Enforcement Act of 1870

Enforcement Act of 1870
Great Seal of the United States
Long titleAn Act to enforce the Right of Citizens of the United States to vote in the several States of the Union, and for other Purposes.
NicknamesCivil Rights Act of 1870, Enforcement Act, First Ku Klux Klan Act, Force Act
Enacted bythe 41st United States Congress
Citations
Statutes at Large16 Stat. 140-146
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the House as H.R. 1293 by John Bingham (R–OH) on February 21, 1870
  • Committee consideration by House Judiciary
  • Passed the House on May 16, 1870 (131–43)
  • Passed the Senate on May 20, 1870 (43–8)
  • Agreed to by the Senate on May 25, 1870 (48–11) and by the House on (133–39)
  • Signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on May 31, 1870
Major amendments
Second Enforcement Act of 1871 (s. 20)
United States Supreme Court cases

The Enforcement Act of 1870, also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1870 or First Ku Klux Klan Act, or Force Act (41st Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 114, 16 Stat. 140, enacted May 31, 1870, effective 1871), is a United States federal law that empowers the President 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 in 1870 and 1871, during the Reconstruction Era, to combat attacks on the voting rights of African Americans from state officials or violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan.[1][2]

The Enforcement Act of 1870 prohibits discrimination by state officials in voter registration on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It establishes penalties for interfering with a person's right to vote and gave federal courts the power to enforce the act.

The act also authorizes the President to use the army to uphold the act and use federal marshals to bring charges against offenders for election fraud, bribery or intimidation of voters, and conspiracies to prevent citizens from exercising their constitutional rights.

The act bans the use of terror, force or bribery to prevent people from voting because of their race.[3] Other laws banned the KKK entirely. Hundreds of KKK members were arrested and tried as common criminals and terrorists.[4] The first Klan was more or less eradicated within a year of federal prosecution.

  1. ^ Foner, p. 454.
  2. ^ KKK. "The Force Acts of 1870–1871". sagehistory.net. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007.
  3. ^ Smith, Cary Stacy; Hung, Li-Ching (2010). The Patriot Act: issues and controversies. Charles C. Thomas. p. 224. ISBN 9780398085636.
  4. ^ Gruberg, Martin. "Ku Klux Klan". The First Amendment Encyclopedia. Middle Tennessee State University. Retrieved 20 August 2023.