tection of a secret order. So numerous did these men become that
after 1868 there was a general exodus of the leading reputable members,
and in 1869 the formal disbanding of the Klan was proclaimed by General
Forrest, the Grand Wizard. The White Camelia and other orders also
gradually went out of existence. Numerous attempts were made to suppress
the secret movement by the military commanders, the state governments,
and finally by Congress, but none of these was entirely successful, for
in each community the secret opposition lasted as long as it was needed.
The political effects of the orders, however, survived their organized
existence. Some of the Southern States began to go Democratic in spite
of the Reconstruction Acts and the Amendments, and there was little
doubt that the Ku Klux movement had aided in this change. In order to
preserve the achievements of radical reconstruction Congress passed,
in 1870 and 1871, the enforcement acts which had been under debate for
nearly two years. The first act (May 31, 1870) was designed to protect
the Negro's right to vote and was directed at individuals as well as
against states. Section six, indeed, was aimed specifically at the
Ku Klux Klan. This act was a long step in the direction of giving the
Federal Government control over state elections. But as North Carolina
went wholly and Alabama partially Democratic in 1870, a Supplementary
Act (February 28, 1871) went further and placed the elections for
members of Congress completely under Federal control, and also
authorized the use of thousands of deputy marshals at elections. As the
campaign of 1872 drew near, Grant and his advisers became solicitous
to hold all the Southern States which had not been regained by the
Democrats. Accordingly, on March 23, 1871, the President sent a message
to Congress declaring that in some of the states the laws could not be
enforced and asked for remedial legislation. Congress responded with an
act (April 20, 1871), commonly called the "Ku Klux Act," which gave
the President despotic military power to uphold the remaining Negro
governments and authorized him to declare a state of war when he
considered it necessary. Of this power Grant made use in only one
instance. In October 1871, he declared nine counties of South Carolina
in rebellion and put them under martial law.

During the ten years following 1870, several thousand arrests were made
under the enforcement acts and about 1,250 conviction