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constructing american past
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Constructing the American Past Chapter 1 - Reconstruction and the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan discussed the organization in the South known as the KKK, which originated soon after the end of the Civil War. The KKK worked towards destroying Reconstruction in the South. African-Americans were the main victims of the violence Klansmen dealt out. In document 1 Initiation Oath of the Knights of the White Camelia it clearly indicates white man’s position on keeping the Black Race inferior. When a white man took the oath he pledged not to support Blacks in anyway, shape, or form, and to protect and defend the White Race. Failing to obey the oath would result in death. Knights of the White Camelia believed the Republic was founded by white men for white men. The Republic was never intended to be equal for an inferior or degraded race. The Klansmen believed even God himself established laws making the Caucasian race superior and the African race born into a life of social and political inferiority. Klansmen thought by giving Blacks social equality it would lead to political equality and eventually lead to intermarriages. Which would bear a race of degraded and ignoble people. The white man must preserve the purity of the white blood and the natural superiority of the White Race as God envisioned it. In documents 2 and 3 actual accounts of the violence he KKK dealt out were expressed. Testimony of Victims of the Ku Klux Klan included the testimony of three people. Pierce Harper testified a how black man named Jim Freemen was hanged in his front yard simply because he was making good money from his farm. Harper also pointed out how the KKK would burn down school houses the government had built for blacks and how the KKK denied blacks due process of law. An example Harper gave was how a white school teacher claimed someone stole something from her and the black students were sent to jail and the KKK went to the jail and took them out to kill them. Blacks were so scared for their lives they complained to the governor and were issued old muskets to organize black militias. Blacks were not the the only victims of the KKK as Sue Craft testified. She talked about how her white teacher was whipped for teaching black children. Morgan Ray testified how when walking along side of a road a group of men dressed in white robes and hoods had a young black man as their prisoner which they hanged , shot, and threw his body into the pond after he would not confess to assaulting a white woman. Document 3 Congressional Inquiry into Klan Activities includes the testimony taken at a congressional inquiry in Atlanta back on the 25th of October in 1871. Joseph Addison a white farmer in Muskogee County testified how he was nearly killed by the KKK. Before the KKK could shoot him he made a run for it and escaped. He had to moved to another county with his family and leave everything he had earned behind to escape the wrath of the KKK. Thomas M. Allen a black pastor who ran for the legislature and won testified how the KKK also terrorized him. One night, men calling for him for about half an hour surrounded his home. Allen's brother-in-law went to see who were all the men around the house. As soon as he opened the door and asked who were the men outside he was shot to death. Allen also testified how he received a letter at his shop warning him not vote for the radicals or he would be killed. Allen also told Congress how Mr. Abram Turner, a member of the legislature, was killed in broad daylight in Putnam County. Allen did mention blacks were reasonable peaceful people to consider the conditions they faced everyday. In document 4 Speech to the House of Representatives Congressman Job E. Stevenson of Ohio gave a speech in which he expressed how the KKK was part of a movement to stop Reconstruction in its tracks and return blacks to a life of slavery. Congressman Stevenson showed how the KKK through methods of violence and intimidation changed over 200,000 votes from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party from the spring election of 1868 to the fall election of 1868. Congressman Stevenson suggested up to 30,000 people had become victims of the KKK organization. The KKK defended their organization by claiming they feared blacks which had no real substance since everyone knew blacks were no treat to whites even under the circumstances they faced on a daily bases.
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