Congress Passes Three Enforcement Acts to Combat KKK

Congress passed the First Enforcement Act on May 31, 1870, making it a federal crime to interfere with voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment. A second act in February 1871 provided federal supervision of elections. The Ku Klux Klan Act of April 1871 authorized federal prosecution of conspiracy to deprive citizens of civil rights. Together these acts produced hundreds of prosecutions. Federal attorneys Amos Akerman and Daniel Chamberlain achieved significant convictions in South Carolina be