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chapter17
17-8
Tlte First Reconstruction
Act,I867
Radical Republicans made President Johnson's
intransigence the central issue in the election campaign
oJ 1866. Northern voters overwhelmingly rejected
Johnsonb policies and strengthenedthe Radicals'control
of Congress. At the satne time, all the southern slales
(except Tennessee)rejected the Fourteenth Amendment.
In response, Congress passed thefollowing act in March,
1867, outlining the main principles of Congressional
Reconstruction.
SOURCE;Hary SteeleCommager,
Documentsin AmericanHistory(193\: IJ.S.
Statutesat Inrge, Vol. XI\ p.428ff.
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An Act to provide for the more efficient Governmentof the
Rebel States
lyrnnBes no legal State governments or adequate
protection for life or property now exists in the rebel
States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida,
Texas, and Arkansas; and whereas it is necessary that
peace and good order should be enforced in said States
until loyal and republican State govemmentscan be legally established:Therefore,
Be it enacted, Thar said rebel Statesshall be divided into military districts and made subject to the military
authority of the United S'tatesas hereinafter prescribed,
and for that purpose Virginia shall constitute the first district; North Carolina and South Carolina the seconddisbict; Georgia, Alabama, and Florida rhe third district;
Mississippi and Arkansas the fourth district; and
Louisiana and Texas the fifth district.
Ssc. 2. That it shall be the duty of the Presidentto
assign to the command of each of said districts an officer
of the army, not below the rank of brigadier-general,and
to detail a sufficient military force to enable such officer
to perform his duties and enforce his authority within the
district to which he is assigned.
Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of each officer
assignedas aforesaid, to protect all personsin their rights
of persons and property, to suppressinsurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or causeto be punished,
all disturbers of the public peace and criminals; and to
this end he may allow local civil tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or, when in his judgment
it may be necessary for the trial of offenders, he shall
have power to organize military commissions or tribunals
for that pu{pose, and all interference under color of State
authority with the exercise of military authority, under
ReconCtructibn,
1863-1877
zzy
this act. shall be null and void.
Ssc. 4. That all personsput under military arrest by
virtue of this act shall be tried without unnecessarydelay,
and no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted, and
no sentenceof any military cornrnission or tribunal hereby authorized, affecting the life or liberty of any person,
shall be executed until it is approved by the officer in
command of the district, and the laws and regulations for
the government of the army shall not be affected by this
act, except in so far as they conflict with its provisions:
Provided, That no sentenceof death under the provisions
of this act shall be carried into effect without the approval
of the President.
Ssc. 5. That when the people of ary one of said
rebel States shall have formed a constitution of govemment in conformity with the Constitution of ttre United
Statesin all respects,framed by a convention of delegates
elected by the rnale citizens of said State twenty-one
yearsold and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous
condition, who have been resident in said State for one
year previous to the day of such election, except such as
may be disfranchisedfor participation in the rebellion or
for felony at cornrnon law, and when such constihrtion
shall provide that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed
by all such personsas haye the qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates,and lvhen such consdnrtion
shall he ratified by a rnajority of the personsvoting on the
question of ratification who are qualified as electors for
delegates,and when such constitution shall have been
submitted to Congressfor examination and approval, and
Congress shall have approved the same, and when said
State,by a vote of its legislature elected under said constitution, shall have adopted the amendment to the
Constitution of the United States,proposed by the Thirtyninth Congress,and known as article fourteen, and when
said article shall have become a part of the Constinrdon of
the United States said State shall be declared entitled to
representationin Congress, and senators and representatives shall he admitted therefrom on their taking the oath
prescribed by law, and then and thereafter the preceding
sections of this act shall he inoperative in said State:
Provided, That no person excluded from the privilege of
holding office by said proposed amendment to the
Constitution of the United States,shall be eligible to election as a member of the convention to frame a constitution for any of said rebel States,nor shall any such person
vote for members of such convention.
Ssc. 6. That, until the people of said rebel States
shall be by law admitted to representation in the
Congress of the United States, any civil governments
which may exist therein shall he deemed provisional
only, and in all respectssubject to the paramount authority of the Uuited States at any tirne to abolish, modify,
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2 3 0 chapter17
Reconstruction,
1863-1877
control, or supersedethe same; and in all elections to any
office under such provisional govemments all persons
shall be entitled to vote. and none others. who are entitled
to vote, under the provisions of the fifth section of this
act; and no persons shall be eligible to any office under
any such provisional governmentswho would be disqualified from holding office under the provisions of the third
article of said constitutional amendment.
17-9
Organixationand Principles
of theKu Klux Klan, 1868
Founded in Pulaski, Tennessee,in 1866, the Ku Klux
Klan spread quickly throughout the South under the
leadership of former Confederate General Nathan
Bedford Forrest, ils first Grand Wizard. The Klan becante
a potent inslrument of terror against freed people, their
white allies, and Republican state governnxents.The Klan
wqs strongest in rural arcas and operated locally, wtth
little central control. Most Klan leaders camefront local
landholding and proks sional elites.
WalterL. Flendng,ed.,TheKu Klu Klan (1905),p. 154ff.
SOURCE.'
ORGANIZATIONAND PRINCIPLES
OF THE KU KLUX KLAN
APPELLATION
This Organizationshall be styled and denominated,the
Orderof the * * *
t.
Whydid Congressdefineits Reconstruction
policy
in military terms?
Whatprovisionsdid it makefor the readmissionof
southernstatesto the Union?How did thesedffir
from thepolicyfollowedby PresidentJohnson?
irfured and oppressed;to succor the suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and orphans of
Confederatesoldiers.
Second: To protect and defend the Constinrdon of
the United States,and all laws passedin conformity thereto, and to protect the States and the people thereof from
all invasion from any source whatever.
Third: To aid and assist in the execution of all constinrtional laws, and to protect the people from unlawful
seizure,and from trial except by their peers in conformity to the laws of the land.
TITLES
Sec.I. Theofficersof thisOrdershallconsistof a Grand
Wizard of the Empire, and his ten Genii; a Grand Dragon
of the Realm, and his eight Hydras; a Grand Titan of the
Dominion, and his six Furies; a Grand Giant of the
Province, and his four Goblins; a Grand Cyclops of the
Den, and his two Night Hawks; a Grand Magi, a Grand
Monk, a Grand Scribe, a Grand Exchequer, a Grand Turk,
and a Grand Sentinel.
Sec. 2. The body politic of this Order shall be
known and designatedas "Ghouls."
CREED
We, the Orderof the * x x, reverentiallyacknowledge
the
majestyand supremacyof the Divine Being, and recognize the goodnessand providenceof the same.And we
recognizeour relationto the United StatesGovernment,
the supremacyof the Constitution,the Constitutional
Lalvs thereof.andthe Union of Statesthererurder.
TERRITORYAND ITS DIVISIONS
Sec. 1. The territory embraced within tlrc jurisdiction of
this Order shall be coterminous with the States of
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Texas,Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and ltnnessee; all
combined constituting the Ernpire.
CHARACTERAND OBJECTSOF THE ORDER
Sec. 2. The Empire shall be divided into four
departments,the first to be styled the Realm, and coterThis is an insfitutionof Chivalry,Hurnanity,Mercy,and minous with the boundariesthe several States;the second
Patriotisrn;ernbodyingin its geniusand its principlesall to be styled tlre Dorninion and to be cotenninous with
that is chivalricin conduct,noblein sentirnent,generous such countiesas the Grand Dragons of the severalRealms
in manhood,and patrioticin purpose;its peculiarobjects may assign to the charge of tlre Grand Titan. The third to
being
be styled the Province, and to be cotenninous with the
First To protect the weak, the innocent,and the severalcounties;provijed the Grand Titan may, when he
defenseless,
from the indignities,wrongs,and outrages deerns it necossary, assign two Grand Gians to one
of the larvless,the violent, and the brutal: to relievethe Province, prescribing at the same time, the jurisdiction of