Up until the Ku Klux Act, the Ku Klux Klan’s (KKK) influence spread
throughout the Southern states and acted as a violent and driving continuation of
the Confederate movement after the Civil War. It was created right after the Civil
War by six Confederate Army veterans. Not only had the South just suffered their
most humiliating military loss, but they also lost the institution of slavery, money,
government power and beloved family members. As a result of their loss in the
Civil War and the emancipation of their slaves, the Southern white man felt great
embarrassment and humiliation. Though he could not preserve the institution of
slavery, he now felt an obligation to preserve and reassert white supremacy. The
KKK was the perfect
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Additionally, Klansmen were arrested and prosecuted in court for their
crimes against blacks and Republicans. As a result, state branches of the Klan
began to disband and the Klan as a whole died down.
The Ku Klux Klan was built upon the racism that unfortunately was
ingrained into the culture in the United States at the time it originated, especially
in the South. The fact that it was founded by Confederate Army veterans who
had just suffered a big loss and the South as a whole had been humiliated just
added fuel to the fire. The beginning of the Reconstructionist era was the perfect
time for the KKK to attack the black community and Republicans politically,
eventually leading to social structure and economy becoming targets as well. The
South may have lost the Civil War and the slaves may have been emancipated,
but the Klan wasn’t going to let history forget the Confederate movement. But
their main goal extended further than the Confederate movement’s, which was to
preserve the Southern way of life and the institution of slavery. Since they had
lost all this and more, the Klan’s main objective was to maintain white