May 31, 1870- The First Reinforcement Act

 
political cartoon of donkey branded "KKK" below a tree where 2 people are hanged

A cartoon threatening that the KKK will lynch scalawags (left) and carpetbaggers (right) on March 4, 1869. Tuscaloosa, Alabama Independent Monitor, Sept. 1, 1868. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kkk-carpetbagger-cartoon.jpg

In the South after the Civil War, the Union’s victory was followed by terrorism.

The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865 in Tennessee by Confederate Veterans. It was only one of many secret terrorist groups that formed immediately after the end of the war. While many groups had chapters in different states, none of them exercised much central control. The groups formed and were directed by local members resisting Republican political domination and suppressing the political, social, and economic freedom of newly freed Black people in their towns and cities. The Klan became infamous as “midnight riders,” raiding homes, burning property, and often murdering Black and White people who challenged the old White Supremacist Democratic Party order.

The original klansmen wore hoods and disguises while conducting attacks, but they were not very uniform. The white hoods and burning crosses associated with the KKK were part of the revival movement in the 1910s and 20s.

Black and white drawing of 3 captured klansmen wearing augmented military uniforms and makeshift hoods over their faces

Mississippi Ku-Klux members in the disguises in which they were captured. Artist Unknown. Harper's Weekly January 27, 1872. Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mississippi_ku_klux.jpg

This political violence surged throughout the 1860s, leading to the First and Second Enforcement Acts (1870, 1871), and the Ku Klux Klan Act (1871). These acts authorized the President and Congress to use military powers to enforce the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (The Reconstruction Amendments) passed between 1865-70. These amendments codified the citizenship and political rights of Black Americans. In reality, US troops were needed to ensure Black voters could participate in elections or hold offices they’d been elected to. Where there was no military presence, vigilantes like the Klan were largely successful in suppressing the rights of Blacks and the authority of Republican politicians and their allies.

Even after the Klan was effectively suppressed in the 1870s, political violence against Black voters, office holders, and jurors was endemic to the Southern United States and much of the North. Groups such as the White League, the Red Shirts, and others used terrorism to intimidate voters and oust Black and Republican politicians and sheriffs.

Ultimately, most United States’ leaders were uncomfortable using their political and military power to defend Black people from White southerners and eventually withdrew from enforcing the Constitution in the South by the end of the 1870s. It would not be until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the US government, goaded by hundreds of thousand of activists risking their lives, would again attempt to use its power to secure Americans’ constitutional rights in the South, and to dismantle the systems of segregation throughout the North and the West.

Sources:

The Enforcement Act of 1870- Blackpast

The Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871- US Senate

Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871- National Constitution Center

Documenting Reconstruction Violence- Equal Justice Initiative

April 12, 1861- Fort Sumter Captured by the Confederate States of America

 
Original Confederate Flag-seven white stars on a blue square and three stripes-red, white, red

Original flag of the Confederate States of America

When did the Civil War begin? This question can and should spark hours of conversation. 

Since the creation of the United States, its political leaders orchestrated a delicate balance of admitting new states to the union as the country expanded westward. This balance was maintained by keeping the number of “free” and “slave” states equal as the country grew. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 discarded this practice and attempted to replace it with the mechanism of “popular sovereignty,” whereby the citizens of a territory would vote to decide if slavery would be prohibited. This compromise provoked fierce opposition on both sides and led to widespread voter fraud and political violence throughout the Kansas Territory. This saga of terrorism became known as “Bleeding Kansas.”


As the decade wore on both major political parties, the Whigs and the Democrats, split over the issue of slavery’s future in the West, leading to the creation of the Republican Party. Central to their agenda was prohibiting slavery’s expansion. While there was a small abolitionist fringe that advocated a complete elimination of slavery, the majority of the new party declared they had no intention of abolishing it where it already existed. However, pro-slavery politicians declared on many occasions that stopping the expansion of slavery ensured it would be eradicated where it already existed, and so was in fact, an attack on the southern states. 

When the Republican Party ran Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in 1860, southern politicians began threatening secession immediately. After his victory, South Carolina seceded from the Union. Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida soon followed. Between Lincoln’s election in November and his inauguration in March of 1861, all federal forts and armories in the seceded states were seized without a fight by Confederate forces, except Fort Sumter. 

Once in office, Lincoln was immediately embroiled in managing the secession crisis. The Upper-South states, most critically Virginia, had not yet seceded and most Republicans still believed war could be averted. The official stance of the Republican Party was that secession was unconstitutional and illegal, thus they refused to recognize it officially. They claimed that what the Union faced was not a civil war, but a domestic insurrection. While this may seem like semantic nonsense, it all had real consequences about how the conflict would unfold. The Lincoln Administration worked to avoid war, but also, to prepare for it. In order to preserve the loyalty of the Upper-South, and the public generally, Lincoln believed it was critical that the North not be seen as firing the first shot. When he informed South Carolina officials that he intended to resupply the men of Fort Sumter with food and provisions, many believe he was maneuvering the Confederacy into striking first.

On April 12, 1861, as the supply ship approached, Confederate cannons opened fire on Fort Sumter. The attack lasted 34 hours and ended with the Confederate Flag flying over the fort. The only casualties of the battle occurred after the surrender. The Union troops were permitted to conduct a 100 gun salute before leaving. In the process, Private Daniel Hough’s gun malfunctioned and exploded in his hands, killing him and mortally wounding Private Edward Galloway.

Soon after the battle, 4 more southern states seceded: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. While most Americans, particularly in the border states were thrown into chaos, many hardliners on either side of the issue of slavery celebrated that the war had finally begun. 

Sources:

Fort Sumter- National Parks Service

Flags of Ft. Sumter- National Parks Service

Fort Sumter Animated Map- American Battlefield Trust

Civil War Timeline- Library of Congress

March 15, 44 BC- Julius Caesar Assassinated

 

Bust of Julius Caesar, artist and date unknown. Photo October 5,2008. Vatican Museum. Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gaius_Iulius_Caesar_(Vatican_Museum).jpg

Gaius Julius Caesar is among the most written about people to have ever lived. He grew up in an aristocratic Roman family at a time when the Roman Republic was embroiled in intermittent infighting and unofficial civil wars. He became an agile politician and beloved general. In order to consolidate his power and to avoid prosecution by political enemies, he embarked on a lengthy military campaign in Gaul (a territory that is mostly modern-day France). It was a controversial war at the time, and many modern scholars argue it was in fact a Celtic genocide.

When the Senate ordered Caesar to surrender his army to the incoming governor and return to Rome, he opted to lead his legions into the city. This sparked an official civil war that ended in victory for Caesar. He ruled autocratically under several titles before eventually declaring himself Dictator for Life.

On March 15, 44 BC, a group of roughly 20 senators armed with knives attacked Caesar, murdering him on the Senate floor. They tried to argue the assassination was the only just response to a Roman attempting to make themselves a king, but Caesar’s popularity among the military and the lower classes endured.

The Civil War continued as generals, some friends of Caesar and others foes, tried to fill the void of a charismatic general who could overrule the Senate. Another contender for power in this era was Caesar’s nephew and adopted son, Gaius Octavius. Caesar adopted him posthumously in his will, after which Octavias took the name Julius Caesar for himself. After defeating both rebel generals, and the Roman Senate, he established the Roman Empire and took the name Augustus Caesar. His success was due in large part to political acumen. He was not a great soldier, so he sought out able generals like Marcus Aggripa as allies. He created an elaborate political system to allow the Senate the appearance of authority, while in fact, he and his successors held nearly absolute power.

Sources:

Gaius Julius Caesar: Civil War- Livius.org

Julius Caesar Revealed with Mary Beard- Odyssey

Celtic Holocaust- Hardcore History (free for a limited time)

Death Throes of the Republic- Hardcore History ($12 for the whole 6 part series, approx. 13 hours)