ecome something they may not have originally intended, something deadlyand serious. Much of the Klan’s early reputation was based on mischief. However, over time,the malicious mischief turned to outright violence. The presence of armed white menroaming the countryside at night reminded many blacks of the pre-war slave patrols. thefact that the Klansmen rode with their faces covered intensified blacks’ suspicion and fear.Whippings were the primary forms of violence between the two groups, but within months there were bloody clashes between Klansmen and blacks, northerners who had comeSouth, or Southern Unionists. By the time the six Klan founders met in December 1865, the opening phase ofreconstruction was nearly complete. All eleven of the former rebel states had been rebuilton astonishingly lenient terms which allowed many of the ex-Confederate leaders to returnto positions of power. Southern state legislatures began enacting laws that made it clearthat the aristocrats who ran them intended to yield none of their pre-war power over topoor whites and especially not over to blacks. These laws became known as the BlackCodes and in some cases they amounted to the virtual re-enslavement of blacks.In Louisiana the democratic convention resolved that “we hold this to be agovernment of White People, made and to be perpetuated for the exclusive benefit of theWhite Race, and... that the people of African descent cannot be considered as citizens ofthe United States.” (2). Mississippi and Florida in particular enacted vicious black codes,other southern states (except North Carolina) passed somewhat less severe versions, andPresident Andrew Johnson did nothing to prevent them from being enforced. These laws and violence that erupted against blacks and union supporters in theSouth outraged Northerners who just a few months before had celebrated victory not onlyover the Confederacy, but its system of slavery as well. In protes...
