Example research essay topic: Ku Klux Klan Civil War - 624 words

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The Ku Klux Klan's long history of violence grew out of the resentment and hatred many white Southerners felt in the aftermath of the Civil War. How did the Ku Klux Klan - one of the nation's first terrorist groups - so instantly seize the South in the aftermath of the Civil War? Vigilante justice became the motivation for many who later rode with the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan grew out of white Southern anger over the Civil War defeat and the Reconstruction that followed. The time was ripe for the Ku Klux Klan to ride.

Origins of the Ku Klux Klan One Popular notion held that the Ku Klux Klan was originally a secret order of Chinese opium smugglers. After tinkering with the sound for a while, group settled on the "Ku Klux Klan. " Much of the Klan's early reputation was based on mischief. One favorite Klan tactic was for a white sheeted Klansman wearing a ghoulish mask to ride up to a black home at night and demand water. White Rule Victimized Blacks Throughout the summer and fall, the Klan steadily had become more violent. At the Nashville Klan meeting, leaders sought to grapple with these problems and decide just what sort of organization the Klan would be. They created a chain of command and sanctioned white supremacy as the fundamental creed of the Ku Klux Klan.

Orders went out from state capitols and Union army headquarters to suppress the Klan. Invisible Government From middle Tennessee, the Klan quickly was established in nearby counties and then in North and South Carolina. In some counties the Klan became the de facto law, an invisible government that state officials could not control. As the violence escalated, it turned to general lawlessness and some Klan groups even began fighting each other. The Klan was also coming under increased attack by Congress and the Reconstruction state governments. That did not end the violence, however, and as atrocities became more widespread, Radical legislatures throughout the region passed harsher laws, imposed martial law in some Klan-dominated counties, and actively hunted Klan leaders.

In 1871 Congress held hearings on the Klan and passed a tough anti-Klan law modeled after a North Carolina statute. Klan terror had proven very effective at keeping black voters away from the polls. Simmons' Klan was not unlike the dozens of benevolent societies then population America. The message was clear -- the new Klan was going to mean business. The Klan Exposed The committee adjourned without action and the Klan benefited from all the publicity. With the Klan's new strength came prolonged internal bickering.

During the period of its most uncontrolled violence, the Klan also experienced unprecedented political gains. In 1922 Texas voters sent Klansman Earl Mayfield to the U. S. Senate, and Klan campaigns helped defeat two Jewish congressmen who had headed the Klan inquiry.

Klan efforts were credited with helping to elect governors in Georgia, Alabama, California and Oregon. Although politicians became increasingly uncomfortable with Klan allies as a result of the turmoil, the success of the Klan candidates across the nation in 1924 buoyed Evans's parts. All in all, the Klan was riding high in the saddle. What was left of the Klan's clout disappeared as its old friends in office, sensing the new political winds, deserted the Klan in droves. "Maybe the government can make something out of the Klan -- I never could. " Green managed to reorganize the Klan in California, Kentucky, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and Alabama. By the time of Green's death in 1949, the Klan was fractured by internal disputes and hounded by investigations from all sides in response to a wave of Klan violence in the South.

Research essay sample on Ku Klux Klan Civil War