Potus Geeks Summer Reruns: Ulysses Grant Fights the Klan
[Originally posted on May 5, 2016 as part of our Presidents Behaving Goodly series.]
Ulysses S. Grant was elected President in 1868, just over three years after the Civil War ended. At the time of his election, white supremacists were conducting a reign of terror throughout the South against African-Americans who had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Although African-Americans had gained the vote in the south, Southern Democrats formed organizations that intimidated the freedmen through the use of violence. The most prominent of these organizations was the Ku Klux Klan.
The Klan was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1865. It was originally founded purporting to be a social club for former Confederate soldiers, but the Klan quickly evolved into a terrorist organization. Over time the Klan would be responsible for thousands of deaths of African-Americans and of those who supported their cause, in an effort to weaken the political power of Republicans in the south.
In 1866, what began as a minor fight in Memphis, Tennessee, between white ex-Confederates and African-Americans who were former Union soldiers soon became a full-fledged riot. White policemen were supposed to keep the peace, but instead they assisted the mobs in their violent rioting through the African-American sections of the city. By the time the violence ended, 46 people were dead, 70 more were wounded, and numerous churches and schools had been burned. Just two months later, on July 30, a similar outbreak of violence occurred in New Orleans when a white mob attacked the attendees of a convention promoting suffrage among African-Americans. Thirty-seven black men and three white men who supported them were killed by their attackers.
The Ku Klux Klan grew in size and strength in the south and by the time Grant was elected in 1868, the Klan had become a hooded terrorist organization that its members called "The Invisible Empire of the South." The reorganized Klan's first leader, or "Grand Wizard," was Nathan Bedford Forrest, who had been a Confederate general during the Civil War. White Southerners from all classes of society joined the Klan's ranks. The Klan set as its goal the preservation of a white-dominated society. Klansmen targeted freedmen for the flimsiest of reasons, including behavior that they considered to be "impudent" toward whites. Their terrorist activities included whipping the teachers of freedmen's schools and buring their schoolhouses.
The Klan sought to eliminate Republican influence in the South by terrorizing and murdering its party leaders and all those who supported the party. In the time leading up to the 1868 presidential election, the Klan's activities increased both in frequency and in the level of brutality. The election had Grant running against Democrat Horatio Seymour. Grant's election was crucial for Republicans to continue their programs that would prevent Southern racist whites from gaining political control in their states. Klan members sought to prevent this by preventing the African-Americans in their communities from voting.
Across the South, the Klan and other terrorist groups used brutal violence to intimidate Republican voters. In Kansas, over 2,000 Republican supporters were murdered and in Georgia, an even greater number were beaten, threatened and otherwise intimidated. In Louisiana, 1000 African-Americans were killed as the election neared. In these three states, Democrats won decisive victories at the polls.
But the Klan's violent actions angered many Northerners, who felt that the South had properly repented for its conduct in the recent war. In the 1868 presidential election, Grant won, running on the slogan, "Let Us Have Peace." Republicans also won a majority in Congress. Many Northerners, disgusted by Klan violence, lent their support to the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave the vote to African-American men in every state.
Grant was not content to stop there. He pressed for more legislation to attack the Klan directly. Between 1870 and 1871, Congress passed the Enforcement Acts, which made it a crime to interfere with registration, voting, officeholding, or jury service by African-Americans. Over 5,000 people were indicted under these laws, though only 20% of those were convicted. In 1871 Congress also passed the Ku Klux Klan Act, which allowed the government to act against terrorist organizations. Grant ordered the arrest of hundreds of Klan members, though with the overwhelming support of the Klan in the South, convictions proved difficult to obtain. To assist in the crackdown, Grant suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus, as Abraham Lincoln had done during the war, which allowed the arrests of Klansmen to take place far more rapidly than they would have otherwise, because the authorities didn’t have to bring the persons arrested before a judge and charge them with a crime. As a result, many Klansmen fled their home counties, some fled their state and a few even fled the country.
Grant ordered his generals in the South to enforce the Reconstruction Act and the enforcement Act, which made racist terrorism a federal offense. He created the Justice Department to deal with the prosecution of these offences and he sent in the army and federal agents to enforce the law.
Unfortunately for Grant, when the financial panic of 1873 hit, northerners were less inclined to see the federal government protect the freedmen from the problems of Southern racism, though this did not stop Grant from continuing his war on the Klan for the remainder of his term. When Rutherford Hayes became president in 1876, after a very controversial victory, he agreed to withdraw most federal troops from the south, removing much of the protection for the freedmen that Grant had installed. Grant's war on the Klan suffered a further setback in 1882, when the United States Supreme Court declared Ku Klux Klan Act unconstitutional.
For Ulysses Grant however, freedom and equal rights were matters of principle, not merely a means to gain more votes. Grant used his political capital to fight for the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, and this was one of the things that he remained most proud of in his life. He later said, “A measure which makes at once four million people voter who were heretofore declared by the highest tribunal in the land to be not citizens of the United States, nor eligible to become so, is indeed a measure of grander importance than any other act of the kind from the foundation of our free government to the present day.”
Until recently, many historians had ranked Grant as among the worst presidents, because of the corruption and scandals that occurred on his watch. But recent analyses of Grant's presidency, including H. W. Brands' 2012 book The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace, and Ronald White's American Ulysses have viewed Grant's presidency more favorably. His reputation has significantly improved in recent years because of greater appreciation for his commitment to civil rights, and his moral courage in his prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan, and enforcement of voting rights.
Ulysses S. Grant was elected President in 1868, just over three years after the Civil War ended. At the time of his election, white supremacists were conducting a reign of terror throughout the South against African-Americans who had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Although African-Americans had gained the vote in the south, Southern Democrats formed organizations that intimidated the freedmen through the use of violence. The most prominent of these organizations was the Ku Klux Klan.
The Klan was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1865. It was originally founded purporting to be a social club for former Confederate soldiers, but the Klan quickly evolved into a terrorist organization. Over time the Klan would be responsible for thousands of deaths of African-Americans and of those who supported their cause, in an effort to weaken the political power of Republicans in the south.
In 1866, what began as a minor fight in Memphis, Tennessee, between white ex-Confederates and African-Americans who were former Union soldiers soon became a full-fledged riot. White policemen were supposed to keep the peace, but instead they assisted the mobs in their violent rioting through the African-American sections of the city. By the time the violence ended, 46 people were dead, 70 more were wounded, and numerous churches and schools had been burned. Just two months later, on July 30, a similar outbreak of violence occurred in New Orleans when a white mob attacked the attendees of a convention promoting suffrage among African-Americans. Thirty-seven black men and three white men who supported them were killed by their attackers.
The Ku Klux Klan grew in size and strength in the south and by the time Grant was elected in 1868, the Klan had become a hooded terrorist organization that its members called "The Invisible Empire of the South." The reorganized Klan's first leader, or "Grand Wizard," was Nathan Bedford Forrest, who had been a Confederate general during the Civil War. White Southerners from all classes of society joined the Klan's ranks. The Klan set as its goal the preservation of a white-dominated society. Klansmen targeted freedmen for the flimsiest of reasons, including behavior that they considered to be "impudent" toward whites. Their terrorist activities included whipping the teachers of freedmen's schools and buring their schoolhouses.
The Klan sought to eliminate Republican influence in the South by terrorizing and murdering its party leaders and all those who supported the party. In the time leading up to the 1868 presidential election, the Klan's activities increased both in frequency and in the level of brutality. The election had Grant running against Democrat Horatio Seymour. Grant's election was crucial for Republicans to continue their programs that would prevent Southern racist whites from gaining political control in their states. Klan members sought to prevent this by preventing the African-Americans in their communities from voting.
Across the South, the Klan and other terrorist groups used brutal violence to intimidate Republican voters. In Kansas, over 2,000 Republican supporters were murdered and in Georgia, an even greater number were beaten, threatened and otherwise intimidated. In Louisiana, 1000 African-Americans were killed as the election neared. In these three states, Democrats won decisive victories at the polls.
But the Klan's violent actions angered many Northerners, who felt that the South had properly repented for its conduct in the recent war. In the 1868 presidential election, Grant won, running on the slogan, "Let Us Have Peace." Republicans also won a majority in Congress. Many Northerners, disgusted by Klan violence, lent their support to the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave the vote to African-American men in every state.
Grant was not content to stop there. He pressed for more legislation to attack the Klan directly. Between 1870 and 1871, Congress passed the Enforcement Acts, which made it a crime to interfere with registration, voting, officeholding, or jury service by African-Americans. Over 5,000 people were indicted under these laws, though only 20% of those were convicted. In 1871 Congress also passed the Ku Klux Klan Act, which allowed the government to act against terrorist organizations. Grant ordered the arrest of hundreds of Klan members, though with the overwhelming support of the Klan in the South, convictions proved difficult to obtain. To assist in the crackdown, Grant suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus, as Abraham Lincoln had done during the war, which allowed the arrests of Klansmen to take place far more rapidly than they would have otherwise, because the authorities didn’t have to bring the persons arrested before a judge and charge them with a crime. As a result, many Klansmen fled their home counties, some fled their state and a few even fled the country.
Grant ordered his generals in the South to enforce the Reconstruction Act and the enforcement Act, which made racist terrorism a federal offense. He created the Justice Department to deal with the prosecution of these offences and he sent in the army and federal agents to enforce the law.
Unfortunately for Grant, when the financial panic of 1873 hit, northerners were less inclined to see the federal government protect the freedmen from the problems of Southern racism, though this did not stop Grant from continuing his war on the Klan for the remainder of his term. When Rutherford Hayes became president in 1876, after a very controversial victory, he agreed to withdraw most federal troops from the south, removing much of the protection for the freedmen that Grant had installed. Grant's war on the Klan suffered a further setback in 1882, when the United States Supreme Court declared Ku Klux Klan Act unconstitutional.
For Ulysses Grant however, freedom and equal rights were matters of principle, not merely a means to gain more votes. Grant used his political capital to fight for the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, and this was one of the things that he remained most proud of in his life. He later said, “A measure which makes at once four million people voter who were heretofore declared by the highest tribunal in the land to be not citizens of the United States, nor eligible to become so, is indeed a measure of grander importance than any other act of the kind from the foundation of our free government to the present day.”
Until recently, many historians had ranked Grant as among the worst presidents, because of the corruption and scandals that occurred on his watch. But recent analyses of Grant's presidency, including H. W. Brands' 2012 book The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace, and Ronald White's American Ulysses have viewed Grant's presidency more favorably. His reputation has significantly improved in recent years because of greater appreciation for his commitment to civil rights, and his moral courage in his prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan, and enforcement of voting rights.