at limiting the activities of the Ku Klux Klan. Through the acts, actions committed with the intent to influence voters, prevent them from voting, or conspiring to deprive them of civil rights, including life, were made federal offenses. Thus the federal government had the power to prosecute the offenses, including calling federal juries to hear the cases.

The KKK became powerful during early Reconstruction in the 1860s as hatred for African-Americans increased. The Klan was one of several secret vigilante organizations that tried to keep African-Americans from using their civil rights and that targeted African American leaders for intimidation and murder.

The KKK was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1865 as a social club for veteran soldiers. However, it very quickly changed into a force of terror, as insurgents tried to reassert white supremacy. Members dressed in white robes and hoods so no one would recognize them. They rode and attacked usually at night, intimidating blacks with physical attacks, murders and the destruction of their houses and property. White schoolteachers and Republicans were also attacked.

By 1868, The KKK was active in Georgia. It tried to disfranchise blacks or keep them from participating in the government. The Klan became so powerful in the South that Congress passed laws to stop them.