The Ku Klux Kl The Dawning Of American Terrorism - 1764 Words

History of the Ku Klux Klan: The Begining of American Terrorism The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 by a group of former Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennesse. The first two words in the groups name supposedly derived from the Greek word kyklos which translates to circle. There first leader (known in the Klan as grand wizard)Nathan Bedford Forrest was a former Confederate general. The group worked to establish what they called the Invisible Empire of the South Over the course of four short years had spread to almost every southern state. It was viewed primarily by white s in the south as there resistance to the Republican Party s Reconstruction policies that worked toward equality for blacks. The Ku Klux Klan (referred to†¦show more content†¦It is impossible to untangle local vigilante violence from political terrorism by the organized Klan, but it is clear that attacks on blacks became standard during 1868. Freedmen s Bureau agents reported 336 cases of murder or assault with intent to kill on freedmen across the state from Janua ry 1 through November 15 of 1868. The political terrorism was active. While Republican candidate Rufus Bullock carried the state in April 1868 elections, by November Democratic presidential candidate Horatio Seymour was in the lead. In some counties, the contrast was even more drastic. In John Reed s Oglethorpe County, 1,144 people had voted Republican in April, while only 116 voted Republican in the November election when Reed s armed Klansmen surrounded the polls. In Columbia County, armed Klansmen not only intimidated voters but even cowed federal troops guarding the polling place. The conclusion was while 1,222 votes had been cast in Columbia County for Republican governor Rufus Bullock in April, only one vote was cast for Republican presidential candidate Ulysses Grant in November 1868. Similar political terrorism and control of the polling places help account for Georgia s rapid return to conservative white Democratic control by late 1871. Klansmen like violence were also used to control freed black s social behavior, but with less success. Black churches and schools were burned, teachers were attacked, and freed blacks who refused to show