The Ku Klux Klan and other intimidators like the Louisiana Knights of the White Camellia, spread rapidly throughout the south as an answer to radical reconstruction. Nathan Bedford Forest formed the Ku-Klux-Klan in Tennessee during 1866. Forest, a former Confederate general and slave trader, was the Ku-Klux-Klan's first Imperial Wizard. This essay will weigh the evidence supported by the traditional view, that is, the Ku Klux Klan was an organization of white Southerners who resisted the horrors of reconstruction and halted the northern encroachment. This traditional view can also be dubbed the, "white is right" or racist view. The other popular view is called the revisionist view and it deems the Ku Klux Klan a violent and disrespectful organization set on overthrowing rule by negros, scalawags, and carpetbaggers. This essay will look at the horrific acts committed by the Klan during the period of radical reconstruction, question the morality of such acts, and conclude that it is indubitable that the Ku Klux Klan was in fact a terrorist organization which hindered social and political integration: that if these evil men had let congress win the new south would hav

The failure of reconstruction led to the death of the black freedom and placed them in a state similar to slavery. The freedmen actually gained few rights from the Civil War and Reconstruction: they had no vote, no property, no respect, no upward mobility, and no real function in society except that as a agricultural laborer. Mobility however was a substantial gain for the freedmen. Former slaves could now go to and from any function as they pleased. Tenant farming took the place of the slave labor system. The black man could now choose whom to rent land from. This allowed the invisible hand capitalism to motivate labor contracts, and the south as a whole benefited. What if congressional reconstruction had succeed? What would the "New" south be today? Would the south be better today if reconstruction had not failed? Yes, the south would indeed be a better place; there would be fewer prejudices and more harmony. Maybe the south would have had pre-war prosperity sooner if the caste system had not been put into effect. The Confederate flag may not be flying over the South Carolina Statehouse today if congressional reconstruction had worked. Congressional reconstruction failed and the Union turned its back on the loyal freedmen only to embrace their enemy.

The many actions of the Klan were aimed to break the moral of the enemy: "One party had taken an obnoxious negro from a cabin where he had taken refuge and so maltreated him that he died a few days after.... One Powell, a carpet-bagger, and just voted for as Judge of Probate, was found on a public road, near Milam's Trestle, with several bullet holes through his head and body; and, by his side, the body of a negro man, also murdered as brutally as himself." These accounts of the Klan's actions show how they achieved their goals. The Klan used evil deeds and intimidation to generate fear; this fear ultimately broke the moral of the victims and allowed a resurgence of conservativeism. It only took a few murders to generate fear amidst the freedmen and Republicans. Klan enemies knew their fate if they went against Democrat ideals, intimidation proved to be an effective plan on the Klans part.

The Ku Klux Klan, the White League, the Louisiana Knights of the White Camellia, and other racist fraternities flourished among southern whites as an answer to radical reconstruction. This essay looked at the evidence supported by the traditional view, that, the Ku Klux Klan was an organization of white southerners who resisted the horrors of reconstruction and halted the Northern encroachment. The traditional view embodies ideals that a racist would have. The other popular take on reconstruction, the revisionist view, deems that the Ku Klux Klan was a violent and disrespectful organization set on overthrowing rule by negros, scalawags, and carpetbaggers. This essay looked at the horrific acts committed by the Klan during the period of radical reconstruction and questioned the morality of such acts. One fact remains, the Ku Klux Klan was a terrorist organization, which hindered social and political integration: that if these evil men had let congress win the "New" south would have been a better place.

Some freedmen felt themselves to be inferior to white men and promoted a policy of non-violence, but others were tired of being intimidated and enacted a policy of self-defense. The freedmen mobilized into forces to protect politicians, voting rights, and themselves. In Macon Georgia when Klan threats had been made on the black politicians, Henry Turner and Jefferson Long, "the blacks put a guard of 150 men around the two leaders' homes and banned all whites from the area, including local police. An alarmed city council called a meeting of conciliation after the freedmen threatened to burn the city if another black man was killed." This shows that the blacks were very loyal to their political leaders. The blacks also showed some retaliation in defensive of t

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Approximate Word count = 2702
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)