Enforcement Act of 1870
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| Long title | An Act to enforce the Right of Citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of the Union, and for other Purposes. |
|---|---|
| Nicknames | Civil Rights Act of 1870, Enforcement Act, First Ku Klux Klan Act, Force Act |
| Enacted by | the 41st United States Congress |
| Citations | |
| Statutes at Large | 16 Stat. 140-146 |
| Legislative history | |
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| United States Supreme Court cases | |
| United States v. Reese (1876) United States v. Cruikshank (1876) United States v. Allen Crosby United States v. Robert Hayes Mitchell | |
The Enforcement Act of 1870, also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1870 or First Ku Klux Klan Act, or Force Act was a United States federal law written to empower the President with the legal authority to enforce the first section of the Fifteenth Amendment throughout the United States. The act was the first of three Enforcement Acts passed by the United States Congress from 1870 to 1871 during the Reconstruction Era to combat attacks on the suffrage rights of African Americans from state officials or violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan.[1]
The act would develop from separate legislative actions in the House and Senate. H.R. 1293 was introduced by House Republican John Bingham from Ohio on February 21, 1870, and discussed on May 16, 1870.[2] S. 810 grew from several bills from several Senators. Senator George F. Edmunds from Vermont submitted the first bill, followed by Sen. Oliver P. Morton from Indiana, Sen. Charles Sumner from Massachusetts, and Sen. William Stewart from Nevada. After three months of debate in the Committee on the Judiciary, the final Senate version of the bill was introduced to the Senate on April 19, 1870.[3] The act was passed by Congress in May 1870 and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on May 31, 1870.
The Enforcement Act of 1870 prohibited discrimination by state officials in voter registration on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It established penalties for interfering with a person's right to vote and gave federal courts the power to enforce the act. The act also authorized the President to employ the use of the army to uphold the act and the use of federal marshals to bring charges against offenders for election fraud, the bribery or intimidation of voters, and conspiracies to prevent citizens from exercising their constitutional rights.
Contents
See also[edit]
U.S. Attorneys General during Reconstruction[edit]
- Ebenezer R. Hoar – 30th Attorney General, served 1869–1870
- Amos T. Akerman – 31st Attorney General, served 1870–1871
- George Henry Williams – 32nd Attorney General, served 1871–1875
- Edwards Pierrepont – 33rd Attorney General, served 1875–1876
U.S. Secretary of War during Reconstruction[edit]
- William W. Belknap – 30th Sec. of War, served 1869–1876
References[edit]
Bibliography[edit]
- Foner, Eric (1997). Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers. ISBN 9780060937164.
- Wang, Xi (1997). The Trial of Democracy: Black Suffrage & Northern Republicans, 1860-1910. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 9780820318370.
Further reading[edit]
- Cresswell, Stephen (1987). "Enforcing the Enforcement Acts: The Department of Justice in Northern Mississippi, 1870–1890". Journal of Southern History. 53 (3): 421–40. doi:10.2307/2209362.
- Rable, George (2007). But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction. 2nd ed. Athens: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 9780820330112.
- Swinney, Everette (1962). "Enforcing the Fifteenth Amendment, 1870–1877". Journal of Southern History. 28 (2): 202–18. doi:10.2307/2205188.
- Trelease, Allen W. (1999). White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780313211683.
External links[edit]
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