Congress passed the Third Enforcement Act on this day in 1871, empowering the federal government to crack down hard on the Ku Klux Klan, which at that point was terrorizing Black Americans and the communities they lived in across the South.
Per its name, two other laws had been passed not long before then that provided certain rights to freedmen. The first prevented people from gathering in disguise to intimidate Black people into not voting. The second put national elections under the power of the federal government and allowed it to supervise polling places. Those laws, however, were deemed ineffective in fully halting the Klan's terrorism. The third act, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, allowed the president to employ the armed forces to stop those impeding Black people's right to vote.
Thousands of Klansmen were arrested and hundreds convicted of crimes, effectively shattering the group's ability to organize. That meant Black Americans could properly exercise their franchise, allowing the 1872 elections to go on in a fairer manner.
