Talk:Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871

Untitled
Although this act became enacted, why was there never any law made against lynching? To this day there is no such law, but why? Who agrees? —unsigned comment by 67.1.38.226 (talk).


 * The Ku Klux Klan Act was passed to outlaw conspiracy to violate civil rights which unstated includes the right to life. Lynching was extrajudicial execution and a violation of law without a specific law addressing it. Naaman Brown (talk) 12:36, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

I have very probably found a spelling mistake in this text, but I do not want to correct it without having compared a printed copy of the act. Here it is: "... or by imprisonment, with or without hard labor, as the court my [may?] determine, for a period of ..." —unsigned comment by 128.176.76.182 (talk).

1871 Ku Klux Klan Act
Leonard W. Levy, et al., eds., Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, MacMillan/Professional Books, 1987, notes that the 1871 Civil Rights Act is commonly known as the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, since the thrust of the Act is to enable enforcement of the 1866 Civil Rights Act by countering the KKK. The Ku Klux Klan Act was gutted by the 1875 Cruikshank decision over the 1873 Colfax Courthouse Massacre. While the formal title is 1871 Civil Rights Act, it is commonly called the Ku Klux Klan Act to distinguish it from the 1866 Civil Rights Act which addressed civil rights; the Ku Klux Klan Act addressed conspiracy to violate civil rights. In other words, reference to the post-Civil War Civil Right Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act are used in historical and legal writings to distinguish the 1866 Civil Rights Act and the 1871 Civil Rights Act. Naaman Brown (talk) 12:36, 3 May 2010 (UTC)