April 20, 1871: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Civil Rights Act of 1871. It empowers him to suspend the writ of habeas corpus to combat the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacy organizations. It becomes known as the Ku Klux Klan Act.
The act made certain acts committed by private persons federal offenses, including conspiring to deprive citizens of their rights to hold office, serve on juries, or enjoy the equal protection of law. The Act authorized the President of the United States to deploy federal troops to counter the Klan, and to suspend the constitutional right of habeas corpus to make arrests without charge.
The act was the last of three Enforcement Acts passed by Congress in 1870 and 1871, during the Reconstruction Era, to combat attacks upon the suffrage rights of African-Americans.
Grant, the leading Union General of the American Civil War, did not hesitate to use this authority on numerous occasions during his Presidency. As a result, the original version of the KKK was completely dismantled, and did not resurface in any meaningful way until the beginning of the 20th Century.
The statute has been subject to only minor changes since then, but has been the subject of voluminous interpretation by courts.
Several of the Act's provisions still exist today as codified statutes.
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April 20, 1871 was a Thursday. There were no scores on this historic day: The only team sport active in America at this time was baseball, and the 1st season of the 1st professional league, the National Association, did not start until May 4.
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