The years after the civil war were frustrating times for the Americans.
New laws and rules were posted for which to abide by and due to the outcome of
the civil war, the people from the south had now to accept the new slavery laws
issued by the political parties and congress. This created turmoil amongst both
northerners, who mostly were against slavery, and southerners. This was also
true for both political parties that consisted of the Republicans and the
Democratics. Again the issue was always on the rights of blacks. The battles
with certain individuals who felt it their duty to stand up for their idea of
what the American way was.
In 1866, just a year after the civil war, six confederate veterans
formed a social club in the small town of Pulaski Tennessee. These men were set
out to perpetuate white supremacy through out the south. The social club became
official. The members came up with the name of Ku Klux Klan. It was a name
taken from the Greek word "Kuklos" which means circle. They came up with
rituals copied from college fraternities. They also assigned positions to
special members. They were composed of the Grand Cyclop, The President, the
Grand Magi, the vice-president, and the Grand Exchequer, the treasurer. The
Klansmen adopt a uniform. The uniforms were white, long robes, White masks,
And high pointed hats. ( Ingalls, Hoods 3 )

Adopted during 1866-67, the Republican party's Reconstruction program
threatened to turn southern society upside down. The promise of equal rights
for blacks flew in the face of the widely held opinion of the white Southerners
that the black race was innately inferior. This deep-seated racist belief had
served to justify slavery, and it remained a major obstacle to uplifting blacks
after the civil war. Indeed, Antiblack hatred drove some whites to extreme
measures to resist Reconstruction. ( Ingalls, Hoods 6 )
The Republicans feared that barrings the blacks from politics would make
the Democratics Party dominant again in the south and in congress. Congress
divided the south into five military districts controlled by martial law. It
took the vote away from large numbers of rebel whites. It declared that all
black men could vote and hold office. And it ordered the rebel states to write
new and democratic constitutions. Since Tennessee had become the first southern
state to give black men and freed slaves the right to vote, it became most
affected. ( Meltzer, 23 )
With the republican party controlling state government, exconfederates
began to take up arms to oppose Reconstruction. Intimidation and violence were
increasingly used against blacks and their supporters in the Republican party.
( Ingalls, Hoods 11 ) These rampages of brutal acts were mostly the work of
the dreaded Ku Klux Klan.
In 1867, Klansmen met in Nashville where they adopted a prescript, or
constitution. This permitted the Klan to spread across the south. Prescript
set an initiation fee, a dollar a member. Sworn to secrecy, recruits pledged
to 'protect ...